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- Office Xmas Party: 1925
- ... business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His ... front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl, ... Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -
![ It's two Fridays before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 98 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.
December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Leer Kings"That Guy" looks like he could be the son of the older leering man directly to the right of him. I shall call them Denis Leery Jr. and Denis Leery Sr. The two men with them are obviously Christopher Walken as The Continental, and a young Franz Mesmer.
Just a little creepy....Some of the looks on their faces, wouldn't you love to know what they were thinking!
Debauchery 2.0Four years after behaving scandalously at the Krazy Kat, our bohemian friends find themselves slogging away at desk jobs in the boring adult world. Just WAIT until the Christmas party, though!
The oil canOf course the bear and the cabin weren't mentioned -- everyone knows the best part of the party is getting well-oiled!
Thank you. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your server.
H.P. Lovecraft?Could it be? Standing in front of the "Go Go" guy, half hidden? Maybe Franz Kafka, instead? This would be the guy who takes an extra-long time in the lav in order to scratch unseemly things onto the stall partitions. Every office has one of these guys and in this office, its either him or else its the nearly invisible guy standing across from him on the other side of the tree. Also, the girl on the far left, standing in front of the door, is unforgivably cute. I'll bet she's told a lot of these guys "NO" and that's why she's way over there.
The Power Bloc ...Have you happened to notice how Big Boss Man - the guy holding that little stubby cigar - is surrounded by thugly-type guys? This is the power bloc for this office. The guys up on the top left are all from a different Department and are wary of Big Boss Man's thugs. There is a little bit of cross-pollenation, however. The first guy standing on the table at the right is shooting a bemused glance in the direction of his bud in that other Department. He's the shorter, unjacketed guy with the full frontal grin and the eyebrows in serious need of plucking. To them, this is all a goof. They hang out together and keep each other informed as to who says what about whom, which of the girls are doable and what the scuttlebutt is coming down from the top. There's more here but I don't want to get censored.
A Story in every faceThis photo can inspire everyone to write a novel because there is indeed a colorful character with his own personal bio in every set of eyes. The bald guy with the candle on his head particularly stands out as one who has a complex persona but so does everybody else in the picture. Some appear depressed, some look beat up, some seem desperate. Make up your own scenarios. Personally, I used to look forward to the office parties when the most unexpected facets of co-workers' personalities would be revealed, giving us the rest of the year to talk about that until the next one. Stuffy old lady accountants and spinsters turned out to shock us the most when relaxed by a "touch of the grape". Lots of fun, too bad they have mostly been eliminated. Thank you for this blast from the past.
[That's a "GO-GO" traffic signal on Mr. Complex Persona's noggin. - Dave]
WiredCould it be that they tapped the power for the Christmas tree lights from the ceiling fixture?
What a mod hairdo!The brunette peeking from behind the desk (right above the black purse) has such a 1960's hairstyle!
Fat ChanceThe corpulent boss, stogie in hand, actually thinks that removing his glasses improves his appearance. He also seems to be playing footsie with the marcel-waved cutie who inexplicably has an oil can in front of her.
A KnockoutThe woman with the pearl necklace sitting at the very corner of the desk is a knockout! She looks like a present-day actress whose name escapes me. The guy standing up and glaring into the lens at the extreme top right of the photo may very well be the Antichrist. His stare gives me chills. The guy behind him looks like an "evil character" straight out of Central Casting. This is a great photo.
Thought BubblesIt would take me all day to write out thought bubbles for what I imagine is going through all those heads, but the lady at dead center seems to be thinking, "What was IN that punch? Did they repeal Prohibition and nobody told me?"
The "dark lady" downstage right is thinking, "I hope they snap that picture before I freeze to death down here on the bare floorboards. You would think the electric company would have better heaters in its own offices, but old man Pennyfarthing won't even spring for a rug to keep the draft out."
Western Electric (Shock Therapy)Great pic. And I'm sure there are as many stories as people in this one. But let's admit that the lady sitting on the floor on the left has to have the most interesting one. There is a haunted, post-experimental-therapy look to her that immediately reminded me of the psych-ward scenes in "Changeling."
Where's the copier?Ahhh, the days before every office had a copier, and every office had some joker trying to get the temp to sit on it!
Re: Fat ChanceWait -- so the oil can is worth noting, but not the bear statuette or the small house?
Western ElectricWestern Electric was the manufacturing and distribution arm of American Telephone and Telegraph. I suppose that this office in Washington was one of their distribution points. At any rate one interesting thing about the photo is the decided separation of men and women as though they might have come from different sections of the business. I also note that the ladies are sitting on a pretty rough floor, which is something I would have thought they would have avoided in those clothes. As to the glasses, I suspect that the photographer cautioned them that the flash might reflect from the lenses, assuming that I can assert that there was flash. Who knows, maybe there's a window somewhere.
That Office GirlI find her the most intriguing face in the picture. She looks almost out of place in this setting... her face is striking. Her expression says that she's part of a back story going on around the office that no one knows about.
Wow. I'm falling in love with a woman who's long long dead. How sad is that?
GiftedJudging by the peculiar items in the shot I'm thinking they exchanged white elephant gifts at the party. I got a big stuffed fish at our last party. I would have preferred the oil can.
This is so great!A bevy of attractive females here but I'm partial to the blond girl standing at the far left of the photo.
Wowzer!
Also, standing next to Boss Stogie on his left: ladies and gentlemen ... Mr. Joaquin Phoenix.
The Black WidowQuick somebody, get the story on the raven-haired woman sitting in front of the desk.
She looks like she ate her young; perhaps she has a few "missing" husbands buried in her dirt-floor basement.
I get the very distinct impression that if you crossed her, you ended up joining the silent majority long before your time.
Dark LadyWell.....the woman at bottom left certainly catches the eye. Something of a femme fatale, I think. Not generally popular with the more strait-laced ladies, like the woman two to her right who's giving her a very frosty look. The younger woman though, above and slightly to the left, is more sympathetic.
Since it's not uncommon here on Shorpy for unflattering comments to be directed at the olden-days womenfolk, let me be the first to say what a grim bunch the men are. I'll make an exception for the guy under the tree.
Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas PartyThe oil can on the foreground floor is absolutely precious. There can be no rational explanation for it. Then again, one tends to get oiled at the office party.
The hot babe is standing, far left, if not the girl sitting left, in pearls by the purse on the desk corner.
The fat guy with the cigar has his conjoined twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other? Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling us why that guy is holding the little horsey?
"Hey, Griselda. Spin my copter. If it says 'STOP - STOP', you are not mine. If it says 'Go - GO', oh you kid!"
Most riveting photo ever.I've been a lurker on Shorpy for months, but this photo has prompted me to register and comment. I've been coming back to this picture every day since it was posted, showing it to everyone I know.
What strikes me is that though there are several vintage-type characters here, there are also quite a few very contemporary looking people as well. This photograph represents such a vibrant living moment in the lives of these people. Some of them look like they could speak to you right from the picture. And, oh what a story they could tell!
This photo takes first place from my previous Shorpy favourite, They Shall Remain Nameless.
(But it's so close... check it out if you missed it.)
Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there ...
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen......hair! I think that's my favorite part of this picture. There's such a great group of hairstyles among the women. A few of those girls were pretty darn good with the curling iron, or whatever they used. I wonder if they're more glammed up than usual for the big party. For some reason, the hairstyles are more striking to me than in other pictures. Anyway, fascinating as always.
P.S. I think the guy that bdgbill thinks looks like the antichrist is actually kind of a hottie. I'm going to go on the assumption that he didn't look that intense all the time. If he did...well, I could see bdgbill's point then.
Now I KnowMy father worked for Western Electric. The money wasn't very good, so I never figured out why he stayed there. Guess this answers the question.
IN and OUTI noticed the IN basket on the desk to the far right, but where's the OUT basket? I sometimes wonder why I have an OUT basket on my desk at work - it's always less full than the IN one.
The woman sitting on the floor to the far left bears a striking resemblance to the Italian actress Ana Magnani (The Rose Tattoo).
Dramatis PersonaeMona, the woman on floor, far left (one of the few without the Marcel wave), is probably a Suffragist or at least politically active. Maybe she's trying to organize these party animals into a union and all they want to do is balance traffic signals on their heads and be wildly social.
Don't mess with these guys!The boss from Hades has what looks like a goose egg on his forehead and the coatless guy on his right has a black eye and cuts on the nose and eyebrow: maybe the partying started the night before. Looks like a smoking hot curling iron was de rigueur for any well-coifed lady.
That guyOf the four guys standing in the upper right, the guy who is on the left side, closest to the tree -- which girl is he leering at?
Western ElectricIf you flip the picture around, you can sort of read the door sign. I can make out:
504
[Western Elec]tric Com[pany].
[INCORP]ORATED
[?]ION DEPARTMENT
I wonder what the missing part is. Administration?
Office TensionThis must have been just after Phyllis spilled the beans about Dwight and Angela. Poor Andy!
The Power Bloc, continuedThe balding gent just over Boss Stogie's left shoulder-- the real power in the office, he certainly looks confident that his recent appointment to regional director will lead to greater things. Boss Stogie's son, Junior (with the candy cane), was on the fast track to becoming a junior partner until he was befriended by Harold from the mailroom (his hand on Junior's shoulder), which displeased Boss to no end.
UndercoverIsn't anyone going to ask why the woman in the middle is wearing a hat with a Police badge? Is this a costume xmas party? Could she possibly be a real cop??
My GirlSay what you want about the woman on the floor or the blonde with the pearl necklace, but my heart belongs to the woman standing fourth from the left, middle row. She reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
The henchman second from the right at the top has a menacing Snidely Whiplash quality about him. You just know he slipped a mickey into someone's drink.
Re: Western ElectricYou know you're a Shorpy addict when you "get" Anonymous Tipster's reference to the photographer's use of flash (or WAS there a window somewhere?!). Nice shot, A.T.!
Twins or Sisters?Study the features of the young woman directly in front of the door - then look at the one just to the right of (and looking directly at) "blondie with the pearls". Eyes, hair, smile, shape of face, body build: if they are not twins then they must at least be sisters. It is uncanny!
Christmas BackstoryYes, the young lady at the lower left leaning against the desk has the most interesting backstory in the room. Thanks to the passage of time we'll never know what was behind her haunted expression beyond that the woman giving her the evil eye must have had something to do with it.
Dave continues to put these evocative photos up knowing our emotions will never be satisfied!!
Meanwhile, notice the vintage Chia Pet resting on the scales in the "shipping department" (the desk along the left side). The girl in the fake police hat is looking longingly at it. Chia bunny? Chia elf?
The guy in front of the Christmas tree holding the toy, "I got a PONY!"
Keep them in their place.I, too, wonder why all the women are sitting on the floor in their silk satin dresses with fur collars. Surely there were some men who would have been glad to give up their places for them (and to sit amongst the women!)
How did they get Xmas light strings in 1925?I thought people used small candles until the '60s. How did they happen to have these string lights? Great pic of us back then.
[The 1960s being, I guess, when covered wagons brought in the first supplies of wired Christmas lights. - Dave]
I spy...Second woman in the third row...Frida Kahlo, at her day job.
SpellbindingI cannot stop looking at this picture. So much to see. The Al Capone looking guy is mesmerizing. The guy at top, second from right gives me the creeps.
