So what's the story with these two? Do these people look happy? Are they carefree travelers? I'll leave that up to you, but I can tell you each time I look at it I make up a new story.
The car was licensed in "Heart of Dixie"Alabama. I'm thinking they're probably drinking out of Dixie Cups. Do you think if she'd been named Dixie she would have gotten a bit more respect from him other than being thought of as an arm rest on a lumpy sofa? I'm sorry, but it's just so disheartening to see her lean into it as if she's used to this pose.
The photo is small and when I first looked at it I didn't even notice she was a piece of furniture. They just looked like very ordinary people who'd stopped by the side of the road on a Sunday drive. Perhaps they stopped at one of the springs you used to find alongside two lane roads. My maternal grandfather was great at knowing where all of those were. He was a country boy and was convinced spring water, even alongside a highway, was the best. A pipe coming out of the side of a hill with water coming out of it was always worth a stop. So we always carried at least one cup in the car. I remember we had a collapsable metal one. It's around the house somewhere. We also had little plastic cups that stacked inside each other getting smaller and smaller like a nested matroushka doll. I now have one of those in my car...just in case I see a pipe coming out of a hillside...with runoff.
Anyway, here we have this, dare I say it, odd couple. And the thing I always conveniently forget is that they weren't alone. There was at least one other person in that car...the photographer. So there were at least 3 of them out for a drive. When they all got back in the car were they cheerful, rested from their stop, looking forward to the rest of the day? Leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Maybe in this case that's a good thing.
Posts
Maybe it's his wife taking the picture and Dixie is her sister? Funny how his head fades out a bit.
ReplyDeleteGood point. There might be a whole pack of people standing next to the photographer out of view. Just a brother and sister getting their photo taken. We'll just never know. Don't think I'll ever have anybody step forward to claim these two.
ReplyDeleteNot likely, but he does have on spiffy shoes.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought. Spiffy spectators. Perhaps a traveling shoe salesman.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just read the following at Wikipedia about spectators which makes this evening funnier:
ReplyDelete"Fred Astaire wore them to dance in, and they became the signature shoes of jazz musicians, gangsters and zoot-suiters through the early 1940’s."
So is he a jazz musician, gangster, or zoot-suiter?
Any reason he can't be all three? On closer look, maybe she's his aunt or mother, she's probably older than we first thought and he could be a scowling 30.
ReplyDeleteOkay, her name is Ma Dixie and she and her sons have just robbed a bank. She drives the getaway car and brings refreshments.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Perfect! Wait, I saw that movie! Shelley Winters with Robert DeNiro as a young junkie. Fabulous and horrible at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI never saw that one. A Roger Corman movie called "Bloody Mama". Real drive-in flik.
ReplyDeleteExactly, a method acting nightmare, but worth a Netflix rental because the cast is incredible.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your exchanged messages on developing Ma Dixie.
ReplyDeletebefore all of that I was going to say that they were wearing their "Sunday-go-to-Meetin'' clothes.
You noted his shoes, but she also is wearing her nice new white sandals. d
Well you know how there's always a grand slightly off the axis story to go with all of these photos. They go way beyond just a little piece of old paper. We know that all too well.
ReplyDelete