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

Strangers on a Bus: 1943

September 1943. "Greyhound bus trip from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee. Passengers on the Memphis-Chattanooga bus." Medium-format nitrate negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size.

September 1943. "Greyhound bus trip from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee. Passengers on the Memphis-Chattanooga bus." Medium-format nitrate negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Yay! Another Esther Bubley

Yay! Another Esther Bubley pic! I wish there was an Esther Bubley link under "Photographers" in the sidebar...

Chivalry

If you will notice there are no women standing. If a woman came on a bus a man would rise and give her his seat. It was a kinder and gentler time.

[These are ticketed passengers on a trip that will take many hours on a route covering hundreds of miles. Everyone had a seat -- nobody stood. - Dave]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

"South by Southwest."

Bubley Spot On

Esther had a nice eye for framing.

Re: "Southpaw"

Time for one of your quarters, Dave...

[Done. - Dave]

More Hitch than Capra

These are not the cheery travelers in "It Happened One Night." They're more like the sinister bunch in "The Lady Vanishes."

Funhouse

This is no joyride. Look at the misery!

The Night Porter

"All the lonely people. Where do they all come from?"

Left-handed belt store

Got him on that one. But, as a bonafide left-hander, I can say the issue does arise when you have been given a belt with a buckle which has an inscription on it. Although when the writing is upside down, I can read it a lot more easily. Yet this trivial belt direction humor does show we left-handers learn quickly to adapt to a right-hand world. The upside is we end up somewhat ambidextrous.

Types

We've got a wonderful array of character types here: a sailor, a maiden aunt, a housewife, some businessmen, an elderly gentleman farmer, and people snoring comfortably in the back. This reminds me of the wonderful scene from It Happened One Night when all the bus passengers sing "The Man on the Flying Trapeze." It's a real slice of life, and I absolutely love this picture.

That surreal quality

I notice someone's left hand holding the flash at the left side of the image ... Ms. Bubley must have enlisted a passenger to hold the flash and aim it rearwards. Either that or she had an assistant traveling with her. Either way, that's a very tight situation going on there, and sort of creates that surreal quality of contrasts. I can also imagine that she and her camera might have displaced at least two of those persons standing in the aisle? Not a natural-looking scene!

[Esther seems to have made frequent use of floodlights and assistants. - Dave]

Discomfiture

I don't know who's more distressed, the sailor or the woman sitting next to him.

[They're in different rows. - Dave]

Act 1

It really looks like the promotional still for a movie.
Talk about life imitating art.

Ellen!

Grandma Walton has a front row seat.

Cast of Characters

This is a very disturbing photo. Very Hitchcock or Twilight Zone.

Southpaw

Reversed negative or the dude in the vest has a left handed belt.

[So where would s Southpaw go to buy a "left-handed belt"? - Dave]

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