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The King and His Castle: 1956
Elvis Presley, at the love-me-tender age of 21 in 1956, at the house he bought for ... The King's Short Life Who then would have thought Elvis' life was already half-lived. You know you're a redneck if No ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/12/2013 - 8:22pm -

Elvis Presley, at the love-me-tender age of 21 in 1956, at the house he bought for himself and his parents at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. Cadillacs and Harley sold separately. 35mm negative by Phillip Harrington. View full size.
Those CaddiesWeren't always parked in the yard. Here are his Mom and Dad with two and the Harley.  
A King and a HogHarley Davidson K model. If he had waited another year he could have bought a Sportster, the K's big brother
The old Presley placeAs it appears today. Monogrammed awnings!
Shade treeLooks like the little sapling in the front yard has flourished throughout the last 57 years.
CadillacsI believe all the Cadillacs are 1954 models. From left, a Sedan de Ville (his mom's car), then a slightly beat-up Series 75 Fleetwood limo (did he use this as a tour "bus"?), and a Series 62 convertible with a continental kit.
[The car on the left is a 1955 Fleetwood 60 Special. - Dave]
You are so right! Good catch, Dave!
The King's Short LifeWho then would have thought Elvis' life was already half-lived.
You know you're a redneck ifNo matter how successful you are, there are still cars sitting in your front yard.
The BikeIt's a 56 KH actually, more on it here.
Nothing ostentatious about Elvisor he would have had air conditioning on that convertible too. The sedans both have the optional trunk mounted (until ~1957) air conditioners, as evidenced by the air scoops just forward of the trunk lid upper corners. 
Pringle of ScotlandArgyle socks!  Never out of style since WWI.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Elvis 1956, Memphis, Phillip Harrington)

Backstage With Elvis: 1956
May 27, 1956. Dayton, Ohio. A 21-year-old Elvis Presley with his cousin Gene Smith backstage at the University of Dayton field ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/11/2013 - 6:40pm -

May 27, 1956. Dayton, Ohio. A 21-year-old Elvis Presley with his cousin Gene Smith backstage at the University of Dayton field house, where they sang for a zillion swooning coeds. 35mm negative by Phillip Harrington. View full size.
The fever that started it allAt the moment this photo was taken, cousin Gene wasn't feeling well.  Elvis is attempting to assess whether or not he has a fever, after Gene remarked, "Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising. Higher higher, it's burning through to my soul."  And the rest is history.
The mosquitoes  were bad......that spring in Dayton. Clearly.
The tapWhen the boys were touring on the road regularly they often did things to break the monotony.  One thing they did was play a game where if one of them was talking and one of the others tapped them on the head they would have to immediately start talking about something else without completing their thought.  This I believe is what Elvis is doing to Gene.
My Dad Played with ElvisMy father's greatest claim to fame is that he played in the pit orchestra that accompanied Elvis on his tour of Florida in the summer of 1956. My dad played the saxophone for all the opening acts, and then he sat through the show while Elvis performed onstage. He said Elvis spent a lot of time backstage talking to his cousins. But dammit, he had never had his picture taken with Elvis!!! If anyone ever finds one, please let me know!
I ThinkHe is about to tell him he should have had a V-8.
I met Elvis!Back in 1970s L.A. I met the King, he was with his daughter Lisa. We spoke for about 5 minutes regarding his astrological birth sign, Capricorn. His interest was numerology and he redirected the conversation to me, asking my birth date. It was amazing to see this famous man focusing in on me, a stranger and my numerology. On his neck was a gold charm necklace with different symbols of various religions. Very much a kind, outgoing and warm gentleman. Never did get his autograph, that would be quite valuable now.
FilmIt looks like Tri-X, from the grain.
The King at the gas stationMy agent back in Denver ran into Elvis at a gas station in Needles when she was 12
I saw him too!It was in 1990, walked into a McDonalds and there he was, eating a Quarter Pounder and Fries.
Elvis--The Early YearsIn the very beginning, the King toyed with the idea of becoming a faith-healer before realizing he could sing!
The Dayton gig(s)More on that here.
(The Gallery, Elvis 1956, Music, Phillip Harrington)

Rock and Roll: 1956
Elvis Presley at a 1956 concert date; we're counting the minutes until someone can ... for Look. View full size. Columbus Discovers Elvis Here's some contemporary coverage including the multi-hued splendor of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/15/2013 - 1:42pm -

Elvis Presley at a 1956 concert date; we're counting the minutes until someone can tell us which one. Photo by Phillip Harrington for Look. View full size.
Columbus Discovers ElvisHere's some contemporary coverage including the multi-hued splendor of his apparel: http://columbusbicentennial.blogspot.com/2012/01/elvis-in-columbus-may-1...
Columbus, Ohio May 1956More photos of this concert can be found here:
http://scottymoore.net/columbus.html
Also, note that by the time of this concert Scotty Moore was no longer playing the Gibson ES-295. He had traded it in the previous year towards the Gibson L-5 he's playing in these photos.
A hand tooled leather covermight have looked cool, but it must have destroyed the resonance of a really great guitar( the 1955 Martin D28).
A little extra amplificationThis had to be an amazingly simple, pure concert, and those small amps would have trouble filling any medium-sized auditorium back then.
But some smart person in this pre-sound engineer era put a public address microphone in front of that amp, so at least you could hear the music along with the words more easily. That is, if you could hear anything with all the screaming young girls.
Isn't the King playing a non-electrified guitar? I don't see a cord or a sound pickup anywhere. That's why he's the king.
Columbus, OHVeterans Memorial Auditorium, May 26, 1956
More here http://scottymoore.net/columbus.html
Bare Bones Rock and RollThat's D.J. Fontana keeping the beat behind the King.  Scotty Moore would be stage right of Elvis playing his gold top Gibson ES-295 electric archtop hollowbody guitar, which was plugged into the amp perched on the chair.  Bill Black would also have been on stage playing his upright acoustic bass.  Elvis is wearing his unamplified 1955 Martin D-28 guitar with custom leather cover tooled by Marcus Van Story, who worked at the O.K. Houck Piano Company in Memphis (where Elvis purchased the guitar).  Man, that Cat could rock!
Talk about bare bones presentationSingle guitar amp plopped on top of a folding chair.
Drum kit that could fit into his suitcase.
No lasers
No strobes
No stack of Fender amps.
Pure, so very pure.
I'm not much of an Elvis fan but this guy had more stage presence than 3,000 American Idol finalists put together.
We Want ScottyCouldn't tell you the location, but it's great to see drummer D.J. Fontana in his natural habitat.  Poor Elvis had no stage monitors, so he had to yelp out the vocals just so he could hear himself over all the little screaming girls. Sadly, we don't see even the shadow of lead guitarist Scotty Moore and his Gibson ES-295, nor Bill Black on upright bass. It's interesting to see Scotty's amp has a mic on it, so his sound was reinforced through the house PA system, such as it was. The Beatles would encounter similarly primitive sound reinforcement facilities 8 years later. Here's wishing for a full band pic.
Hello ColumbusIt looks like other Harrington photos I've seen of Elvis performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio in 1956. Same clothes, stage setup and curtain.
Who's that again?The Ohio State Journal story previewing the concert mentioned here says in part, "In addition to singer Elvis Presley, the show will feature Jackie Little; the Blue Moon Boys; the Flaims; Frankie Connors and Phil Maraquin."
I'm an old rock-and-roller, but who were those people?
Who those people were@Mark Rummel
The Blue Moon boys were Scotty and Bill, and then later on DJ, Elvis' band.  They got the name from their second recording, Blue Moon of Kentucky.  The others were opening variety style opening acts that were put together by Al Dvorin when the Colonel decided that Elvis would no longer share the bill with anyone considered a competitor or contemporary.
I have more on them on pages about the venues at the beginning of that tour here
http://scottymoore.net/StPaul.html , http://scottymoore.net/Minneapolis.html and
http://scottymoore.net/lacrosse.html
Hello ColumbusThis is Elvis performing on May 26, 1956 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio. 
(The Gallery, Elvis 1956, Music, Phillip Harrington)