1920'sI'm kind of young so maybe I'm missing something, but did pretty women not have to hold jobs in the 1920's? This office is worse than the one I work in, I didn't think that was possible.
Re: 1920sI'm kind of young too, but I disagree with you. I think this office has quite a collection of lovely women (and some not-as-lovely ones too, just like today). Sometimes, it's hard to look past the hairstyles and the clothes. If you are young (20-something? younger?), you've really only seen one ideal of beauty--you've missed a lot of the different fashions and hairdos of the rest of the 20th century. You also underestimate what modern makeup does for women. There are so many more varieties of it today than there were then, and it's generally of higher quality and easier to use than in the past. If you took one of the women in this picture, say, the girl with pearls sitting next to the desk and plunked her down in 2008 to get a makeover, her hair would be longer, probably highlighted and dyed, and aided by daily washing and a host of conditioners. Then, add some good moisturizer, foundation, and concealer, as well as a lash curler, mascara, and a healthy helping of eye liner, and I'm guessing you'd think her quite the fox.
Conversely, take the most attractive woman you know now, and put her in short hair and marcel waves, take away her hair dye and most of her makeup, and I'm guessing she'd look quite similar to the ladies in this photo. Even something as simple as the shape of plucked eyebrows really change the look of someone, and with the change in aesthetics, it's sometimes hard to get past the fashion to see beauty.
It works with the men too--you'd probably look a lot different with a side part and a pompadour!
That's right . . .. . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy
Las Vegas
That's my desk!I have a desk that's identical to the one on the left. I had guessed it was 1940's vintage. It's nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker?Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still climbing. That's a lot of forensic partyologists! I wonder if even Dave knew what he had pulled out of the hat with this one?
[I am shocked. Shocked! - Dave]
re: Xmas light strings LOL! Dave, a lot of your comments (like this one) crack me up! Are you a comedian in real life? Merry Christmas!
[Please folks, no applause. Just throw money. - Dave]
Hotness quantificationI count 20 women in that picture; most of them you can see no more than their face and hair, and two you can't even see all of that.
Out of the 18 you have a good facial shot of, I'd put 3 of them at 8.5-9.5 on the scale... three of them are SMOKING hot. I'd put another 4 at the 7-8.5 mark, meaning serious cuties, and at least three of the others are a 6 -7.
Where I work we have 100 women in my office; I'd put exactly three in the 8.5-9.5 scale, and another 10 in th 7-8.5 scale; of the rest, probably only a smattering are really in the 5+ range.
So, I have to know ... where do you work that the women are so attractive? Playboy Enterprises?
Taking into account the differences in style, these women were, mostly, very attractive, and even a couple of the less attractive weren't awful.
The Men of Western ElectricIn the interest of gender equality, I got to wondering about the relative charms of the office boys. I found three who tickled my fancy.
1. The tall smiling fellow whose head is sticking up behind and to the right of Police Woman. His face is open and honest, he's smiling with his twinkly dark eyes as well as his mouth, and although his ears are a bit prominent there's a lovely overall symmetry to his face. I'll call him Dimples.
2. The one man who has the sense to sit down with the ladies. He's a bit older, but I love his soft wavy hair. There's a certain aristocratic but slightly sad angle to his tired half-smile that puts me in mind of a young Prince Philip. I'll call him Phil.
3. OK, here's the hotness - the brash, cocky young sheik peeking out confidently between the heads of Boss Stogie Pennyfarthing and his wan shirtsleeved assistant. He's got the eyes of Frank Sinatra and the hair of Jack Kennedy. I don't know what he looks like from the neck down, but from the Arrow collar up he's all, "How YOU doin'?" I'll call him Frankie.
In summary: Were I one of the office flappers, I would ride in Frankie's Studebaker, nurse a secret unrequited crush on Phil, and take Dimples home to meet Mother.
Rogues' GalleryI can't stop staring at the chilly filly down by the leftern desk. She looks like three out of every five women I've ever fallen for. It's the eyes. As to the resemblance to Ana Magnani, she might be of Italian descent.
I am also like the older gentleman in the upper right. Mr. Leery Senior, was it? Right between Charlie Sheen (or Leery Jr.), Snidely Whiplash, and Mr. Deer-in-the-headlights. What a jovial sort. And a snappy dresser, as well. Conversely, the startled fellow's vest is well off-center and makes him look like he couldn't decide which part of him was the front. Or maybe he was taking a nap under a desk just before the photo op and somebody had to drag him out.
Funny how a photograph will turn Bob & Lisa from the office into Dick Tracy characters once you let your imagination do the walking. Thanks to all you for sharing your insights.
You were linkedA local blogger from Beaumont's newspaper linked your site today. I will be forever gratful! Nevermind I got absolutely nothing done today and instead pored over your site at length. This is truly an awesome site!
This Won't DoOne chubby gal. One chubby guy.
As an official with the State of California, I say that this does not pass muster. There was hiring discrimination here. Walk into any State office and you'll see what I mean. Not to mention the plethora of Caucasians.
The chubby gal is next to sheet music. Wonder what this melba toast group was singing?
They're all dead nowJust think ... they all had their youth, their lives, their personalities, and now they are all turned into worm food. Just a happy thought for Christmas.
No, wait a minute. . . okay, I've changed my mind. Now I like Miss Lookingaway, sitting in the lower left. Definitely. She's the one.
Foy
Las Vegas
Oil Can GalThe siren sitting with the oil can is undressing me with her eyes. I'll ignore the fact she is 112 years of age, and let her.
[Guess that explains the oil can. - Dave]
Houdini?The guy on the left side, just above and to the right of the P.D. hat girl....did Houdini make a special appearance? In any event, he's got a mean set of eyebrows.
And you are correct, Stinky, the girl on the far left by the door is surely a looker!
Lost in the crowdNobody seems to have spotted Hugh Grant peeking out between Stogie Boss and Bald Guy.
Famous facesTo keep Hugh Grant company, fellow British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is peeking out from behind Shirtsleeves.
He is not a crookOh, my gosh. There's Richard Nixon on the upper right (with face partially hidden) just below old boss and crooked-vest guys.
Roxie & Co.I love this picture, and all the comments! Here's my .02:
*Girl with the oil can doesn't want to undress you, she's too in love with herself. You can see it in her eyes; she's a Roxie Hart if I ever saw one. "Eat your heart out, Sophie Tucker."
*I swear I graduated with the girl who has her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She's the one who organizes all our class reunions.
*If I were one of those girls, I'd probably want to date the guy sitting on the desk, right hand side. However, I have a feeling he'd want to "just be friends." So,
*I'd have to go for the one behind Ol' Pennyfarthing. No, not that one, the bald one. Handsome features and sense enough to not put some ridiculous piece of fur on his head.
*Girl leering at our castoff looks like one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Drucilla, I believe.
Office HottieI think the guy looking over the RIGHT shoulder of chubby-stogie dude is hot. There's something about the eyes that grab me. And the hint of a smile.
British InvasionNot only Hugh and Rowan - isn't that the actress/singer Patsy Kensit on the left, standing in front of the office door?
Can't Get Over This PhotoI can't get over this picture. It's my favorite one on Shorpy, which is saying a LOT. And, it has nothing to do with my collection of high-end Western Electric phones from 1905-1939.
The woman in front, referred to as the "Black Widow," I can't look at her enough. She surely would get a large kick out of the ruckus she would caused in 2008, unless it bored her as also being commonplace in her own time. The woman over her left shoulder has movie star looks.
They are on the fifth floor, and I wish I could see the name on the glass door. Then again, the woman obscuring it may be the one to take home to meet the family, so she can stay.
The finish on the floor is badly worn, as contrasted by the part under the desk. These fellas were habitually hustling to and fro, and with the feminine charms represented here, it's no wonder. Office romances must have been all there rage therein.
I have been hoping the Farkers would be all over this one, except they love to specialize in the one-person quirk shots. I could place the Black Widow in countless situations...
Is this the only picture you have on this stunning group?
[Afraid so. - Dave]
If onlyTterrance had taken this photo! We would know all about it, mystery solved.
I thinkthe mysterious suicidal communist was probably a cleaning lady whom the photographer sort of forced to be in the picture and she's embarrassed to be photographed in shabby clothes and feels naturally out place amongst the staff with whom she's always been subservient.
She reminds me of Camille Claudel on her way to the madhouse.
50 Little IndiansThis photo looks like a cast of characters who would end up in an Agatha Christie mystery....and I'm pretty sure I know who did it!
The Officethis picture reminds me of the TV show The Office. Jim is sitting on the desk in the right corner. Pam is all the way to the left in the back row. Michael is the guy with his hand on Jim's shoulder although he should be the bossman with the cigar. Stanley is the guy between the man holding the horse and the man with the cigar. Creed is Mr Leery. Kevin is holding the horse. Dwight is the only guy in glasses. Kelly is the bobbed woman behind the desk with the permanent smile on her face. Meredith is the creepy woman off alone... she's just waiting for her next drink of alcohol. Andy Bernard is the guy to the right in the back with the striped tie. I couldn't decide who Angela was. Ryan is the deer in headlights next to Andy. Phyllis is in the satiny dress to the right. Oscar is right by the right hand edge.
Man I love this picture.
AngelaAngela's sitting on the floor with that big lace collar, giving the stink-eye to Meredith.
Naughty NaughtySome young lady has just done something naughty off screen left. The Leery Boys approve, the Black Widow and Stink Eye don't, and the young lady behind Stink Eye is too drunk to comprehend.
Also, is the bald man by the Christmas tree wearing a traffic signal on his head, set to "Go?"
Somewhere in this crowd must be Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet and Prof. Plum.
My favorite pictureI and my co-worker check this site at least three times a day. He has never been on the Internet and when he passes by he will invariably ask "Anything new?" Which I know to mean "Anything new on Shorpy?" This Christmas Office Party is our favorite. We both live in Maryland and have seen many of the areas displayed in these pictures. When we scan the Office picture and see the "mob boss" guy with the stogie and the gun in his pants, he does a great Al Capone voice. I hope my posting this comment will bring new fans to
this amazing photo.
Merry Christmas everyone!have a great holiday and prosperous New Year.
Oh Christmas Twig! Oh Christmas Twig!Considering it is 1925 and an urban area they probably had a hard time locating a showpiece Christmas tree. Probably the best they could do was this poor little immortalized twig.
Timeless peopleEver notice how nearly every photo of a large group, from about 1900 on, contains at least one person who looks like he/she could have been photographed in just about any decade, or just the other day? The lady by the desk behind the pretty girl with the pearls looks like a teacher at my kids' school! There is nothing about her teeth, hairstyle, makeup, etc., that gives away the fact that she was photographed in 1925 except, of course, for most of the other people in it.
The Timeless DeskI'm still using the exact same desk as the one in the photo; my wife purchased it from McGill university when they replaced the professors' desks in the mid 1960s.
Oh what funAdolf (second from right at very top) has quite the leer going on. Peter Sellers could imitate him well. Mystery Lady could have been even more beautiful. I imagine her long hair flowing and her prominent features brought out even more with an expert's touch.
What is Stogie Man carrying, besides his eyeglasses? I also wonder who took this photo. It obviously took some arranging, with the piling up of people.
Excellent, almost spellbinding picture! I come here about six times a day just to visit it. I wonder who lived the longest, and what year they all died and how? Yes, I'm a morbid one.
