An ode to A BOY IN A DRESS

An Ode to a Boy in a Dress

Boys in summer dresses

don't often make messes

when playing with trucks outside.

But once in a kitchen

they again start to itchin'

to throw mud into somebody's eye.

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This shot is an 8 x 10. Yes indeedy, someone really liked this shot and paid for an enlargement and retouching on his face and leg. A story no doubt told around the evening dinner table that I'd like to know.

It's a category. I will collect them...along with people on horses (plastic, wooden, or live only), people spitting watermelon seeds at pigs, people cutting cakes...oh the list is simply too long!

SISTERS, part two

This is May's sister, Agnes. I'm betting they were an interesting family. Agnes is quite sultry. The Sultry and Saucy Sisters. It would sure be a hoot if the next time I go back to the antique store I found another sister in the box.

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Aunt Agnes

Dads oldest

sister

now dead

1976

SISTERS, part one

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This lovely lass, who looks a bit to me like a saloon gal, is named May. On the back of this tattered photo is written:

Aunt May -

Dads sister

Now May Maldipe

This photo was bought for a dollar at an antique store a few weeks ago. On Friday I bought a photo of her sister at the same antique store that apparently wasn't in the box a few weeks ago. Well, maybe it was, but I didn't notice it. Let's just say the sisters had style, especially May. And May had an attitude. Would you say "saucy" would be a good word to describe May? Her sister not as much attitude. Her sister will be the next post.

Pose for mommy. THAT'S A GOOD BOY.

Kids want to please their parents, until they reach the age when they don't even want to know their parents. This little fellow, looking confused, has been dressed up in a little sailor suit and told to salute the photographer. Yes, he looks cute, just as they wanted, but I wonder if he enjoyed it? Was he a little performer at heart as some kids are or was he simply obeying orders?

This is a RPPC that had been glued into a scrapbook. You can see the black fibers on the left from the old page. I paid extra for this one at an estate sale a few years ago. He was just so darn cute that I knew he had to be mine. There he was on a table full of stuff with people pawing through all of it. I got to the sale late and really couldn't believe that nobody had bought him.

I find at estate sales sometimes I do just as well showing up late as being one of the first in. It's pretty much a crap shoot.

For MOM

Had to break out of here today to keep my mind in focus. Sometimes just meeting deadlines day-in-day-out makes my eyes cross. So off I wandered to my favorite antique store and perused the old box of photos for a buck. Found this little jewel.

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Nothing is written on the back so I don't know if this was made for a mother, a grandmother, auntie.... The "doily" is made from plastic with brown ric-rac. The photo is attached to a thin piece of cardboard with beige corner tabs. School project? Boy Scouts? We'll never know.

A few years BEFORE THE FALL

On the back of this snapshot, bought at an estate sale, it says "In New York City 1925." There they are, at around 3:20 pm, according to the clocks seen in the shot, enjoying the afternoon sun. Within 4 years some were jumping out of buildings in distress over the market crash. I have no idea what street this is in NYC. I find it fascinating all of the men are wearing straw boaters. The uniform of the day. Or was it Straw Boat Friday?

It really does look like a canyon. It reminds me of some of the closed in canyons you find in the Southwest. Walk through parts of Zion in the afternoon and see the deep shadows. New York City is full of man made canyons only a little over 100 years old compared to the natural canyons created over millions of years. Have to admit, I'll take the natural canyons and their silence over the noise of a big city.

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At least, YOUR SHOES WERE SHINED

I bought this cabinet card last year on a brief sojourn to the Gold Country. An antique store with no customers and one seller willing to sell things at half-price. So for two dollars I got this little fellow who travelled all the way from Pennsylvania to California.

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I wonder, if when his family saw this shot, they noticed his face was ever so slightly blurred. His feet are in focus, but his face isn't. I hadn't even noticed it until I enlarged it. It would have been such a disappointment to those who loved him. "Well John, at least your shoes were clean. Sigh." Let's hope Aunt Marie was pleasantly surprised when she received this from her nephew, John Conyer (?) Hays in 1896.

As to the photographer, A. E. Warren, I've found other photos online taken by him. An example here, with different more fanciful type, and here.

In 1894 Warren wrote a letter that was published in The Photographic Journal of America, Vol. 31 about the costs of doing business.

In 1898 he ran some ads in Meyer Brothers Druggist, Vol. 20 catalog.

Alas, also in 1898, tragedy befell Mr. Warren when his studio and home burned down. A brief piece was printed in Wilson's Photographic Magazine, Vol. 34, about the need for insurance.

Other than this I'm not finding anything about A. E. Warren. Nor have I found anything about young John Conyer Hays. At some point these two crossed paths and now they have crossed paths again 112 years later.

Uncle Sid, THE FORGOTTEN MARX BROTHER*

Most people think the forgotten Marx Brother is Zeppo. Nah, it's Uncle Sid. He's the truly forgotten Marx Brother.

This gem of a photo was found at an estate sale. In fact, the same sale where I found the shot of Frank Sinatra. How Uncle Sid slipped through the cracks is a Hollywood story told behind closed doors. He simply looked too much like Groucho and the head of the studio figured the audience would get confused. Uncle Sid did get to do some stand-in work and can be briefly seen in the following video clip, but I dare you to find him.

Sid self-published a book entitled "The Mark of a Marx" which came out in 1973. Occasionally copies can be found at flea markets, so keep your eyes open. It had a bright yellow cover with an "X" on it with "Sid Marx" under it. Simple, to the point. It's, as I recall, 96 pages long. Well, the text is only 81 pages with the rest blank. It's been said, though never verified, that Sid drew pictures of squirrels in several of the copies. Again, that hasn't been verified. But if you're lucky enough to find a copy be careful what you pay. If it's got a squirrel on a back page you've hit the jackpot!

* The above copy is pure nonsense. Well, okay, maybe not 100% pure, but it's most definitely nonsense. It will not float in water.