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- Snow Birds: 1973
- Today in the Shorpy Showcase of Random Kodachromes, a slide dated NOV 73. New Jersey Cadillac, South Florida house. ... like flowers around the mailbox. Bees.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Florida, Found Photos) ... Posted by Dave - 11/05/2022 - 12:45pm -
![Today in the Shorpy Showcase of Random Kodachromes, a slide dated NOV 73. New Jersey Cadillac, South Florida house. Hurry up, Harry, or we'll be late for the Early Bird! View full size.
Not a Rare BirdCadillacs with Jersey plates in South Florida outnumber the gators.
I feel like I've been here beforeDoes Hyman Roth live next door?
In a MinuteBe there in a minute Tess, President Ford is on the TV saying something called OPEC will make the cost of gas go to $1 a gallon for our drive back to Jersey. No way, never gonna happen --
[So true. Who was president in 1973? - Dave]
My bad. President Nixon stuck around until August 1974. Should have said Vice President Ford?
A really big rideThat one-car garage might hold the Cadillac but not much else, I'm wagering.
Famous Jersey wine"I wanna go to Miami!!" That's actually a nice looking house. Too bad we don't know where in southern Florida it is. It would be interesting to see if it's still around and if so, how it looks 49 years later.
When life is goodLike the Space Command post, this Kodachrome is pride of ownership. And, much like the freshly dusted and tidied up living room where the Zenith and Fedders resided, the shape of the black trash bag at the end of the driveway tells me this lawn is freshly mowed.
BzzzI've been told that mailmen do not like flowers around the mailbox. Bees.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Florida, Found Photos)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-P-0131.thumbnail.jpg "Snow Birds: 1973")
- Night Train: 1943
- ... so a larger picture area than a 35mm frame. Thus Kodachromes from the 40s are true treasures - it took lots of light and that ... images with resolution comparable to the large-format Kodachromes and glass negatives seen here you could use a studio back like the ... Posted by Dave - 05/01/2017 - 9:24am -
![ One of our first posts 10 years ago, enlarged and re-restored.
April 1943. "Illinois Central R.R. freight cars in South Water Street terminal, Chicago." Judging by the clock, this was a five-minute time exposure. Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Beautiful :^)
A 5 minuteBeautiful :^)
A 5 minute exposure and this was taken in 1943. Maybe ISO 25 film or lower?
KodachromeAlthough standards for film speed varied [no ASA, no ISO but Kodak, Weston, etc] Kodachrome was what we'd think of as 8 to 10. By the sunny 16 rule that's 1/10 second at f16, so hold really still, and if it's not sunny, hold reeealllly still. It was available, as noted, in 4x5, truly awesome, up to 8x10, and in 35mm and 828. 828 was a paper-backed roll film that was 35mm wide but unperforated, so a larger picture area than a 35mm frame. Thus Kodachromes from the 40s are true treasures - it took lots of light and that meant big multiple flashes [bulbs] or long exposures. The permanence of Kodachrome is why we can see these images now, when other pre-E-6 process images have faded away. Now Kodachrome's time seems to be up, and too bad. When the CDs with digital pics have faded or no machines exist to translate them, Kodachrome images will be good enough to toss on the light table or hold up to the window and enjoy.
Pabst SignPabst beer was the king on the East Coast back then, before Bud's big adverts.
Jack Delano photosThis entire series of photos, including the non-rail, is one of the best things I've ever seen on the internet. Thankyou -all, for posting them!!
Being thereI have never seen so many beautiful photographs from the 1940s that are on your site, thank you. The clarity and colour of the images is remarkable it is just like you are standing there in person it's very surreal.
World's largest sign?Wasn't this the world's largest neon sign at the time? I think my father said it was.
Silly QCan you do long exposures with digital? Is it necessary? Will you get better/higher definition like what we see here?
["Definition" doesn't have anything to do with exposure time. Resolution depends on the number of elements (pixels) in the image sensor. To shoot digital images with resolution comparable to the large-format Kodachromes and glass negatives seen here you could use a studio back like the Sinar 75H (33 megapixel sensor, image size 68 to 260 mb). Which, not coincidentally, is also the equipment used to image these very same Kodachromes and glass negatives. - Dave]
KodachromeThis is the original Kodachrome (the only one made in 4x5 and sheet film sizes) which would be ISO 10 although it was not labeled as such because they didn't have the ISO system then. Kodachrome II was ASA 25 and was released in 1961.
I love these images. I show them to people and when I say it's from 1942 their jaws drop. It just shows you how much we have regressed since then. The fact that no mass produced digital technology can come close to replicating a 79 year old technology is just sad. I'm going to try out 4x5 color printing and I honestly can't wait.
Millennium ParkToday the yard is long gone and this area is now part of Grant Park, with this northwest corner specifically called Millennium Park. Most people have seen photos of the primary exhibit in this part of the park known as Cloud Gate. It is made up of very smooth rounded art shapes with a mirrored surface, and is quite popular not only with kids but also with photographers.
Bit late for the response but...You very much can do long exposures with digital. I'm a photographer myself, and thats one of my favorite 'things' to do.
The reason you'd want a long exposure usually is because high ISO ratings introduce grain and generally degrade in quality. With newer cameras, this is becoming less and less of an issue. The brand I shoot with recently introduced a camera capable of ISO 819,200 which in layman's terms is 'pretty freakin' insane.'
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-1a34791u3.thumbnail.jpg "Night Train: 1943")
- South Water Street Terminal: 1943
- ... elegant skyline back then, didn't it?
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... Posted by Dave - 01/11/2023 - 2:44pm -
- Golden Girl: 1960
- ... all that was. What a time in America.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Boats & Bridges, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 03/05/2023 - 1:58pm -
![June 18, 1960. "Rowing, Harvard-Yale Regatta. Crew race at New London, Connecticut." Here we are back aboard the Versatile, quaffing cocktails on the Thames with Cabin Boy and the Catch of the Day. Can he reel this one in? 35mm Kodachrome by Toni Frissell. View full size.
Who's reeling whom?I think this shot, and round, takes place before the pinch ...
Here her glass has more in it, no cigarette yet, and he's being careful with his cup. Dave, I also thought of "Purple Noon" and Messier Delon.
[Messier? Messier than whom? - Dave]
Touche (avec l'accent) deus foix, mon ami...!
Yellow BirdI'm inclined to think that of the two, the shady lady would probably have harbored more than her share of lascivious intent, if any had actually existed between them.
Instead of the drink she holds, a "Yellow Bird" would have been the perfect cocktail accompaniment to her wardrobe. Recipe calls for a fair amount of alcohol, a couple of them would have been a start in helping to dispel any pesky inhibitions that might have been lingering.
Matt Damon's time travel talents?Is that the talented Mr. Ripley I see here, plying his charms?
[It’s 1960, so this would be Alain Delon in “Purple Noon.” - Dave]
Time Marches OnToday she's probably in her early 90s and he's in his early 80s, if they're still here. I wonder what their lives were like after this snippet of time in a faraway summer.
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
— Shakespeare, "Cymbeline"
Back to the yachtI guess if we have to go back to 1960, then I do prefer these two instead of that crusty old Vanderbilt. Spicier comments, too.
Cabin BoyI would love to know who Cabin Boy is. I wonder if he’s still alive. If he was around 20-25 in 1960, he would be 83 to 88 today.
What a TimeHis haircut (with Vietnam in his future). Her outfit. Eisenhower & Kennedy. Emblematic of all that was. What a time in America.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Boats & Bridges, Toni Frissell)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-23248a.thumbnail.jpg "Golden Girl: 1960")
- Mint, Sage, Caraway and Thyme: 1942
- ... I got my butt warmed with that paddle!
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Arthur Siegel, Kitchens etc.) ... Posted by Dave - 01/19/2023 - 8:38pm -
- Beach Chic: 1957
- ...
[They're not related. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Pretty Girls, Swimming, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 02/27/2023 - 1:56pm -
![Honolulu, 1957. "On the beach at Waikiki." 35mm Kodachrome slide by Toni Frissell for the Sports Illustrated assignment "Hawaii -- The Sporting Look." View full size.
She knows!How to wear a sarong. If it weren't a family publication, more would be showing!
I like the "paved" beach, keeps things clean.
O Hawai'i!
Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1958When our family moved from Canada to Australia in October of 1958 we flew in a United Airlines DC-6B from San Francisco to Hawaii. We stayed at the Royal Hawaiian for several days, and my first impression was that there were no doors into the lobby. After living in an industrial city everything seemed very exotic. Since it was the 1950s, we dressed up for travel and dinner at the hotel. My father took this Kodachrome of Mum, myself at right with sister Heather and brother Rob.
It will be two more yearsbefore Hawaii becomes our 50th state. Beautiful beach, lovely sarong ... very, how you say in French ... Oh là là. I like your title, Dave ... but didn't you leave out the k?
Whose sari now?Sports Illustrated still had 7 years to refine their editorial approach before the first sarong swimsuit issue.
Longboards for loanout.Classic style and obviously the same color scheme for loaning out to the people willing to try that sport. Only a few years later would California surfing and surf culture explode in the early 1960s.
GET UP!! The lady to the right looks disgusted with her lazy husband.
[They're not related. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Pretty Girls, Swimming, Toni Frissell)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-42924a.thumbnail.jpg "Beach Chic: 1957")
- Mustang in Flight: 1942
- ... on the constantly improving Spitfire.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 06/29/2022 - 12:08pm -
![October 1942. P-51 "Mustang" fighter in flight near the Inglewood, California, plant of North American Aviation. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer. View full size.
Paint?Did planes like these leave the plant unpainted?
[It is painted. Compare with unpainted. - Dave]
Alfred Palmer: 1906-1993Alfred Palmer's obituary from Feb. 2, 1993:
(San Francisco Chronicle)
Alfred Palmer, a career photographer who got his first camera from Ansel Adams and who had his first public show at the age of 84, died Sunday. Mr. Palmer, a longtime Bay Area resident who most recently lived in Larkspur, died in San Rafael after a long illness. He was 86.
A staff photographer and film maker for such shipping companies as Dollar, Matson and American President Lines, Mr. Palmer had his debut exhibition in 1990.
"It's about time," he said during the two-part show at the Bank of America Concourse Gallery. The first exhibition included World War II photographs taken when he worked for the Office of War Information.
The second included pictures from his travels during the 1920s and 1930s and featured such photographs as an untouchable in Bombay, an old man in Beijing and temple dancers in Bali.
Mr. Palmer estimated that he traveled half a million miles at sea during his career and circumnavigated the globe "more times than I can remember."
In 1917, he helped a young Ansel Adams carry his heavy tripod and camera around the Yosemite Valley, where Adams took some of his most famous and striking photographs. At the end of the expedition, Adams presented Mr. Palmer with a $1 Box Brownie camera. "He made me a photographer," Mr. Palmer later told an interviewer.
A former merchant seaman, Mr. Palmer also produced films about the American Merchant Marine.
Mr. Palmer is survived by his wife, Alexa, of San Rafael; three children, Julia Gennert of Bolinas, Donald Palmer of Stinson Beach and David Palmer of Los Altos; and nine grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Beautiful aircraft!Looks to be a P-51B IIRC, which was made specifically for ground attack. This was with the Allison engines, and was considered underpowered until incorporation with the Merlin engine that enabled it to (later) establish itself as one of the top fighters of WWII.
Thanks for sharing this :)
Also known as the ApacheThis model was also known by the name "Apache."
MustangMy records show this aircraft as being built for the RAF, but retained by the USAAC for testing. Serial number of the aircraft is 41-37416. Aircraft was destroyed during shipment to Europe in 1943.
Early vs. Late P-51 MustangsThe Brits were not impressed with the first P51s we sent them, but some bright fellow thought to put an engine from the Spitfire in one.
We started making that Rolls-Royce Merlin engine over here (in a Packard plant?) to put in the later Mustang, turning it into a world-beater.
"Mustang I"This is a Mustang I, the original version built for the Brits before the US put in their order. The primary clue is in the guns -- all US versions were armed with Browning 50 caliber machine guns, which have barrels short enough to almost fit in the wings. Only stubs will show for 50 calibers. On the other hand, the Mustang I was ordered with four Hispano 20 mm cannons instead of machine guns. The long gun fairings conclusively identify this as an Allison engined, 20mm cannon armed, Mustang I.
(The British gave their aircraft a snappy name, like "Spitfire" or "mustang", and identified models by roman numerals. On the other hand, the US relied on familiar type and model numbers, like "P" (for Pursuit)- 51. In the US system, versions were identified by letters, and minor modifications by "block numbers." For example, "P-47D-25")
Apache? Not.While basically the same airframe it's not an Apache. A-36's had dive brakes on the wings.