The Gas Menagerie: 1956
Elvis Presley in 1956 at home in Memphis with his three-wheeled Messerschmitt "bubble ... photograph, of course, but I do not think this is Elvis's grandfather, Jessie Presley, but rather Dan Shackleford, from Tupelo, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/22/2013 - 1:51pm -

Elvis Presley in 1956 at home in Memphis with his three-wheeled Messerschmitt "bubble car" and Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and grandfather Jessie Presley. Photo by Phillip Harrington for Look magazine. View full size.
Messerscmidt in the Parking LotWhen I was a kid living in Naples, Florida (late 1960s), I worked at the Publix on the north Trail. An elderly gentleman who shopped at our store drove one of these three wheelers, which looked to me to be made from aircraft parts.
My recollection was that his was deep red and cream colored, and it was beautiful.
MesserschmittThese cars were made at a time after the company was banned from making aircraft.  One of many companies that made these types of cars.
Messerschmitt KR200The more common of the two Messerschmitt "Kabinrollers" - German for Cabin Scooters, so the classification as a motorcycle isn't too wrong - the other being the KR175. They were made by Messerschmitt until 1956 when the company was able to make aircraft again. At that point Messerchmitt sold the Regensburg factory to the car designer Fritz Fend who carried on production under the company name FMR.
I recall seeing one of these from time to time at a nearby supermarket, the last time being about 25 or 30 years ago now (I think, it might have been later). At the time it kind of blew my mind; a car from Messerschmitt that bore some resemblance to the cockpit of a wartime fighter plane, right down to the way that the canopy opened. It would have completely thrown me for a loop had I known at the time that the KR200 not only ran in a 24 hour time trial at Hochenheim but broke 22 speed records for cars of its class including an average 24 hour speed of 64 miles per hour.
Right on!Jim Page: Rumor has it that the canopies of the first ones actually were genuine left-over combat aircraft canopies. And those contraptions also owed some of their genesis to attempts to make some cheap form of individual transport for crippled veterans and paraplegics. 
There was a "Heinkel Kabine" as well. Junkers Aircraft basically quit altogether, while the original Junkers & Co. is still doing well with gas heaters, as they have since 1895 (although as part of the Bosch Group now).
By the way, one nickname for the Messerschmitt was "Schneewittchensarg", or "Snow White's coffin" in English.
I owned one of these...after an Isetta.  My best mate at the time had a Goggomobil) which he used to park up close to the front of my Isetta so I couldn't open the door to get into it!  That wasn't the real reason for selling I it, I just loved the look of the Messerschmitt.  Mine was cream and maroon and cost me £20 (US$30) secondhand in 1963.
InvestmentAmazing what these little beasties go for these days!  Who knew they'd ever be worth above $50,000 for a restored example.  Wonder where this one wound up?
Isetta!!!Loades, I owned an Isetta for about 30 hours. In this before-moving-to-Naples experience, a friend in Apalachicola, Florida, sold me his old pale-blue-and-white one for $50. A day or so later, when my dad found out, he made me return it. Frankly, by that time I wasn't sorry to see it go. That was enough time to realize that driving a tricycle car makes it almost impossible to avoid potholes in the road, and there were a lot of those in 1966 Franklin County, Florida! A month or so later, my dad bought me a used '65 four-door Corvair and I dearly loved that car.
Haven't Seen One in 50 YearsA classmate in Palm Beach Public School (FL) drove one of these in 1962. We were in 9th grade but it was apparently classified as a motorcycle allowing him to operate it. But then again it was Palm Beach where some laws were never enforced for certain people in those days.
Maybe not GrandpaThis is a wonderful photograph, of course, but I do not think this is Elvis's grandfather, Jessie Presley, but rather Dan Shackleford, from Tupelo, Ms., who was visiting the family when Phillip Harrington shot a number of photographs on Audubon Drive. Furthermore, Elvis gave this car to Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, who did not keep it. Thank you so much, Shorpy, for posting the remarkable pictures in this series! Alanna Nash, author of "The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley" (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
[I am no Elvis expert but do note that the Web sites that put the name Dan Shackleford to the fellow on the left also misspell "Messerschmitt" and "Audubon" -- they do not impress me as being very accurate. -Dave]
Dave, duly noted. Grandpa Jessie lived in my hometown of Louisville. I have seen a number of photographs of him, and while it's true that this fellow somewhat resembles Jessie, I do not believe they are one and the same. I have seen at least half a dozen photographs of Jessie Presley, and he does not appear to use a cane in any of them. He also was quite a dandy, and loved to dress up. And in Phillip Harrington's original story for Look magazine, he identifies this gentleman as Shackleford. -- AN
The guy could buyI was working in Hollywood as a Triumph motorcycle mechanic when Elvis
and the rest of the "Memphis Mafia" showed up and he bought a new bike
for himself and the rest of the guys; as I remember it was an even dozen.
Alanna is correctSorry Dave, mispellings aside, Alanna is correct.  The photo is with Dan Shackleford.  In all fairness though there is a strong resemblance to his grandfather Jesse.
Triumphs@ Rip Tragle
Rip, I suspect that two of them are pictured here.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Elvis 1956, Memphis, Phillip Harrington)

Plush Life: 1956
May 1956. Memphis, Tennessee. "Elvis Presley at home with stuffed animals." 35mm negative from photos by Phillip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Elvis Presley -- He Can't Be -- But He Is." View full size. You ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/26/2016 - 1:36pm -

