DUSTIN HOFFMAN...Time Traveling Celebrity

It's been awhile since I found a Time Traveling Celebrity, but this was worth the wait.

I give you Dustin Hoffman caught as a time traveler.

If you aren't aware of my "theory" you've been missing out on certain facts of life. It's one of the special privileges celebrities have that we lowly peons never even get a chance to explore. They can pop in and out of time at will. The only trace of such activity is if a photo is taken when they're there and not here. Oh I'm sure if caught they simply claim to be studying for a part, immersing themselves in their role. I'm still waiting to find out what Will Ferrell was doing in drag and in my grandmother's photo album.

So where was Dustin and was he just taking a quiet vacation or immersed in preparing for a part? A film still to be made?

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

An American Dream is the latest book in my series of vernacular photography books. The American dream of owning a home through vintage vernacular photographs. The focus is on the people who lived within the homes as well as the varied architecture from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

Time-Traveling Celebrity: DAVID LETTERMAN

Oh sure, Letterman looks like Santa now with the full beard and balding head, but surely you remember the younger Dave. You know, the time-traveling celebrity Dave who served in World War II.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

NOT George Jessel Playing Cards, but...

I should be keeping this image for next Christmas season, but I just love it so much I have to show it now. This is an image given to me by my best friend for Christmas.


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A time-traveling-celebrity for sure if you remember George Jessel. If you don't remember George, well...I'm sorry. George was old school vaudeville who became famous for being a toastmaster at all sorts of events.



And for those who think of radios as something the size of their iPhone or smaller, take a look at the behemoth in the background. That's a radio that would be full of beautifully glowing tubes. When you turned it on it came alive after warming up.

ANNIE HALL down on the farm

Now I'm not claiming that this is another time-traveling-celebrity, but this might be the first shot of someone from long ago workin' the Annie Hall look. A relative of Diane Keaton? An inspiration?





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Deconstructing the whole SHEBANG: Part 7

Warning! Time Traveling Celebrity!

I've written about this before; celebrities who time travel in hopes of perhaps doing some research for a role or just a chance to get away from modern day paparazzi. The jig is up thanks to a trusty old Kodak Brownie. Anne Heche has been found in a group shot of women from long ago. At least she chose to time travel as an actor. The same cannot be said for Will Ferrell in drag in my grandmother's photo album.

Click on the word "Theatrical" in the labels below to see the previous posts of women in costumes. Click on "Time-Traveling-Celebrity" to see a few more celebs caught in old vintage snapshots.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN

I have done this before and will probably do it again until someone comes along screaming, "STOP THE MADNESS!" which will most likely just encourage me to do it even more.

I'm talking about taking a photo apart and putting it back together, deconstructing. This time I may prove more annoying than usual because I have four...I said FOUR class photos dating from 1942 to '46; 1943 is missing. In some photos the same children appear, but I have yet to spend any time really looking at their little faces to determine exactly how many made it to all four photos. Mind you, each photo has over 30 faces from which I can annoy you.

My computer dictionary defines deconstruct as:

analyze (a text or a linguistic or conceptual system) by deconstruction, typically in order to expose its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert its apparent significance or unity.

Doesn't that fit an elementary school photo? Am I not exposing its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions?

Oh I may be headed down a path no blogger should go...readers running in the opposite direction, unable to bear another shot of a smiling or confused kid. If you are brave, scroll down and continue.

I give you a few boys from the 1942 Pala School photo. These kids would now be in their late 70s; a story to be told in each face. I'm thinking boy number three grew up saying, "I see dead people." Maybe it's just me and I'm betting a whole slew of folks have no idea what I'm talking about.

Kids are just kids no matter the decade (or if they're time traveling celebrities).

DOT JONES, Gleeful Time-Traveling-Celebrity

If you don't watch the tv show Glee you can skip through all of this text because it probably won't make any sense. Actually it's not going to make any sense no matter how you come at it.

This photo is from Bert's collection. I was going through a stack of photos last night and suddenly noticed, at least in my mind (such as it is), that this woman was possibly a Time-Traveling-Celebrity! I've posted about this before. It's one of the special privileges celebrities have that we lowly peons never even get a chance to explore. They can pop in and out of time at will. The only trace of such activity is if a photo is taken when they're there and not here. Oh I'm sure if caught they simply claim to be studying for a part, immersing themselves in their role. I'm still waiting to find out what Will Ferrell was doing in drag and in my grandmother's photo album.