MustangThis is a P-51 (no suffix), RAF equivalent is Mustang IA. Only this version had the four 20mm Hispano guns. Mustang Mk. I's had two chin-mounted .50 caliber machine guns and one .50 caliber and two .303's in each wing for a total of eight. The Mk. I's were exported for use by the RAF and RCAF.
A-36 was the Invader, not ApacheIf the the P-51A (cannon armed) also was in the AAF Apache era I can't say for certain, but the reply below restricting the Apache appellation to the A-36 is in error. Later the A-26 assumed the Invader name, but that p[lane did not reach operational combat units until months after Overlord.
Philip C. Marchese, Jr.
P-51It did have an unique official designation of P-51-1 for 57 planes for AAF use withdrawn from an RAF Defense Aid (Lend-Lease) contract for 150 as their Mustang 1A. Serials for that contract were 41-11981 to -11980, but there is no found record of exactly which ones went to AAF. Confusion arises in that all were similar to Mustang I but for wing cannon; however, Mustang 1 was factory Model 83, and Mustang 1A in this contract was Model 91 with no new model number assigned. To muddy the waters moreso, AAF first applied a designation of F-6A—as a photo ship—but that idea was tossed out. There is some thought that it was to be Model 92, but that had already been assigned to a Boeing B-29 contract which was canceled, so cooler minds took the easy way out by simply adding a dash 1 and moved on to other things.
This is either an I/P-51 or a P-51AThe inlet scoop over the engine behind the prop is indicative of the Allison powered versions of the Mustang. These were the very first models produced and saw limited service as attack aircraft due to their poor performance above 20,000 feet. The big change for the Mustang came with the addition of the British Merlin engine..... the rest is history.
Hello, www.shorpy.comHello, I can't understand how to add your blog ( www.shorpy.com ) in my rss reader
[Click the "Shorpy RSS" link at the top of the homepage. - Dave]
Apache!When North American designed the NA73-X, the factory named the entire project "Apache." The P51/Mustang IA was designed without British involvement and still had the original factory label. The P51, after production, was slated for half USAAF training units and half British deployment. The British commonly renamed American aircraft but in the case of the P51 (no A,B,C or D/K) the Americans had always referred to the planes as Apache. The Army echelon did not like the name and they were more than happy to change it to Mustang later.
"Invader" is what US Army theater personnel called the A36 Apache, but it was never an official designation.
Packard MerlinsAt the beginning of the war, 1939, the British air ministry sent a buying team to the USA to source a fighter superior to the british spitfire and a supply of Merlin engines. It appears that Rolls-Royce feared they would not be able to supply Merlins in sufficient quantity for the number of aircraft projected to use them, among them Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster bomber and others, so they contracted Packard to produce Merlins under licence.
When the US found itself at war after Pearl Harbour, it checked around it's its armament inventory and found Mustangs awaiting shipment to us British, these were immediately impounded, re-gunned and and impressed into USAAF service. They also discovered a ready supply of Merlin engines being built in their own backyard. The aircraft proved to be a disappointment in British service and was relegated to ground attack. It was only when a Merlin was fitted that it's its laminar flow wing came into it's its own. By the way it's its bubble canopy and drop tanks were also fitted by us first. The US never managed to fit a cannon of US design in it's its fighters and even in Korea the North American Sabre still had to rely on 0.5 machine guns against the Russian Mig-15 cannons. Mustangs were not much used by us British after that, we preferred to rely on the constantly improving Spitfire.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/p-51-mustang-p51.thumbnail.jpg "Mustang in Flight: 1942")
- Baby Shower: 1960
- ... with bookcase behind. Makes me want to dig out my old Kodachromes and see what I can find.
Mind if I smoke? Now that I am able ... Posted by Tony W. - 09/17/2011 - 8:11pm -
![This is my grandma (who is no longer alive), pregnant with my father, making this around 1960. I'm fascinated by the mural above the fireplace and the little figures on top, but perhaps someone might know what the black thing on the table is? And, of course, the big blue thing and television are awesome. Scanned from a Kodak safety negative. View full size.
FigurineDare I say, that black object looks like a figure of a panther. Now a cliche, then an object of pride?
Black thing & Blue ThingI'm pretty sure the blue thing is a toy stuffed Humpty Dumpty and the black thing is a glass figurine - looks like a panther.
Black ThingLooks like a ceramic cat (or perhaps a panther?).
And that TV looks older than the photo year. My parents bought our first TV (a tabletop Magnavox) in 1954 and the screen was larger and more square than the one shown.
Table-top ceramic sculpture?My guess is that "the black thing" is a glossy-black ceramic panther (I'm guessing the face end would have a few painted-on features in white or gilt), based on the "midcentury" stuff I grew up with (I'm a bit older than your father).
BTW, someone has a vintage "Cal-Dak" laundry cart on eBay (ah, the wonders of the internet).
Nice to have a (comparatively) younger Shorpy submitter--welcome!
That thing on the tableI think that thing on the table might be a ceramic black leopard. My Mom used to have one of those on her front room coffee table....
Black...Panther... ceramic, glossy glaze...popular in the 50's
The Black PantherThe thing on Gramma's coffee table looks like a fabulous fifties tchotchke, a ceramic panther planter. (Addendum: In the six minutes it took me to find the panther photo on eBay, six people beat me to the answer! Not to mention the dozens who are sure to follow.)
The thing on the tableThe big black thing on the table is a ceramic black panther. The view is a little odd, but, its head is looking towards your grandmother and father-to-be while its tail is pointing at the photographer.
Black thing on the tableIt looks to be a statue of a black panther; they're often pictured slinking around like that. My mom had one eerily similar to your grandma's that was also kept on a table. In fact, before I read the text, the statue was the first thing that caught my eye. Although panther statues like this are common, I'd bet my mom's and your grandma's are the very same.
Shower?I'm guessing this was taken just after her baby shower. The item on the table looks to be a ceramic panther. The blue thing maybe a stuffed Humpty Dumpty. The gifts seem geared toward the coming baby, including the laundry cart for dirty cloth diapers.
[Hmm. Could that be why the title of this post is "Baby Shower"? - Dave]
One-upping the Panther FigurineThat's definitely a ceramic panther. My grandmother had one except hers was a lamp base with...wait for it...a plastic philodendron entwining the bottom. This wasn't her handiwork - it came from the store that way and was intended to give the impression that the stealthy cat was prowling the leafy undergrowth of the jungle. This lamp was placed in the most prominent place in the room: on top of the TV. Why one needs a lamp on a TV, I don't know.
[Hugely collectible. Search on eBay for "TV lamp" -- there are hundreds. Including 16 panther TV lamps. Also a website devoted to them, tvlamps.net - Dave]
LovelyYour Grandma was beautiful. What a lovely expression.
Color TVI think what we have here is an early color TV, which used round CRTs well into the 1960s, like our 1965 model. Round B/W CRTs were on the way out by the early 1950s. It looks like the logo above the screen reads "PHILCO," who began producing color sets in 1956. If my surmise is correct, this was a rare family, perhaps one of those whose living rooms were invaded by friends and neighbors every Sunday night starting this year to watch "Bonanza" in Living Color.
Deja vuI saw first of all the dress because I also was expecting a child in 1959 and had a dress like that (same color) and a fireplace like that and a shower like that -- way too eerie for words! I did not have a black panther!
I can guess what she's thinking"Put that camera down and let me go take a nap!"
Cool WoodI love the beige wood in the coffee table. Anybody guess what it is? Some type of maple or birch? My parents have a small desk in that same wood, and it extends out into a very long table. We sometimes used it when we had a lot of people over for a dinner party.
Oh joy, a laundry cart! Just what every woman wants!
Great looking shoes.
Mid-Century BlondeThe table, I mean. Blonde walnut was a favorite furniture style of the 40s, whose pieces survived in many homes through the 50s & 60s. My best grade school chum's house was full of the stuff. It's also possible that the table top is wood-grained Formica.
Humpty DumptyI've definitely seen lots of those Humptys over the years - I couldn't find a picture of one online, but here's a pattern for what looks to be the same guy (note sideways-looking eyes and bow on neck):
Just maybeI can't be sure — perhaps someone else has noticed it, too — but that black figurine on the table seems to resemble — now stay with me on this, I know it's kind of a left-field guess — some sort of a large feline animal. Like a panther. Maybe.
Black PantherDefinitely a black panther... my grandfather had the same exact one.
Black PantherWithout question it's a black panther figure, a fairly common piece for the day. My late-grandmother also owned and displayed one; it remains in our family.
Those little Asian figurinesThose little Asian figurines atop the fireplace mantel are also really something. My grandma had something like those candle holders, only they were salt shakers...
Humpty HumpThat Humpty-Dumpty toy is near about the creepiest thing I have ever seen. The stuff of nightmares.
CrackedIt seems like everybody in the world had one of those black panthers in those days. We had one - I was fascinated by it and wouldn't leave it alone (I was three years old). Of course I ended up breaking poor old Mr. Panther in half. Years later I found another one - with a "TV light" built in it - on eBay and I bought it.
Kitten HeelsBut look at her shoes! Kitten heels with gold and clear plastic (?) instep. Seriously--one could wear those today. The dress too for that matter.
My life's beginningsThis series sure makes me want to dig through all my old stuff. I was born in 1959, too. I have many of my dad's old slides that look so very similar to these.
LaminatedIt looks to me like a laminate tabletop. My grandfather had one similar, with the end tables to match.
Fast agingSomething doesn't add up here. There was a photo two days ago ("Father's Day 1964") of your Father, looking middle aged. Yet today's photo shows his Mom 4-5 years earlier, not yet having given birth to him? I'm totally confused.
[Look above the photo to see who posted it. This pic was posted by Tony. The Father's Day photo was posted by tterrace. - Dave]
Ah, the 21AXP22 ... the 21CYP22 ...That is a color TV for sure, and probably used the 21AXP22 kinescope which had a metal shell. Working on those sets back then, one had to VERY careful making adjustments anywhere near the shell of the kinescope (CRT) because the shell was carrying a full 25 KV! Yep, lots of memories working on those old color sets. Of course (little trivia here) if the set was manufactured around 1959, the CRT would have been an all-glass 21CYP22. In either case, both tubes required the use of a "safety glass" in front of the CRT face. Later tubes used an integral safety glass bonded directly to the face, eliminating the need for the external safety glass. And there, class, is your trivia for today! Discuss it among yourselves.
Icons of the era This picture is full of period items. The ship’s wheel clock on the mantel, probably made by Telechron, the steel tube kitchen chairs, the asphalt tiles with the deco rug. The laundry cart in a corrugated cardboard carton. I wonder if it’s a Japanese import? This was just the beginning of such things.
But what I get a charge out of most are the Dixie cups. Before a certain point in time, the only style available was that simple white with blue doodads. Now we have them in an infinite array of designer patterns.
FlooredThis is the first time I've seen asphalt tile used in a home -- except for ours. Built just after WWII, there was little other choice I guess. Ugly as sin but lasts forever.
Figures and cupsI remember those wax coated cups, vividly. We used them through the summers for picnics.
The candle holder figures look Chinese, or possibly Japanese. My father's aunt had a few figures made in occupied Japan. At the time they were inexpensive but are now collector's items.
What a pretty grandmother-to-be.
Haeger PotteriesThe panther was Haeger Potteries signature piece of the period.
The TimeOdd that no one mentioned the ship's wheel clock on the bookshelf. It seemed everyone had to have one of those, too. They came in many different sizes and bases, as I recall.
[Jazznocracy mentioned it way down below. - Dave]
Stack O' GiftsJudging from the pile of goodies stacked in front of the fireplace, I'd say Grandma made quite a haul on this day. Ah, the kindness of women invited to baby showers.
Confused over ageOkay Dave, you have me totally confused. I just viewed a photo of you at age 14 in 1960. Yet here is a photo of your Grandma pregnant with your Dad in 1959/1960. How is that possible?
[You are confused! These are not pictures of me, or my grandma. The age 14 pic is tterrace's photo. The grandma photo is Tony W's. - Dave]
Floor TilesI had tiles like that in a house I owned a few years back in MPLS. It was a sweet little brick rambler built in '54.
Mom of InventionI wonder if they had gift wrap big enough to cover the laundry cart box, or if they did what my mother and aunts did and used whatever leftover wallpaper they had gussied up with lots of pastel colored curling ribbons.
TV lamps and other mid-century modern bad tasteThe reason TV lamps were created was that people of the era believed that watching TV in the dark would damage your eyes.