Office A-Go-GoThe gent at the back is, indeed wearing the miniature street signal (it has 4 arms to the signal so not a railway signal) on his head. Firstly, the only thing behind him is a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, certainly nothing that the signal could be perched on. And, secondly, if it was sitting on something, it would not be sitting at the angle it is.
Then and Now I'm wondering -- in today's world there is usually at least one person at an office party of that size who gets a little too inebriated and winds up making photocopies of their nether parts for distribution to all. Was there a way to do the same thing using a mimeograph machine or whatever other copying technology existed in 1925? Would the tipsy individual first have to draw their naughty bits on some special copy medium? Our grandparents sure had a lot of hardships to deal with.
At First Glanceand in the zoomed out view, I thought the gent at the far right might be the office troublemaker and that the folks wrapped him up in Christmas lights for his just deserts. Alas and alack, when you go in for a closer look, it's simply the ravages of time taking their toll on the negative.
[This batch of plates has water damage along one side. - Dave]
The Lady of the Deskjust wandered in from the Sergei Eisenstein film that was shooting on the set next door. She's on a break between takes of the Odessa Steps sequence.
RE: Oh GreatIf CBS could give us Rudolph, Shorpy can give us Western Electric.
2010 InterpretationsThis year, I think the Black Widow has pretty much just had it with that place.
Stink-Eye isn't looking at the Black Widow. She's disapproving of something messy on the front of the desk.
I can't find Don Draper Nor Joan Holloway, but this sure conjures up thoughts of Mad Men, 45 years earlier. I burst out laughing when my eyes scanned to the guy in the back with the stop and go-go item on his head! Maybe THAT is the flavor of the evening? More GO than STOP? This is the roaring 20s after all and these are certainly modern women..
Yes, this picture and your readers' comments may be my very favorites to date!
Some Like It Hot The mademoiselle standing in front of the woman wearing the Policeman's hat could have been Billy Wilder's inspiration for his casting Jack Lemmon in drag.
Another WorldThese people are denizens of another universe that, no matter how many photographs we study or books we read, we will never fully understand because we didn't live in it and never will.
These are people who knew how to navigate themselves in the distant world of 1925. All of these people were born at the beginning of the last century and were brought up by people from the 19th century.
If a modern young person were to be suddenly transported here without preparation he would find it completely disorienting and possibly quite frightening, because of so many technological and cultural and social differences between now and then.
Deja vuI loved this picture.
But the lass in front of the desk, looking stage right, is memorable. I think I've seen this picture before.
Then I noticed the dates of the previous comments. 2208? Surely two years cannot have gone by so quickly.
[To say nothing of the 198 after that! - Dave]
SteamyThere are some SERIOUS sexual crosscurrents and hot vibes in this picture! Amazing!
Slow on the uptakeI'm pretty sure Mr. Semaphore head isn't actually wearing that thing on his head; it's behind him. What is alarming is the second head growing out of his chest. The heads seem to be in agreement to lurk.
Oh great!Shorpy is doing reruns for the holidays.
Kidding.
Merry Christmas.
Uh-Oh TannenbaumThat's the most bedraggled Christmas tree I've ever seen. It has more tinsel than needles.
An unflattering portraitMy god, this is by far the ugliest group photo I've ever seen! Both girls and guys look like winners from the Walmart Ugly Photo Contest.
Kimono-wearing parrot?With a bouffant, no less? Over there, on the scale!!
The gal with the candy cane, to our left of the much-ballyhooed oil can chick, seems to be presaging late '60s hairstyles.
And yes, the balding dude in the rear with the traffic semaphore on his head wins the covert group-photo clown award in spades.
Sad to SaySo many hotties, so many dorks.
Season's GreetingsHope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, from Walter and all his friends in this, my favorite Shorpy picture.
General Electric Crime FamilyOk, a lot of the men look like mafiosi with the big-lips guy in front being the capo. The two guys at the right, top, are hit men.
Western Electrical FireI can't believe, in 90+ comments on this remarkable photo, that not one person pointed out the extension cord running from the ceiling light fixture to the tree. I think the answer to the comment about how and when these folks died is: a few minutes after this photo was taken, in a horrible electrical fire.
It would be a chore, but could someone pleasecolorize this!
BeautyI love the woman sitting on the floor next to the desk looking away. At first glance you think; boy she looks tired, and then you look again and you see how beautiful she really is. She is just stunning. I also find it interesting with the commentary just how similar our comments in the office were to the ones posted on this site. We too made up stories about these folks. I love this photo. Thanks for sharing it.
I never tire of looking at this one.Always noticing something new, frinstance,
The object on the scale, seems to have some heft to it based on how far the scale dial has moved, maybe a cast iron toy?
The young fellow on the far right, Candy Cane in his right hand but whats on his left hand? Looks like it's slipped inside of something, a toy holster maybe?
Completion All this tableau requires (perhaps) to make it complete, is a large paper bag on the floor stuffed with goodies, including the obligatory pair of turkey-feet protruding upward in a festive fashion.
Best of the Season to All in the Shorpyverse Continuum!
Secrets never revealedThere is no question that many secret alliances and not-always discreet hook-ups probably took place during and after this festive celebration 86 years ago. Luckily for those involved, there were no surveillance cameras, cell phone cameras, tape recorders, security guards, texting devices or other pesky snooping devices that could cause the merrymakers a permanent record (and deep lifetime regret) of their missteps. They were the roaring 20's when people gathered their rosebuds where they may and parties were for having the best time you could have. I'm betting many of these revelers took their sweet and sordid memories of that night to their graves.
Another Shorpy Party!I love this photo and we're going to test the limits of the reply counter. Merry Christmas everyone and have a grand new year!
Lord Almighty!!!It's the butler in the pantry!!!
I have never, ever seen so many guilty people in one photograph.
Unbelievable that it was not staged. But it obviously wasn't.
Wow!!!
My hat!How did she get it?
"Pure horse, Danno. Book 'em."Having just spotted the drug paraphernalia on the left - the scale, the packaging materials, the kimono-wearing parrot - our undercover coppette in mid-pack has whipped out her official police hat and ignoring the cries of "that baggy's not mine!" is about ready to haul the whole gang downtown. A bust like this baby was sure to bump her upstairs and away from all these dreary office parties.
Up to no good?The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?
Cost of that treeCould not have been more then a dollar in 2011 money
Must have been last minute!!!
The ion DepartmentA quick flip of the door confirms we are in room 504 of the ion Department.
FestivusIts good to see this one again. I just keep looking at the people and see more than a few that would have been great company. I hope everyone, viewers, commenters, Dave and webmaster Ken has a great Holiday Season in the company of friends and loved ones.
She apparently had a good time with my grandpa.As she is my grandma!
"The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?"
3rd rowfrom the top 3rd from the left. I'm in love.
Oh wait.
Party HeartyOoooo -- Roaring twenties office party, bathtub gin. Oooooo -- I think I just threw up in my throat a little bit.
Shorpy Christmas cardIf Dave would produce an annual Shorpy Christmas card I would buy a few boxes, and I'm sure others would as well. Cards with this photo would be seen in every business cubicle in the country and quite a few places around the globe. It says Merry Xmas for me.
So much to read into This picture is as familiar to longtime readers of this blog as our own family photos and as evergreen as that Christmas Tree was before it was cut down. One can imagine so much here, for example that as soon as the photographer finishes with his duties, the Volstead Act will be violated by most of the people in this room (there are a few who look as if they might disapprove), and the usual office party shenanigans will occur, some of which might have consequences in the months to follow even if they all swear that what happens at the Office Party stays at the Office Party.
Al JolsonIs that Al Jolson in front of the "Traffic signal" bald guy? He's peering out just a bit from behind the guy with the vest and holding his glasses. 1925, the timeline is right. :)
Iconic StatusThis photo has taken on a level of immortality that few others can hope to achieve. A Photograph for the ages that will always be appreciated and admired. A Tradition is born! Thanks to Dave and all that visit here; hopefully someday your office pictures will be shown here and we can all marvel at how far we've come in so short a time.
Tiny Tim said it best so I shan't repeat it but that is my wish for one and all.
Thank you, DaveI hope this re-posting will bring new fans. Merry Xmas,everyone!
Why the oil canThose three objects in front - Maybe just spur-of-the-moment party silliness?
Another year olderI just love this photo. There's so much to analyze. Saw it last year for the first time. Here we all are, another year older. That would include those in the picture, in a macabre sort of way.
Best Christmas Party EverFirst, Dave, you have cured my holiday depression. I found this during a post-Xmas hangover and there are no words. I was instantly addicted to your site. Thank you.
Second, if there is anyone out there with connections to the BAU I would like you to seriously consider imposing yourself on that relationship and get them on it. I'm dying for a more complete story. You must be too if you're reading this. You know who you are. Pick up that phone and give him/her a call.
Not Al JolsonWade in NW Florida: if he looks like anybody of that period, it would most likely be Eddie Cantor, not Al Jolson.
The other 13I have just spent an extremely enjoyable hour reading all the comments reaching back to 2008. Of the 47 people in the photo, 34 have been commented on. So what about the other 13? Six guys in the upper left have been ignored, plus seven gals in the pack. The most prominent of the abandoned baker's dozen are, to my mind, the two women standing side by side, closest to the tree. Both have bead necklaces: one tucked in, one on the outside. They seem neither hot nor cold, neither suicidal nor drunk. The two of them actually look (dare I say?) like really nice people.
NOW it's the holiday season.....when Shorpy breaks out this holiday classic! I wonder what pop-culture figures of the past year will be likened to our hard-partying crew?
The face that could sink a thousand shipsThe guy holding the cigar, oh man I want to punch his face!
Every yearEvery year when I look at this, I think the same thing: do all those dames hate Desk Woman for the same reason, or different ones?
Lots of single women in that officeNo wedding rings on almost all of them. Perhaps a woman worked until she got married, or at least until she had children - and then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for these ladies to go from office life, with its daily human contact and pleasures (such as this office party) to a few rooms, kitchen and nursery figuring predominantly. My grandmother still reminisced proudly about her work as a lawyer's assistant in the 1920s, way back before she got married, had three children, and spent most of her time in the top floor of a Boston triple-decker for the next 20 years.
Colorized Version Hidden in Plain SightCheck out https://www.shorpy.com/node/11937 for colorized version in Colorized Photos by members. Dave, do I get a prize for finding it?
Talk About Your Lonely HeartsThis could be the Sgt. Pepper album just before The Beatles stepped into the shot
Par-TAY!I totally wanna party with this crew. I've always loved the Roaring-Twenties era, and the show Boardwalk Empire is doing a great job with the fashions and the music. I think Nucky Thompson needs to sprinkle a little Xmas cheer on this group. Volstead Act be damned!
Young bald guyEvery time I see this, my eyes go to the young, very handsome man who is looking over the shoulder of the rather portly guy on the right side of the photo. Balding men didn't have many options, then, like they do now, but I rather doubt that the premature balding kept all the young ladies away from him!
I wonder which of these men were veterans of WWI?
At the Ion Department Christmas Party . . .That exotic woman sitting in front of the desk in the lower left STILL seems distracted by something just out of camera, and the woman in front of her is still watching her carefully.
It's a wonderful photo worth our annual holiday attention!
--Jim
Naughty or Nice?This oft-repeated photo is starting to remind me of the traditional holiday tune by Eric Cartman (of South Park fame) singing about the Swiss Colony Beef Log; irreverent but fun.
