Jewish Activities in the Metropolitan Area

Gentlemen may prefer bonds but O. C. Lightner, director of the National Hobby Show to be presented at the RCA Building from April 25 to 30, believes that hobbies are a safer investment.

“Before the depression hobby collectors were known as nuts,” declared Mr. Lightner in an interview at his office in the Hotel Taft yesterday. “Now they have the laugh on the other fellows. Their rare treasures have increased in value while the hard-boiled business men have lost their shirts in the market. That proves that it pays to be whimsical.”

The hobby exhibit aims to display collections of all kinds both from amateur and commercial sources all over the country. Every type of collector will be represented except bill collectors.

There will be displays of the usual variety of antique furniture, coins, books, stamps, firearms, ship models and autographs. Beside such oddities as assortments of queer knobs, ancient cow bells, curious cacti, authentic meteorites, teeth from animals all over the world, early cigarette cards, harmonicas, dime novels, circus reviews, old lead soldiers, beer labels, street car transfers, cigar bands and matchbox labels.

“Do you go in for busts?” asked Mr. Lightner. “That is, collect them,” he amended lightly. “If so you will find many interested buyers at the show. The most desirable are rare busts of Abraham Lincoln.”

The director of the exhibit, an amiable middle-aged gentleman with a broad kindly face and a boyish smile, insists that his work keeps him perennially youthful. He is the editor of the magazine Hobbies, directed three national hobby shows in Chicago in 1930, 1931 and 1932, and does quite a bit of collecting for himself in the field of ancient lamps. He is well versed in the lore of hobbies and is an authority on the achievements of its numerous devotees.

JEWISH HOBBY RIDERS

The reporter asked him to name some notable Jewish collectors. Mr. Lightner gave first place to the world renowned bibliophile, Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach. He also mentioned I. S. Seidman of New York City, proud possessor of the most valuable collection of early New York historical material; S. L. Curtis of New York City, owner of some of the rarest antique pianos and ancient instruments; Theodore Steinway of the firm of Steinway Pianos, and Stephen Rich of Verona, New Jersey, owners of exceptional collections of stamps, and Moritz Wormser, a New York man, famous for his coins.

Among some of our odd Jewish hobbyists are Mark Haas of New York City, who has gathered twenty-five thousand match box labels; I. S. Seidman, a collector of hundreds of old toy penny savings banks, and Nat Fleisher of New York, who hoards prize fight material, championship belts and prize fight pictures.

“But the one who takes the cake,” as Mr. Lightner puts it, “is M. Sidus, a Brooklyn inhabitant. He was famous during childhood as an infant prodigy. He entered Harvard at the age of nine and graduated at thirteen. Doctors and scientists studied him carefully, examined his mental reactions and marvelled at his prodigious knowledge. He now makes a living by collecting street car transfers which he sells to juvenile addicts in the game.”

Such a startling revelation of the idiosyncracy of a genuis naturally led the reporter to inquire whether women fell as violent a prey to this habit as men do.

THE WOMAN’S ANGLE

“Only thirty-three per cent of the collectors are women,” announced Mr. Lightner, “and they satisfy their instinct for loot by saner methods. At best they gather such mild articles as glass, china, and dolls, Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both show a forgivable tendency toward storing away examples of aviation music. Mrs. Eli Daiches of Chicago is noted for her collection of Palestine material of great literary and historical value. There is only one lady, whose name I cannot recall, who actually indulges a queer taste but a remunerative one. For many years she picked up here and there every cartoon she could find of Uncle Sam from Colonial days to the present. Her scrap book now represents a remarkable satirical history of the United States in cartoons which is worth thousands of dollars.”

An inquiry as to how hobby collecting affects character brought a painful confession from Mr. Lightner. It appears that early illusions have been cruelly shattered.

“I used to boast,” said he sadly, “that hobby collecting keeps people out of mischief. But time and experience tell a different story. I myself know of instances where people were arrested for stealing treasures which they could not afford. Since then I have been forced to alter my original theory. Collectors do stray off the ‘straight and narrow’ the same as other normal people do.”

It took the honest director a few moments to recover his poise after his sorry avowal. Then he replied to a query as to the number of contributors to the show.

“About five hundred collectors have already applied,” said Mr. Lightner, “and fifty per cent of them are from Greater New York alone. A notable part of the exhibit will be the Ship Model Makers Club of which President Roosevelt is a member.”

Asked about a good motto for the coming show, Mr. Lightner suggested: “Ride your hobbies ladies and gentlemen, and ## into money and world fame.”