I can remember, as a child, having adults turn on the lights of the room I was in, when I watched TV at night, explaining that as the reason.
Why watching TV in a darkened room would hurt your eyes, but watching a movie in a darkened theater didn't, was never explained. But that is at least one origin kitsch lamps on top of TV sets.
Oh, and those streaked floor tiles were everywhere. The ones in our house (built 1953) were black with green and ivory streaks. They were made of asphalt. Those beige ones may be all vinyl, or vinyl-asbestos. Asbestos was in a lot of 1950's home-things to "save" your house in the event of a fire.
[Here is my theory: Most people like a lamp on if they're watching TV at night. Table lamps were often too bright for the relatively dim picture tubes in 1950s TV sets. TV lamps were a way to have ambient lighting that didn't wash out the picture. - Dave]
Mantelpiece muralA mantelpiece mural like that would have been pretty unusual in most Southern California houses of the 1940s and 1950s. Tony, have you found other photos of the living room that might show more of it?
Books!Someone should point out that there are actually books in the living room. It was about a decade after this that, as Nora Ephron noticed, the Reagans built the California governor's residence with a wet bar in the living room but not one bookshelf anywhere in the house.
MuralisticThat mantel mural actually looks like a Van Gogh print, but I'd have to dig through my books to find which painting... The tree's dark outlining and wet-on-wet is Van Gogh's signature style.
LovelyShe is lovely and every mom to be should be thrown a shower like this one. This is a classic mother-to-be photograph, I have one of myself on the day of my shower that is very similar.
Does anyone know what that black thing is on the coff....
Hey look! A shiny new quarter!!
Shower IILooks uncannily like my own mother's pics from when she was pregnant with me in 1959. TV next to the fireplace with bookcase behind. Makes me want to dig out my old Kodachromes and see what I can find.
Mind if I smoke?Now that I am able to bring up the full sized image, I'm wondering if that's not a matchbook on the table. That smallest porcelain tray looks like an ashtray with telltale smudges in it. This was back in the day when pregnant women thought nothing of smoking through their pregnancy (as my own mom did in 1946). Gak!
Bow-quetIn looking more closely at the large version of the photo, I noticed that Grandma is holding a bouquet made up of all the bows that must have been on the presents she received. The presents themselves are displayed in front of the fireplace. One is reminded that in those days baby shower gifts had to be gender-neutral -- the gift on top (some kind of blanket set?) is yellow and white.
(PS - it was I who posted the Humpty Dumpty pattern - guess I forgot to log in...)
TV, fireplace & bookcasePJMoore said: Looks uncannily like my own mother's pics from ... 1959. TV next to the fireplace with bookcase behind.
Something like this? (1960)
Mid-century pixI love the turn of the century pictures and the chance to pore over the details of buildings and cars and the ghost people, but these mid-century pix always attract lots of interesting comments. I am usually prompted to remember things I haven't thought about in years, like the bathroom floor in my childhood home that had those flecks of green, black and white that someone described below. More of both, please.
Memories....This is a great photo of a moment in time. Perhaps frightening to some, I have that clock, a panther, and even ... sigh ... those tiles on my floor right now. The house was built in '55 and I was built in '54.
Our panther is a relatively new member of the family, but my husband's pride and joy. Believe it or not, visiting his childhood friend, he saw it sticking out of the top of his trash can -- just four years ago! Ours is pretty fancy, with gold teeth and floral painting, and a chain connecting his collar to his leg so he can't get away from the coffee table!
As kids, we were not allowed to watch TV in the dark, nor were we able to sit "too close." I even remember the deadly words my dad spoke when he warned us that "Renkin Units" were what was out to get us. Who is TV savvy enough to remember those and let us know if there was truly a danger? We apparently survived!
Love the photo!
Kathleen
[I think your dad was probably saying "Roentgen units," i.e. X-rays. Color TV picture tubes did emit very small amounts of ionizing radiation. When we got our first color TV set in the late 1960s, my dad taped a dental X-ray tab to the TV screen with a penny between the film and the glass. After a week he took the film to his dental office and developed it. If the film showed a light circle (the penny) on a dark background, that would have meant there was measurable radiation. Luckily the film came out blank. - Dave]
A contestAwesome photo. You and tterrace are going to have a color slide battle now here on Shorpy. I'll have to admit you both are my favorite photo posters. I'm more impressed with your contributions than my own.
TV Furniture ChoicesI think you're right the TV set in the picture is a Philco. It is a mahogany cabinet. The choices were usually Mahogany or Oak. The Oak was a lighter color and the manufacturers had different names for it like honey oak, blonde oak or ash and charged about $20 more for it.. At one point, I think, RCA made a deal with Henredon and they supplied high end furniture cabinets for the RCA TVs. The TV business at that time had RCA and Zenith each with about 35% of the total sales, Philco, Admiral, Magnavox and the rest of them scrambling for the remaining 30%. Panasonic (using the name National) entered the U.S. market in 1959 followed by Sony, JVC etc. However they were only in the radio business at that time.
Add one at homeI grew up in Canada and my parents has one of these panthers on the living room table. They also has a coloured tiger in their bedroom. My mom still has them!
That's a black panther on the table...and they still sell reproductions. My great-grandfather had one.
Jaspé LinoleumThe streaky pattern in the linoleum tiles was (and still is) called Jaspé (pronounced hasspay) by the flooring trade, and was meant to resemble marble or other grained stone. But it's a Spanish textile term originally used to describe handwoven fabrics with streaky patterns that were resist-dyed into the unwoven yarns prior to weaving the fabric. Although jaspé-patterned vinyl flooring is still available, it only comes in big rolls, and the traditional crossways laying of the streaks in the 10-inch linoleum tiles can't be done with the available product. I ran into this when I was working on the historical restoration of a 1935 exposition building in San Diego, and we had a heck of a time matching the original jaspé floor tiles in several rooms.
Jaspé todayOh how I'd love that Jaspé tile for my 1950 California ranch house. Modern linoleum just doesn't have the "look" of vintage tiles. If they could make it sixty years ago, why can't they make it now?
Popular GrandmaFifty Five comments. I think it is the most I've seen here. Grandma's photo struck a (many panther-related) chord with a lot of Shorpsters. Is fifty five comments a record?
[It's definitely impressive but not even close to the record-holder, the OLL thread (Caution: Do not attempt to read while operating heavy machinery). Also the Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Aunt Irene's ceramic shoeMy Great Aunt Irene had one of those black panthers. I always remember it sitting in her bedroom. The was an oval cutout in the top. As a child, she told me it was a shoe. I would always ask her, "How did you get your foot in there and where's the one for the other foot?" I wish I could remember her answer. I also remember wondering why it didn't break when you walked in it. One time I tried putting it on my foot and got in all kinds of trouble.
Armstrong, KentileThis floor is probably not linoleum. More likely rubberized composite (Armstrong) or vinyl (Kentile). There's more info here.
TV Lamp MuseumThere is an antique store in Northfield, Minnesota, that displays an incredible collection of those weird TV lamps. I'm sure they have a panther or twelve. It's a really neat place!
http://www.tvlamps.net/christensen-collection.html
Canadian IconThat stuffed Humpty on the floor is a cultural icon to 30-50 year olds who grew up in Ontario. He and his partner Dumpty figured prominently on a kids' TV show called "Polka Dot Door."
Objet d'AshMy Nonna had one, except it had a built-in ashtray. No one in that house ever smoked, yet somehow she still felt the ceramic panther ashtray was a necessary thing to have.
Humpty DumptyI love the stuffed Humpty Dumpty lying on the floor. My mother had a panther planter when I was growing up.
I knew instantlywhat that "black thing" was- HERE IT IS!!
IlluminatingThe panther design on the table was also popular as a TV lamp. It was felt that the ambient light generated by these lamps reduced eye strain, permitting guilt-free viewing. We had a panther TV lamp, at another time a panther planter, and one other time a panther like the one in your photo. We also had the Chinese candle holders, only ours were black.
Black PantherI recently purchased a n original Black Pahtner like the one on the table. My aunt had all the Panthers; TV light, letterholder, planter, ashtray and figureine. I wanted the on in the antique story in her memory. I keep it above my desk.
Ah, the 16WP4The TV set is from 1951, the first model year in which Philco used the split chassis--and the last that they used round black & white tubes. Absolutely not a color set.
We had a black panther light just like that...I never quite understood why a black panther, but they were common. It is like surfing in a time machine this site!
How beautiful!Your grandmother was a lovely, elegant lady.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Tonypix)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/BabyShower__0.thumbnail.jpg "Baby Shower: 1960")
- Tractor Pull: 1942
- ... long gone or very very old. This also amazes me.
[Kodachromes are transparencies -- there are no negatives. They're clear because they're big. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 12:47pm -
![October 1942. Kansas City, Kansas. "B-25 bomber plane at North American Aviation being hauled along an outdoor assembly line." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.
Wartime ingenuityDoes anybody know if that tractor was "pressed into service", or built specifically to haul planes?
Snappy dressers.The tractor is an I-4 International industrial, the model was built from 1941 to 1953. 24 hp measured at the drawbar.
The B-25 obviously met her maker long ago but the old tractor might still be around in the hands of a collector, or maybe even still in use somewhere. Many repair parts for the old tractors are still available.
The old Fairfax (Kansas City, KS) B-25 plant was demo'd in the late 80s. Nothing is left but a vacant lot.
Why was a guard posted to watch the employees? Afraid someone would go for a joy ride?
Old tractorsThe I-4 was the industrial version of the W-4 standard tread tractor that International Harvester/McCormick built for wheat farmers.
The differences were fairly minor and only included things like a beefed up/fixed width front axle, rear drawbar mods, transmission change gears to allow higher transport speeds and the obvious substitution of street tread for the rear ag tires.
On-line references only say I-4/W-4s were built at the Farmall plant in Rock Island, IL but I think I've seen historical photos of 'em going down the line at the old McCormick Works in Chicago, too. Even during the war, tractor production was kept up. The old McCormick Works in Chicago is the site of the current Cook County Jail and the old Farmall Works in Rock Island is just now being demo'd.
The I-4 was built for common industrial uses and pulling aircraft around was only one of the many ways they were pressed into service. Many were built for all kinds of industrial uses. I haven't seen any for a while but it was fairly common to still see these in plant use through 1990 anyway. With only minimum maintenance, the old girls will almost last forever.
Security GuardPeople walking off with scarce or rationed supplies (tools, tires, wiring, paint, gasoline) and selling them on the black market was a problem in a lot of the big wartime plants.
Who watches the guard?They never "borrow" stuff? Who watches the guard?
[Alfred Palmer and his giant, ever-present camera. And all of us. - Dave]
SabotageI'd guess that guards around military production plants were as common as could be. Less than a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor (re:photo date) potential sabotage was a major concern (and one of the reasons behind the internment of Japanese-Americans in "relocation camps"). An aircraft plant would have been a primary target for a saboteur. Including a guard in the picture was probably one of those things that was done as a "show that we're always alert" item.
Pull!The funny thing is that I-4 International Industrial tractor was hooked up to the first B-25 and simultaneously pulled all of those 10 B-25 that were hooked up to each other behind that first plane you're seeing in that picture. What a feat! That feat made it into Ripley's Believe It Or Not book of 1943 and was pictured on page 124 just opposite of the two-headed Martian.
I-4 and I6There was also an I-9 model, the first tractor my grandfather was able to buy after the war. It was ill suited for farm work as the seat was so far behind the rear axle that the slightest bump tried to dismount the driver. I attribute most of my back problems to the many days I spent on that tractor driving a diagonal path across cotton rows harrowing the crust off sprouted seedlings. The toll in drivers may be uncounted but like all IH products of the time, it continued near daily service for at least 15 years until I lost track of its whereabouts.
How clear the photo is for so long ago.I have been a Shorpy fan for some time and it still stuns me to see such great photos. How do they maintain negatives so well? The modern digital camera has nothing on these fine, fine pictures. Thank you to whomever supplies these. I look at these men and there either long gone or very very old. This also amazes me.
[Kodachromes are transparencies -- there are no negatives. They're clear because they're big. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a35288u1.thumbnail.jpg "Tractor Pull: 1942")
- Rosie Takes a Break: 1942
- ... everyone rightly raves about the colors from these old Kodachromes, what amazes me is the absolute clarity of the pictures even when ... get this clarity with a digital camera.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Pretty Girls, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 12:26pm -
![October 1942. "Noontime rest for an assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Nacelle parts for a heavy bomber form the background." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.
Is that...the same girl as in the picture titled "Madonna of the sandbags"?