What's printed on that document?Dave, can you zoom in on the piece of paper being held by the guy kneeling in the center, right in front of the tree? It's almost as if he's trying to show it to the camera. Thanks!
-------------------------------------
Just a something something
TO WISH
You and Yours
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Division Four Office
1925
Worth a second or third look There are some half dozen ladies in this photo. Like the one right behind the corner of the desk, with the chevron shapes on her dress and the one directly in front of the door on the left that are definitely worth seeing again.
Merry Christmas Shorpyites!
Is there anybody out there?Surely one of these people in the photo has a living relative (great grandkids, grandkids, etc) that might be able to shed some light on this photo.
2%Of the 47 people in the photo, only one is wearing glasses. Did the Ion Department require perfect vision of its workers?
My cueI don't even start listening to Christmas music until I see this picture reheated. It's a classic.
The Girl with the Curl -- and the candy cane. There once was a girl
with a pretty little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good
She was very, very good
and when she was bad
she was even better!
Re 2%The cigar smoker on the right in the three-button suit and the gent on his right both are holding eyeglasses, all the more to ratchet up their smashing good looks. Well, maybe just looks.
What's Left To Say?Besides their clothes and hair dos, two things that I’m glad have changed: The way Christmas trees look and protective coating for hardwood floors. And I’m guessing they had a White Elephant gift exchange, thus the whimsical gifts.
Raise your glassesI'm sure one of our more knowledgeable posters might know better, but I wonder if glasses were removed to prevent unwanted flash effects?
Could it be?I've looked at this photo for three Decembers now, and I just noticed that the girl sitting behind the girl with the striped blouse, and how much she looks like she could be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother.
Party TimeThe office parties and associated grab bags were created to give us all a chance to regift.
Allow me now to wish all of our Shorpy viewers, creators and commenters a very happy Holiday season. Let us all be well, prosper and keep returning to this wonderful site.
Love this photo....Like so many of you, I love it when this photo is trotted out! We are so drawn to it and love imagining what this party must have been like, the silly little gifts, the party girls, and those who just wanted it to all be over with so they could get back to work.
Each year I am struck by the lady behind the one in the striped blouse. She looks like she could have been in my high school annual from 1970. Yes, I dated myself there! Her hair style looks like it could have been from the 1970's, unlike her co-workers with their many finger waves. Keep posting this one, Dave....truly a classic!
An Evocative PhotographThe romance of old photographs is especially powerful in a picture like this. Studying the faces of what we assume are long departed strangers, we can't help speculating about the nature of their inner lives and how things turned out for them. Who ended up married to someone who made them happy or miserable? Which one(s) got ahead and who descended into poverty? Who died young - and so on?
With hindsight we know that only a few years after that Christmas party in 1925, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Then World War II winnowed out a great many - how did this group of individuals make out through all those difficult times? There are many such questions which occur to the curious.
This is an extraordinarily evocative photograph. The transience of everything is plain to see in this picture if you notice such things.
This photois what prompted me to make an account on Shorpy. The first thing that jumped out at me was, is that a man in drag standing with his hand on the young lady's shoulder? The lady in question looks a bit like Drew Barrymore.
I noticed the indentations between the eyes of many of the men, and realized that they did take their glasses off for the photo, to minimize glare. No featherweight lenses in those days!
Tales from the Jazz AgeI'd like to take a crack at imagining who some of these people could be --
Oil Can Girl (seated at bottom, center) - Never turns down a chance to cut a rug at a speke. Very generous with the contents of her hip flask, which in a pinch can supply fuel for her sometime-boyfriend’s Hupmobile.
Desk Girl (seated at bottom, left) - Staring intently at a winged, two-horned leopard and wondering if she should jump up and scream at everybody to run for their lives.
Lace Collar Girl (two left from Oil Can Girl) - Wondering why Desk Girl is staring so intently at the office kitty-cat.
Time Warp Girl - (immediately above Desk Girl) - Up until a few weeks ago was a liberal arts major at an Ivy League university in the year 1969, then stumbled through a time portal into 1925. Decided to stay and get a job because, well, things are a lot less crazy here.
Starlet Girl - (above and to the right of Time Warp Girl) - Avid reader of Photoplay, Picture-Play, Screenland, Movie Weekly, Movie Mirror, and lots more. Passionately believes that her good looks could bring her fame in Hollywood, if only she could manage to stop tossing money away on magazines and save up for the train fare.
Hat Girl (immediately above Starlet Girl) - Took a few slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, now having trouble remembering her name.
Trashed Girl (immediately to the right of Hat Girl) - Took even more slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, but still conscious enough to realize that if she stops leaning on the girl below her, she’ll tumble to the floor.
Handsome Guy (standing in the back, left side, farthest left) - All the office girls have swooned over him at one time or another. Been engaged six times, but it always breaks off when he tells his bride-to-be that his mother will be living with them.
New Pretty Girl - (third from left, standing) - Just started work this past month. Soon to be Handsome Guy’s next ex-fiancee.
Wow, this is way too long already. Anyway, you get the idea. This is fun!
White Elephant Gift ExchangeI going with a White Elephant Gift Exchange for an Office Christmas Party. It explains the goofy gifts and the attire. Some of the exchanged presents still have tags on them.
No one seems to have noticedbut the shy guy in front of GO GO is none other than Irving Berlin, on a guided tour of the Western Electric facility and already evidencing the reclusiveness of his later years. At uppermost left, we have the mustachioed miscreant looking disdainfully at those beneath him, which is everyone. And finally, we have Grishkin at lowermost right left, a handsome woman whose lean and hungry look hath a troubled aspect not customarily associated with holiday gatherings (apart from those with family members present). She seems to have wandered in from one of those Russian plays that Ira Gershwin makes reference to.
All of which can only mean one thing - it's Christmas time here at Shorpy's. Greetings and salutations to all!
Times they don't changeThe women definitely place this picture in time by their clothes and hair. The men, especially the back row, center in photo, remind me of my father's photos of the late 1950's. It's all quite timeless.
Hey, long time listener, first time caller!I wonder if camp Pierce Brosnan (top row, far left) found the Ion Deptartment accepting of his flamboyant wonderfulness.
Festive DressThe bald gentleman in the back has the best holiday hat I have ever seen, the festive Go Go hat atop his bald head.
We need those names!The spectacular Massafornian colorized image should have some labels for the people in it.
So, here we go.
(Gimp and Python/PIL scripts did the job)
Thanks for the MemoriesThank you for publishing this picture again this year. It just doesn't seem right to not have these wonderful people wishing all of us a Merry Christmas. I wish all of the Shorpy readers and the Admins a Merry Christmas also.
Merry Christmas!I'm a faithful reader of Shorpy, have been for over 10 years now, since I joined up. Every year, I always look forward to the Shorpy Office Xmas Party picture. I don't know what it is; maybe it's the continuity of it. We know every year we'll see it, and every year we'll get to talk about new fictions we've created for the people therein. It's such great fun.
Re Office StoriesNice commentary! You really bring life to this party.
Glad for TradIt's truly a fun Shorpy-looker tradition to view this pic large and spend an hour time traveling and reading the comments. Hope everybody had a Groovy Solstice yesterday. Happy Holidays!
Hair dressersWho did the hair styles back then, terrible......
Sic transit ursusI love the Shorpy Christmas party! This guy still startled me when I spied him on the floor, despite the fact that I commented on him FIVE YEARS AGO.
Dean NorrisAh, it wouldn't be Christmas without this delight from Shorpy!
The guy behind the big boss's left shoulder looks like a sightly younger version of actor Dean Norris. According to IMDB, Dean Norris was born in 1962 or 1963, but if this post on Shorpy is any guide, he's at least 100 years old. Is he pretending to be younger than he really is? And what's the secret of looking so young?
Cheers!Thanks for posting again, this is one of my favourite pictures on Shorpy. Some odd Barnets going on with some of the women though...I'd love to know if there was a gramophone at this party and if so, what the playlist was.
Tradition I can almost hear Tevya, singing the song in "Fiddler On The Roof", but not quite. It is of course the Holiday Season, office parties and good will to men and of course women. It is time for us Shorpy Junkies to wish each other the best of the season. Good health, prosperity and peace to all. Thanks to our Hosts Dave and Ken and to our interlocutor terrace for their grand efforts.
G-manI had to do ctrl-f for all three pages, and I'm amazed that no one to date has identified J. Edgar Hoover standing in the front row, cigar butt in hand, between vest-and-watch chain guy and three-piece suit guy. I can't believe I didn't notice him when I first commented three years ago.
Time for a Shorpy Xmas party!I think we are overdue to have one where we all meet and discuss THIS picture (because with 150 comments, we clearly have a lot on our minds about this W.E. holiday soiree).
Merry Christmas ShorpyitesMerry Christmas to one and all, fans of the photos posted in Shorpy. Thanks to Dave and everyone who helps out with the site.
I hope the new year is good to all and everyone will be back next Christmas to view Xmas Party.
I've been a member for 3 years, 2 days and anonymous for several before that I think.
What's with the oil can?I understand the Teddy Bear and little house in the front of the photo. But what is the significance of the Christmas Oil Can?
[Yet another beloved Christmas legend inspired by this photo. -tterrace]
Do they know?The standing gal, 3rd from the left, and the kneeling gal (center and one row back) both have the same necklace on (7 little cascading chains ending in a pearl). I think that the boss-man, J. Edgar Hoover (on the right with the cigar), is having an affair with both of these gals and he gave them both the same necklace. He thinks it's really funny and smiles when he sees them together; his own little private joke! I wonder if the gals know and are just playing him for whatever they can get? We will never know for sure.
Modern Woman+89
One must wonder if oiling the bear will make the Yuletide bright?
Thanks again!This is now my official notification that the Xmas season has begun. The Office Party re-post.
Threadbare BoughsNow I know where Charlie Brown got his tree. Merry Christmas everyone!
Hours and hoursI, like so many others here, have spent hours with this image. I'm always drawn back to the woman in the lower left. She's always struck me as the office outcast trying to get out of the picture. The woman to the right of her, with the lace collar, looks like her boss giving her the stink eye for not participating.
Roaring Twenties!Thanks for this flash-back, Shorpy!
Love the very mysterious Lady on the left...
and still dislike that pompous guy with the cigar.
Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets, moose... and a hippo gnu year!
I have to askDoes "Office Xmas Party" have the largest amount of comments?
[That record might be held by Our Lady of Lourdes School. Another much-commented post was The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
FinallyShorpy's annual "Office Xmas Party" has arrived! There's my guy standing in the back row, far left still waiting for me. Swoon.
Happy Holidays, Shorpyites!
And thank you, Dave, for all that you do.
Re 2%, and Raise your glassesI think glasses were considered unattractive. I remember lots of members of this generation (my grandparents') or the next who would whip off their glasses whenever someone raised a camera.
Tough Day At The Office?The best part about these office parties are the grab bags. It's always the best way to regift. Other than that, I hope Dave, Ken, tterace and all our outstanding commentators and readers have a wonderful holiday and a healthy prosperous New Year.
Must have been a heck of a partyAll the way in the back is a tall bald man with a traffic signal on his head! That's better than a lampshade. The body language between the woman on the far left and the woman to her right who is glaring at her is really very sad. You wonder what sort of ugliness was going on behind the scenes. The lady looks like she's been crying a bit. Who knows. It's fascinating to see such a candid photo none the less.