May 1956. Memphis, Tennessee. "Elvis Presley at home with stuffed animals." 35mm negative from photos by Phillip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Elvis Presley -- He Can't Be -- But He Is." View full size.
You Ain't Nothin' But A...Where's the hound dog?
That same monthmy future bride saw Elvis in concert in Jacksonville, Florida. She was all of 12 and a big fan. (May 12-13, 1956)
My father was there, too!My father (who is now 86 years old, may he live to 120!) was in the band that played for the opening acts before Elvis appeared onstage, in Jacksonville and elsewhere in the summer of 1956. He still likes to tell the story of how the sheriff of Duval Co., Florida came to the theatre in Jacksonville before the show and warned Col. Parker (Elvis's manager): If Elvis moved anything below the belt, he'd close down the show!
Baby let me be...your lovin' Poodle... no...
Baby let me be,
your lovin' Monkey... no, still not right...
Baby let me be,
your lovin' Teddy Bear, yeah, that's it!!
Let me be your "Poodle Dog"?Nah! That just don't get it - But remember - The Duval County Sheriff said, "If Elvis moved anything below the belt, he'd close down the show!" and as ya' know, the show must go on. The closest that I came to him back then was listening to the Lyles' girls in the neighborhood talk about going to Elvis' show at Miami's Olympia theater. We were too poor to afford such "foolishment" as my folks would have said into my 15-16 year-old ears.
Here's Hoping!86 down, 34 to go; hope Michael R's Dad gets there.
I had that poodle!It was--you guessed it--pink.
My dad wouldn't take meElvis played the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Ga., about this time. I was 10 years old and a big fan. I begged my dad to take me to the show, but he wouldn't relent. He was an Army officer and got up at 5 every morning, so didn't want to stay up that late. Still regret that because I later saw the Beatles and Dylan in concert (Dylan on his first electric tour), and if I'd seen Elvis I would have seen all of the greatest rock legends of the 20th century.
The Ed Sullivan ShowI remember Elvis being on the Ed Sullivan Show.  I tried to be inconspicuous, but my step-mother noticed me watching & shooed me out because it was too scandalous for a 10 yr old to be watching with him 'Wiggling' like that.  LOL  I did get to see part of it anyway though. 
(Elvis 1956, LOOK, Phillip Harrington)

Desert Oasis: 1962
... Zeppo Marx was later Mrs. Frank Sinatra. The "Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway" Where Elvis and Priscilla Presley famously spent their honeymoon. The most recent owner had made ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/26/2021 - 11:09am -

June 13, 1962. "Helene Alexander at her home in Palm Springs, California, with Mrs. Zeppo Marx." Kodachrome by Cal Bernstein for the Look magazine assignment "Promised land for millions of migrating Americans: California's way-out way of life." View full size.
Tragedy in paradiseBob Alexander built much of Palm Springs' housing stock; there continue to be more than two thousand "Alexander houses" there. As an article about the Look article states, "Three years after the article ran, Bob and Helene [Alexander] and Bob's parents, George and Jimmie Alexander, died in a private plane crash a few miles from the home." For more, see https://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/family-affair-story-untold?page=0... 
After ZeppoMrs. Zeppo Marx was later Mrs. Frank Sinatra. 
The "Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway"Where Elvis and Priscilla Presley famously spent their honeymoon.
The most recent owner had made sporadic attempts at offering tours and event rental services, but never quite worked it out. It just sold two months ago, so we'll see what the new owners have in store!
A white roof is a good choiceExcept for the tennis court, today it looks like just another mansion in the neighborhood.

The more I see of this house, the less impressed I am.  Those zig-zag stepping stones take you from the street to the front door.  What a nightmare for mail and delivery people; in addition to being a high maintenance attraction that the owners cannot see from inside their house.  Today, anyone who knows this house is going to drive or walk up the driveway and use the kitchen door.  That big bay window is a bedroom.  In that location it should be a public room.  Just my opinion.

Only a Temporary OasisSadly, Helene Alexander only had three more years to live-she died in a well-publicized plane crash on November 14, 1965, only miles from her house.
(Kodachromes, LOOK, Swimming)

Sangria Seventies
... state to decriminalize marijuana. October 9, 1973 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorce. October 10, 1973 - Spiro Agnew resigns as vice president of ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/22/2011 - 5:21pm -

