LITTLE PINK and blue HOUSE FOR YOU AND ME

This sweet little house was, or possibly still is, somewhere in Minnesota don't cha know. I have to give the owner a standing ovation for going to this extreme in painting their house. Not satisfied with the cookie color houses nearby, they took it upon themselves to make a sweet statement. I dare say it's "precious" and that's not a word I even use for babies. Make sure to look at it larger so you see the little pink and blue picket fence. Is it precious? You betcha!


Click on image to see it larger.

NAME THE PLANE

This plane is a mystery to me. I don't actually own the photo, it was sent to me by mistake and I have since returned it. However, I'm curious as to what this plane is. Anyone have any ideas?

UPDATE: Thanks to Intense Guy the answer is North American Sabreliner.

Anyone have any ideas about the black vertical and horizontal lines?

Click on the image to see it larger.

LOUISE BIGELOW SCHNABEL plays the Greek

With this weeks theme at Sepia Saturday being about music I had to really think about what I had which might fit the bill. The Sepia image provided show people enjoying music probably a good forty to fifty years after my images.

These images come from an album purchased last year at the Betty Louis Schnabel estate. On May 12th of next month it will be one year since Betty passed. I never knew the woman, only one of many to pick over her things at an estate sale. Sometimes I do find myself feeling a bit like a vulture swooping in to purchase someone's memories, but I tell myself I'm giving them a good home.

Betty's mother was a musician. The only way I know this is from a line in Betty's obituary:

Betty's soul was music. An accomplished pianist, she added spark and life to many of her lodge gatherings as well as with family and friends. The love of music was encouraged by her mother, a professional musician, who joined her in many a piano duet.

These photos show, I believe, Betty's mother, Louise Bigelow Schnabel, performing at the Greek Theater at the University of California in Berkeley. Louise is the one at the piano playing the cello (Thanks to Mike at TempSenzaTempo). In the final shot she is the one in the middle of the three women. I'll admit I'm making a guess and feel the odds are in my favor because of how much her mother looked like Betty.


Click on image to see it larger.


Click on image to see it larger.


Click on image to see it larger.

I have no idea when these images were taken, but I'm guessing in the teens. Louise Bigelow Schnabel will now become part of known history.

The Buckaroo and Buckarette STAGECOACH HOLD-UP!

This photo was originally supposed to be in my book Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes until I saw it in the proof. The image just didn't work, the details got lost. So I replaced it with the image of the boy with the fort. But I love this shot. You are only seeing a portion of it. I wanted to highlight the details of this diorama probably built by some kid in their backyard. I'm very glad someone had the good sense to take a photo of it. I so want to be a kid again playing in the backyard with my imagination running wild.

Enjoy!


Click on image to see it larger.

JUMBLED MESS for a Buckaroo and Buckarette

Mike Brubaker from TempoSenzaTempo made a comment yesterday about the image of the boy playing with his fort, indians, and cowboys. The problem he pointed out was that the toys always ended up in a jumbled mess with a little "cross pollination" going on with all the little plastic figures. I think the photo below illustrates his point. This image did not make it into Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes.


Click on image to see it larger.

MARX TOYS for Buckaroos and Buckarettes

When I was around 5 or 6 I remember the boy across the street had the Roy Rogers Chuck Wagon made by the Louis Marx Company. I loved that chuck wagon. I coveted that chuck wagon. I STILL want that chuck wagon.

The set came with all sorts of accessories, including all the pots and pans that were kept in the back of the wagon. You can see one here on ebay (the link of course will not work once the item is sold). Marx made a lot of toys I either wanted or in some cases had.

Among the most enduring Marx creations were a long series of boxed "playsets" throughout the 1950s and 1960s based on television shows and historical events. These include "Walt Disney's Davy Crockett At The Alamo", "Gunsmoke", "Wagon Train", "Battle Of The Blue and Grey", "The Revolutionary War", "Tales Of Wells Fargo", "The Untouchables", "Robin Hood", "The Battle Of The Little Big Horn", "Arctic Explorer", "Ben Hur", "Fort Apache", "Johnny Tremain", and many others.

Playsets included highly detailed plastic figures and accessories, many with some of the toy world's finest tin lithography. A Marx playset box was invariably bursting with contents, yet very few were ever priced above the average of $4–$7. Greatly expanded sets, such as "Giant Ben Hur" sold for $10 to $12 in the early 1960s. This pricing formula adhered to the Marx policy of "more for less" and made the entire series attainable to most customers for many years. Original sets are highly prized by baby boomer collectors to this day. Collector's books titled "Boy Toys" and "The Big Toy Box At Sears" feature the original advertisements for many of these sets and are well worth having as a visual reference. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

This little fella with his fort, wagons, cowboys, and indians was in seventh heaven and obviously one of his parents wanted to capture what he'd created. He too is in my book Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes.

Buckaroos and Buckarettes - HERO OR SIDEKICK?

If you were a buckaroo or buckarette as a kid were you the hero or the sidekick? In other words, were you Roy Rogers or Gabby Hayes? I think most of us probably were a bit of both, depending on the game at hand.

One of my favorite sidekicks was Jack Elam in Support Your Local Sheriff. It was a farce, but it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

The photo below is also from Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes. I think of this little fella as a perfect sidekick.

HARVESTING THE CROPS and Buckaroos and Buckarettes

My submission for this week's Sepia Saturday is a rather lovely scene of "gardening" on a larger scale than the Sepia photo. Sadly the photo is not in good shape, but it still reminds me of a sketch that might have been done for an old painting. I have no idea where it might have been taken, but imagine the architecture of the houses would be a good clue. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Click on the image to see it larger.


Click on image to see it larger.

Buckaroos and Buckarettes

The second part of my post is a repost from a couple days ago introducing the latest book in my Tattered and Lost series.

Do you have memories of riding the range though you never left your neighborhood? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Do you remember thinking you could vanquish the bad guys with a song in your heart and a six-gun on your hip? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Do you remember singing Happy Trails and knowing all the words? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Introducing the latest volume in the Tattered and Lost series of vintage snapshot books available at Amazon. Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes should easily fill that void of forgotten memories when all kids dreamt of joining their heroes Roy, Gene, Hoppy, and Annie. You'll smile, you'll laugh, you'll wonder how you ever lost the dream.

Need a special gift for someone? Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes might just be what you're looking for. Sure to start conversations for people of any age.

104 pages with 94 photos, available at Amazon. Photos from the early part of the 20th Century through the early 1960s.

BUCKAROOS AND BUCKARETTES

Do you have memories of riding the range though you never left your neighborhood? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Do you remember thinking you could vanquish the bad guys with a song in your heart and a six-gun on your hip? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Do you remember singing Happy Trails and knowing all the words? You might have been a buckaroo or buckarette.

Introducing the latest volume in the Tattered and Lost series of vintage snapshot books available at Amazon. Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes should easily fill that void of forgotten memories when all kids dreamt of joining their heroes Roy, Gene, Hoppy, and Annie. You'll smile, you'll laugh, you'll wonder how you ever lost the dream.

Need a special gift for someone? Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes might just be what you're looking for. Sure to start conversations for people of any age.

104 pages with 94 photos, available at Amazon. Photos from the early part of the 20th Century through the early 1960s.