An oilcan!Now I know the perfect gift to get for all my co-workers. Merry Christmas Shorpy nation.
I look forward to these people each yearThey've become familiar yet remain interesting. As I said years ago, we're testing the counter on this one.
Merry Christmas fellow Shorpyites and wish a grand New Year!
It was ninety years ago today ...... and the photo never ceases to give.
The fun is overOkay, we had our Christmas celebration, now everyone back to your desks and let's finish out the day at 5:00.
The lucky onesDue to the magic of photography, this happy group has been celebrating now for ninety years. If you enlarge the picture and study their faces and demeanors, you may get some insight into their characters and personalities in 1925. After seeing this photo for many Christmases on Shorpy, I almost feel that I know some of them as well I know my own friends. Merry Christmas to all, especially the Shorpy staff.
What are we missing?Great photo, been seeing it for years now, but I always wonder what else was going on? People are looking left, right, straight, up, down. What was going on out of frame? That lady in lower left looks ready to bolt, especially with the other lady looking on concernedly. If this was a Halloween photo, the massacre would be about to begin.
I've been ill, and maybe delirious...
Spooky Lady of Christmas PastI remain endlessly curious regarding the woman with her back to the desk.
Spooky and haunting, amid all the fascinating characters in this classic shot, she is The One.
Department Name for Room 504Western Electric Company
Installation Department
5th Floor
1319 F Street
Washington DC
(From the 1925 Washington City Directory)
This department installed Central Office equipment (testboards, operator switchboards, signaling equipment, etc) supporting both local and long distance telephone service.
Google street view has an office building that looks old enough to be our Christmas Office party location. Perhaps another Shorpyite can add the street view for us.
[It was built in 1913. Interestingly enough, it's just one building away from Harris & Ewing, another source of many Shorpy photos. -tterrace]
Merry Christmas, George BabbittThe guy on the right, in front, with the grand forehead, holding the stogie, reminds me of Sinclair Lewis's protagonist in "Babbitt" (1922):
"He was the modern business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His head suddenly appeared not babyish but weighty, and you noted his heavy, blunt nose, his straight mouth and thick, long upper lip, his chin overfleshy but strong; with respect you beheld him put on the rest of his uniform as a Solid Citizen."
Room 504Flip the photo horizontally, and you will see that we are on the 5th floor. Who can guess the "department" we are in?
Now it is Christmastime for sureI couldn't truly celebrate Christmas without seeing this picture again. It must be after Thanksgiving or Shorpy would not have posted it. Any comments I could make about this picture would only be a pale response to all the previous comments. It just makes me try to think what an office Christmas party like this must have been compared to a modern day party. I look forward to this picture every year for some crazy reason.
294408That's how many people have called up this photo. Over a quarter million! And this isn't YouTube. What an amazing picture. What an amazing site. Merry Christmas to all my Shorpy comrades and a huge thank-you to Dave and tterrace for all they do to bring this amazingness to us every day.
YuletideI heard Springsteen singing about Santa on my way to work, and now I see this. It is truly Christmastime now.
Oh, Beautiful Lady in the Lower Left......let me unwrap that bear for you, before your nearby friend gets more worried that you're not having any fun.
DoppelgangerThe young woman framed in the door on the left looks remarkably like today's woman who was a business partner of mine.
Nothing but the best at Shorpy!!Thanks for this expected post!
Never noticed this beforeThe men's jackets have creases running the length of the arms. I wonder if this was a customary thing for "the office" or typical treatment "of the times" for pressing? Perhaps this treatment was typical only of a worsted fabric?
P. D. Police Dept.I keep being intrigued by the one and only joker in the crowd, our lady with the "P.D. Police ...." hat. There must be another word after "Police," I suppose it is just "Dept."
Marching In PlaceSeeing this picture so many times tells me that I'm growing older but these celebrants have become ageless. Along with that piece of wisdom allow me to add my Seasonal Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah Past and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all. Of course we are all in the debt of Dave,Ken and tterrace (who may or may not be on the Payroll) for their addictive posts, explanations and comment rebuttals.
From NYC, where the Christmas Eve Fahrenheit is forecasted at 72º.
Mel
[tterrace is salaried, deals in a service and is bigger than a bread box. -John Charles Daly]
Life of the partyMy best guess for "life of the party" status goes to the lady in front with elf buckles on her shoes. I love this image- there so much detail and depth of relational perspective.
Afterlife Office PartyThis photograph has become a holiday tradition for me, as anticipated as my Christmas eve tradition of baking cookies, wrapping gifts and gently placing a dish towel under Uncle Trouble's chin so he doesn't drool on his good shirt after passing out on the couch.
Scanning the full-screen photo, I wonder if a small corner of the afterlife might be populated by tenants doomed to spend eternity at a perpetual office Christmas party for some workplace sin like stealing lunches from the office fridge, pilfering office supplies, or failing to replace paper or toner in the printer. I can picture Dickensian clarks with ink-stained fingers forever mingling over paper-cupped eggnog with 60's swinging secretaries, Old Kingdom robed Egyptian scribes trimming the tree with bored mid-level Qing Dynasty bureaucrats, and that impenetrable knot of young IT guys and gals speaking in that techno-babble, side-eyeing the boss, forever giggling.
I imagine the mirthless rounds of the eternal white elephant gift exchange: the Take Me to the River-singing fish going round and round and round the conference table ad infinitum. I can see the everlasting greasy pile of stale taquitos, timeless sips from the bottle of booze hidden in the file cabinet, Starbucks Christmas Jazz CD playing in an endless loop -- the horror.
Goober Pea
UpdatedUsing John J's sleuthing on the location of this office, I recently ventured there to see if any resemblance to the photo remains. I got as far as the only door in the hall on that floor. Nothing appeared to remain.
Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!TimeAndAgainPhoto, that's a great job of investigating one of our Shorpy.com favorites, but I'm convinced that if you'll just badge your way into that office, you'll find a fellow in there with a traffic signal on his head.
I hope so, anyway.
Re: Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!Jim Page - I had to badge my way past security and up the elevator before I was stopped by the secured door.
Those were the daysI really do miss the office Christmas parties from my working years which gave us an opportunity to meet, greet and schmooze with people we hadn't seen in 20 minutes. Merry Christmas to all, rejoice and be glad.
Every Year and I am Still Captivated But I Don't Know WhyThanks Dave, I'm still enjoying this for some reason I don't understand, and I'm still curious about the front and center oil can.
SNL Time Traveler?That person standing directly to the left of the tree is either a time-traveling, cross-dressing Pete Davidson from SNL or his Great Grandmother worked at Western Electric Group in 1925!
Shorpy - I look forward to this picture every year and am a regular viewer of your site. Even have a couple of large prints on my walls at home, with another coming soon!
Thanks for this site - it's one of the pleasures of my day!
Yuletide.I love seeing this picture every year. As do my co-workers. Thank you.
I have seen this picture for six (I believe) years nowBut today, today there is a new face, one I instantly recognize, that I would swear was not there in any previous year.
I once found my wife's doppleganger (Trackless Trolley) in one of these pictures. Today, I find my youngest daughter, Cecilia (16); she's poking her face out between the 2nd and 3rd fully visible women on the left side of the photo (their right) from the tree.
Ok, it's spooky Dave.... but I'm starting to believe someone has a time travel machine, and everyone but me in my family is using it.
P.D. clocheWonder what she's hiding under that hat?
It's timeThis picture (and the myriad comments) are so entertaining, I sometimes search for it when I'm feeling low, even in July! I especially love Oil Can Sally's come hither look.
I amost know these peopleMy Great-Great Grand uncle was Dan Richardson, a senior accountant for Western Electric in the New England/Northeast US area. He certainly visited Washington D. C. during his time with Western Electric, and would have met and worked with one or more of the people in this photo.
Odd to think I could, via relatives, have been introduced to these people.
This is my first ChristmasI see 26 men, 21 women and hundreds of possibilities.
Oh My GoodnessI had no idea it was so close to Christmas. We really need to finish the baking...
Old Friends From The OfficeAre like warm Gluehwein to heat the cold heart at Christmas.
Merry Christmas my Shorpyite friends and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially Dave who keeps all of us in memories. [updated]
Phyllis Diller"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
QuorumThis picture puts the "mass" back in Christmas.
Sturdy DesksI guess the nine guys head and shoulders above everyone else are standing on two or three of these desks. Curious as anyone about the office relationships and the lady sitting in front of the desk. My eighth year of wondering and guessing about this picture.
The scraggly looking treein the picture most probably was bought with donations from some of the people in this picture.
Older Shorpyites will no doubt remember the single set of lights on the tree. The lighting "outfit" was an inexpensive 8 light series set, with C-6 miniature based bulbs. When a bulb burned out, it was time to hunt for it with a good one...unscrewing every bulb in the set until it was found.
I remember helping my grandmother do just that. For some reason, the C-6 series set was always at the top of the tree. Grandma would get up on a stool, with me holding the good bulb, and switching it one by one until the set lit.
Wonderful times. Timeless memories.
What Are They ThinkingI've enjoyed this picture year after year, and like many who had suffered through office parties, I often thought what goes through their minds.
Click to enlarge.
Lady in the foregroundI've also wondered (several years in a row) about the lady with her back to the desk. The thing that really stands out to me, is her hair. As far as I can tell, she has her hair swept back in a bun, which is clearly very old-fashioned compared to all the bobbed and shingled ladies in the office.
I know this is a bit far-fetched but her clothes and hair suggest to me that she wasn't an office worker, as they give the impression of having less money to spend on herself. I wondered if maybe she was the office cleaner/ tea lady who was called in to be part of the photo?
It could explain why she seems a bit distant from all the others in the group.
It's here! It's here!The Shorpy Christmas Cheer office party picture is here! Smack dab in the middle of Prohibition, the gang at Western Electric make merry with two or three hundred stories or thoughts about what the heck was going on in their heads!
My favorite is the seductress "oil can" Sally with her bathtub-gin induced come-hither gaze!
Merry Christmas!
#UsTooI bet if those girls had a voice today there would be some explaining to do.
Night Before ChristmasWhen what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a company Christmas calendar, the same as last year.
Season's GreetingsThis is simply the greatest captured moment in the history of office photography!
Nothing puts me in the spirit like --this pic, a glass of egg nog and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on a loop! Merry Christmas all!!
The distant gazeAs fun as it is, I think we're way overthinking the motives of the 5 or so "looking away" women. Yes, even the comment-generating pair of the sultry one in the lower left corner and the one sitting to her left who appears to be staring her down. It was evidently fashionable for many decades for women to "look into the distance" for a portrait photograph, and I think that's all they're doing here. My theory is that this practice started as a way to prevent the "zombie eyes" effect of the exposure capturing the blink after the flash. My mother always did it, even when I implored her to look at my camera with everyone else.
That GirlIn the middle front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
[Nursery rhyme by Longfellow. - Dave]
Every yearI feel sorrier than the year before for the one sitting on the floor with her back to the desk. She looks like she is just waiting for the party to be over so she can throw herself out the window.
Reminds me of "The Office"I can find the whole cast from Dunder-Mifflin -- Michael, Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute, Stanley, Kevin, Angela, and Phyllis.
Let's danceHey, did anyone remember to bring their Lasses White albums?
ClaireThis pretty gal looks exactly like my wife. I just printed out the image and am going to show her tonight.