[It is indeed. - Dave]
The SocksAnd I love the red socks! The perfect touch for the photo, just like Nat'l Geographic used to do (still does?), a bit of red in every image.
WowAfter all the comments on differing ideas of feminine beauty, this picture is a stunner! You ought to put it in the pretty girls gallery.
The coloursThe vibrancy of the colours in this picture are an advertisement for Kodachrome, even if there's been work done on them. The vibrancy of the blues and the reds, not to mention the colour of her blouse - absolutely stunning. And she ain't bad either - every time you run one of these pictures of women war workers I end up falling in love with women who were born before my 78-year-old mother.
I'll second that"every time you run one of these pictures of women war workers I end up falling in love with women who were born before my 78-year-old mother."
Absolutely. These womenfolk are examples of true, timeless beauty.
Amazing ClarityAlthough everyone rightly raves about the colors from these old Kodachromes, what amazes me is the absolute clarity of the pictures even when viewed full size. This is an aspect of the large format (4x5) combined with, I'm sure, some very expensive glass. I can't even imagine what the megapixel equivalent would be, if you could even get this clarity with a digital camera.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Pretty Girls, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a35328u1.thumbnail.jpg "Rosie Takes a Break: 1942")
- Captain's Table: 1960
- ... a lens hood to shade it from the sun.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Boats & Bridges, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 02/26/2023 - 1:26pm -
- Appleton: 1962
- ... Wisconsin. Well done! This is one of the Janet & Kermy Kodachromes, labeled "Wisconsin plane trip 1962." The slide was processed in ... is correct. This is one of the Janet & Kermy Kodachromes, labeled "Wisconsin plane trip 1962." The slide was processed in ... Posted by Dave - 12/04/2017 - 5:11pm -
![UPDATE: It took only a few minutes for you to pinpoint the location to Appleton, Wisconsin. Well done! This is one of the Janet & Kermy Kodachromes, labeled "Wisconsin plane trip 1962." The slide was processed in October 1962.
A 35mm Kodachrome from the Shorpy archives that I scanned last night. Where are we, and when? See the comments for your answers. View full size.
Why are downtowns desolate nowadays?Comparing the photo from 1962 to Google Street View, it is jarring how desolate the downtown feels. The older photo seemed to pack in SO MANY more stores, so much more texture, and of course, so many more people and cars. Lots of photos on this site, when compared to modern day, feel the same.
I suppose I know some of the answers, but it still jumps out at me.
[Shopping centers, for one. - tterrace]
Iroquois beerSo we're probably somewhere in New York. Buffalo?
[I could really go for a six-pack of Pontiacs right about now. - Dave]
Amarica's Dairyland@bobstothfang- You would be correct. The phrase America's Dairyland has been on all Wisconsin standard automobile plates since 1940.
TuslerI think there was a Tusler Pontiac in Appleton, WI.
1960Newest car in the photo is the 1960 Chevy parked on right foreground.
Just a guessI'd say early 1960s Atlanta.
AppletonThat is Appleton, Wisconsin.
That's cool!No comment in particular other than I love these photos that capture a place in time. Love it.
Appleton, WisconsinAt back, the H.C. Prange Department Store was at 126 West College Avenue Appleton, Wisconsin. It opened in 1946.
View Larger Map
Is this the place?Might this be Appleton, Wisconsin?
Downtown AppletonDowntown Appleton, WI; looking west along College Avenue between Morrison and Oneida.
View Larger Map
Lightning-quickI am impressed! Appleton, Wisconsin, is correct. This is one of the Janet & Kermy Kodachromes, labeled "Wisconsin plane trip 1962." The slide was processed in October 1962.
Appleton200 block of East College, Appleton, Wisconsin
I'll take an educated guessI am betting that we are looking south on the main street in Appleton, WI in the very early '60s.
Based on the following clues --
Tusler Pontiac sign
Tusler Motor Company (Google)
Burton Tusler (Google)
The vintage of the cars
Jimos Hat Cleaners (Google)
"Andy Jimos, who had a hat cleaning business on
the main street for 65 years…from 1927 to 1982"...
The license plates are tough to see, but they might say "America's Dairyland" on the bottom.
[Other clews below. - Dave]
217 east college Appleton WIGreenen dry goods is pretty conclusive. There are a lot of changes but the red brick building with beige points is still there.
But here's the most perplexing question of allWhy does Jimos Hat Cleaners have a Coca-Cola logo on its sign?
Far CarsFrom the left: 1961 Chevy, 1955 Chevy Nomad, yellow 1959 Ford, 1962 Ford, another 1959 Ford, blue 1962 Ford, 1960 Mercury.
AALThe large building on the far right with the "A.A.L" on it is the headquarters of the Aid Association for Lutherans (now Thrivent). I've had a life insurance policy with them since my parents bought it when I was two months old (March 1962).
Dave:aren't clews the lower part of a sail?
[Maybe you need to get out more! - Dave]
Iroquois BeerI spent an hour or more looking for Iroquois Beer but only found Schlitz on top of Dick's Tavern. Where the heck is it? Iroquois beer was brewed in Buffalo & Dunkirk NY and also in Ohio at various times but not in Wisconsin, "diloretta" anything further to add? Thanks for the reason to hunt this pic.
[I think Diloretta was confusing Chief Pontiac with the Iroquois mascot. - Dave]
Desolate DowntownsThis looks to be one of those towns that tried to buck the trend by putting the shopping center/mall downtown. These almost always failed. Nowadays malls are becoming ghost towns, and the new trend is toward "town centers" combining stores, housing and office buildings in order to try to recreate the downtown experience. The circle of life.
Things that pass; things that remainThe things that have passed: Pontiac, Mercury, Oldsmobile, F.W.Woolworth.
The things that have remained (so far): Chevrolet, Ford, Singer, Coca-Cola, Dutch Boy, Smirnoff, Sears (although who would have guessed Sears would be owned by K-Mart?).
Others that have passedTo add to mpcdsp's list, H.C. Prange (department stores) and AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans), the two tall buildings on the right. Both Appleton mainstays were bought out or merged and renamed.
Clue about clewIn Greek Mythology "clew" refers to the ball of thread used by Theseus to find his way out of the labyrinth to escape the Minotaur - becomes clue in American usage.
1957 Olds From IllinoisCheck out the robin's egg blue 1957 Oldsmobile sitting under the MARX clock. He's a visitor from Illinois. I distinctly remember the dark orange plates with white numerals, even though I was 12 years old at the time. Ahhhh, good times. No cell phones, no computers, kids got exercise outdoors playing and we were the most prosperous nation in the world. The only thing we had to worry about was the Russians!
Grandpa following DadA nostalgia trip for me,as my grandfather had a purple '59 Olds and my Dad a red '59 Chevy Bel Air at the time this photo was taken. My brother and I would stand on the floor behind the old man and watch him drive (no car seats, or even seatbelts, then). The cars are all as familiar to me as today's cars, except for that Nomad (good eye, Dave). I don't remember ever seeing one till later when they were big with street rodders and surfers.
Blue carThe blue car under the MARX clock is a '55-'56 Buick, not a '57 Oldsmobile. I owned a '57 Olds back in 1962. They have a 3 piece rear window and oval tailights.
My hometownI lived in Appleton from 1969 to 1995. You can see the AAL building and Zuelke building.
Gibson Motors used to be here on College Avenue also. My father bought his brand new 1974 Chevy Malibu here.
Up the street a little farther was the movie theater where I first saw Star Wars in 1977. I was 9 years old.
When I got my drivers license, in the mid-'80s, I used to "cruise the ave" as they used to say, looking for girls.
What memories. Thank you for the post.
(ShorpyBlog, The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kermy Kodachromes)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/Anytown_Appleton.thumbnail.jpg "Appleton: 1962")
- Green Gasoline: 1980
- ... price per gallon.
Those were the days!
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Gas Stations) ... Posted by Dave - 03/17/2023 - 8:41pm -
![1980. "Shamrock gas pump, old Route 85, Aguilar, Colorado." Color transparency by John Margolies (1940-2016) / John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive. View full size.
Creme tangerineI saw the title and immediately heard it in my head replacing the first two words of the Beatles song "Savoy Truffle"!
BowserBowser model 575, circa 1941-48. This one seems to be in above average condition for its years. It would have been an excellent candidate for a cosmetic restoration, transforming it into a colorfully imposing embellishment for a modern day Man Cave.
Sylvanus Bowser invented the first gas pump in 1885, before cars ever existed. Since people relied on gas to power their homes, they used Bowser's invention, which held refined kerosene, for their stoves and lamps.
https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2017/05/bowser-building/
If I'm reading it correctlyThe last customer received 7(?) gals of gas for $2.25, making the gas 32 cents a gallon. This would be far too low for 1980 (which was approaching/exceeding a dollar a gallon, if I recall correctly).
[Not to belabor the obvious, but this is a derelict pump at a ghost gas station. - Dave]
High gas taxWhenever the last transaction on this pump occurred, it is noteworthy that the sticker below the dials says that there are 11 cents per gallon of taxes. Given that the total price is 31.9 cents per gallon, that's pretty hefty. Compare today's 18.4-cent federal and 22-cent Colorado tax per gallon -- out of a price ten times as high.
[The price per gallon on this pump is ?1½ cents. - Dave]
Yes, I see that now. I guess I just assumed that it was .9 because that's the way gas stations have always priced for as long as I can remember, and still do, even as the tenth of a cent fades into total insignificance.
If, as calculated by alg0912, the first digit is a 3, that would correspond to a sale in the 1960s some time. The station's closure might have something to do with the merger of Shamrock Oil with Diamond Alkali in 1967 (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Shamrock).
Two digitsTwo digits plus a decimal for the price per gallon.
Those were the days!
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Gas Stations)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-02183a.thumbnail.jpg "Green Gasoline: 1980")
- Family Picnic: 1964
- ... ... to be able to just "couldn't resist buying it".
(Kodachromes, Kids, LIFE, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 02/27/2023 - 11:00am -
![May 1964. 35mm Kodachrome by Toni Frissell for the Life magazine assignment "The Splendor of a Great Family: The Vanderbilts." View full size.
On her country estate near Stamford, Connecticut, Gloria Vanderbilt enjoys a picnic with her husband, Wyatt Cooper, and two sons by her marriage to Leopold Stokowski -- Chris, 12, and Stan, 13. She came upon the picturesque waterfall with its secluded cottage one day and couldn't resist buying it. "It was like something out of a fairy tale," she exclaims.
Fried Chicken, or a Sandwich?I will take the fried chicken every time! Unless it isn't.
Heap big melonThat's a lot of watermelon for four people, but I suppose it photographs nicely for the magazine article.
Those black sneakersConverse All Star low-cuts. Way way too expensive for a coal miner to buy his son in the '60s. I mowed a lot of grass, picked blackberries, blueberries, shoveled snow, managed to earn that money. Worth every cent back. Levy's Sport shop Johnstown, Pa.
Melon FamilyThere were four in my family -- we'd have been bothered by the fact that there was only one watermelon.
The Americans of the 1%ersA fine example of how the American Dream went over the top.
Dramatic family historyWyatt Cooper was Gloria Vanderbilt's fourth husband. This marriage, her last, would produce two additional sons, Carter (1965) and Anderson (1967).
Wyatt Cooper died at 51 in 1978. Carter died tragically at 23, falling from the balcony of his mother's apartment, apparently during severe reaction to a prescription drug. Gloria was estranged from son Christopher Stokowski for over 40 years, with a modest reconciliation reported when she was in her 90s.
Almost all photos of Gloria with her sons come in pairs, the first two or the last two. Below is a rare image showing all four.
Just like a family picnic when I was youngexcept delete the picturesque waterfall on a private estate, and my mother would be wearing shoes and sensible pants ... and probably not a Coolie hat. But the males would be wearing button cotton shirts that needed to be ironed.
I'm not sure how one "comes upon" a picturesque waterfall with a secluded cottage, unless a Realtor shows it to them, or you can see it from the road (which, in this case, I doubt). I'm going to disagree with richie33 about this being over the top; this is a nice place in the country. Modern mega yachts and gilded age Newport mansions lived in eight weeks a year are and were over the top.
Photo ArtWhat an amazing photograph. Almost looks like a painting.
Gloria bought this property on a whim. One example of how the massive original family fortune of Cornelius was gradually whittled away to just a fortune.
Anderson Anderson Cooper would appear three years later.
