The young man in this 1939 cover by artist Douglass Crockwell doesn’t look happy. And with good reason. It’s hard to impress a girl when she’s taking a call from another guy.

Seventeen-year-old Fred Randall had run into a classmate he hadn’t seen in over a year. He and Naomi were having a great time catching up, when an artist entered the store and offered to buy them a sundae if they would pose for a photograph. Randall wasn’t sure what would become of the photo, but he knew the guy with a camera was interrupting a pleasant reunion. All he could remember was that the man’s name was Douglass. Lo and behold, Fred found himself on the cover ofThe Saturday Evening Post, much to the teenager’s delight. The painting on the cover was simply signed “Douglass.” There’s a reason for that. Artist Douglass Crockwell took to signing his work with just his first name in order to avoid confusion with another artist of the period. You can probably guess which one.

Fred started taking drum lessons as a boy of 9 and plays to this day. Music lessons were a luxury in those days. His father passed away when he was 7. “His mother took in laundry, washing everything by hand because the family had no electricity,” wrote reporter Kathy Ricketts at the The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, New York. Fellow Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin noted in an earlier article that Fred “worked as a paper boy, delivering the Glens Falls Post-Star for three cents a copy. Randall and other news boys earned a penny per paper; if he sold 100 papers, he had the $1 tuition for another lesson.”

Music remains his passion, and he has played for some of the greats: Rudy Vallee, Sophie Tucker, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Kate Smith. And what about Kate Smith’s signature song? “Probably around ’37, ‘38 in the Hotel St. Moritz at Lake Placid,” Randall told reporter Ricketts, “Kate Smith came in, and came over to the band, and she said, ‘I’ve got a new song I’d like to try; would you play it?’ It was ‘God Bless America.’ What a thrill.” Actually, Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1918 and revised it in 1938. It was this version made famous by the great Kate Smith. Randall told us she had the band run through the song the first time and asked if they’d do it again so she could sing it. “Everybody in the band was on their feet, cheering,” recalls the lucky drummer.

Randall was an “older” draftee, being inducted in 1944 at the age of 27. “He was a sergeant with the Army’s First Division and saw many major battles, including the Battle of the Bulge,” Ricketts noted in her 2008 article. When we asked about his war experiences, he said he didn’t like to discuss them, then shared a disconcerting story about calming down a soldier who had just seen the body of his twin. “He didn’t even know his brother was over there,” Randall said.

His drumming didn’t get by the Army. Once “after I came back from a 20-mile hike, the captain said he wanted to see me. I always had drum sticks in the bottom of my foot locker, and he was standing there holding them,” Randall explained to the Gazette. The captain asked what they were.

“Well, they’re not knitting needles, sir,” Randall replied. The captain took him down to the Officer’s club where a band was rehearsing. They had no drummer. “He told me to get up in back of those drums, and I played swing music two nights a week with the band.”

Fred Randall at the 16th annual Flag Day Ceremony at the Annie Schaeffer Senior Center. Photo courtesy of Peter J. Guidarelli.

Between the Army and National Guard, Fred Randall did over thirty years of proud service. The photo at left shows Fred Randall addressing a group of dignitaries and attendees at the 16th annual Flag Day Ceremony—an event started and maintained by Fred himself. (“I am an ardent volunteer.”) The event is held by Annie Schaeffer Senior Center. (Fred “also did extensive video taping and documenting of the construction of the facility when it was constructed approximately 20 years ago,” his friend Peter J. Guidarelli told us.)

The Senior Center is where Fred still plays with a 15-piece dance band, which plays Glenn Miller and other big band music. “The clientele is mostly, shall I say, elderly.” He is still a proud member of “Musician’s Union Local 85. I joined in 1932 when I was 16.” He can’t help noting that dues were once $3 per year.

He just turned 96 on New Year’s Day and says his doctor told him, “Fred, I don’t know how you do it. I sure can’t find anything wrong.” Maybe it’s those visits to the gym. “I work out like everyone else there,” Fred says.

So it probably makes sense that Fred has big plans. “I want to have a big gig when I turn 100. I’ll invite all the local TV stations. There’ll be saxophones, clarinets, a piano, and four or five guys lined up to take my seat at the drums!” We can’t wait.

“Call me back any time,” says our friendly cover boy. “I’ll be happy to tell you more. If you can catch me.”

Post Cover Boy Turns 96 The Saturday Evening Post

No Hunting – Douglass Crockwell

No Hunting
Douglass Crockwell
October 28, 1939

I’ve always gotten a chuckle from this 1939 cover by artist Douglass Crockwell. No only did this hunter ignore the warning, he’s mad enough to add his own commentary – under the big “NO HUNTING” letters he’s scribbling, “You’re telling me.” Notice that the artist simply signed his covers “Douglass”. This was to avoid confusion with another artist – some guy with a similar last name.

