Click on image to see it larger.
8/31/13
8/30/13
8/28/13
8/27/13
8/26/13
8/24/13
The GOLDEN BOY
Another tiny tintype of the little boy featured in yesterday's post. Slightly older, and still a beautiful boy. I'm fascinated by the damage to the image. It wears its age well, a lot better than moi.
8/23/13
FRAMED in gold
For anyone familiar with my recent posts you know that a few weeks ago I purchased a gold mine of photos. I lucked out at an extremely wonderful estate sale when I scored several photo albums, thousands of slides, and a young girls scrapbook. I figured there had to be something within one of the albums to go with this weeks Sepia Saturday prompt. I went with golden frame instead of what was within the frame and a count of three that go together.
What follows are all very tiny tintypes. We are the first people to ever see these images large. All of these folks are grouped together on one page with no information given as to their relationship to each other.
This golden fellow measures 15/16” x 1.25” including the frame.
Sisters, cousins, or just friends who all had their photos taken on the same day by the same photographer? A day out together filled with flirting, giggling, and some fine pastries? We can send them wherever we imagine.
Deconstructing THE OFFICE: The Glass Wall
It wasn't a glass ceiling that kept them back, it was a glass wall that allowed them to see what they were excluded from.
Click on image to see it larger.
And here we have the puzzle put together.
Click on image to see it larger.
8/22/13
8/21/13
8/20/13
8/19/13
8/18/13
8/16/13
The GHOSTLY PICNIC
This real photo post card is one of my favorite images from my collection. A mistaken double exposure or a purposeful shot? It is a ghostly picnic.
I always think of act three from Thorton Wilder's play Our Town when I look at it.
The Stage Manager opens the act with a lengthy monologue emphasizing eternity, and introduces us to the cemetery outside of town and the characters who died in the nine years since Act Two: Mrs Gibbs (pneumonia, while traveling), Wally Webb (burst appendix, while camping), Mrs Soames, and Simon Stimson (suicide by hanging), among others. We meet the undertaker, Joe Stoddard, and a young man Sam Craig who has returned home for his cousin's funeral. We learn that his cousin is Emily, who died giving birth to her and George's second child. The funeral ends and Emily emerges to join the dead. Then Mrs. Gibbs tells her that they must wait and forget the life that came before, but Emily refuses. Despite the warnings of Simon, Mrs. Soames, and Mrs. Gibbs, Emily decides to return to Earth to re-live just one day, her 12th birthday. She finally finds it too painful, and realizes just how much life should be valued, "every, every minute." Poignantly, she asks the Stage Manager whether anyone realizes life while they live it, and is told, "No. The saints and poets, maybe – they do some." She then returns to her grave, beside Mrs. Gibbs, watching impassively as George kneels weeping at her graveside. The Stage Manager concludes the play, reflecting on the probable lack of life beyond Earth, and wishes the audience a good night. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)Did these young ladies and gentlemen mysteriously disappear following their gathering? Was there an accident? Perhaps a drowning from an overturned boat on the nearby lake? A vehicle overturned killing all aboard? Did they forever haunt the place where they last knew happiness together? We'll never know, but the image is certainly open to interpretation.
This is my Sepia Saturday contribution for the week.
8/15/13
SQUARE SALLY with an Alley
If Sponge Bob Square Pants can be the host of a kids tv show why not an apartment building? What about Square Sally with an Alley?
Click on image to see it larger.
This fetching young lady with the antennae boldly sticking up from the top of her head just screams out for a theme song. Make sure it's suitable for 1955.
8/14/13
Dave and Pat from GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA in 1955
A string of pearls and a man were about all you needed in the 1950s...or so I've been told.
Click on image to see it larger.
8/13/13
DRESS FOR SUCCESS on a flight in 1955
Next time you're on a plane take a look at the people sitting around you. For that matter, take a look at yourself. How are you and your fellow travelers dressed?
Click on image to see it larger.
Now take a moment and imagine it's 1955. Those flip-flops worn by the guy in the shorts and worn-out stained Megadeath t-shirt would never have made it onto a flight. Is this a good or bad thing?
8/11/13
Waiting to TAKE FLIGHT from San Francisco in 1955
Another Kodachrome shot from 1955. This has the caption "Chas. Perkins at Mills Field in San Francisco. Nov 1955."
Click on image to see it larger.
Mills Field is what the San Francisco airport was called when it was first established in 1927. Why this photographer was still calling it Mills Field in 1955 has me confused.
The airport opened on May 7, 1927 on 150 acres (61 ha) of cow pasture. The land was leased from Ogden L. Mills who had leased it from his grandfather Darius O. Mills. It was named Mills Field Municipal Airport until 1931, when it became San Francisco Municipal Airport. "Municipal" was replaced by "International" in 1955. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
8/9/13
AUTOMOBILES, vehicles, cars, jalopies, tin lizzies, clunkers, rustbuckets, wheels, and for some, lemons
All of these images come from a large collection of photos I purchased last week. All relate to one woman and her family. Some are friends in cars, others are ancestors. I only know the names of a few of them thanks to captions written on the cardboard holder of a few slides.
As to what the cars are, I'll leave that to those who need a challenge. I only recognize one.
In the U. S. we were known for our large cars. My folks had an Oldsmobile that was so big I felt it needed an anchor. It steered like a ship on mild seas. Parallel parking it, even with the power steering, was a nightmare. I felt like I needed a tug to get me into some spots.
This is Fred in Oakland, California in 1955.
Click on image to see it larger.
This is Eddie in Oakland, California in 1955.