So many menGloria Vanderbilt was married four times, and her husbands included the conductor Leopold Stokowski and the director Sidney Lumet. She also had relationships with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, Roald Dahl, and one of my favorite Shorpy photographers, Gordon Parks. These color photos of rich, decadent folks have been fun, but I’m glad to get back to newsies, rustic main streets in 1900, and 1929 boiler explosions.
tterrace, is that you?At first glance, I thought for sure that was our community member and contributor tterrace sitting front and center on the picnic blanket. Who knew he was related to Gloria Vanderbilt!
[Well, I was dressing like that then but his clothes probably didn't come from Monkey Wards. -tterrace]
Little AndersonThree years following this picnic Gloria would give birth to Anderson Hay Cooper, known to CNN viewers as Anderson Cooper. In the previously posted photo of Gloria and her four sons Anderson is the baby.
Must be nice.... to be able to just "couldn't resist buying it".
(Kodachromes, Kids, LIFE, Toni Frissell)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-27691a.thumbnail.jpg "Family Picnic: 1964")
- High Society: 1960
- ... to a vertical-lift bridge in 2008.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Boats & Bridges, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 02/25/2023 - 2:45pm -
![June 18, 1960. "Rowing, Harvard-Yale Regatta. Crew race at New London, Connecticut." Man overboard! 35mm Kodachrome slide by Toni Frissell. View full size.
Pinch Me!"I must be dreaming"
Shipshape and Camel fashionIt appears the Captain doesn't mind getting a little ash on his yacht.
Tom?I'm getting a Talented Mr. Ripley vibe here.
UnfilteredI guess it’s less gross to flick an unfiltered butt into the ocean than a cigarette with a filter. Since Shorpy is a wholesome family site, I won’t say what we used to call unfiltered smokes.
1960 in reviewHere is a list of 1960 events and births. A few which stand out to me include:
February: Greensboro, NC -- four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
March: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
April: The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
June: A smoking hot, shirtless man doesn't mind having his lack of body fat admired by a woman on a yacht during Harvard-Yale Regatta, New London, Connecticut.
July: Following the admission of the State of Hawaii as the 50th state in August 1959, the new (and current) 50-star Flag of the United States is first officially flown over Philadelphia.
August: The newly named Beatles begin a 48-night residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany.
Let me just ... oh my!She's trouble! Pieces of ice on her finger aside, she might be having a moment inspired by her second (more likely third or fourth) G&T, and the day watching the races. She's sizing up the evening's potential as only her circumstances allow ... she'll meet everyone for dinner at a select spot, and certainly grab a seat next to him. Lively conversation to follow above the linen, with perhaps more exploration below deck. Those Vassar women --
[If they were all laid end to end ... - Dave]
Privileged WorldI grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in the 1970s in Groton, which is the land you can see in this picture. These people might as well have been on the dark side of the moon to me. I heard about the regatta yearly in the papers, but it just wasn't anything of significance to lower middle-class folk.
Gold Star Memorial BridgeI`ve personally been over it a few times, fantastic structure(s). The original span was "twinned" in 1973, and now carries northbound I-95 traffic.
New London's BridgesJudging by location of the Gold Star Bridge and the Thames River Bridge in this photo, the Versatile is just off the shore of the US Coast Guard Academy. Both the Gold Star and Thames River Bridges are still there and very busy. The Gold Star Bridge where Interstate 95 crosses the Thames River is now a two-span bridge having the southbound span added on in 1973. The Thames River Bridge is owned by Amtrak and was converted from a bascule bridge to a vertical-lift bridge in 2008.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Boats & Bridges, Toni Frissell)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-23270a1.thumbnail.jpg "High Society: 1960")
- Amethyst Twilight: 1942
- ... not help with the Sheimpflug effect.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... Posted by Dave - 12/15/2016 - 8:07pm -
![December 1942. "Proviso departure yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R. at twilight." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.
Fantastic ShotDoesn't matter how it was done, I wouldnt understand it anyway.
trick shot?yeah - i'm a big fan of delano, too...
but..
how'd he manage to have the lantern in the foreground be in sharp focus when it is in a field of soft-focus cinders? odd.
shifted focusExposing for that scene would likely leave the lantern badly over-exposed. I'd bet that the lantern was masked and the focus adjusted mid-exposure.
Perhaps...... my favorite Delano shot ever.
a touch of tiltLooks like he tilted his focal plane to keep the ground in focus off into the distance (note the top of the building is also out of focus)
Forgive my ignorance...I've seen a couple photos on Shorpy of railroad yards that have the same light trails like this one. I'm assuming that they were captured by leaving the shutter open longer (hence the double image of the rail car on the left), but what were they created with? Were they lanterns being carried around? Was this a Jack Delano trademark? In any case, beautiful photo, and one more example I'll be directing people to when I next praise this site.
[Yes, lanterns. - Dave]
Jack's lanternIf you look close you will see two lanters that left the trail of lights....One lantern has a freshers battery in it and thus produces a slightly brighter trail. One man was standing outside the shanty and the other was inside (probably getting a switching list, they both walked to the right where they were probably doing switching.
[The other shots show kerosene lanterns, not battery-powered. - Dave]
Nikon EM can achieve theNikon EM can achieve the same shot with given circumstances
Jack's Lantern"how'd he manage to have the lantern in the foreground be in sharp focus when it is in a field of soft-focus cinders?"
Photoshop maybe?
Just kidding. I'm guessing he did it by tilts.
Could the lantern have been flashing perhaps? This could prevent it from being overexposed. Or perhaps Jack knew when it was turned on and setup the exposure so that the lantern would be switched off for the first portion of the exposure and switched on for the second portion of the same exposure.
this is simply stunning. onethis is simply stunning. one of my favorite photos as well.
Jack DelanoThis is the work of a master. That's obvious, but I had to say it.
LanternThat's a kerosene oil switchlamp. No on/off switch.
The flashing lanternobviously on his other side from the camera.
Stating the obvious, againAll you have to do is do is google "KODACHROME DELANO." Library of Congress has many more. Indeed he was great.
Master of lighting KodachromeJack Delano, wiley photographer. Beautiful image. Most color films tend toward blue with long exposures, with Kodachrome the reciprocity effect goes more toward this gorgeous indigo/violet.
I think this is a double exposure: a short one with the lamp lit and the boxcar nearer (fainter image) and a longer one after the boxcar was moved. If there had been a longer single exposure I would expect the boxcar to show a gradient rather than two states (think of electron field probability diagrams...) He clearly used a small aperture as focus is maintained through a fair depth of field (at least on the longer second exposure). I doubt he used any tilt--not a significant feature on Speed Graphics of the era (I use one), and rise (pretty limited) would not help with the Sheimpflug effect.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34651u1.thumbnail.jpg "Amethyst Twilight: 1942")
- Kodachrome Goes to War: 1942
- ... don't seem right.
I'm kidding....
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:11pm -
![October 1942. "Women are trained as engine mechanics in thorough Douglas training methods. Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California." Skipping ahead to 2009, and the end of an era: Today Kodak announced that, after 74 colorful years, it will stop making Kodachrome film. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information. View full size.
Woot!Saddle shoes!
Awesome Kodachrome, so long..Nothing is as sexy as a woman with a wrench in her hand!
Farewell, My Lovely!My first job out of college in 1973 was as a Kodachrome Quality Control Chemist at Berkey Photo in New York. It was an incredibly complex process that got incredibly beautiful results.
As Mark Twain said of the Mississippi steamboat: "So short a life for so magnificent a creature."
Somebody's gotta say it Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day...
Momma, don't take my Kodachrome away.
Hubba HubbaThat is one gorgeous airplane mechanic. (Yes, wisenheimers, I'm talking about the one on the left.)
HyperrealWhat a grand picture; it has sort of a "heightened" look, for lack of a better word. Lovely as Technicolor.
(And I'd say the mechanic on the right is pretty cute, too.)
She and HeShe's cute. He, on the other hand, is hottimus maximus. Hats off to Kodachrome. Such beautiful, limpid color.
KodachromeAs a photographer all of my working life, this is a very sad but not unexpected day. I was too young to be shooting in the era where you could shoot 4x5 Kodachrome. That's one of the things I love about this site. I shot quite a bit of it when it came back briefly to the medium format world in the mid-80s. I've come very close to selling my 4x5 camera given the dearth of emulsions still available but the images on this site keep me in the game, so to speak.
Definitely the real dealIf there is any question as to this young lady being just a publicity model or the real-deal mechanic, look closely at her fingernails. The dirty saddle shoes could be a set-up with a model, but no gal I know that only poses as camera candy would have those fingernails! Definitely a real engine assembly worker.
What type engineI wondered what engine this was and a quick photo search shows this as a R-1830. Long Beach built C-47 cargo planes and they used this type engine.
What's on the clipboard?Nice to see the details on the shipping tag; can someone enlarge the clipboard at center-left, in case there's anything of interest on it?
[Alas, it is out of focus. - Dave]
Keep your heads down!Those external cylinder head oil pipes look very vulnerable to me. They are critical to the engine's operation yet in use they'd be hiding behind a thin aluminium sheet. Meanwhile the baddies would be firing all sorts of assorted sharp pieces of ironmongery in their direction.
"Oil lines"The "oil lines" of concern to the first commenter are actually spark plug leads. Each cylinder has two spark plugs, fired by separate magnetos.
I was also taken with the fact that this pretty girl is no mere model.
De-colorization.With all the controversy surrounding the use of the computer to colorize black and white images, I thought I'd do the opposite. Face it, WWII and color just don't seem right.
I'm kidding....
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a35329u_3.thumbnail.jpg "Kodachrome Goes to War: 1942")
- Meet the Yardleys: 1970
- ... in the batch? Hope so!!
(Cars, Trucks, Buses, Stephen Kodachromes) ... Posted by Dave - 11/29/2022 - 4:26pm -
![ UPDATE: Our garden party is on Bontecou Road at Lilburn Drive in Stony Point, New York. While a number of you independently arrived at the correct answer, Johnny Yuma was first. Clapclapclap! Tell us how you did it.
An unlabeled Kodachrome from the same batch of slides as young Stephen, fast-forwarded to what seems to be around 1970. Who'll be the first to Street View this split-level suburb? In the meantime, pull up a chair. View full size.
The Date?First warm day of Spring!
Late in the DecadeI'd bump the year forward a bit, to '68 or '69, judging by the polyester doubleknit and slingback shoes. Also the car next to "Stephen" is probably a model year later than '65. The younger man could conceivably be Stephen, at the age of 31 or 32. Definitely the first warm day of spring, though--an occasion worthy of pearls!
To Heck With Ralph NaderI'd love to have that red first-generation Corvair convertible in my driveway. Hopefully it's a four-speed turbo Spyder.
A clue?Hard to see on my work computer, but it looks like there's an address over the garage door of the house on the left. (Whose owner had excellent taste in cars!)
[Blurrily I say to thee: "Three Lxxxburn Drive." - Dave]
Temporal LocationI think the year could be 1967. The gold convertible in the background, with the black top, is a 1967 Chevelle, and the gold car in front of it looks to be a '67 full-size Chevy. There's also a red early Corvair convertible (it looks like a '62) with optional bumper guards parked in the neighbor's driveway, and what looks to be some kind of Mopar parked next to it (maybe a '65 or '66 full-size Plymouth).
I love... everything about this picture. From the old man's socks to the beer glasses (and the bottle of Schaefer), to the dresses to the split-foyer house across the street. The tray, the chairs, the ... everything.
Are we having fun yet?It will take more than a few of those Schaeffer beers to get this party started. Maybe a little music, a few jokes and invite all the neighbors over. (BYOchair). So far we have only one smiler.
Parents, mother-in-law, wifeStephen's looking a little worse for the wear, alas.
Raised ranchDon't know about the architechtural style of the other houses (can't see enough of them), but the house with the Corvair in the driveway looks like a "raised ranch," also called a "split foyer."
Possibly 1967The cars in the street appear to be 1967 Chevrolet models. The mostly hidden car looks like a '67 Impala SS and the convertible with the top up could be a '67 Chevelle. The Impala body style was new for '67 and the Chevelle was new for '66.
What is it?Behind the "Corvair house" up an incline or hill there appears to be a single home. What the heck is that appearing between it and the "Corvair house?" It appears to be a possible rock formation, but it looks as if it might have a door in it.
[The door or opening is in the lowest portion of that structure on the hill. -tterrace]
The YardleysTwo months prior, they were the Snowdons.
Sing alongSchaefer is the one beer to have ... when you're having ... more than one!
30 Bontecou Road, Stony Point, New YorkI do believe this is it. I found it using different letter combinations with the clue you provided. Took about 15 minutes to hit the right one. Google maps did the rest.
Found it!They are in Stony Point, NY.