If a single photo could capture 1970s Northern California culture, this might be it. The hair; the clothes; the round oak table; the funky old apartment with painted-over wainscoting; the giant bowl of sangria. I ought to know, I was there. In fact, there I am, at the left, at my brother's Santa Cruz place with his wife (lower left) and their friends in October 1973. My brother's Ektachrome slide. View full size.
Autumn of LoveOh my. Do your parents know about this?
Peace, ManIt's hard to believe all the changes we've been through since then -- but it still looks like a fun way to spend the evening.
Where's the ashtray?I think it's missing a giant overflowing ashtray.  Back then it seemed like EVERYONE smoked.
Pine StreetWas this house located on Pine Street in east Santa Cruz? It looks like the kitchen in the house we moved into in 1978. The door would lead to the back porch/stoop area.  Great photo!
Groovy!Love the headband! I think the only thing missing in this picture is a bong. 
October 1973Seems like a long time ago – or just yesterday. On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt launched a military attack on Israel starting the Yom Kippur War. On October 16, 1973, OPEC cut production of oil and placed an embargo on shipments of crude oil to the West, with the United States and the Netherlands specifically targeted. As a result, oil prices rose to $3.65 per barrel – a year later it peaked over $12 per barrel. President Richard Nixon would sign the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act authorizing price, production, allocation and marketing controls on November 27, 1973. In the United States, the retail price of a gallon of gasoline rose from a national average of 38.5 cents in May 1973 to 55.1 cents in June 1974. 
I remember my grandfather hoarding gasoline – against all warnings and advice – at our small farm in East Texas. He had a couple 55-gallon drums in the barn, which he filled 5 gallons at a time from Earl’s Truck Stop on I-30. My mom was scared to death that the barn would explode and we were forbidden to go there.
Other October, 1973 events, no doubt provoking dinner conversation at tterrace's table: 
October 5, 1973 - Oregon becomes the first state to decriminalize marijuana.
October 9, 1973 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorce.
October 10, 1973 - Spiro Agnew resigns as vice president of the United States after pleading nolo contendere to a count of tax-evasion.
October 12, 1973 - President Nixon announces Gerald R. Ford as vice president.
October 19, 1973 - At Watergate hearings, John Dean pleads guilty to his role in cover-up.
Maybe on the radio in the kitchen - Billboard Top 10:
1. Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack
2. You're So Vain - Carly Simon
3. Touch Me In The Morning - Diana Ross
4. Sing – Carpenters
5. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
6. Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips
7. Daniel - Elton John
8. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - Temptations
9. My Love - Paul McCartney & Wings
10. Yesterday Once More – Carpenters
On SeabrightHere's the place, on Seabright Ave., in a 2011 Google street view:
Corningware bowlsI find it interesting to see the four Corningware bowls with their matching lids on the table.  We have had the exact same bowls for years and still find them great for food storage and reheating food.
Punch bowlI have two of those punch bowls. It is a Anchor Hocking "Star of David" design. It came with a stand and matching cups. 
Billy Jack and Charles KrugAs W. C. Fields might have said if he was younger, "Aaaaah, yes, I remember well those days of Charles Krug wine."   It was quite cheap in those days of Billy Jack movies, Indians taking over Alcatraz and my marriage in Santa Cruz.  We were so "into it", the hippie wannabees we portrayed, the gypsy lifestyle, that when my kids look at our old pictures, especially those taken in and around the Grand Canyon, dressed in Indian headbands, turquoise beads and homespun Indian shirts, they comment "that is when Mom and Dad were Indians".  It cracks me up every time, because we are now really very dull, very straight, sober as judges and hating old age, but we LOVE remembering, thanks to your fabulous photos.  You are doing us old fogies a huge favor.  That Mexican dinner looks delicioso.
I lived in Hayward thenLooks just like similar gatherings at my home!
Sangria & other stuffI have similar pix and lived in similar places, albeit in Ohio in the late 60's and early 70's.  Someone commented on that everyone smoked in those days, and that was true.  But we smoked more than tobacco, if you know what I mean and I think you do.
1973In 1973 I was serving as one of America's Last Draftees.  Inducted in August 1972, the draft ended a few months later.  For the remainder of my service they loudly proclaimed having an "all-volunteer" Army.  I would have gladly been discharged to make it true, but viewed from today if I hadn't have been drafted I would have just worked another 2 years in the corporate world.  
I really like the tupperware serving dishes, had some of those a couple of years later when I returned to college.
Those were the days . . .Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we'd choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
B+C+T+AThat looks like an outtake from "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice."
Not trying to be a wet blanket, but the 70's appear to be within the living memory of almost everyone here (myself included).  As much as I like Tterrace's slides, do we really need to have such recent stuff as this (the 70's) on Shorpy?
If I coulda I wouldado 1973-1974 all over again.  Inspite of all the world affairs garbage, it was a wonderful year for this (in 1974, that is.. ) 14 yr old kid...
Thanks for posting this... I personally dig the 60s and 70s stuff.... Peace out...
Viral HistoryDear Wet Blanket (anonymous tipster),
The fact that the 70's are within the living memory of most Shorpy devotees (Shorparians? Shorpiites?) is precisely  why they should be included and interspersed with images from throughout the brief 160-year photographic record.  Imagine the knowledge about many of the photos here that was lost because there was no reliable method of capturing personal accounts of the scenes and persons depicted. Often, hastily scribbled photographer’s notes or captions produced by a bureaucrat are all Dave and Team Shorpy have to go on…along with intuition and their own impressive historical knowledge.
Someday, our historian grandchildren will study Shorpy as an excellent example of viral history and assimilate the witty anecdotes found here into their telling of our times. I say let the 70’s groove on…
It is very easy to bypass images that don’t interest you on this web site…just keep scrolling until you find a clingy wet wool bathing suit or street urchin or choo choo train to ogle.
Goober Pea
End to the rantGood for you Gooberpea.  Hope this is the end of the discussion about what should or should not appear on this site.  How many times we have wondered what a particular picture was all about or when or where.  Future generations won't be left quite as puzzled.
You Go Goober PeaI'm with Goober Pea.  I love 70's photos.  These could've been my older siblings.  I was only a kid and what the mind remembers is vague, so seeing a moment like this brings a lot back.  Besides, what's the ratio we're talking anyway?  50-1?  
Anyone have a shot of the movie theater lines going around the block when Jaws opened the summer of 1975?  
70's Child
Somewhere within spitting distnceHa!  I was a student at UCSC when this picture was made.  I lived on Barson Street, I think.  
Thanks
Seabright & Murray! 1973!The corner of Seabright & Murray had no residences on it, only shops. Yet that's where we all seemed to say we lived. When the buses stopped running (remember crazed Ed the bus driver?) that's where we'd tell someone picking us up hitchhiking where we were headed. I lived three houses in from the corner, behind the laundromat. Oh, I'll never forget the night Nixon resigned -- people were dancing in the streets of Santa Cruz!
Ahh Memories! Boy does that picture bring back the memories. I graduated high school in 1973 so that looks like countless parties i went to then. I know it's fashionable now to dump on the decade "me decade" and all that but I had a blast then. Cruising in  my Trans Am, chasing girls, hanging with my buddies, what a time. 
And we moved to Santa Cruz in 1980We moved to La Selva Beach just after my sister was born. My mother was always so lovely - I'm happy to be told I look just like her. I wish she would grow her hair out again like she used to have. This is me standing behind her in Santa Cruz.
CorningwareAnd the very popular 70s Corningware!! Do they even make that anymore or is it just a garage sale treasure or a "find" on E-bay!
Corningware Cornflower Blue still very much available The Corningware in tterrace's picture is in the 'Cornflower Blue' pattern is still very much available. According to the Wikipedia article here, production was stopped in 2000, but restarted again in 2009. I know it's readily available in the US either in the parent company World Kitchen stores in outlet malls, or in department stores, or Amazon.
Great!You forgot the guacamole, Tupperware, Corning ware, etc., very 70s! And those curtains! Especially in California for the guac, if my husband wasn’t originally from Mexico, I would’ve never known about guacamole in 1973 in NYC!
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)

Home Entertainment: 1943
... affection between mother and son is very similar to Elvis Presley's easy, kindred, unconditional love with his mother Gladys. We need a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/14/2009 - 10:37pm -

