June 13 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
Notice in the June 13, 1925, Henry Bulletin: “There will be a clipping party Saturday night, June 13th, t the Hall School House. Ice cream will be sold. Everybody invited. Signed, Pine Hill 4-H Club.” [We did not know what a “clipping party” was, so we looked it up in other Henry Bulletins. We thought we found the answer but, alas, the notice on June 23, 1925, said: “Come to Our Clipping Party. At Ridgeway Virginia High School Auditorium Sat. evening 8 O’clock June 27, 1925. If you don’t know what a Clipping Party is come and see. Buy some ice cream From me and be a real sport. A hearty welcome there will be. Bernice Doyle, President.” Here’s one with some hint, from April 21, 1925: “Barrow’s Mill 4-H club will have a clipping party Saturday night April 25th, 1924. We insure every box clipped, will be well worth the money.” Clipping parties were all the rage in 1925, but don’t appear at any other time in the local newspaper, other than one mention of a different context in the 1960s, when it referred to clipping pictures out of magazines. But this clipping party of 1925 featured boxes, which were mentioned in several notices; fundraising; and nearly always, an ice cream social; and often, playing games.
We took it even further in our hunt. We got close but no clear understanding with a May 12, 1921, article in “The Chat” of Brooklyn, New York: “A clipping party. What is it? A clipping party is that sort of a social where you may be sure of the usual fun, with the added attraction of clips – clips for everybody.”
Ironically, exactly 7 years later to the day “The Chat” appeased our curiosity with this description of a social event of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Queens County Tammany Club Inc.: “The members, previously notified, appeared with vari-sized packages. The contents of each averaged a purchase of ten cents. The parcels were suspended from strings about a table, and members and friends selected one or more paying a nominal fee for the privilege of cutting loose their selections. There was much fun as the contents were revealed. Many were found to be useful while others were arranged in a spirit of fun … A neat sum was realized. This was added to the treasury.”
We feel that the above description would also have described the clipping parties held by the various Henry County 4-H clubs. However, just for the fun of it, we present this article from The Bayonne (New Jersey) Times: “Long-Haired Girls Will Be Given Free ‘Bobs’ at Clipping Party. Novel Affair Will Be Held At Republican Clubhouse Tonight. – Free ‘Bobs’ will be given to a limited number of long-haired girls who are anxious to fall in line with the rest of American girlhood, this evening at a clipping part to be held under the auspice s of the Bayonne Women’s Republican Legue at the Republican clubhouse, Broadway and Twenty-ninth street. Those wishing to be short are invited to be at the clubhouse at about 8 o’clock. A popular local tonsorial artist will perform the sacred rites of the process and the victims may have their choice of the Shingle, the Sheik, the Sheba, the Pineapple or the Sweetheart styles.”
75 years ago – 1950
In Stuart, Mayor-elect Frank C. Hylton was running unopposed for mayor, and there was no competition for council seats either: only incumbents Polo Anglin, J.E. Clark, S.A. Sharp, Thomas J. Tuck and A.D. Hopkins were running.
Elected to Martinsville City Council, out of a field of 10 candidates, were Rieves S Hodnett, J. Robert Walker, Carroll P. Craig, W.T. Turner and Rives S. Brown Jr., all incumbents.
50 years ago – 1975
Lester Home Center sold “Economy Studs” for 69 cents: “We are not proud enough to name these after anybody, but for 69 cents and a lot of wood it’s a pretty good stud.” Globman’s was selling 12- by 12-inch decorator mirror wall tiles at $4.99 to $13.99 for packages of six in choices of designs: squiggle, starburst, rose, marble and more.
25 years ago – 2000
Items left over from the plants that used to be operated by Tultex Corp. were on auction for three days: on the 13th and 14th in Martinsville, at its plant on Commonwealth Boulevard (now the Clocktower office building); and then the 15th in South Boston.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.