The split foyer's address is 3 Lilburn Drive.
The house they are at is on Bontecou Road.
Better screenshotHere's a current shot including their house.
3 Lover's Lane?I thought it might be Lover's Lane, but couldn't figure the number. Maybe it's 3 Lovers Lane?
Clue possibly solved?Just registered as not only do I find this site fascinating, but discovered where the picture was taken (and itching to post my findings).
I tracked down the house in the background as No.3 Lilburn Drive, Stony Point, NY. The "Yardleys" quite likely lived at 30 Bontecou Road.
Party BottleMagazine advertisement, Schaefer Beer, 1967.
Five o'clock somewhere!I applaud the Shorpian sleuthing efforts here, and I especially applaud the Yardleys for the getting the party started so early in the afternoon!
Raised Ranch CityIn 1962 my family moved to Stony Point, NY. into, yes, a raised ranch just a hop, skip and a jump from this very neighborhood. In those days just about every new development in the 60's in Stony Point consisted of raised ranches (with an occasional split level) erected rather rapidly on what was once revolutionary era farmland. When we arrived one only needed to dial 4 numbers to telephone within the town. The town was transformed between 62-70, and that soon ended. Judging by the length and style of the dresses on two of these women, I also think this is more likely the late 60s.
This picture is a big hitI shared the Yardley pic on the Stony Point FB page. Of course, before long people who actually knew the name of the Happy Hour family started posting and sharing memories about the neighborhood. Seems that barn up on the hill (Stony Point is extremely hilly) was the starting point for some serious daredevil sledding. Can there possibly be more shots from the area in the batch? Hope so!!
(Cars, Trucks, Buses, Stephen Kodachromes)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-MSC002A.thumbnail.jpg "Meet the Yardleys: 1970")
- Night Train: 1943
- ... of the windows.
Time travel. You realize these old Kodachromes are time travel machines, don't you?
Old B/W photos are like ... washed out old color photos are the same.
These old Kodachromes take you back to the instant they were made. You're standing right ... Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 10:57pm -
![March 1943. The Santa Fe Yards at Argentine, Kansas. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano, Office of War Information.
Wow, gorgeous.That's one for the desktop background. Talk about atmospherics.
Love it!Perfect exposure. I wonder how many takes it took him to get it right.
[This one took some Shadows & Highlights tweaking in Photoshop. - Dave]
A theory about the lightingThe exposure was fifteen minutes or so, but the railhouse lights were turned on for only a small portion of that. I can't figure out any other way you would see both the lantern-trail on the right and distinct figures in the house.
If so, I wonder if this was arranged with the yard workers. Did Jack Delano tell them to leave the lights off until he called down to them?
[Close up, we can see the figures in the railhouse (below) are a blur -- with a light trail from someone's cigarette. I don't think anyone was turning lights off or on. We know that some of Delano's nighttime exposures were around five to seven minutes. - Dave]
Very long exposureLook at the meandering light streak on the right, clearly a lantern or flashlight being swung in the hand of somebody walking through the frame. The shutter had to be open for several minutes at least for him to walk so far.
The more I look at this picture, the more I love it.
[Plus, a cigarette! See above. - Dave]
Night Train: 1943This looks like a painting. Look at the rail house the figures in it look painted not real
Railhouse Is...In case you are wondering just what the "railhouse" is, its a scale track that weighs freight cars when they are diverted on the track that runs just in front of the windows.
Time travel.You realize these old Kodachromes are time travel machines, don't you?
Old B/W photos are like looking into a history book. Many washed out old color photos are the same.
These old Kodachromes take you back to the instant they were made. You're standing right there, peeking in on others and half expecting them to look right back.
Night Train 1943Re: Kodachrome. I took a night photo in Rome in 1958 with ASA 10 Kodachrome. The camera was on a tripod, exposure was on the button at 30 sec. @ f 2.8. If this 4x5 was shot, say, at f8, it would have been, as Dave says, 5 to 7 minutes, plenty of time to record the lanterns of the walkers and the cigarettes of the men in the railhouse. Shooting with slow films was a challenge, but not as daunting as you might think. You could hand-hold in daylight, 5.6 at 1/60th, or even 1/100th in bright sun. My 50+ year-old Kodachromes are as good as new, but not so with Ektachromes, which are all red now, and Anscochromes, which have just faded away.
Probably east of 42nd StreetBased on the recently-posted photo at https://www.shorpy.com/node/14960 , I think this is on the east side of 42nd Street (the bridge in the background), looking west. The blur of white in the top center of this photo is from the light tower seen at the upper right of 14960, and the trees at the upper left in this photo seem to match the ones on the east side of 42nd Street (by the big warehouse) in 14960.
Today, there is a small shack, and a larger BNSF building, in the general area. http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.081542,-94.675506&spn=0.002361,0.00324...
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Jack Delano, Railroads, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34713u1.thumbnail.jpg "Night Train: 1943")
- T for Two: 1954
- ... I prefer Weeki Wachee, Florida (1947).
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Florida, Toni Frissell) ... Posted by Dave - 02/24/2023 - 5:47pm -
![ UPDATE: The Ronald Balcoms at "Windsong," their home in Palm Beach.
"Florida -- couple with car, Roney Balcom, 1954" is all it says here. The car being a 1955 Thunderbird. 35mm Kodachrome by the fashion photographer Toni Frissell. View full size.
Ronnie and LuluSo Ronnie is only 44 in this photo and Lulu 42? I must say, they look far more worn-out for that young. Hard living?
Rarefied Florida AirRonald Bush Balcom and Lucille Parsons Vanderbilt Balcom.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183783069/ronald-bush-balcom
Are they famous? That looks like Jane Hathaway and Art Linkletter. Maybe Jed or Granny introduced them to each other.
Trust, but verifyMaybe this is indeed the same Ronald Bush Balcom, but my instincts tell me that the guy depicted here is much older than 44, in spite of the many times aforementioned apparent accelerated aging of this generation compared to the current one. Heck, I was still occasionally getting carded at 44. This guy looks every bit of 70.
[Did you not look at the photos? Read the obituary? - Dave]
Pose with your possessions!This reminds me of the current practice on social media where 'influencers' post photos that can be moused over to identify the fashion brand of every piece of clothing they are wearing.
Flamboyant FordPaint code R - Torch Red (70540)
Initially, just three colors were offered on the 1955 Thunderbird: Raven Black, Torch Red, and Thunderbird Blue. Snowshoe White and Goldenrod Yellow were added to the stock color palette later.
Note to myselfOnce you sail through Great Depression and survive WWII, everything else is easy. Both were outdoorsy types, thus bit "aged".
Give Lt. Commander Ron a BreakIf Ron looked a little weather-beaten in 1954, it could have been because he had spent the war fighting on small ships in the Solomon Islands and the North Atlantic. (His war was undoubtedly more eventful and dangerous than radio host Art Linkletter's.) To me he looks like a tough and salty veteran who didn't use family wealth to duck serving. Hard to begrudge him his Thunderbird and his athletic wife. Robert Mitchum could have played him.
100Lulu lived to be almost 101! Born in 1912, and died in 2013.
https://fishersisland.net/2013/08/memoriam-lucille-parsons-balcom/
High Altitudes & Low LatitudesReading the obituary, this couple having the finest skin care routine would still be a hard match against their enviable, highly athletic outdoor lifestyle on the water in the intensely sunny south, and the thinner atmosphere of high altitudes.
Not the same houseI found a June 2014 article about the hot Everglades Island property market. It included the statement "Thursday’s sale comes on the heels of another Everglades Island property sold in May by Elkins and Hiatt — 619 Island Drive, which Ray and Kim Celedinas bought from the estate of the late Lucille P. Balcom for a recorded $6.55 million." Lucille Miriam Parsons Balcom died at the age of 100 in August 2013 on Fishers Island, Suffolk County, New York. The house at 619 Island Drive in Florida is not the house in the 1954 photograph. I looked around and could not find the house in the photograph.
[The Balcoms lived at "Windsong," the Vanderbilt abode on Pelican Lane. - Dave]
Thanks, Dave. I'm glad this columned beauty was not replaced by one of the many, many Italian villas I saw while looking for Windsong. I looked around Windsong, and saw this interesting No Parking Anytime sign. Remember lawbreakers, failure to read the sign is no excuse.
Boating or floatingIf you scroll up to the top of this page, you will be looking at two photographs taken by Toni Frisell. Between the two, I prefer Weeki Wachee, Florida (1947).
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Florida, Toni Frissell)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-01668a1.thumbnail.jpg "T for Two: 1954")
- B-25 Over California: 1942
- ... and jbauger's list of serials.)
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 06/29/2022 - 11:58am -
![October 1942. North American Aviation B-25 medium bomber 41-12823 over the mountains near Inglewood, California. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Mark Sherwood for the Office of War Information. View full size.
B-25 Over California: 1942I think it's highly unlikely that this photograph was made over Inglewood, California. Inglewood would have already been a large and populous suburban city in 1942. In fact, any photograph taken from the air over the Los Angeles basin in that year would have shown major signs of civilization.
It's possible, however, that North American Aviation was based in Inglewood in 1942. There were other aviation companies with facilities in Inglewood during World War II, probably because of its proximity to Los Angeles Airport.
[There are thousands of undeveloped acres near Inglewood even today. Below is a 21st-century aerial shot of the terrain just north of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, around Topanga, five miles from downtown Inglewood. North American Aviation's B-25 assembly plant being in Inglewood isn't a possibility, it's a matter of historical record. - Dave]
B-25 CApparently this B-25C survived the war and was sent to reclamation at La Junta Jul 21,1945. The airport was opened in April 1940 as La Junta Army Air Field and was used by the United States Army Air Forces as an advanced flying school operating B-25 Mitchell two engine bombers and Cessna AT-17 twin-engined advanced trainers. It was operated by the 402nd Army Air Force Base Unit, as part of the Army Air Forces West Coast Training Center. At the end of World War II the airfield was determined to be excess by the military and turned over to the local government for civil use.[(thanks to Wikipedia and jbauger's list of serials.)
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Aviation, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a35397u1.thumbnail.jpg "B-25 Over California: 1942")
- Stings Like a B: 1942
- ... to the NW corner of the airport.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 05/04/2017 - 2:28pm -
![ Time flies like B-25's. Another Kodachrome from the Early Days of Shorpy, enlarged and re-restored.
October 1942. "B-25 bomber assembly hall, North American Aviation, Kansas City." Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the OWI. View full size.
I never realized how small aI never realized how small a B-25 was. That thing's tiny.
Also, where are all the people?
Bright yellow!Not exactly a stealth bomber, eh?
Where are all the peopleMight be that a security guard on night duty took the picture.
Where the people areThey are mostly hidden by the planes. I see at least 19 people. The photographer was Alfred Palmer, who took hundreds of pictures like this for the Office of War Information.
BombersNot many of you know about WW II planes, first the rest of the outboard wings haven't bee assembled and put on yet, next the yellow color is the primer paint, the finished coat would be olive drab, camouflage or desert colors light & dark sand depending what theater of war the plane would be sent to.
North American AviationThat was not a B25 (a four engine heavy bomber) The plane in the photo appears to be the twin engined B26, a much faster, lighter "attack bomber" for lower level pin-point missions rather than the carpet bombing that actually the larger B-17's and B25's were best suited for.
B25 bomberThe B25 was a twin-engine medium bomber. I have some more pictures of the assembly line to post later in the week.
B25 bomberGood plane; wasn't it a B-25 that hit the Empire State building late in the war years??
Harry
B25 BomberYes, that was a B25. From Wikipedia:
At 9:49 a.m. on Saturday July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber flying in a thick fog accidentally crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors, where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council were located. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and another plummeted down an elevator shaft. The fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people were killed. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall. Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors on the following Monday.
B-25 or B24?You're thinking of the B-24 4 engine "Liberator" bomber which was cousin to the B-17 "Flying Fortress" that did carpet bombing before the advent of the B-29 "Super Fortress". The B-26 was a twin engine light bomber made by Martin Aircraft Co, and in the same category with the B-25 "Mitchell".
This is definitely a pictureThis is definitely a picture of a B-25, also known as a Billy Mitchell. I flew as a passenger in one of them in 1948 on my way to an Air Force tech school to become a radio operator. It had to be the noisiest ride ever in a medium bomber, but it was fast.
Kodachrome?Was this taken on Kodachrome? Look at how well the colors are retained. - Nick
[Yes,a 4x5 Kodachrome transparency. - Dave]
This is definitely a B-25This is definitely a B-25 Mitchell, not a B-24 Liberator, and not a B-26 Marauder. I have shot B-25s in the past, so I have personal experience with this plane. This is the same type of plane that Jimmy Doolittle flew off of the deck of the USS Hornet in 1942 to bomb Tokyo during WWII.