Click on image to see it larger.
This is Dave in Glendale, California in 1955
Click on image to see it larger.
This is Betty and Joe. I love how her "accessory" is color coordinated with the car.
Click on image to see it larger.
In 1975 my father sponsored a fellow from the UK to come and work for him. He was very excited to be in the U. S. and wanted a big ol' American car. So in the evenings we'd go used car shopping. He found an old white Ford convertible that he loved. To him it was new and exotic. To me it was a beached whale, but I loaned him the money to make the purchase. When he drove it back to my folk's house they both had to bite their tongues. He'd bought a piece of junk, but he loved it. That car never did run right, but he never admitted to my dad it was a lemon. In the meantime I had to wait a few years before I even got the first loan payment.
All of the cars above were on the roads during my lifetime. The next two...not so much.
Click on image to see it larger.
And my favorite with the woman who reminds me of a Japanese bride in her full kimono.
Click on image to see it larger.
I could go on for pages with more images of cars. Cars play a very big part in vernacular photography. A purchase of a car is always a big event and we often have to take photos of them. There could be an entire category of collecting just purchasing photos of cars with people in them. But I'll save that for another time.
And so this is my contribution this week to Sepia Saturday.
8/7/13
The INNOCENCE of BASEBALL
Professional sports are ugly. They're a big business full of egos and corruption. They sell a product based on lies. The saddest part are the kids who follow the sports and the "stars" who are overpaid and too often void of basic moral standards. It's not going to change no matter who they point the finger at. It's a business and it's sad.
All of this of course says nothing about the actual sports. The sports can still be played for fun and not profit, their purest form. But let's admit that even Little League games can be full of ego and ugly behavior, mostly by the parents who themselves have forgotten it's just a game and for some reason see their kid out on the field as a victim or, in some maniacal way, playing at the level of the "show."
Here we have a group of guys, probably sometime after 1911, who formed a team.
Click on image to see it larger.
I'm curious about the two players dressed in uniforms. Were they on pro teams and just playing a pickup game with these guys? We'll never know because there's no information written on the back. They look like old fashioned baseball cards. I once worked for a fellow who bought a Honus Wagner card with Wayne Gretzky. I think it was at that moment I understood that some ephemera could be worth a lot of money; just a simple piece of paper.
And the only way I dated this image was by looking at the logo on the bat on the left. It was made by J. F. Hillerich & Sons in Louisville, Kentucky, famous for making the Louisville Slugger.
Whenever I find vintage photos of baseball “teams” they’re always adults; I never find photos of kids with teammates. This isn’t to say I don’t find them with the tools of baseball. In one of my maternal grandfather’s class photos he is holding a baseball glove sometime around 1910. I never saw this photo until after he'd passed so I never got to hear stories of the games he played.
8/6/13
Who was HUGH KENNY?
I have a series of photos of Hugh Kenny on his wedding day. This is NOT his bride. I'm guessing this is at the bachelor party and the little lady was a guest. No make that a gift since she's wearing a tag with his name on her chest.
Click on image to see it larger.
There's a story here, probably a pretty good one. Let's hope he had a good one to tell his bride.
8/5/13
THE CAPTAIN without Tennille
Apparently the Captain, of the musical duo the Captain & Tennille, has been around a lot longer than we imagined. I give proof with this vintage snapshot from the late 1940s to mid-50s.
Or maybe it's Randy Newman.
The truth is I have no idea who this jaunty sailor is. He is just one of several thousand photos I acquired in the past few days. It was a bonus weekend.
8/4/13
HILO THEATER in the 1940s
The war in the Pacific was on and the Hilo Theater on the Big Island of Hawaii was open to provide people a way to get the war off their minds. As you can see there are several servicemen at the box office buying tickets to see Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim. This movie came out in 1942.
Click on image to see it larger.
You can see another photo of the theater here at Kamaaina56. He provides the following information:
The old Hilo Theater opened 1940 and survived the 1946 Alaskan tsunami but sadly closed after being engulfed in the 1960 Chilean tsunami. (SOURCE: Kamaaina56)I remember when the 1960 tusnami hit and the beautiful park in Hilo was destroyed. I'd been visiting it just a few months before it happened.
Just so the thought of the war wasn't too far away, the theater was also an air raid shelter.
Click on image to see it larger.
So let's get a feeling for what these guys were going to see.
And if you don't have time to wait around until the next movie, I Married a Witch, arrives on Wednesday, you can view it now.
8/1/13
FISHERMEN'S GROTTO at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco
I'm guessing this vintage snapshot of Fishermen's Grotto was taken in the late 1940s to mid-50s. Someone who knows the models of the old cars might be able to narrow it down.
Click on image to see it larger.
This restaurant is still in the same location.
Fishermen's Grotto opened in 1935 as the first sit down restaurant on San Francisco's world famous Fisherman's Wharf. Founded by Mike Geraldi, an immigrant fisherman from Sicily, as an avenue to deliver his fresh catch to the local population. The restaurant features Inside and Outside Dining. While indulging on your favorite seafood dish, enjoy the breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Russian Hill and the Fishing Fleet and Harbor. Four generations of the Geraldi family have been serving only the freshest Italian-style seafood since. (SOURCE: Fishermen's Grotto)
Click on image to see it larger.
You can read the history of the place here. I haven't been there since probably the early 1970s. There was another restaurant I preferred which no longer exists. I tend to avoid Fishermen's Wharf because of the abundance of tourists.
.JPG)
(SOURCE: Exploring the World One Day at a Time)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
