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.


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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.

ROOTIN' TOOTIN' NEVER SHOOTIN' Cowboy

Usually you find photos of kids in cowboy outfits pointin' guns at the camera. I do believe this is the first little singin' cowboy I ever found. A subcategory for sure of the "rootin' tootin' gun in your face" category.


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The TONY LIMARDI BAND

Both of these photos come from the Betty Schnabel estate. I'm guessing they belonged to her father.

There's no information given about when they were taken, just that they were both of the Tony Limardi Band and/or Dance Orchestra.

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Tony Limardi Dance Orchestra, 76 Inf. Div., Camp McCoy, Wisconsin


Tony Limardi Band, U.S.O., Sparta, Wisconsin

There's always been one thing I feel I missed out on being born when I was and that was the opportunity to hear the big bands play. It's the music I grew up with and the bands my mother went to see. Sadly you can't even find it on the radio anymore. For a long time there was a station in San Francisco that played the music, but I think the station eventually became an internet station. Admittedly those who remember the bands are passing away, but I hate to think the same will happen to the music.



This is my submission to this weeks Sepia Saturday "let's put on a show" theme.

LAURA Playing Her Harp in Her Boudoir

Our final glimpse into Laura's life. A boudoir shot. Did she have two harps or did she have to drag this one through the house? Was the house single floor or did she bump this thing up the stairs?

So we leave Laura alone with her thoughts and her harp. Well, she's not really alone, is she? The photographer is there and most likely her mother...and the person shining the bright light.


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Now who in the heck were these taken for? Who was it that her mother wanted to impress? Create your own story.

LAURA Playing the Mandora in the Living Room

And Laura continues to play and pose. Here she is, again in the living room, playing another instrument. This time it's a mandora.

So, what do you think these photos were for? Was her mother in pursuit of a suitor for Laura? I'm baffled by Laura moving around the house posing for photos with her instruments.

As I've said in a previous post, I hope she played the instruments well. I can easily imagine some visitor coming to the home, the mother bustling about saying, "Laura, play something nice for Mr. Butterkins." And then turning to Mr. Butterkins and saying, "Let me get you some tea Mr. Butterkins while Laura serenades you." And did he smile weakly, a quiet pained expression, as Laura moved from instrument to instrument making sounds usually only heard in cat fights, but looking very pretty doing it? And did he finally just say, "Ummmmm...I'm actually here to talk to talk to you about life insurance."


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LAURA Playing the Violin in the Living Room with Mother Reading

Laura's mother is the one who wrote everything on the back of all of the photos. She seems to have adored Laura. Let's hope Laura adored her back.

This is another view of the living room from the opposite direction.


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And here, the only shot of the mother.

LAURA Playing the Harp in the Living Room

And so we meet Laura. I have no information about who this woman was, but she played a variety of instruments. Whether she played them well...I don't know. I have a story in mind that she was doted upon by her family, but really had no talent. You know those sorts of parents. They say their child is a genius and no child outshines them in art/music/sports, etc. Was Laura a child like that? Or was Laura a very gifted woman? We'll never know.


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LAURA'S Living Room

In this living room, from long ago, a young woman named Laura, with musical inclinations, played various instruments for her mother's pleasure.


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More to come.