Above comments very interesting Some knowlegable,some not.I flew this plane (B-25) in the South Pacific. What a beauty it was. It was a medium bomber that was turned into a strafer with 12 50's firing forward, very lethal. We flew tree top missions on land and mast top missions when hitting ships.
B-26 and A-26Just to confuse the issue there were A-26s too. Twin engine ship built by Douglas.
B-25The plane is a B-25...the b26 has a different tail configuration and the b-24 looks similar but has 4 engines.
B-25This is an early model B-25, probably a D model due to the aft location of the upper gun turret and the lack of a tail gunner position.
B-25 D'sThose are B-25 d's at the Faifax assembly plant. My dad built em there. He's still kickin and saw the photo. Brought back a lot of memories. He says thanks for the great pic.
Nacelle Tips?I spent a lot of years in aviation, working on everything from light aircraft to WWII war birds. I even worked in a factory for a while on Swearingen's final assembly line in San Antonio. Later, I went on to fly professionally ending my career with about about 2700 hours, many of them in various types of WWII vintage aircraft. I was wondering if anybody knows what the red covers are on the ends of the nacelles [below]. I have never seen anything like this before.
Nacelle CapsInteresting. The appear to be temporary rather than permanent, held on by bungees attached to the incomplete wing assemblies. Interestingly they are only found on two of the aircraft; the plane nearest to us where the worker is at the tail assembly, and the plane ahead of it to the right. Neither of these aircraft has wheels or propellers. Most of the other aircraft in the assembly area do. Trouble is that the plane to the right of the second plane with the caps doesn't have a cap but also doesn't seem to have either props or wheels.
I'm just guessing here but I think my reasoning is good. It seems obvious that these nacelle caps are used to indicate that some step in the assembly process, probably related to the engines or the hydraulics of the landing gear, hasn't been completed and tested yet and so long as the red cap is remains on the nacelle the aircraft can't go further in the assembly process. But as I say this is just a guess.
Nacelle capsThese appear to be in place to protect the metal while the wing root and nacelle are lifted into place or while the a/c is being pushed about, at least until the wheels are installed. Perhaps a tow bar is attached to the nose gear strut at that point. Then again, they may be giant hickies.
Fairfax B-25 PlantThe Fairfax B-25 plant was NW of the tee intersection of Fairfax Trafficway and what's now Kindleberger Road in Kansas City, KS. The photo is in what was the final assembly high bay near that intersection and facing north.
The plant was bought by GM after the war and used for auto production until it closed for good in the mid 80s and then torn down. The old Fairfax Airport next door was bought out about that time, closed and a new GM-Fairfax plant built on the airport site to replace the old auto plant.
Here's a nice KSHS pdf history of the B-25 plant:
http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2005winter_macias.pdf
The B-25 plant site is now a fenced off, vacant, scrubby field. The only facility remains are the parking lot with what's left of the main entrance drive.
You've got a great photo blog. This photo is my new wallpaper, I hope that's okay.
Mellow YellowI had no idea that planes would have been painted yellow at this stage! You always see B&W photos so I just assumed they were still just bare metal.
B-25 Fairfax plantI'm pretty sure that Fairfax plant was in Kansas City, Missouri, not Kansas. I live withing walking distance of the plant and I'm on my side of the state line. Those B-25 bombers were always Bushwhackers, built by the ancestors of Captain Quantrill. The B-25 Bomber ain't no jayhawker.
george.todd
[The B-25 plant next to the old Fairfax Airport is now part of the General Motors Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas. - Dave]
Mickey the B-25My mother-in-law worked at the Fairfax plant installing bombsights in B-25's. She would taxi the aircraft out herself once the bombsight was installed for the ferry pilots to deliver them. She often talked about one that had the name "Mickey" painted on it. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this aircraft. Any news would be appreciated. Thanks.
B-25 Bomber Plant locationJust to clarify, the plant that produced the B-25 bombers in Fairfax was located on the north side of Kindleberger Road, east of Brinkerhoff Road. It was west of the old Fairfax Airport and has since been torn down, however the parking areas from the old plant are still in place. The new GM Fairfax assembly plant was built on the east side of Fairfax Trafficway, right in the middle of the old Fairfax airport. [aerial photo]
That yellow paint is a primerIt was a nasty zinc chromate concoction meant to prevent corrosion and also allow the top coat of paint to adhere better. Worn paint revealed the primer underneath in contemporary pictures.
Eventually it was realised the average wartime airframe didn't last long enough in service to allow corrosion to begin and the primer was dropped, a cost and weight saving.
B-25 plant LocationHere there is an aerial photo showing the plant and airport. The plant was immediately adjacent to the NW corner of the airport.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-1a35291u1.thumbnail.jpg "Stings Like a B: 1942")
- War Machine: 1942
- ... drives, etc. The reflex cameras and large-format (4x5) Kodachromes that were used to make these pictures are at least the equal of ...
(Ain't the internet an amazing thing?)
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 04/29/2017 - 11:05pm -
- Pabst Over Chicago: 1943
- ... could this Papst sign be the one I saw?
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... Posted by Dave - 05/07/2017 - 2:11pm -
![May 1, 1943. "South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.
DirectionalityI believe this photo is facing north. Quite a few of the skyscrapers are still there. All the way to the left, the black & gold building is the Carbide & Carbon (or is it Carbon & Carbide?) building on Michigan Ave. I seem to remember something about it being the "first" skyscraper. Just to the right, with the little cupola on top, is the original Stone Container Building at Wacker & Michigan Avenues. Off in the furthest distance in the center of the photo you can see what was originally called the Pamolive building (it became Playboy Towers, and is now a condo building). I think the building behind the Pabst sign at the right edge of the sign is the Chicago Tribune building, and across from it (underneath the main part of the sign) you can see the white building that is the Wrigley building. They flank Michigan Ave. just north of the Chicago river.
Fellow (ex-)ChicagoanDefinitely facing North, definitely the Carbon & Carbide building - my dad used to have an office there. Not sure about the Playboy Towers.... might that be the Drake Hotel?
33 to 1?Blended 33 to 1? That sounds like a strange formula to me...but of course I'm not informed on the whole beer and beer history thing.
33 to 1Here's a 1940 Pabst ad that explains it.
NorthThere is no question about it, this photo is facing north.
Good Railroad ShotThe blue flags placed on the cars would be a violation of federal regulations today as they now have to be located at the switch providing access to the track. Also, note that several of the cars are on "yard air" in order to test the brakes on each car prior to movement. Finally you can see that this photo provides good images of several different types of car ends all together in one place.
As I am from Milwaukee, I have no clue as to which buildings are which! I do know that the photo is definitely facing north as I now work for the South Shore commuter railroad and am familiar with the lakefront. I also know that the original Santa Fe railroad corporate headquarters was almost directly to the west of this photo and is still there today with the Santa Fe sign on top. It is now an historic landmark.
Bootcamp BeerI went to Navy bootcamp in Great Lakes Il. in 1983 and after spending 10 wks. without beer our first chance to have a brew came. Unfortunatly for me the ONLY beer avaliable to us at the time was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Now, not being a Pabst fan I was very unhappy about that but after 10 tough weeks I said "what the heck" and ordered a couple of beers. I'll tell you what, that was the best beer I've ever had. I got so drunk the rest of the day was blur. I'd like to say "Thanks you Pabst" for the best beer ever and day I don't remember.
Water Street DepotIt appears we are looking north from either Monroe or Randolph. I want to say we're looking from Monroe and that bridge spanning the width of the pic under the sign is Randolph. The row of low-rise buildings on the left side of the pic that are ~6 stories tall and have the water towers on top of them would then be on the east side of Michigan Ave and sitting directly on the north side of Randolph. I believe these trains are in the area east of Michigan Ave and north of Monroe, but south of Randolph as it used to be a railyard (now Millennium Park, north of the Art Institute).
Furthermore there were never any buildings previously on this spot, as it would have either been a rail yard or part of Grant Park (where no buildings were allowed to be built, except for the Art Institute). This leads me to believe that we are looking north from Monroe towards Randolph and beyond. The vast empty space behind the Pabst sign spanning the whole width of the image would now be occupied by Illinois Center, the Prudential Building and of course the tall white AON Building (3rd largest in Chciago at the moment), or whatever they call it these days.
Pabst SignCan anybody tell me if this sign was was animated and are there any night time shots of it?
[The nighttime shot of this neon sign is here. - Dave]
AnimationThanks Dave, do you know if the sign was animated in any way?
[The hands on the clock moved! If you mean did various parts of the sign blink on and off, I don't know. - Dave]
ChicagoI see the tallest building to the far left when I'm going to and from school. It's surrounded by a bunch of other buildings now.
Chevrolet SignThis is a film clip of another Chicago sign. It shows how animated signs were operated. I can't find any date, but the technology looks like 1940 or so.
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/410104.html
Chevrolet SignAfter viewing this clip of the Chevy sign, I'm fairly convinced that it and the 'Pabst' sign are one and the same. Shown in the clip of the Chevy sign is the same tall building that is located to the left of the Pabst sign in the photo. There are other similarities as well, like the circular design of the sign, the clock at the lower right, etc. It's my guess that Pabst took over the sign after Chevy and made the slight changes to suit their logo.
South Water Street TodayThis photo is facing North on South Water Street and intersecting roughly what is now Columbus Drive. The ground level of this photograph is now covered by an elevated roadway in this area. If you went to this spot today, the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park designed by Frank Gehry would be just behind you.
The Playboy Building is visible in the background, now once again called the Palmolive Building and converted to condominiums. It sits between the Drake Hotel and John Hancock Tower at the end of the Magnificent Mile. The Drake is not tall enough to be in view here.
The Allerton Hotel and Northwest University Law School in Streeterville are also visible here, which they wouldn't be today from the site, although they are still standing.
Several of the mid-rise buildings in this photograph are no longer standing, in particular the large red-brick warehouse at the center mid-ground, to the right of the Playboy/Palmolive. This is where the NBC Tower now stands, just north of the river.
Driving and DrinkingThis was indeed the Chevy sign. Pabst took it over. You can still make out the Chevy logo in the superstructure of the sign. The lower left hand corner of the "B" in Blue and the upper right hand corner of the N in "Ribbon" served as the edges of the classic Chevy "bowtie" logo.
Going to ChicagoIt's interesting to think that Muddy Waters would have just arrived in Chicago when this photo was taken.
Pabst signThe Pabst sign was next to Randolph Street Bridge; refer to the 1922 Zoning map that is available at the University of Chicago library site - the Illinois Central may very well have called the yard the 'Water Street Yard,' but Water Street moved to the South Side when Wacker Drive was created after 1924; the Pabst sign was located nearest the Randolph Street bridge and is the current location of the Prudential Building, not the Pritzker Pavillion.
Warehouse full of booksI believe the red brick warehouse-like building on the right (east) of the photo survived into at least the 1980s, serving as the temporary home of the Chicago Public Library's main branch after it moved from what is now the Cultural Center (location of many shots in DePalma's "The Untouchables" and just out of camera range to the left) and before the opening of the Harold Washington Library Center. I used their manual typewriters and xerox machines to peck out and photocopy my resume.
Why Boxcars are blue-flaggedThese boxcars are blue-flagged because they have both their doors open and gangplanks spanning the openings between cars on adjacent tracks. This is also why they are all 40-foot cars and are all lined up with each other.
Less-than-Carload (LCL) freight is being handled here! This something that US railroads have discontinued; for decades, they haven't accepted any shipment less than one car load. As effective highway trucks were developed, they took this trade away from the RR's for obvious reasons.
But, back in the 1940's, RR's would handle a single crate! This required sorting en route, which is what is being done here. There's a large shift of workers shuffling LCL from one car to another by way of the side platforms and the above-mentioned gangplanks.
The LCL required local freight crews to handle this stuff into and out of the freight stations, and required station agents to get the cargo to and from customers, collect charges, etc. Very labor-intensive, yet somehow the trucking companies do it at a profit.
From Pabst To Rolling Rock Beer "33"This photograph has also added another “answer” to the question: “What does the “33” on the label of a bottle of Rolling Rock Beer mean?”
http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/rolling.asp
One person seeing this photograph concluded on a Rolling Rock Beer forum that the Rolling Rock "33" may have referenced the smoothness of blending “33 to 1.”
http://toms.homeunix.net/toms/locFSA-OWIkodachromes/slides/blended33to1....