Work or PleasureIs the machine on the desk at the right (above the In Box) a record player brought in? A radio? Or is it merely some office device like maybe a phone-related routing/switchboard machine?
Also, wingtips apparently were in style.
Sure SignOf the Season: this picture on Shorpy (Thanks, Dave) and "A Christmas Carol" on TCM. All the best to all wherever ye might be!
Ghosts of Christmas pastIt really is curious that we can scrutinize a picture like this every year and each time we notice something different that we did not notice before. This year, while observing enlarged close-ups of these people's faces, I see resemblances to many of my own acquaintances, friends and public figures and one can almost even determine the personality and attitude of each person. I think the young lady standing on the extreme left, second row, closest to the door, looks like a younger Martha Stewart. I also know that these happy holiday office parties are quickly disappearing due to the current lawsuits involving harassment, etc. so the people of my generation (old fossils) can move into the history books with them and just remember how it "used to be" and know it will never be again.
This festive group gets a prime spot in that chapter and exemplifies what it was like, for better or for worse. Party on kids, 'til the end of time.
The BossThe one sure thing about this photo is who the boss is, probably flanked by his second in command to his right.
Ion Dept. XmasI have followed this wonderful Xmas photo for years but have never commented, till now. I always wondered what I might say, since so much has been said. But what really made me start this year -- the thing I’d never really noticed before – the new thing! – is that guy (head) craning behind the Xmas tree. Compared with all the other people, he’s really only half there, penciled in, lacking in the vibrancy and heft of every other person. So I guess my comment is: Merry Xmas, Ion Tree guy! (And Merry Xmas to all my Shorpy sisters and brothers, and of course to our all-puissant but beneficent overlords, Dave and tterrace, who make this daily joy available to us all.)
[Or maybe Ion Guy is just tinseled in. - Dave]
Was the Electric Company a Communist Front?Psychodramas? How about it looks like Alger Hiss and Whitiker Chambers’ cousins were exchanging Christmas gifts in Washington in 1925. Alger’s stands to the left and Whitiker’s to the right—significant? Whitiker’s cousin looks like someone socked him on the forehead and Alger’s has a smile on his face.
[Ahem. Whittaker, not "Whitiker." - Dave]
That Temptress!All these folks saying they see something new each year -- nuts. I first laid eyes on the beauty behind the oil can, what -- a decade ago now? And she has had me in her spell ever since. It is now officially Christmas season for me.
I'm busy here!You Shorpyites who fantasize about folks from over 90 years ago -- How strange you are.
And all your blather is distracting me from my mission of saving the saintly Love of My Life whose shoulder had been latched onto by the Evil Witch with no opposable thumb ...
I must complete this pesky time machine before Christmas.
Holiday RomanceI see that its time to renew my holiday romance. Every year I fall in love with the young lady the farthest to the left. Brings warmth to my heart, of course, I don't dare tell my wife.
Season's Greetings!I look forward to this picture every year. I like that it's been a running thing here for so long, because I see it as a way to bind all us Shorpyites together. No matter where we live, how old we are, what we're doing in our lives, we can all stop here and comment on this picture, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. Thank you, Dave, for providing that for us.
I wish all of you that read this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2019 be the year you've been waiting for.
Hip FlasksEven the Bear won't tell, but, I am sure the oil can will.
1925! Prohibition! Almost every woman had one and, I am sure, that there may be a few here.
Maybe, that's why Gladys sitting with the Bear and oil can, is smiling knowingly?
Even the person who introduced Prohibition had a still in his basement.
"It was 93 years ago today" Happy Christmas, John! Happy Christmas, Yoko!...Esther, Mary, Eugenia, Mabel, Nellie, Ida, Clara, Edith, Winifred, Maude, Violet, Gladys, Daisy,Doris, Agatha, Gertrude, Elspeth, Velma, Thelma, Myrna, Hortence...
The LevelingTo paraphrase William Makepeace Thackeray "It was in the reign of President Calvin Coolidge, that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."
Most popular galMy favorite - Oil Can Sally - has three gag gifts displayed. That probably makes her the most popular woman in the office. In addition, her provocative smile suggests a hangover was in her future!
Still GOGO after all these yearsI love the bald guy just visible in the back row with the traffic signal "ballanced" perfectly on the top of his head. Very steady!
It sounds crazy... but I swear the bear moved a bit since last year.
That old gang is back!The Christmas Party Picture is back! I'd actually forgotten about it, so a quick check of Shorpy was the most welcome way to end my Friday. The week to come will reveal new snarks about these buddies of ours, and I look forward to that. Thank you, Shorpy!
Those EyesThe beauty sitting against the desk gets me every year. She looks exhausted.
My Favorite TraditionI don't post a lot of comments, but I check the site every day to see what's new and to read what *other* people have said. This is probably one of my favorite posts on this site because it's great to go back through the years of comments and read people's observations about the image, maybe see if someone has come up with something new. I hope we keep seeing this picture on the Friday before Christmas until the heat death of the universe. It would be a lovely constant.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Shorpy. I hope it's filled with love, contentment, and joy.
If you like this photo ...You loved the Shorpy.com postcard you just received!!!
When mine came in the mail, my wife said, "Do you know those people?"
OF COURSE I DO!!!
Find the BossI just love the way he stands there holding his cigar. You can almost hear him barking out orders in a very Edward G. Robinson-ish voice.
This reminds me of --That photo in "The Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel. These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy traditionEvery year when I see the office party pic, my eyes always wind up gazing into the sideways glance of that beauty in front of the desk.
I cant help imagining what the conversations of the day were, who brought a flask full of illegal libations, was jazz coming from a tube type radio, did everyone get a little Christmas bonus (it was the roaring 20's mind you), and who has a crush on who?
Dave, thanks for all you do. Shorpy is a constant in my day.
Be well everyone!
I guessed the right number of buttons in the jarMerry Christmas!
The Shorpy Ion Dept.A crazy thought occurred to me this year with respect to this beloved standard photograph: what if it were not the Ion Dept. from 1925 but the Shorpy regular contributors from 2019? Which one is Dave? Where is tterrace? And what about so many of the devoted Shorpsters (in no special order) – Jim Page, fanhead, TheGeezer, PhotoFan, Baxado, BethF, TimeAndAgainPhoto, Vintagetvs, OTY, Solo, Jeb70, switzarch, DaveA, JennyPennifer, rhhardin, pennsylvaniaproud, JohnHoward, kines, loujudson, lindab, Jano, StefanJ, jimmylee42, Hayslip, rivlax, Mattie, joemanning, Born40YearsTooLate, GarandFan, mountainrev, perpster, Dbell, Doubleclutchin, Root 66, KathyRo, archfan, GlenJay, alexinv, karenfryxell, Gooberpea, Angus J, 510Russ, Michael R, Brett, BillyB, bobzyerunkl, Alex, jsmakbkr, Marchbanks, Commishbob, Jimmy Longshanks, DoninVa, mgolden, Alonzo, Dag, Juan de la cruz, bobstothfang, Ice gang, Rute Boye, Vonderbees, Ad Orientem, MacKenzie Kavanaugh, JazzDad, Maniak Productions, EvenSteven, Doghouse Riley, John.Debold, Sewickley, Paul A, and jd taylor. And let’s not forget some of the people we haven’t seen for a while: stanton_square, aenthal, Mr Mel. (My apologies to those I have not listed.) Best of the season to you all, my fellow Shorpsters!
Who's WhoDavid K - Dave runs the joint, so he's the three piece with the cigar. TTerrace is his major player on this site, so he is the guy looking over Dave's left shoulder. Now we just need someone to post a picture with numbers, and we label them.
Maligayang Pasko all.
Re:Shorpy Ion Dept@davidk, I'm the one peeking from behind the Christmas tree.
I hope everyone in the Shorpy pantheon enjoys all the holidays!
Postcards From The EdgeWhen I got mine, I literally jumped for joy seeing the people that I love and cherish so much. Now I can look at them anytime throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
And, thank you to DAVIDK for the mention.
[@davidk, I would be the guy with the object upon his head]
Our own office partyI love seeing this photo every year and thanks to davidk for the guest book entries of our office. Top of the season everyone!
Still HereEvery time I see this picture I think that these people could have been my mom or dad.The time and ages represented are almost perfect. It reminds me of aunts and uncles and family friends who are long gone although I will never forget them. I just turned 80 years old this past July and can remember a lot of people who would have been right at home in this picture. Thank you davidk for including me in your list of people who have liked this picture in the past and a big Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace for maintaining the site.
This one never gets oldHow is it that an old picture never gets old? Every year, I always notice something new that I hadn't noticed before. This year it's the guy with the beard, hiding behind the tree.
Also, the woman just above and just to the left of the woman in the striped blouse (her left, that is) - could that be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother? I see a definite resemblance.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love itI love this photo. The expressions, the faces. Some of the women are quite attractive. The man with his hand draped across the shoulder of another man is interesting.
Office desk sultry beautyI wonder why the dark hair beauty is staring off to the side? Was she jilted? Was she sick of the many advances by the suited men, or despondent that the one she wanted got away. Why does the women in the RBG collar stare at her? Does she know what happened?
I love the captions from another commenter.
Michael ScottIf Michael Scott were the manager of this office, I wonder if he would have said (as he did 85 years later on the TV show), "Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for these people and they freak-out. Well happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame."
Merry Christmas, Shorpy! And for the record, I don't consider this a lame birthday party, and I doubt Jesus would, either.
Bal MasqueNinety-five years later, if there even would be a party! With an added suspense -- what does Hermione look like, under that mask?
Socially DistantWould they have believed it had someone told them that in 95 years their photograph would be the highlight of 2020 for a group of remote observers?
Merry and BrightThis photo has become the official kickoff of the holidays for me.
Best wishes to all the Shorpy regulars and particularly those who keep this place running.
Neither here nor thereEach year my attention is drawn immediately to the three beauties at the bottom left of the photo: sultry beauty far left floor level, looking off to her right at someone/something off camera; the lady to that lady's left who seems to be watching her with deliberate intent; exquisite beauty just behind the desk corner, beheld with what appears to be fond regard by the lady just behind her to her left; and wholesome beauty smiling behind exquisite beauty, being kept tabs on by the lady in the Police Department helmet.
I do eventually get past these women, to study the remainder of visages and postures and wonder about the other long-dead revelers of both genders, but it is these six who take up most of my time each year as I wonder what might have been the complexities of the various relationships. And as always, I hope each one in the photo had a Merry Christmas that year and many years after. I know that the likelihood is slim to none that all lived long and were carefree throughout, but that's still what I wish for in this suspended moment that so many have celebrated for so long, thanks to Shorpy.
So a Merry Christmas to beloved Shorpy and its erudite, esteemed company of gazers no less fascinating than any who attended Office Xmas Party: 1925.
Thanks Again Dave and Merry ChristmasThanks again Dave, I've been waiting for it. Obviously, we all love this yearly Christmas "surprise". I enjoy everyone's take on this party I missed awhile back.
Questions, questionsEvery year I wonder.
What is that thing on the postal scale? A misplaced elf? A misshapen magus?
Why is that woman with the oil can looking at me? Am I safe?
And why is the Christmas tree so scrawny?
Merry Christmas Dave!And to all the crew at Shorpy! Thanks for the memories and keeping some of us sane in 2020!
What I want for ChristmasI don't care what it is, I want one.
[Update, thanks to all the gizmo identifiers. I love tape dispensers! Now I really want it!]