February 1943. "Blue Island, Illinois. 2439 Orchard Street. Bobby Senise and mother listening to a radio program. Home of Daniel Senise, engine foreman on the Indiana Harbor Belt Line." Safety negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
The Human ComedyThis immediately made me recall reading Saroyan's "The Human Comedy" except it's the Midwest rather than California. 
Watching the RadioThis scene reminds me of what Grandma Rose used to frequently tell us kids:  
"TV off!  Use your imagination!"
Souvenirs from Out WestI'm not a "know-it-all" as I cannot identify the two implements that are keeping Bobby amused, but I do know that the items in question were all keepsakes from the souvenir shops in the West and Southwest in days of yore. The pottery was simply a novelty planter made by American Indian or Mexican craftsmen out of clay, as was the sombrero which had a decal on the front of where it was from. It did not necessarily serve a purpose as "souvenirs" are often useless curiosities. The giant pinecone was from the California behemoth redwoods, the fiber or straw totebag with ethnic people pictured is from the Southwest and the trophy looks like a bowling prize. The comfortable affection between mother and son is very similar to Elvis Presley's easy, kindred, unconditional love with his mother Gladys. We need a lot more of this type of family relationship today.  It's a great picture that really takes one back, thank you Shorpy.
[Speaking of tacky tchotchkes, let's see if we can't work Elvis and Gladys into more comments. Well done! - Dave]
The bad old daysDaniel Senise (who isn't even in the photo) and Bobby Senise get names, but Mrs. Senise is just "mother." If Jack Delano was working in 2009, instead of 1943, his editor would probably rip him a new one, with her bare hands.
[Jack Delano took dozens of photos of the Senise family -- Betty, Daniel and their three sons and dog. He gives all of their names in the introductory photos and then as needed so we can tell the boys apart. - Dave]
Strange objectsCan anyone identify those things Bobby is fiddling with?
On the other hand, the thing on the table that looks like a ceramic sombrero is obviously a combination ash tray and citrus juicer. Wartime rationing strictures required that all ornamental devices also serve at least one, preferably two, practical purposes.
UPDATE: Dave's close-up inspires this guess: a couple of Mom's knitting or embroidery implements? Or maybe manicure thingies?
Watching the radioIt's interesting how people used to watch the radio.  I also notice how much the Bible on the table has been worn from being read.
My best guess for the thing on the table is an ash tray.  My mother tells me that students were commonly taught to make ash trays in school over much of the 20th Century, so perhaps one of the boys made it.  It would make sense, since it is on the same table as the ambiguous trophy.
It looks like Billy has a twig in his left hand and some sort of plastic knife in his right, but I'm not sure if that is right for several reasons.
I wonder what periodical Billy is using as a pillow. 
DadIs "Bobby" perhaps Robert L. Senise, father of actor Gary Senise (also born in Blue Lake}?
[Interesting. Although Gary's last name is Sinise. - Dave]
2439 Orchard todayNice place.
View Larger Map
Mothers and sonsMy favorite thing about this photo is the comfortable affection between mother and son.  It makes me think of my own kids and how they still like to cuddle their old mom on occasion, regardless of their ages.  
Great siteG'day all.
Absolutely love this site, it's such a refeshing change from the doom & gloom of Main Stream Media. The clarity of the pics and the informed comments make it a must read site for me.
John
Melbourne Australia
Mothers and sons III'm a new mom to a baby boy, and this shot really warms my heart.  It shows that their relationship is a cozy and comfortable one.  Funny, though, Ma looks more like Grandma or Aunt Bee to me.  Pa seems too young for her.  The worn Bible is a lovely touch, but what is that strange gewgaw next to it?  Forget the sombrero; this is the doohickey I want to know about.  It too looks like something one of the boys must have made in school: a three-legged creature with arms akimbo, carrying Christmas wreaths?  Donuts?    
The radiois a Philco 40-155, sold in 1939-40.  It's a quite nice large table-top radio, with 8 tubes, covering the AM broadcast band and international short wave bands. It had built-in loop antennas for both broadcast and shortwave. I am currently restoring one, and it's a quite good performer.
They were lucky to have a relatively new radio, since production of radios for consumer use was halted shortly after Pearl Harbor.  Repair parts were scarce, due to allocation of most production to the military; if your radio died and replacement parts could not be found, you couldn't just go and buy another one.
Three-legged potI think the pot and the sombrero are both souvenirs of Mexico.  The three legs and the lifting rings are typical of American native folk pieces, and it's decorated with the cactus motif expected by tourists.
Oh JoeI know this is a little recent for Mr. Manning but hey Joe?  Such a nice family, Mom always in apron, Dad hard-working. Hope Jack came home from the war safely.  If we knew where they were now, wouldn't it be interesting to contact them and say "Hey, take a look at Shorpy"?  These photos bring back such a flood of memories for me. My mom had nine brothers and they all served in WWII. One never made it home, two were badly wounded. I picture my grandmother sitting where this lady is, listening to war news. And by the way, I am proud to go by "Mom."
I could not spell it...Loved your hilarious reply as I really wanted to use that word but  could not figure out how to spell 'tchotchkes' as it was not in my 1975 dictionary.  Found out it comes from both Polish (hooray) and Yiddish words.  Nothing wrong with Elvis and Gladys, she too lived at Graceland, the motherlode of both tacky and tchotchke.  
"Pine" coneIf walking through a redwood grove every day of my grade school life, and then frequently playing in one on the school grounds itself make one a true Californian, then I'm your boy. Therefore, I can attest that the cone is from a pine tree of some kind, not a redwood, whose equivalent is a little dinky thing. The other item no one's mentioned is the thing under the basket on the bottom shelf of the table: could be a photo album, which should get Shorpy mouths watering.
Norman RockwellThis brings back soooo many memories! Junior is clutching a rib and pulmonary artery recently plucked from his chest by the Mother-Goddess, who is going to make a sacrifice on her ottoman-altar just as soon as she fires up some incense in that Mayan firepot and tunes in the appropriate flute music. I love those curtains!!!
Coulter pine coneThe giant pine cone came from a Coulter pine. This medium-sized pine tree is most prevalent in the coastal mountains of Southern California, but there are stands of it as far north as the Bay Area, and as far south as northern Baja California. Coulter pines produce the largest and heaviest pine cones of all species, and people working among them are cautioned to wear hard hats at all times.
Curtains vs. drapesI was about to launch a pedantic tirade over A. Tipster's use of the term "curtains" in reference to what I'd call "drapes," but a simple online search proved that the matter isn't so simple. Everybody can do their own, but the most interesting bit I found was etiquette maven Emily Post's 1950 fulmination over the word "drapes": "This word is an inexcusable vulgarism." Therefore, I instead commend Tipster for displaying a scrupulous sense of propriety.
It's curtains for you, Mister.I grew up in a house with inexcusably vulgar drapes in the living room and dining room. In the bedrooms and bathroom we had curtains that extended only to the bottoms of the window cases. What gets me going is the modern fashion of completely naked windows, no matter how traditional the rest of the interior features might be. And in the Cosi Fan Tutte world of today's English, saying drapes instead of draperies is probably not the social suicide that it once was. Better Homes & Gardens' online site makes a practical distinction between curtains and drapes, courageously defying the Wrath of Post:
Drape vs. Curtain
When is a "drape" really a "curtain"? Although the terms drapery and curtain are often used interchangeably, there is a technical difference. Curtains are made of lightweight fabrics and most often are unlined and operable. Draperies extend to the floor, tend to be lined, and are sewn of heavier fabric.
Cool ChairI love the chair and ottoman.  Does that style of furniture have a name?
(The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Bear With Me: 1956
May 1956. Memphis, Tennessee. "Elvis Presley at home with his mother, Gladys." 35mm negative from photos by Philip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Elvis Presley -- He Can't Be, but He Is." View full size. Who's in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/21/2018 - 11:06am -

May 1956. Memphis, Tennessee. "Elvis Presley at home with his mother, Gladys." 35mm negative from photos by Philip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Elvis Presley -- He Can't Be, but He Is." View full size.
Who's in the picture?Colonel Tom Parker, complete w/ string tie. Sans cigar or cigarette.
[Below, Tom on the left and Red on the right. - Dave]

Who's in the picture?There's a healthy debate on my FB timeline of people trying to guess who that country music performer is in the photo. Do any Shorpyites know? We've eliminated all of the more obvious ones from the era: Hank Locklin, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Jimmy Dickens, Hank Thomson, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Cowboy Copas, etc. 
Yes, it's ParkerCyberian is correct. That's Andreas van Kuijk, aka Colonel Tom Parker.  Is likely from his early WSM days as a manager for Eddy Arnold.  Here is a better copy, signed of the photo in question.
re: Who's in the pictureRed Foley?
[It could be. The first song Elvis performed in public (at age 10) was Red's "Old Shep."- Dave]
(Elvis 1956, LOOK, Memphis, Phillip Harrington)

Hoes Before Bros: 1942
... of celebrity lookalikes Left to Right: Alfalfa, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Gordon-Levitt , John Travolta, Steve ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/11/2022 - 3:39pm -

February 1942. "Eleven Mile Corner, Arizona. FSA farmworkers' community. Boys learning to garden in the vocational training class. This is vocational training as provided for in the Smith-Hughes bill." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
An actual cornerHere it is at the corner of AZ 287 and 11 Mile Road in Pinal County, 11 miles from Casa Grande, Eloy, and Coolidge. Cotton was the main crop.