Makes you feel like a heroEven now, when I get a color transparency (2 1/4x2 1/4 or 4x5) and look at if for the first time, it is stunning. I can't imagine what it must have looked like to someone seeing it color for the first time ever!
Sign BackgroundIf you look closely at the superstructure of the sign you can see the slogan "Blended 33 to 1" in the framework, which is seen far better in the nighttime shot Dave linked to. As to whether this would be considered animation I don't know, but a typical setup would be to light the Pabst Blue Ribbon sign, then switch to the "Blended" slogan, then light both. Don't know if that was done here.
Those catwalksThe "down-the-throat" shot of those catwalks atop of the freight cars gives the viewer a good idea of what the brakeman had to deal with while setting the brakes. The uneveness of those platforms, even at a standstill, is enough to make the average person think twice about climbing up and traversing these planks. Before airbrakes became the norm, this had to be one of the most harrowing jobs a railroad worker had to face. And this would be on a nice calm day. With rain, wind or snow, even the most seasoned brakeman must've had second thoughts.
Blue Flags?Mr. Leaman pointed out the blue flags were being displayed incorrectly by todays rules. But not being a train enthusiast, what did they indicate in the first place?
Blue-FlaggedAny rolling stock or engine that is "blue-flagged" cannot be moved unless the person who placed the flag removes it. It's a safety rule, and for the protection of the workers, many of whom are between or under the cars.
The iconic "Santa Fe" sign referred to in earlier posts is now on display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL - not too far from Chicago and well worth the trip!
http://www.irm.org
The early brakeman's plightJKoehler, I read somewhere that a conductor remarked about brakemen in the days when cars used link-and-pin couplers, "If they still have their thumbs after three months, they must be really lazy!"
Phantom Memory of a huge Chicago Phillips 66 Sign?For decades I’ve had a childhood memory of seeing a huge Phillips 66 sign atop the Chicago skyline, while driving with my family in the “wayback” of the family station wagon on the way to visit our grandparents in Iowa. We were coming from Michigan, and driving on Chicago streets because the still-under-construction Interstate Highway System still had gaps. (We were probably driving on/towards westbound US-30.) I remember being in awe of a big neon Phillips 66 sign receding in the distance as my dad drove west. It was a wide straight street, very busy. The sign had lots of neon motion, even in the daylight. This memory (if real), would have been somewhere between about 1963 - 1968. But am I mistaken? Did the Phillips 66 sign never exist, and could this Papst sign be the one I saw?
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-1a34786u3.thumbnail.jpg "Pabst Over Chicago: 1943")
- Christmas Loot: 1951
- ... presents. Our 12th slide from this batch of 35mm Kodachromes found on eBay. Most of them seem to have been taken in or near ... resembles most the B-25.
(Christmas, Kids, Michigan Kodachromes) ... Posted by Dave - 12/26/2021 - 3:33pm -
!["Xmas 1951." Christmas Past, and Christmas presents. Our 12th slide from this batch of 35mm Kodachromes found on eBay. Most of them seem to have been taken in or near Pinconning, Michigan. View full size.
LocationDave, I'm about a half-hour from Pinconning. Any other clues from your slides? You've definitely got my interest piqued now.
[The clues are photos of a Pinconning school bus and an International Harvester dealership, Heppner & Jacobs. - Dave ]
Loot KidLoot Kid looks about my age. Definitely got more stuff than I did; and my sister called me spoiled. Hmph. That doctor set looks awfully familiar though, including the pseudo-leather pseudo-medical bag box design. I want to say that's a Morris chair he's on, since it bears resemblance to the one in our summer place around this time.
Hopalong CassidyI think I spy a Hopalong blanket. I had an H gun and cowgirl outfit!!! That kid had a good Christmas!!
Cushman chairThe chair he is on looks to be a Cushman Colonial. These were made in Bennington Vt. by the Cushman Furniture Co. I just recently sold a set like this. There were different variations of the colonial line from the 30's through the 60's.
Is there a doctor in the house?You might need one, the Country Doctor toy is now selling for $165 on ebay.
Is our little lad a rural cousin of the Edwards boy? just a thought
A Happy Christmas to all Shorpyites
All that Lootand still no Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun... 8^C
Christmas WishI wish I had "show all your loot" pictures from my childhood Christmases to look back on.
Parents Just Don't Get ItHoppy paraphernalia were indeed cool, but the coolest part of receiving them was to belt on the cap guns or don the gauntlets and head on outside to amaze and astound your friends. Somehow, a chenille bedspread doesn't seem to fill the bill.
Re: That airplaneIt's a Douglas B-18 Bolo
Pre-war bomber, derived from the DC-2.
What Solo Said!I've never thought of it in just that way, but Solo makes a good point. I can remember in 1958 being so happy to show my friends my Paladin gun belt and in 1966 showing my friends my Man from U.N.C.L.E. spy briefcase.
As to the airplane toy identification, I am also puzzled. It sure looks like a German plane with USAF markings!!!
--Jim
Who is this kid?There just has to be a way to discover the identity of our once-young Pinconning Pal. How about publishing his photo in the Pinconning newspaper? Or renting a big billboard with his photo just on the edge of town? There has to be someone in the area who would know his name and what became of him. Maybe he is still there himself. Who knows? But then, I suppose this could be considered an invasion of privacy and perhaps would not appreciated. Still, it would be interesting to know more about him- a fellow Michigander of about my age.
That airplanelooks suspiciously like a German Heinkel HE-111
That bomberI think it's supposed to represent a B-25. The pressed sheet metal wouldn't give you all the details properly, but they're painted on. The other photo of it shows that it has twin tails, like a B-25.
Don't knock yourselves out trying to ID planeIt's not even a reasonably correct model of an actual airplane. Rather, it's some sort of composite that was probably not meant to represent a specific type. Further confusing matters it has a postwar (1947 and later) national insignia in combination with the obsolete "U.S. ARMY" designation that would have been retired at about that same time when the Air Force became a separate division of the armed forces. It's just a toy, and its recipient need never know any of these nitpicky matters.
About the planeIt could be a Beech AT-11.
Pinconning resourceMight be worthwhile to send all the Pinconning photos (at least 12) to the local chamber of commerce there, chamber@PinconningLinwood.com. They may recognize some, or may know who would know more.
AirplaneI remember airplane toys similar to that "bomber". They never seemed quite accurate. Didn't seem to make much difference as I liked them anyway.
The plane is a mongrelThe portion of the plane visible in this pic is rather accurate for a DC-3/C-47 (Dakota to you Brits) except for the printed "features". The empennage that's visible in one of the other pictures in the series is quite odd. It seems a fanciful treatment of that on a B-35 or Lockeed Model 10 "Electra".
The airplanesFor a closer look at these toys, and the other presents, look here.
And, btw, the airplane model resembles most the B-25.
(Christmas, Kids, Michigan Kodachromes)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_K4_081112_013.thumbnail.jpg "Christmas Loot: 1951")
- Lone Woof: 1952
- ... break down and cry when I see most of these "Minnesota Kodachromes". Tears of Joy! Many Thanks!
Waiting for Sally? Brownie is ... What has impressed me the most about these "Minnesota Kodachromes," whether they be indoors or out, is the pure serenity of the ... Posted by Dave - 01/19/2015 - 5:21pm -
- American Pineapple: 1942
- ... different compositions?
Re: Cut & Paste The 4x5 Kodachromes were used as studies for painted illustrations and bond drive ... the "on-one-knee" Walkie Talkee Guys.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Patriotic, WW2) ... Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 6:37pm -
![November 1942. "An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Va." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.
Cut & PasteThis image looks tailor-made for masking. The blue background looks like it would help Photoshoppers today in copying the soldier with ease. Could that have been part of the original reason for the framing, so the image could be used in different compositions?
Re: Cut & PasteThe 4x5 Kodachromes were used as studies for painted illustrations and bond drive posters. In 1942 Alfred Palmer traveled to Fort Benning, Fort Knox and Fort Belvoir, often shooting from near ground level with a floodlight, aiming up at his subjects with a background of clouds and sky. The results for the twilight shots were often a bit underexposed, as was the case here.
DaveDave is it possible to see a larger size on the tank that you see the 3 soldiers?
Ron
[Those are all elsewhere on the site. Click where it says "Alfred Palmer" to see all of his pics. - Dave]
Tanks er I mean ThanksTanks er I mean Thanks Dave
Ron
InfantrymanI think I had this little green toy soldier pose along with the spread eagle shooters and the "on-one-knee" Walkie Talkee Guys.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Patriotic, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a35465u.thumbnail.jpg "American Pineapple: 1942")
- Man of Steel: 1942
- ... - Dave]
Kodachrome II Re the comment below, the Kodachromes on the LOC website are raw tiffs right off the scanner, not ... looking for a photoshop plugin to achieve the amazing 40's Kodachromes we are seeing here at Shorpy.
[You don't need a plug-in. Just ... Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:49am -
![November 1942. Columbia Steel at Geneva, Utah. Servicing one of the floodlights that turn night into day on the construction site of a new steel plant needed for the war effort. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Andreas Feininger.
KodachromeThat's it, I'm buying some Kodachrome right now. I haven't shot 35mm in years (though I do continue to shoot 120 in a twin lens camera). Unfortunately, modern lens coatings give colors that can be immediately distinguished from those of earlier generations. I will have to pick out an older lens to have any hope of images like the one above.
Perhaps somebody smarter than I am can explain the focal plane in this image -- how can the man's face be in focus, and the bulb, but not his hand?
[The bulb is at the back of the reflector, a few inches closer to his face than his hand is. - Dave]
CS2/3 FiltersI would love to know where you get these filters from! I am a new-ish photographer, and I work with cheapie equipment. It seems this may be the trick to add that extra "oomph" to what can be a dull photo. (My all too common result of cheap lenses and cheap cameras!)
Thank you ^_^
Beffy
[The filters come with Photoshop. - Dave]
Kodachrome IIRe the comment below, the Kodachromes on the LOC website are raw tiffs right off the scanner, not corrected for color cast. They are all processed (by me) using the various filters in Photoshop CS3. Most of them have a greenish-yellow cast probably due to aging of the film, characteristics of the scanner (Sinar 54) or a combination of both. Below is a before-and-after example. Click the image to view full size.
Another example (underexposed, strong blue color cast):
Another great photograph.Another great photograph. You can see the photographer in the reflection of the bulb reflector! Neat!
Photoshop PluginI am looking for a photoshop plugin to achieve the amazing 40's Kodachromes we are seeing here at Shorpy.
[You don't need a plug-in. Just use the filters that are already there. - Dave]
Columbia SteelMy Dad was working for Columbia Steel at the time this photo was taken, in their Los Angeles mill. Columbia was later bought out by Alcoa.
Processing the photos>>>They are all processed (by me)
So is that a straightforward process, or is it lots of careful optimization that differs for each picture, to make them look so good?
[They're all different. There's a lot of futzing around. The older black-and-white glass negatives take the most time. - Dave]
I can't figureout what, exactly, he is doing to the fixture.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Andreas Feininger, WW2)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34848u.thumbnail.jpg "Man of Steel: 1942")
- Joan of Gym: 1956
- ...
Gym Poster-Child Elaine a few years later...
(Kodachromes, John Vachon, Pretty Girls) ... Posted by Dave - 10/16/2022 - 3:24pm -
- Three Girl Pyramid: 1957
- ... and an outstanding photo.
(The Gallery, Florida, Kodachromes 3, Pretty Girls, Travel & Vacation) ... Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 1:37pm -
![One cold February night your webmaster was faced with a choice: Poignant sepia- tinged Lewis Hine urchin ("says 12 yrs., but it is doubtful") or a 1957 Kodachrome titled "Three Girl Pyramid." After a nanosecond of deliberation, the Oscar for Best Transparency in a 100-Year-Old Photo Blog goes to: "Three Girl Pyramid"! [Rest of the caption: "Beautiful Florida Cypress Gardens 4/5/57."] View full size.
Bravo!I'd like to thank the Academy for making a fine choice.
Thank You!The Lewis Hine urchins were getting tedious!
Superb decision!Superb decision!
Vacation, all I ever wantedAH! It's a balmy 37 degrees here but this lovely picture is still giving me summer fever!
Childhood MemoriesThis picture brings me back to vacations spent with my aunt and uncle in Orlando. My little brother actually got to ride in the speedboat that pulled the waterskiers. A memory he still looks back on fondly.
How Do They Do That?An outstanding achievement and an outstanding photo.
(The Gallery, Florida, Kodachromes 3, Pretty Girls, Travel & Vacation)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/IMG088.thumbnail.jpg "Three Girl Pyramid: 1957")
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