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VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

A Stacked Deck: 1941

It's getting ... so hot in here. "Summer 1941. Detroit, Michigan. Girls playing cards and drinking Coca-Cola." The next entry in this curious series snapped by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information.  View full size.

It's getting ... so hot in here. "Summer 1941. Detroit, Michigan. Girls playing cards and drinking Coca-Cola." The next entry in this curious series snapped by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size.

 

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so THIS is why

So THIS is why my grandmother thought card playing was sinful!

Mom Warned Me

Eisenhower was in the White House and I was young but my mother told me there were "chippies" like this out in the real world.

I think I had the full set of these

but my mother threw them out.

So many questions

Where's the third lady? What's the story with the rendering of a house on the radiator at the right. Who won? Why did Siegel take these pictures? Was there a sequel?

Steam Heat

If she takes that coat off I hope she doesn't back into that radiator.

A puzzlement

Despairing of figuring out the purpose of this bizarre series, I am left to conjecture that perhaps these photos were for a stillborn "steam heat is wonderful!" ad campaign ... either that or a covert attempt on the part of deep agents to reinforce Axis psychological warfare efforts featuring "what is your sweetheart doing now?" themes.

The roomies' reunion

Hey, Doris. Remember how we used to "experiment" in college?

Why the photos?

Is there any information as to the purpose of this series of photos for the Office of War Information?

I can't believe that it would be good for morale for the boys at the front to know that this sort of thing is going on among the sweethearts they've left behind.

Not for the Homefront?

I know the Office of War Information ended up not using this series, but were these photos perhaps originally intended to be given to the troops to keep up their morale? That wouldn't have been nearly as risque as some other projects conceived for the troops in the name of morale (and not mentioned on the home front).

Young Lady on Sofa

Not only is this rather risque for the day, the fact that this young woman is also braless is really over the top (so to speak)! Mind you, I'm not complaining. Just seems a bit weird that she's older than my 85 year old mother!

Peekaboo

Little Jimmy, playing in his yard next door, is getting quite the education through those lacy curtains. Hubba Hubba

Informative

You just have to wonder how this was useful to the Office of War Information.

The suspense

Is killing me! Where are we going with the bathing suit? What's on the other side of the open overcoat? And where did the third woman go?

And Then There Were Two

It seems the third gal has seen where this was going and "chickened out."

Keep 'em coming - everyone wants to see where this ENDS.

The years don't add up

How could there be an Office of War Information in the summer of 1941? The United States wasn't at war then.

[The United States was heavily involved in the Allied war effort by 1940. The photos all have OWI catalog numbers written on the negatives. - Dave]

Cards?

I've learned two things from this photo series.

1) I'm playing the wrong card game.
2) I'm playing with the wrong people.

Way out there!

This series is really entertaining and shocking for this age. I think I sprained my imagination.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I'm curious as to where the third lady is. Two guesses and the first one is wrong? Too bad we'll never get the full skinny about these photographs.

Drinking Coca-cola?

Must be the old old formula!

The deck is stacked in their favor

You know, just yesterday my prurient interest tapped me on the shoulder and asked when another installment of this series might appear. But then it remembered seeing "1941" and "Office of War Information", and said, "Oh, never mind." But I would like to know what happened to the third contestant...

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