The boy with the aviator goggles and helmet looks a little old to be strapping on a toy pistol though.
Eight Boys, One Pair of GlovesWhen you're learning to garden, an early lesson is that gloves prevent blisters. By lunchtime, seven will have learned that lesson and the kid on the left will be the only one still hoeing. 
I triple dog dare ya!Flick’s aviator cap is worn by a boy who might give you a lickin’ if you make fun of him.

Re: An actual cornerMaybe it's not a toy gun?
Hybrid hoerWe've all heard of the ideal of the citizen-statesman; here's an aviator-cowboy from the forties. A real-life Buckaroo Banzai.
I Can Name Three -- Guess which "Bros" they are.John Wayne, Slip Mahoney, and Smilin' Jack!   (Hint, Saturday afternoon movies  and Sunday comics, the 1940s)
Biggest guyGets to rake.
Not for longThis charming photo actually represents something that anti-New Deal conservatives hated -- farmers in communities, working together under expert guidance to improve their lot. The Farm Security Administration and its photo unit were under attack from their formation in 1937.
In February 1942 all was in transition. The unit's head, Roy Stryker, was encouraging his photographers to supplement their documentary mission with positive and patriotic American images. With these eight boys, Russell Lee found a way to combine the emphases.
Eight months after this, the photo unit was moved into the Office of War Information. The next year it was disbanded.
Thought bubbles?This would be a fun photo to add thought bubbles to! I won't take the time to do them all, but I can imagine one thinking, Jeez my sis gets to do Home Ec (and he grows up to be a trans woman), another wishing he was on a horse, another wants to be a preacher, one a soldier, etc. Great faces!
There's good money in ho'inLet's finish this up so we can meet the dames back at the ham shack!
Early versions of celebrity lookalikesLeft to Right:
Alfalfa, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Gordon-Levitt , John Travolta, Steve McQueen and Jim Parsons.
Now appearing at the Dunes in Vegas
In the Top Five ...of the greatest all-time Shorpy titles from our Potentate of Puns.
Just the implementI have a hoe that my great-grandmother used. How many years she used it I have no idea but the blade is worn down to about the size of a large serving spoon and the handle is worn to about half its original diameter where her hands gripped it. A lasting memory is going to see Granny after church and there she would be in the garden with the hoe and wearing one of those old fashioned sun bonnets like the logo for Old Dutch Cleanser.
It's going to be a very long while… before you see another dude in a double breasted jacket hoeing a row. And a well-earned tip of the hat to Dave for yet another exemplary feat of lexical dexterity. 
Future ...Accountant, Baseball Player, Farmer, Actor, Homesteader, Outlaw, Mechanic, Lawyer.
There is such a flatness to this pictureAnd yet you can see for miles and miles.  If this weren't on Shorpy, I'd suspect these eight characters were photoshopped into that field.  Or they were placed in front of a stage backdrop for the original photograph.  Russell Lee took an interesting picture.
Knowledge is power These kids certainly know where all the bodies are buried. I hope they use it to their advantage.
Trust me I like them all -- a lot, especially the one with the aviator goggles and holster -- but the third young man from the left is everything.
Second from leftThat's one handsome rake there!
What's the DealWhat are the reasons that conservatives like to hate on the New Deal?
(The Gallery, Agriculture, Kids, Russell Lee)

Geared to the Road: 1924
... low where no one will see it. Several degrees from Elvis The Spreckels mansion was designed by George A. Applegarth for Adolph ... the ex-wife of Adolph Jr., became a huge fan of Elvis Presley, traveling and hanging with him and his entourage in LA, Vegas and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/23/2019 - 2:23pm -

San Francisco circa 1924. "Hudson Super Six touring car at Spreckels Mansion." Plucked from the Shorpy Pantheon of Pharaonic Phaetons. Our title comes from the slogan on the car's gigantic Miller Cord tires. 5x7 glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size.
I don't think ... ... the doors were poorly fitted. I think that's the way they were designed to look. Also I don't think that was a single brake light. I think it was just a reflector like they have on bicycles.
[It's a lamp with an electric bulb. - Dave]
MonochromeI'd love to see this colorized.  In its present condition, it almost looks like Pershing's spare staff car.
No Okies HereAlthough it was a Hudson Super Six of this vintage that years later purportedly carried the semi-fictional Joads from Oklahoma to California in "The Grapes of Wrath," it is extremely unlikely that theirs featured double-sided whitewalls or full spare wheels (as opposed to merely the demountable rims).  Nor was their Hudson likely to have bristled with padlocks like the photo car -- quite an oddity considering that anyone possessing a short length of wire could have made off in minutes with the entire vehicle.
Just for hooligansThe spare tire has a padlock. I didn't know that feature was required then.
We just love rooting through customers' cars looking for the key for the locking lug nuts. In a perfect world, the last people that touched it put it back where it belongs. 
Once in a while we will get a car owned by a packrat.  Stuff piled to the ceiling, with who knows what living under the pile of magazines and old food.  The trunk is usually stuffed too, and the key is buried somewhere in there.  
No one really steals alloy wheels anymore so we usually use our special tool to get the locking lug nut off, and install four new lug nuts to match the others.
Give me a brakeCheck out the puny single brake light, placed low where no one will see it.
Several degrees from ElvisThe Spreckels mansion was designed by George A. Applegarth for Adolph B. Spreckels, an heir to the Spreckels Sugar Co. fortune.  At 2080 Washington Street, it is currently the home of romance novelist Danielle Steel.  Judy Spreckels, the ex-wife of Adolph Jr., became a huge fan of Elvis Presley, traveling and hanging with him and his entourage in LA, Vegas and Memphis.
OdditiesI suppose the padlock on the sidemount spare might have been justified, but it is curious that the one on the external trunk is used not to protect the contents but rather to keep the entire trunk secured to the vehicle. I also had not noticed before the vertical bars between the trunk and the rear of the car body, presumably to prevent movement of the trunk from damaging the body panels. 
The other thing that is revealed by the shadows is the shockingly poor fit of the doors, which seem to jut out at the bottom from the body structure itself. Odd on what is otherwise an impressive-looking vehicle.
Trunk or bootI see why we still call that space in the back of our cars a trunk. It was a trunk.  So why do the British call it a “boot?” Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
[The boot locker was where your coachman or driver kept his boots. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chris Helin, San Francisco)