This is my latest discovery. Actress Dot Jones, most recently starring as Coach Beiste on Glee. It looks to me that she did a little time traveling back to the late 1890s or early 20th century. Just a day of getting away from the daily grind of Hollywood or role researching? We will probably never know.

To see other celebrities caught out of place, out of time...

TIME-TRAVELING-celebrities

NEWS or noise?

Time-traveling WILL FERRELL

There's a pictures of PARIS HILTON IN HER ATTIC...

And no, I'm not crazy. I just play one online.

There's a picture of PARIS HILTON IN HER ATTIC...

It's been some time since I posted any time-traveling-celebrities. Here's one that hasn't changed in nearly 100 years. Same pose, same coy look. I give you Paris Hilton on the beach, time-traveling-celebrity. Was she as annoying then as she is now? Did she ever have a purpose or has she sashayed through time doing the same ol' shtick. I'll let you decide.

 

Time-traveling WILL FERRELL

With all the bad news each day, inside and outside the walls of my world, I'm looking for moments of pure silliness. I give you such a moment. There's no monetary value to this shot. It's not a work of art. What it is is another example of my time-traveling-celebrity theory. Once again a celebrity has been able to cross back in time and got caught doing it. We mere mortals have never been given the keys to this form of travel so until we are I think we need to call out examples when stars are caught. I give you Will Ferrell in drag, time-traveling-celebrity.

I will now go back to my regularly scheduled daily program of work and angst.

NEWS or noise?

Is it possible to travel through time without denting every decade you go through? I'm not sure. But if this photo is any indication one person has managed to bounce around at least through the last four decades in clear sight, even leaving a rather pitiful dent in Al Capone's vault. Foxy devil that he is I think this might be evidence he was undercover at the turn of the last century or perhaps an underwear model for the Sears catalog? Let's just hope his penchant for drawing maps in the sand didn't occur during WWI . "Journalist" Gerald"o" Rivera..."celebrity time traveler"? Vernacular photography star.

TIME-TRAVELING-celebrities

One of the stranger aspects of collecting vernacular photos is when you stumble across one with a face you recognize. You know the person is not who you think they are. No, instead they're "time-traveling- celebrities." The people look so much like someone who is famous that you have to hit yourself upside your head to convince yourself they're not. 

I've seen some wonderful ones online at other sites that boggled my mind. A picture of Bing Crosby holding up a pair of tiddy whities perhaps dreaming of a White Christmas? Jerry Mathers, "The Beaver", as a little boy sitting between two little girls somewhere around 1910? Of course I don't have permission to post these, but I have a few of my own.

My best friend and I are convinced we've tapped into an aspect of the universe unknown by all but celebrities. Yes, it's just as you imagined, they are different than us. We lowly mortals are stuck in our day-to-day lives while celebrities are not only jetting around the world to fabulous locations, they're also going back in time. I don't think they do it to mess with our minds. They might even be shocked to find out that evidence exists. My proof? Well...

MY THESIS Bourne Out

Imagine yourself in a college dorm, maybe an Ivy League school, back in the 1950s. You've got a new friend from your literature class dropping by later in the evening who wants to go out to a coffee house to listen to a little bit of finger snapping poetry. You've got a Miles Davis album playing while you fiddle with the new camera your folks sent you for your birthday. There's a knock on your door and you decide to surprise your friend by taking his picture. You my friend have just stepped through the "time-traveling- celebrity black hole." Now you might not see it, but I have to wonder what Matt Damon was doing in the 1950s before he was even born (Bourne?).

NOT convinced?

Okay, I can see you're going to be a tough nut to crack.

It's the 1940s and you got a nice Kodak Brownie camera for Christmas. You've convinced the new girl in the neighborhood to let you take her picture. She's the sweetest most graceful 12 year old girl you've ever met, but she's told you she'll only be living there for a little while. Now all you've got left is this little snapshot until you turn on your tv in the 1990s and see the new show Will and Grace. Hmm...could it be? Debra, is that you? Are you just messing with my mind? I submit as evidence...Debra Messing, "time- traveling celebrity."

THE RING-A-DING Dinger

I'll make this one easy. Too easy. I won't even give you a scenario other than it's the 1970s and you're probably in Palm Springs at a golf course. Luck be a lady tonight because you just hit the jackpot. Old Blue Eyes is walking right towards you dressed head to toe in purple. Yup, this one is real. Frank Sinatra in 1972.