Nothing stops this partyOh, thank goodness the Shorpy party is still on! It's the only event the pandemic cannot cancel!
Judging youDon't know what got into her holiday spirit. Not too pleased with someone.
Re: tterrace What I want for ChristmasIt's a gummed tape dispenser, similar to this one:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-ornate-cast-iron-...
She of the averted gazeI know that we enjoy interpreting what is in - or not in - this photograph each year. However, eight people, including "she of the averted gaze" are looking in that direction, suggesting something was going on while the picture was taken, sufficient to distract. A further basis for interpretation and speculation, perhaps? Merry Christmas.
Only one bow tieAmong all those Windsor knots on the gents, third on upper right. In group after group they are always in the minority, even until today.
Going to a Go-GoNothing says Christmas like a Go-Go party hat.
That machineMay be a gummed tape applicator.
National Package Sealer model #206
Do they know?Do you think the two women wearing the exact same necklace (dripping pearls) suspect that it might have come from the same man? Are the pearls from the handsome young gentleman with the pen sticking out of his pocket? Is this an early version of "The Bachelor" that we are witnessing? Which one will he choose?
Austerity Christmas?From the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to the lack of any visible food or drinks (except for a few candy canes) to the blank, unimpressed looks on some faces, it looks like an Austerity Christmas in Anytown this year.
Well, Merry Christmas TermiteYou can probably still find one somewhere. It's an automatic wetter and cutter for wide, brown packing tape. You just mash down on the handle and it shoots out a measured length of wet sticky tape and cuts it when you release. There is a messy water reservoir up front. I used one in a shipping department in 1974.
Buddha Bear!Puts in his once a year appearance.
Merry Christmas to Dave & Ken & tterrace and all the naughty boys & girls at Shorpy!
Nice $-value todayThat horse that guy in front of Christmas tree is holding. All with bit of wear and patina collected in 95 years.
Another yearWe all get another year older and they stay the same.
Five groupsPart of the endless fun with this photo is deciding which part of it to center as the embiggened image on my screen. I fluctuate between the five main Ion Dept. groups: on the left, the ladies on the floor, the ladies standing, and the men standing above them, and on the right, the lower men and the upper men. (If I had to distinguish a special sub-group, it would be solo guy behind the tree and the fellow on the very far right who hovers between the upper and lower groups.) Once I have the group du jour embiggened, I focus on the individual characters. As we who have been doing this for years well know, that’s when the fun begins.
Might I take this opportunity to offer the best of the season to Dave and Ken and tterrace and all my fellow Shorpsters. In this extraordinary year of greater screen time than ever before, I find that my Shorpy screen time is even more intense and valuable, if such a thing is actually possible. Bless Shorpy, and bless you all.
Elbow to elbowEvery year I have a different response to this photograph, depending on general mood and the state of the world. This year, I truly envy those people. They get to stand together in a bunch, breathing one another’s air, touching each other casually, sharing food and drink, simply going in to work at an office. They all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Happy holidays to all the people who create and enjoy this wonderful website that gives me joy and perspective on a daily basis.
Re: Elbow to elbowI must concur. Having spent nine months wearing a mask, practically bathing in hand sanitizer every time I touch anything, and staying as far removed from people I don't live with as humanly possible, I'm jealous of these long-dead coworkers for being able to crowd together, enjoying one another's company in person, rather than over Zoom or FaceTime.
It's been a bad, bad year, there's no denying that, but Shorpy has been a bright spot in my day since January, much as I'm sure it's been for the rest of you. Happy Holidays to all the Shorpyites out there — may you find some contentment and peace in the face of all this tragedy and come out the other side hale and hearty.
That Time of Year AgainThrough the miracle of photography and our friends at Shorpy, we are able to visit this party again.
A Vintage CrumpleAfter all these annual viewings I finally noticed what looks like a lone crumpled piece of paper at lower right. We'll never know what was on it. Maybe a dig at one of these people? Or love note? Ah, the mysteries!
Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at once!Every year I wonder about the dark-haired smiling young woman third from the front, beside the desk. With her modern-looking bob, she looks like a Time Traveler, so that's what I've named her. (Not far away are The Maniac, Da Boss, and The Very Secret Lovers.) This photo, along with its subjects, never gets old, and I hope the Holiday Spirit that originally inspired it never does either. Happiest of Holidays to everybody who produces and sees Shorpy, and a New Year of peace, love, courage, and good health to all.
12 Years of ChristmasMerry Christmas Shorpy. Thanks for the memories.
[This is Shorpy's 14th Christmas! - Dave]
PerspectiveThey all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Thanks, jdtaylor--I'm sure I'm not the only one who needed that perspective today.
Happy holidays to Dave and all the Shorpyites. This site has been a great distraction lately!
Time to Move OnI vote that next year you post the 1926 photo. Some of the lingering issues must have been resolved by then.
The X-mas Party Presents!And here you may have a look on how Christmas looked 100 years ago in the U.K. (including a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater).
Mysterious machineNow that the gummed tape dispenser has been identified, I hope someone will be able to reveal the secret of the machine on the desk behind the in-box. A perforator or a mimeograph machine perhaps?
[It's called a typewriter. - Dave]
Dead ringer, etc.At the very back and far left - the attractive woman 3 in - I have a friend who looks exactly like her but with a more modern hair style, but identical facial features. How eerie!
Something tells me that Oil Can Mary's wicked smile indicates that she is already planning what flapper attire she will wear at the local speakeasy that night. Her future toast might be: "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!" Published in 1920. Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I often wonder what became of all these people. It is my hope that they all lived long, happy, prosperous lives but alas, as we know, life can be more complicated than that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you ghosts of Christmas past!
The only Christmas party I'll go to.Merry Christmas to Dave and the Shorpy Crew, as well as my fellow Shorpy followers. It appears that I've been around for 12.5 of the 14 years of Shorpy.com, though it seems like yesterday and DoninVa no longer lives in Va. There's always something to be found in a Shorpy photo: the young woman framed in the glass of the door is the doppelganger for someone I once worked with. Cheers!
Newcomer To The PartyAfter viewing Shorpy for some years now, I finally decided to join this party; I'm in awe of the many observations, and for now, am unable to come up with any new angles on this fascinating photo. I do want to say that the comments of jd taylor and BethF most definitely struck a chord with me; I, too, envy those in the photo, survivors of even greater trouble, coming as it did following The Great War. Hope to see you all back at the party next year, and a few other places along the way. May you all find peace and hopefully some joy this Christmas.
A Merry Christmas to You All!It's been a rough few years for me (family deaths, health issues), and my Internet usage dropped off considerably. I may have stopped commenting, but I never stopped reading, and I've looked forward to this photo every year for a long, long time. I'm glad that for all the things in flux in this world, the Shorpy Office Xmas Party remains the same.
I wish you and yours the very merriest and happiest of holiday seasons. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. :-D
EerieWhy the rush?
[??? - Dave]
MassafornianWhat a great comment, thank you. I’ve never colorized, and I use Photoshop for barely 10% of what it can do, but I truly appreciated your insight into the process. More amazing is that you’ve named them all. Gosh, I’d love to know who the others are, in addition to Mary, Bobbie, Lulu, and Lila. And how honest to share with us your faves, Mary and Bobbie, made legit by your wife asking. I agree about Lila: trouble. Also the lady with the marcel wave in the purple dress and blue coat with fur fringe behind the bear and oilcan and house: you might think of her in off moments but you could never make it work. (What’s her name?) Thanks for explaining about Remini because I wondered how their teeth and various other features were so brilliant and precise. And don’t worry about the rouging: it raised the temperature on the whole event (and not just on the ladies – it’s perfect for that guy third from the left in the upper right, the older fellow with the red tie, who’s had too much to drink or is about to have a stroke or both). One more thing: I’d never really noticed that unsightly blotch on the forehead of the boss with the cigar – you did it full, gross justice. Again, great job, and thanks, man!
I'd like to be the first this yearSurely, it's not too soon for this Yuletide Jewel ...
The Oilcan Need an explanation for the purpose of the oil can at the party.
[It's not a party unless everyone is well-lubricated. - Dave]
Now the season is complete!I look forward to revisiting this every year. Thank you!
- Ken
Colorized versionI've been working off and on to colorize this wonderful image throughout the year. Here's the result. You can also find it here in high resolution:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.jpg
Merry Christmas!
[Bravo! - Dave]
Amazing colorization!@ Massafornian -- thanks so much for that epic job. It adds so much to an already incredible image. (Judging by your username, I suspect we are compatriots -- I was born in Massachusetts and live in California.)
Merry and BrightWith retirement, our lives have been simpler here so the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier. But it isn't *really* the season until the annual Shorpy office party. Happy Holidays to Dave and the regular contributors that make this place special.
BTW...it's kind of odd that I get older but none of the partygoers ever seem to. Must be something in the eggnog.
As We Seek Normalcy, This Pic Provides it!The last two pandemic driven years, makes most of us seek glimpses of normalcy. Having this Christmas tradition each year, having a peek into the office Christmas party, gives a moment of that peace. Knowing these, and their children, and their grandchildren...made it through the Great Depression, WWll, the Cold War, etc., etc., still, a moment frozen in time, gives a certain reassurance, that everything is going to be ok!
Merry Christmas, office party, as well as all the Shorpy members that crash the party each year!
Bravo, indeedWell done on the colorization, Massafornian. It adds a level of vibrancy to an already-lively photo of an intriguing bunch of people. I’m also surprised at some of the effects, for example the oft-commented-upon woman in the lower left, sitting against the desk, craning her neck for a beady glare offstage – the rouge on her cheeks and the lipstick blunt the ultra-crazy impression and make her look, dare I say, somewhat fetching. Thank you for your addition to this seasonal favourite. And best of the season to my fellow Shorpsters and to the toilers in the digital mines who bring us this much-loved website.
Everybody's back in the officeNobody's working from home and the party is ON! Happy holidays!
WFHAs we head into Covid Christmas #2, it again strikes me that these folks would have no idea what working from home would even mean. (Taking in sewing?) Here they are, in joyous proximity one to the other, while we are still asked to distance, mask up, etc. Their mingled exhalations, their casual touches, the humid density of their gathering – how I envy them. Well, we come here to dream and fantasize, don’t we? Happy holidays to my fellow dreamers and observers and to the hard-working trio who bring us the stuff that dreams are made of.
Up to good or no goodI am incredulous that I have never really noticed the girl at the far left of the photo, just in front of the door -- the last of the women. She is concealing something. Knowledge or intent, benevolent or nefarious ... no matter. Keep a weather eye on that one.
Egad! New versions!Shorpy Patreon members have been treated to a short, elegant--well, creepy--music video in Ken-Burns-goes-Edward Gorey style. And now a colorized photo with costumes straight out of Technicolor heaven. And in 2021 they all sneaked in to party on Saturday!
Old FriendsI've seen this picture so many times over the years at Christmas time on Shorpy that the faces have become like familiar old friends. I'm of the opinion that Christmas will never be the same for me unless I get to see this photo at least once during the Christmas season.
Girl At The Far LeftNo one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”
Time For A Rhyme...or TwoIt's Christmas Party time again, so back to yesteryear,
To faces from so long ago, we now hold somewhat dear
They lived through their pandemic, and now we've had our own
For some, it was an ordeal; of much more time alone,
Yet, gazing at these faces here shows us things will improve,
And then to next year's gala even more will gladly move!
