ERASERS WANTED FOR SKYWRITERS

Evening Post, Issue 86, 11 April 1936, Page 21

ERASERS WANTED FOR SKYWRITERS

The skywriting finger writes, plenty these days over Gotham's towers, but lately it has ./iio't been spelling very well, and the aerial typographical errors are causing no end of consternation; says" the "New York Times."

Allan; J. Cameron, president of a national skywriting concern, is not particularly worried about the aerial misspellings,. but t admits that on several occasions he has found himself on a rooftop trying to yell at an aviator 15,000 feet overhead to tell him that he forgot to cross the final "t" and not to come down till he had.

Recently Mr. Cameron and a group of officials of" a manufacturing company were happily watching the name of the company's product being emblazoned in the' Heavens in block letters a'mile high

The skywriter got blackboard fright and Jeft,.one: letter-out of the first trade *word,i>:leayifrg nothing- but/ a girl's name hanging over the Empire State Building.; .

Trie were about to cancel the contract when the aviator realised his mistake. With one fell swoop he dived and flew a line right through the girl's name and began all over again. . :

This antic so delighted Manhattanites that during that day .Mr. Cameron's office received; more than1 300 telephoned wisecracks from citizens, most of whom' suggested that, erasers be attached "-to. the aeroplanes'.; tails.

1 Before that, during the regime of former Mayor Hylan, a citywide jubilee celebration was-held, and as thousands gazed heavenwards,' six aviators who had practised weeks for the event, expertly spelled out jubilee with two "l's." Mr. Cameron says he was pretty embarrassed.

The skywriters had a nice problem of international etiquette to wrestle with when the Prince of Wales on one of his visits to the United States; landed off Long Island.

' They had planned to write "Hello, Wales," but the British Consul-General thought perhaps "Welcome to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales" would be better.

"When I told him that all that would take six writing aeroplanes, and would : stretch from Montauk to., the Battery," Mr. Cameron recalled, "he said'it was extraordinary, and to use our own judgment. '

"We were pretty worried until the weatherman solved it for us. It rained the day of the Prince's arrival, and we couldn't have written anything

anyway."

The difficulty of skywriting, according to Mr. Cameron, is that the aviator has to write upside down and backward. Why? .

: "Take this piece of paper," he said. "Now write your name. Now look at the paper through the bottom side. See ? The letters are reversed."