The woman wearing gloves looks like my maternal grandmother - the dark, perfectly arranged hair, the careful lipstick, the neat suit. She too wouldn't dream of leaving the house without gloves, hat and a starched and ironed handkerchief in her handbag.

We still grow 'em like that up here in Northern Maine (Aroostook County). My grandfather spent his entire life doing it. As a young teen, I earned a nice piece of change each season picking them in the fields as they were freshly dug. Worked from daylight till dawn, easily earn $20-25 per day tax-free. Doesn't sound like much now, but back in the 1940s, that would buy you most anything you wanted -- a new bike, a .22 rifle, a guitar, etc. Of course, these days harvesting is all done mechanically.

But I want to know where the Vitameatavegemin is.

After a hot night of busing tables at the Poland Spring House summer of 1963, we'd grab a chilled half-gallon bottle of PS Water, just like the ones shown here, and sink most of it in a minute or two. The water came from the spring down the hill, the bottles were recycled. The only expense was the bottle cap. Never drank better water.

Because it's the only time you'll ever see Senator Snowe and Rush that close together.

"See here. These tubers are to be consumed individually according to the dictates of the Great State of Maine. These are not your common potAHtoes and shan't be treated as such."

"Look, lady. We'll eat these any old way we like. I'm through arguing with you. I'm making a fist with my left hand. With my right, I'm going to show you just how mashed potatoes were invented."

Just for drinking club soda? I'LL TAKE IT!

The lady on the right looks like Margaret Chase Smith -- congresswoman from Maine who served in both the House and Senate.

[I don't think so. - Dave]

I didn't realize that Poland Spring has been in business this long. I also didn't realize that having a potato handy really attracts the babes !

Good to see Poland Spring represented back in the day. They own the bottled water market here in New England. I don't think they make Ginger Ale anymore though.

From the stern look on the face of Mrs. Left, those potatoes were soon to be projectiles!

If you look at the sign held by the boy in the middle of the photo, you'll see a tri-color logo for "State of Maine" potatoes. This was a common advertising theme, and I remember it most from boxcars in the '50s and '60s.

On this Shorpy image: https://www.shorpy.com/node/2252?size=_original , you can see one of those boxcars Red over White over Blue, peeking out behind a loco in the center of the photo. A Google search for "State of Maine" boxcar will yield a lot of photos of the (famous) Lionel model of this boxcar color scheme.

Also note the "Poland Water" bottles. Of course, that would be from Poland Springs, famous and available even today as bottled mineral water: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_Spring - notes some controversies over the source of the water these days...)

I make no comments on the appendages on the head of the two women in this photo :-)

Did any self respecting woman back in the forties ever appear in public without a hat, even for a discussion of potatoes?

It looks like the two women are about to get into a deadly serious dispute as to who is holding the better potato. I can't speak to the quality of the spuds, but for the fight itself I'll have to put my money on the woman on the left. I'm afraid she's pretty serious about this matter. (Nice tiara, by the way!)

Fortunately, it appears that the smiling kid in the middle is trying to mediate by getting them to set down their taters and shake hands. Oh, wait a minute....