Heart to Heart: 1956
... 1956. Continuing the Shorpy Mother's Day tribute: A young Elvis Presley at home in Memphis with mom Gladys, and an impressive assortment of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/12/2013 - 10:51am -

1956. Continuing the Shorpy Mother's Day tribute: A young Elvis Presley at home in Memphis with mom Gladys, and an impressive assortment of stuffed animals. 35mm negative by Phillip Harrington for Look magazine. View full size.
Hey mom, can we talk?Looks like Elvis has visited his mom's room to have a heart to heart.   My kids would do this often especially when they were teens.  They seemed to think Mom had the best perspective and advice on anything.  Fortunately,  for me they still do.  I love being a mom.
Nice pic for Mother's Day!Even the King had a Mom.
So sadGladys got to live only two more years after Elvis's great success.  She had so much more than the sticks she was raised in, but I don't believe it changed her down home values one bit.  She must have been a very sweet lady and I know it crushed Elvis when she died.
(The Gallery, Elvis 1956, LOOK, Memphis, Phillip Harrington)

Disc Digger: 1956
... Six eye Columbia Masterworks LP She's not buying Elvis, more likely a Broadway Soundtrack or something Classical. Listen! ... 1956: March-April: Harry Belafonte May-July: Elvis Presley July-August: "My Fair Lady" Six-eyes and the 78's demise ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/06/2019 - 3:57pm -

August 1956. Southampton, New York. "Teenage girl in record store." Medium format negative from photos for the Look magazine assignment "The Young Have New Ideas: They're the Disc Diggers." Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Collection. View full size.
Torn I'm really flopping back and forth about the young lady seen here. She's lost the sleeve to the recording and has her fingers mucking up the precious grooves. But, she's so awfully lovely that it would be tough to risk making her dislike me for saying anything. Oh well, it seems she's won out, is there more of her?
She's making the vinyl-holics winceAs a kid of the 1950s-60s, it took us time to find out proper record handling techniques.  This lovely lady is holding onto the disc much as people did with those earlier & sturdier 78s that had just about vanished by the end of the 1950s.  Most folks felt they were being fastidious when the disc found its way back into the proper cardboard album, that paper liner sleeve being used almost as an afterthought.  An emerging posse of audiophiles was already busily informing  the less cautious of us in the error of our ways.    
Six eye Columbia Masterworks LPShe's not buying Elvis, more likely a Broadway Soundtrack or something Classical.
Listen!Is that a listening booth behind the young man behind the girl? 
I remember as a young man that the store manager would cut off the listening device after a short time if you were listening to an LP. I think that was so we would not just go there to listen to a whole album.
I don't think listening booths are still available since everything is digital now. But if they are it is most likely at the stores that still sell vinyls  
Provincial 78sI once saw some 78 rpm records for sale of songs by the Beatles from 1964. They were made in a province of Canada.
Question about new fontsI'm beginning to get used to the new Large Type Edition of Shorpy, but one thing looks strange.  Using Google Chrome 74, on the main page, in the thread titles, the lower case I appears as a lower case L.  Is this something that can be fixed?  For example, "Fairy Kist" appears as "Falry Klst".
[More pixels will fix your problem. Any newish HD video monitor should do.  - Dave]
Guess the AlbumBillboard No. 1 albums of 1956:
March-April: Harry Belafonte
May-July:  Elvis Presley
July-August: "My Fair Lady"   
Six-eyes and the 78's demiseThat could very well be a Liberace LP in her hand - which might explain why she's holding it well away from herself and the listening booths behind in such a decidedly harmful fashion. If it were three years later, it could've been "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring "Take Five" - which case she would've treated it more like a precious family heirloom.
As far as 78's in the United States, for all commercial and widely distributed intents and purposes, they were extinct by the summer of 1960 (some children's record sets were available in 78rpm until 1964-1965). But, in countries and territories like Mexico, Brazil, India, The Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Portugal and South Africa, 78's were still being made and sold with popular American music as late as 1970. Elvis' "It's Now Or Never", Ray Charles' "Ruby' and "I Can't Stop Loving You" and about half a dozen titles by The Beatles on Indian Parlophone are among the extremely late 78's I've personally come across.
For the label nerdsThat's a Columbia record with the "Six-Eye" label as used from 1956 to 1962:
http://www.cvinyl.com/labelguides/columbia.php
Looks like LookI knew this photo was from Look Magazine before I read the caption. No photographer credit was mentioned, but it looks like the kind of photos Stanley Kubrick did for the magazine. The teenage girl here is absolutely lovely and has a look of grim determination on her face. I wonder what LP she was so desperate to get her hands on?
[The photographer is Jim Abbe. - Dave]
Kids TodayA few years ago, while packing to move to a new house, I came across a few of my grandmother's old 78's from the 1940s and '50s.  My young daughter said "look at those giant CDs!"  That gave me a good belly laugh.  I tried to explain to her how a record player worked, but she wasn't having any of it.
Kids these days and 10 years before "Time Out"Baron, I thank God that, unlike many scores of millennials, your wonderful daughter hasn't started calling them "vinyls" yet.
That said, I thought I'd drop a little something by that may be a bit of an anachronism to most - an actual Dave Brubeck 78 from 1949 pressed on a vinyl/polystyrene mix from my personal stash of 78's. Both label photo as well as a YouTube post of a transfer recording of it by yours truly.
"Laura" by the Dave Brubeck Trio with Cal "Callen" Tjader at the drums from September, 1949:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sJ1roWLiY8
(The Gallery, LOOK, Music, Stores & Markets)

Stage Door: 1956
May 27, 1956. Dayton, Ohio. Elvis Presley with his cousin Gene Smith backstage at the University of Dayton field ... Library of Congress archive. - Dave] (The Gallery, Elvis 1956, Phillip Harrington) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/17/2013 - 11:38pm -

May 27, 1956. Dayton, Ohio. Elvis Presley with his cousin Gene Smith backstage at the University of Dayton field house, on the threshold of superstardom. 35mm negative by Phillip Harrington for Look magazine. View full size.
Awesome.And they keep coming.
Can't get enough of thesePlease keep them coming. How many more are there? And how did you acquire them?
[Dozens more. They're part of the Library of Congress archive. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Elvis 1956, Phillip Harrington)

Queen of Soul: 1942-2018
... on August 16, 2018, exactly 41 years after the death of Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll". I remember that day too. The Blues ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/13/2019 - 10:19am -