No Hunting – Leslie Thrasher

No Hunting
Leslie Thrasher
September 5, 1914

When this old guy says “No Hunting,” he means it! One might say there have been flagrant violators, since the sign is riddled with bullet holes. We’ve had some cover artists who were wonderful at painting old codgers, and Leslie Thrasher was one of them. This great cover is from 1914.

Springer Spaniels – J.F. Kernan

Springer Spaniels
J.F. Kernan
November 1, 1930

I’d know that white mustache anywhere; this old guy has been in many beautiful J.F. Kernan covers. This time he’s dressed for the hunt in 1930 and picking up the spaniels for the job. When the little guys grow up, they’ll be great hunters, too.

Duck Hunters – Robert Robinson

Duck Hunters
Robert Robinson
December 12, 1911

Now we all know that hunters and fishermen are the most honest and upright of sportsmen. But there’s not only this 1911 cover of an unsuccessful hunter buying someone else’s catch, there’s a cover a few years later depicting a fisherman doing the same thing. Who wants to go home after hours of hunting or fishing with nothing to show for it?

Patient Dog – John Atherton

Patient Dog
John Atherton
December 12, 1942

This is a sweet one. World War II has taken the man of the house away and this beautiful dog is waiting patiently for his master to return and take him hunting. Not all of those waiting at home are two-legged.

Hunting Couple on Walk – J. Hennesy

Hunter Couple on Walk
J. Hennesy
November 1, 1936

It’s a crisp autumn day, and together time for this couple means hunting – or at least walking in the woods. Country Gentleman magazine was a sister publication to the Post for many years and often shared the same artists.

Classic Covers: Fall Hunting Season The Saturday Evening Post

Dating Rule No. 1: If trying to impress a girl with your fancy convertible, be sure a downpour isn’t in the works. In Albert W. Hampson’s 1936 cover, the young lady is clearly not impressed—whatever the make or model—when the rain comes. The expression on the young man’s face clearly says, “I have so blown it.” Well, at least she wasn’t wearing a lovely hat to ruin, such as the pretty lady in Douglass Crockwell’s April 8, 1939, cover. But she’s a clever lass—she’s pulling down the handy Post cover for protection!

Amos Sewell
Boy Walking Under Mother's Raincoat
April 24, 1954

Also showing good ol’ American ingenuity is the young boy on Amos Sewell’s April 24, 1954, cover. Since mom’s raincoat is clear plastic, he figured out a way to walk in the rain, see where he’s going, and keep himself quite dry—well, at least the top half.

Downpours help us discover speed we didn’t know we had. In the 1950s, you not only worried about getting the top up on your convertible when a Midwest storm blew in, you had to scurry to get the laundry off the line. Artist John Falter remembered the “hair-curling lightning and thunder” in that part of the country from his boyhood, and his April 26, 1952, cover shows that Mother Nature clearly plans to take no prisoners. Also dodging raindrops are three charming ladies on John LaGatta’s colorful April 2, 1932, cover.

Rainy Barbeque
Constantin Alajalov
July 2, 1955

Let’s visit the local drive-in. Or is it the local float-in? On John Falter’s May 13, 1961, cover, our real-life hero protects burgers and shakes from the pouring rain as he scurries through the puddles to nourish his hungry troops. Rain or shine, the show must go on! Much more difficult than negotiating puddles to feed the family is cooking food in the rain, as seen in Constantin Alajalov’s July 1951 cover. You would think one of the slackers on the porch would at least hold the umbrella for the poor cook.

John LaGotta
Ladies Running From Rain
April 2, 1932

Sarah Stilwell-Weber, who delighted Post readers in the early 1900s with her beautiful paintings of children, shows a girl walking in the rain, balancing schoolbooks and an umbrella on the October 9, 1909, cover. Having less luck with his umbrella is the gentleman in Robert Robinson’s March 18, 1911, cover. Holding on to your hat and an inside-out umbrella at the same time takes dexterity.

Another trio of beautifully dressed LaGatta ladies are getting splashed by a passing car in the May 20, 1939, cover. But leave it to a Post cover artist to find irony, as in one of our favorite rainy-day covers from October 2, 1948. Three pedestrians are being splashed by a passing truck. But not just any truck, dear friends, a delivery vehicle for the local dry cleaners.

On the bright side, our cover research found someone happy about the storms! Stevan Dohanos’ April 1946 cover shows gentlemen from the New York weather bureau delightedly noting the lightning storm outside. While there’s no fun getting wet, there’s a certain pleasure in getting it right!

Gallery

Classic Covers: Rain, Rain, Go Away! The Saturday Evening Post