American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

"...No, the angle of this photo is too blurry, you can't see Cheryl's face at all...it can't be used for layout..."

"However, this is the closest to Cheryl among all the photos I took, and I was kicked out by them later."

"If it really doesn't work, we have no choice but to abandon this report."

"But if this is the case, there will not be enough material this week. We have been short of typesetting for several weeks in a row. If this continues..."

Clang——

The sound of pushing the door sounded outside, interrupting the discussion in the newspaper office.

"Good morning, Colin."

Looking at Colin who came to the newspaper office, Old John adjusted the brass reading glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose and squeezed out a wrinkled smile on his thin face.

"Good morning, John."

Taking off his clothes and hat and hanging them on the floor stand beside him, Colin nodded to Old John who was sitting in front of the heavy printer. He then moved his eyes to the dull-looking man next to Old John and said with a smile: "...and little John, good morning."

"Good morning...Good morning, Colin."

Hearing Colin's greeting, Little John had a stiff smile on his dull face and responded while grabbing the camera around his neck.

In front of the typesetting machine, seeing Little John's dull reaction, Old John shook his head helplessly, and then said to Colin: "Boss, the sales of "The Courier" have dropped again this week. Newsboys Tell me that more than half of the newspapers we published this time were not sold. In the end, they had to use discount sales to reluctantly send out the remaining newspapers. If this happens again, they will not Delivering newspapers for the Courier again..."

It is a little different from Counter World, although I am still engaged in the news media industry.

But Colin's identity changed from a journalist to the owner of the "Messenger Newspaper" in front of him.

However, it can be seen from Old John's words that the current situation of the newspaper office is not optimistic.

The impact of the Great Depression swept across all walks of life in the United States.

As a news newspaper industry, "messenger newspapers" are naturally not immune, especially with the introduction of the "Child Labor Protection Measures". Progressives advocated the promotion of restrictions on child labor, and successfully raised the working age of newsboys during the Great Depression. This went even further. This hit the survival space of local tabloids like The Courier.

A large number of cheap newsboy workers have been lost, and labor costs for newspaper printing and delivery have further increased.

The sales volume of "The Courier Newspaper", which was not high, became even more sluggish.

"I see."

Without saying anything else, Colin nodded, indicating that he understood the situation.

In fact, Colin is also a little helpless about the current difficulties faced by the "Messenger Newspaper".

Judging from the clues he found after traveling for a week, in fact, the newspaper's operation had already fallen into crisis.

Even, in the drawer of Colin's desk at the newspaper office, a bank mortgage certificate was lying there quietly.

However, under the impact of the Great Depression, a large number of banks were forced to go bankrupt.

Among them was the one where Colin originally planned to mortgage the Courier Newspaper Company.

Colin frowned, walked to his desk and sat down.

With the boss's silence, the atmosphere in the entire newspaper office became a bit uneasy.

Sitting in front of the typesetting machine, Old Johnson pressed the layout button with a worried look. At his current age, once he loses his job at the newspaper, there is no possibility of re-employment.

What's more, the people hit by this unemployment include not only Old John, but also his son Little John.

That's right, John Sr. and John Jr., who work in this "Messenger Newspaper", are actually father and son.

Therefore, once the newspaper company goes bankrupt, the livelihood of their entire family will be implicated.

On the side, feeling the uneasiness emanating from his father, John Sr., John Sr. looked in the direction of Colin and opened his mouth, but in the end he lowered his head silently, with a look of frustration on his face.

"Is there really no other way?"

Sitting at his desk, Colin muttered to himself.

If possible, he naturally does not want the "Messenger Newspaper" to close down.

Especially in the current environment of the Great Depression, once the newspaper company collapses, it will not only be the employees, John and his son, who will lose their jobs, but also the boss Colin himself.

Thinking of this, Colin, who was sitting at his desk, twisted his body unconsciously.

He didn't want to be one of those people wandering the streets of New York.

However, subjective thoughts are one thing, and reality seems to be another.

Now, judging from the increasingly sluggish newspaper sales of "The Courier Newspaper", he seems to be getting closer and closer to a future as a street vagrant.

"no."

Shaking his head and suppressing the uneasy thoughts in his mind, Colin began to think seriously about the solution.

As a newspaper, your options for surviving the current bankruptcy crisis are limited.

Among them, the most reliable way is to increase the sales of newspapers.

For example, major newspapers such as "Fortune" and "The Wall Street Journal" were also affected by the economic impact of the Great Depression in the early stage, resulting in a sharp decline in sales, but they quickly found a solution by publishing employment recruitment information to attract those People who are in urgent need of work to make a living can keep their sales in the eyes of the public.

However, this method is only useful for major newspapers, because they have a large number of contacts and channels in their hands, which they can turn into resources.

For a local tabloid like the Courier, which focuses on the daily life news of New York City residents, there is no such channel.

Of course, no business would be willing to publish recruitment information in a weekly newspaper like theirs.

In fact, the original Courier was also a daily newspaper, but with the impact of the Great Depression, in order to survive, it began to make various attempts, including reducing costs and turning into a weekly newspaper, but the results were minimal.

"... Increase the sales of newspapers."

With a sigh, Colin murmured and turned his eyes to the old newspapers piled in front of his desk.

As the Courier was unsalable, the old newspapers piled on his desk became more and more.

He casually pulled out a newspaper and opened it, and a report on the premiere of the silent film "City Lights" appeared in front of Colin.

As a silent film directed and starred by comedy master Charlie Chaplin.

The filming process of "City Lights" was not smooth, especially with the emergence of sound films, which had a huge impact on Chaplin's film career. In order to complete this film, Chaplin spent a total of three years.

It is said that Chaplin was not too sure about the box office of "City Lights" at that time.

However, unexpectedly, the movie was very popular as soon as it was released.

On the day of the premiere, the theater was surrounded by fans, and the windows of the surrounding shops were broken by the crowded crowd, so that the local police were sent to maintain order. It should be noted that the time when the movie was released was the most serious period of the economic crisis in the Great Depression in the United States. The success of "City Lights" in such an unfavorable environment is enough to prove the excellence of Chaplin and the movie itself.

It is worth mentioning that on the day of the premiere, Einstein was also invited to attend the premiere of the movie and was moved to tears at the end of the movie.