        Aretha Franklin, universally acclaimed as the “Queen of Soul” and one of America’s greatest singers in any style, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit. She was 76.
— New York Times
"Aretha Franklin, Jazz & Blues portfolio, 1968." Dye transfer print by Lee Friedlander. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. View full size.
The Queen indeedGreat picture of my favorite female recording artist. And she was never better than she was around this time, the late 60s. RIP
I was just listening to her todayOne of the best singers in my book. Not a DIVA, no matter what anyone says. Because DIVA means SPOILED. Even though she deserved to be.
Three favoritesEveryone will have their own list of favorites, here's mine:
Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool For You Baby)
Chain Of Fools
Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)
Thank you for your artistry, Aretha.
Queen ArethaA nice retrospective from WQXR (New York), written just days ago.
WQXR played a tape today of her singing "Nessun Dorma", standing in for the ailing Luciano Pavarotti:
She will be missed.
UncannyWhat a talent. I put her and Ray Charles on a pedestal. 
Their ability to sing in their styles and never wander off pitch has me shaking my head in appreciation.
Bless you, Aretha. And thanks!
R-E-S-P-E-C-TAretha is one of the few singers I've ever heard who could blow your butt right out of the seat in any number of genres. I'm sure if she wanted to tackle Swedish Death Metal, she'd have killed that too. If I had to list her Top 5 best songs, which is a Herculean task because there are so many to choose from, this is what I'd settle on —
1. Chain of Fools
2. Think
3. I Say a Little Prayer
4. Natural Woman
5. Rock Steady
I could fill out the rest of the Top 10 with Skylark, Respect, Since You've Been Gone, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You). You could probably fill out a Top 50 list, if you wanted. We'll never hear the likes of that voice ever again.
Queen and KingAretha Franklin, "Queen of Soul," passes away on August 16, 2018, exactly 41 years after the death of Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll". I remember that day too.
The Blues Brothers movieI have never been so riveted to a movie screen as I was when she sang 'Think' to Matt Guitar Murphy [RIP].
At that very moment, she changed the way I listen to music.
Thank you Aretha for all the sweet sounds.
Three-octave rangeMy favorites are Respect and Natural Woman.  
Whew! She had a powerful, three-octave range.  Thank heaven for her recordings.  She will never be forgotten.
Aretha, My QueenIn a 70-year lifetime packed with music, I've had my heart stopped maybe a half dozen times. Two of those times involve Aretha: "Nessun Dorma" and "Natural Woman." Bless her memory.
I Say a Little PrayerI’ve spent the last few days listening to many hours of Aretha Franklin.  I think if I had to pick my all-time fave, the one that takes me back to the summer of 1968, to being 10 years old, trying to get a sense of what the adult world of longing and devotion might be, it would be this song.  I feel a shiver in my spine and my eyes feel hot every time I hear it, even now, especially now, half a century after the first time I heard it.
Fashion sense + musical tasteJust about everyone remembers the hat Aretha wore at the Obama inauguration in 2009. Equally significant was what she sang: the nineteenth century anthem "My Country 'Tis of Thee" aka "America."
Soul SurvivorExcellent article, must-read:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/04/aretha-franklins-american-...   
(Music)

True Crime: 1957
... last meal. They stopped at the restaurant after seeing Elvis Presley's movie "Love Me Tender" for the eleventh time. Minnie positively ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2015 - 11:45am -

Chicago. "1/25/57 Grimes case -- Mrs. Minnie Duros." We'll let the Shorpy Detective Squad fill in the blanks. 4x5 acetate negative. View full size.
Unsolved murderMinnie Duros was co-owner of the D&L Restaurant where Patricia Grimes, 13, and sister Barbara, 15, of Chicago, probably ate their last meal. They stopped at the restaurant after seeing Elvis Presley's movie "Love Me Tender" for the eleventh time.  Minnie positively identified the two girls to police investigating their tragic murder,  possibly by Elvis lookalike Bennie Bedwell, a drifter who did dishes at her restaurant in exchange for food.
The murder, alas, was never solved.
Chicago cold caseAccording to various Web articles, the Grimes case, still unsolved, involved the murders of two sisters who had gone to see an Elvis movie. 
The woman shown was the co-owner of a restaurant, and she claimed to have seen the girls after the movie in the company of a former dishwasher at her restaurant, the D&L.
Here's a Wikipedia article on what some consider to be Chicago's most famous unsolved mystery.
Ladies of a certain ageSeems like around the era of the 1900's through the 60's & 70's, older ladies all looked very similar, i.e. Minnie Duros, Mrs. Bottomly (from Stivers Elem. previous picture), Andy Griffith's Aunt Bee, and everybody's grandmother. It is almost impossible to tell them apart.    This hairnet Minnie is wearing kept her hair in place but is just something younger ladies did not wear (unless they worked in food service) and was a dead giveaway that they've reached the point of accepting their maturity and there is no going back, even though the dreaded outline around her face looked like her scalp was stitched on.  Today we have Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren, Joan Collins and others who are in their 70's and 80's and still don't look like grandmothers, even if they are.  My neighbor is 80 yrs. old, a GREAT grandmother, is named Bambi and walks around in tank tops and short shorts.  I'm not sure which is the better way to go. 
(The Gallery, Chicago, Eateries & Bars, News Photo Archive)

Dear Old Dad: 1943
... Captain Marvel, Jr., who legend has it was the basis for Elvis Presley's hairstyle.) (The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/16/2013 - 10:53am -

March 1943. Montgomery, Alabama. "Marvin Johnson, truck driver, reading the 'funnies' to his children." Happy Father's Day from Shorpy! Photo by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Very cute!I remember my dad reading the funnies to my brother and me with dramatic intonation.  Happy Father's Day gang!
Happy Father's Day!There is nothing more endearing than seeing any hardworking man (like my Dad was) taking the time to read to his children.
I did this with my daughters, and now, at 65, I am blessed to be able to do it AGAIN with my grand-daughters.
A grandfather's best blessing is to have that "second chance" to repeat the things he did with his children, and have another opportunity to do some of the things he may have missed out on with his children BECAUSE he was out working hard to provide for his family.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL....
A Bird, A Plane?Maybe Superman?
Superman? No.But he is faster than a speeding bullet.
This is MASTER COMICS #36, published February 24, 1943, and sold for just 10 cents. The page seen is page 28, part of the Bulletman story "Bulletman Battles The Wizard of Murder." This comic is now in the public domain.
(By the way, the headliner of MASTER COMICS was Captain Marvel, Jr., who legend has it was the basis for Elvis Presley's hairstyle.)
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids)

Lost and Found: 1968
... ties at that time because he thought it made him look like Elvis Presley. Troy and I wandered onto a neighbor's property who took us in and ... 
 
Posted by Retrophile - 01/04/2013 - 7:47pm -

This is a photo of my cousin Troy, the kid wearing the red tie, and myself, the one in the dirty tee shirt on the left. It was taken in 1968 and depicts our great relief after being found by our parents after hours wandering in the Alabama backwoods behind Troy's house - the one in the photo. Troy wore ties at that time because he thought it made him look like Elvis Presley. Troy and I wandered onto a  neighbor's property who took us in and called our parents. View full size.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
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