A Merry Christmas to you all, here at this special time
I thank you all so very much for bearing with my rhymes,
May next year's party be the one our current trial's behind us
But our friends from 1925 will be there to remind us ...
A very special thanks to Massafornian for the superb colorization!
A bit more on the colorizationThe colorization was done by hand, for about an hour most every morning, when I had the spare time while listening to podcasts. I started in early January and completed it around April. I am sure that most Shorpians know that colorization is tedious, mostly due to the need to mask objects and details as much as possible, to distinguish them from other objects. (The Christmas tree with its fir needles and tinsel was a bit of a job). Automated colorization just doesn’t compare in quality to doing it by hand.
Each person is a smart layer in Photoshop that in turn contains many layers of isolated bits to colorize. The fun part was choosing the colors of people’s attire. Hopefully what I chose is close enough to what this cast of characters might’ve actually worn in 1925, but I won’t claim any historical research was performed for color accuracy.
I could easily spend the same amount of time on this image again, by further masking textures and smaller objects, and separating their colors. If anyone wants the original layered PSD to do more magic, you can have it here:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.2021.psd.zi...
You have exactly one year to post the next refinement!
You might notice in the high resolution version that the faces are oddly higher resolution than the surrounding parts of the image. This is a bit of AI deployed on the faces, called Remini. Google it to learn more, but in a nutshell, Remini analyzes a face that is low resolution or blurry and magically reconstructs it in high resolution by drawing from a huge library of face components. Remini reassembles face components onto a map based on the original image. The process is hit-or-miss as far as how it can interpret low-quality image data. It was fun to apply it to this image one face at a time and integrate the rendered AI faces back into the master image.
I feel that I know all these characters in the photo intimately, having spent a lot of time on each one of them. I’ve given them all first names to distinguish the Photoshop layer names. My wife asks me which lady I might’ve fancied back in the day, and I think it’s a tie between ‘Mary’ (the blonde in front of the ‘504’ door wearing purple) and ‘Bobbie’ (third-to-the-right of ‘Lulu’, (the pixie by the desk), with brown hair, a green coat and blue dress, looking directly into the camera). Those two have nice, approachable personalities. I’m intrigued by ‘Lila’ (the mysterious lady on the floor in front of the desk), but she’s perhaps too brooding for 1925 Me to take on; and ‘Lulu’ is far too racy and trendy for my sensibilities.
I was born in 1963, so I imagined a lot of these people from 1925 as being my many older relatives who were a huge part of my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. My grandmother was born in 1890 and her gaggle of five sisters had birth years that ranged between 1885 and 1902. Though elderly, they were all alive and vibrant for most of my childhood, and greatly influenced me.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this time of year when Dave publishes this wonderful photo, to submit my contribution. I think this version turned out pretty nice.
@ Born Too Late - my geographical fate is the opposite of yours: I started out in the Alameda, California and moved to Massachusetts some 20 years ago. Massachusetts is really a great place to live—weather be damned!
@ DavidK - Yes, ‘Lila’ did indeed turn out to be beautified by the AI software, Remini. In retrospect I think I got carried away with rouging people’s cheeks, but without it, the skin tones just seemed too flat.
Cheers,
—Massafornian
HUAAgreed, davidk ... most likely she's a downright dollbaby but there is a definite glint in her eye and you must admit she has a secret or two or ten. Maybe she's even got something on some of the other girls.
Not nefariousI’ve had my eye on that woman on the far left in front of the ION window for years, JennyPennifer. She has a touch of high color, and I really like that ringlet that has broken loose by her right eye. She seems mild yet ready for fun. Not naughty.
At this rateI'm thinking that by the 2025 centenary we should be ready for an animatronic enlivening of this ongoing party.
Cast of charactersAbsolutely outstanding job of colorization, Massafornian!
It really brings out details that were easy to overlook.
I see the Serbian Anarchist, peering out just to the right of the Big Boss with the cigar, and wonder what he's planning. And the guy hiding just below the life of the party, with the STOP/GO headgear - he looks like he's hiding something, for sure.
But is the Big Boss truly the Man? My money is on the distinguished looking silver haired gent at the top right, overlooking the affair with a cautious gaze ...
And, who really *is* the mustachioed guy to his left, glaring at the photographer?
Is he worried about this photo getting out? Does he appear on a Wanted poster??
Merry Thank YouBecause it's never Christmas until the Office Party and new Office Party Comments.
Office Stories@ DavidK - If you have Photoshop, try downloading the PSD and you’ll see their names in the layers palette. The oilcan lady I named ‘Janelle’ because she looks like my cousin who has that name. I believe ‘Janelle’ to be the well-regarded office trickster.
The aging lush in the top-right standing group of men is named ‘Redd’. Me thinks he’s barely evading his mortality this fine evening, and perhaps is about to fall off of whatever he’s perched upon, to be carried out to a waiting cab, muttering something about his childhood pet dog, Wilberforce. After his early departure his hip flask was found on the floor, where he fell. No one knows what happened to it, or its contents.
The leader of the pack is named ‘Boss’, for obvious reasons. My wife thinks that perhaps he has a familial connection to ‘Bertha’, the large lady in the red dress. Boss’s blotch is an expanding skin growth. By 1945, it will have grown over his face, poor fellow. Unfortunately, the portly Boss died of a heart attack in 1946 while un-crating his new supply of Consuegra cigars and munching on a donut.
I note in this photo that there is no evidence of food or drink, save the candy canes. So while we have conjectured on this post about the state of inebriation these people might be in, strong drink seems unlikely at this event, particularly in the age of prohibition these people find themselves in. (Redd is the exception, having brought his own supply of spirits.) The food might be in another part of the room, but the lack of it has me thinking that this event was a relatively brief gathering after work.
‘Lulu’, the office pixie, is only 19 years old. She is Boss’s niece. This makes her somewhat problematic for all concerned in the office, and something of a political figure. She’s not exactly incompetent at her job, but the office matriarch, ‘Ursula’ (sitting on the floor in the green dress) was grudgingly forced to hire her. Lulu got married to a Studebaker salesman in 1928, moved to Pasadena in 1930, and had 4 children. She died in 1988 in a car accident.
The thing about the brooding ‘Lila’ that no one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million dollars in property and bonds. She moved to the Upper East Side in 1936, but never married. She lived to the age of 103, dying in 1998.
Here's a closeup of Lila:
Go-GoIs that something hanging from the wall or sitting on the man's head as a prank? Has it ever been commented on before? Though not shown, there has to be a portable Victrola and stack of jazz records somewhere for when the party gets hot! This was the height of the Charleston era and there are plenty of flappers present!
A White Elephant In The RoomMay explain the oil can, the Honey Bear, and all the other strange gifts.
I don't know how long the White Elephant Gift party has been around, but my wife and I just had one at our house.
That is one thing that I have been looking at all these years on Shorpy (the crazy gifts), and now realize the crazy gifts could be from the White Elephant in the room.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my Shorpyite brothers and sisters.
(Thanks archfan. Good to know that it is still around after all these years)
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Re: Go-GoVictrolaJazz asks if the mini traffic signal on the head of the man at the back, to the right of the tree, has been commented on before. Yes! Many times over the years, in fact. This would provide a fine opportunity to review the long and enjoyable string of comments where you will find the following: Going to a Go-Go (12/12/2020), Still GOGO after all these years (12/20/2019), Festive Dress (12/19/2015), Must have been a heck of a party (12/23/2014), No one seems to have noticed (12/14/2012), Office A-Go-Go (12/25/2010), Slow on the uptake (12/24/2010), Kimono-wearing parrot? (12/23/2010), I can’t find Don Draper (12/23/2010), Naughty Naughty (04/21/2009), Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas Party (12/15/2008), Dramatis Personae (12/15/2008), and, finally, A Story in every face (12/15/2008) which includes a Dave link to a Shorpy post with a real GO-GO traffic signal in it.
Time travel?Either Johnny Depp was the original Doctor Who time travelling as a woman or his mother was working Working for Western Electric that Christmas
A white elephant party?I hadn't thought of that and now I'm disappointed. For years I have been daydreaming about the oil can lady, the one with the unnervingly lascivious direct look.
Then I remember she'd be old enough to be my grandmother. Jeepers.
Grateful Holiday pome These people, alas, are all now dust.
But we on Shorpy surely must
visit them once more.
Cheer to all on Shorpy!
Sad or Stimulating, or a bit of both?Having been recently retired, with no more company Christmas parties to attend, I am faced with a conundrum.
Is it sad that the 1925 Christmas Party on Shorpy is now the Office Party I look forward to the most, or is it tantalizing that the faces and actions of these folks, now long gone, give all of us smiles nearly a century later?
Let this serve as a reminder to treat every moment as if that moment is also "frozen in time"!
Merry Christmas, Dave, and the entire Shorpy family!
MomObviously, this is another photo in the Shorpy Hall of Fame inaugural class, but the best thing about it for me is that it was likely taken when my mom was just a newborn, having come into this world on December 17, 1925. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Heavenly 97th Birthday to my mom!
My how time fliesSeems like it was just a month or two ago when last Christmas flew by with this pic.
NobodyHas changed much from last year. Remarkable.
Gag Gifts?I look forward to this party every year, and I notice something new each December. It's occurred to me that everyone in the photo is holding some kind of small gift, and all of them look like "white elephants": a toy horse, an oil can, a little bear, a toy policeman's hat—perhaps it was a "Secret Santa" kind of gag gift swap, and each gift was appropriately unique to the receiver. The photograph makes every one of these people forever young, and I always wonder what happened to each one of them: all those life stories that we'll never know. (I hope they all got a Christmas bonus!) Happiest of Holidays—and a Happy, Healthy New Year—to every Shorpyite.
The finer detailsI’ve chosen to focus on some of the smaller, obscure points this year in my investigation of this beloved photo. The woman in the bobby hat towards the left? Go south to the hand of the woman in front of her, the hand on the shoulder of the woman in the light-colored dress: that hand looks disembodied and is therefore creepy. Person who looks most Photoshopped in? The woman to the immediate left of that hand, staring right into your soul. Stuff like that. The picture is positively filthy with wacky, kooky, scary little things.
Sober thoughtFourteen years of beautiful fascination. Wonder if some folks who commented earlier, by now "are with the people on the photo" too?
Go-Go indeedI just wanted to second the man at the back, being bald myself. Go Go, folks.
Christmas TreesIf nothing else, we have made great advances in Christmas tree technology.
Every year they look a bit youngerMeanwhile, every year I look less like my father and more like my grandfather.
Love the ones you're withThanks for the labor of love and commerce Shorpy is. Years ago this photo evoked for me speculations about what may have divided these office mates. Now what comes out of this photo is the love that is possible if only ... with enough time and enough patience and enough "having lived through" being absent from one another we arrive at a finality of cherishing "in spite of" or even "because of" the uniqueness we bring.
The big read 1925I wonder how many of them were concealing new books in their purses, briefcases, or desk drawers. It was an era of readers, and 1925 was a banner year. Here are some of the newly-printed titles waiting for them in bookstores:
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, In Our Time
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Dreiser, An American Tragedy
Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Cather, The Professor’s House
Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Milne, a Winnie the Pooh story at Christmas
Kafka, The Trial (if you read German)
Proust, Albertine Disparue (if you read French—though some of them may still be working through the 1922 translation of Swann’s Way).
By December, early subscribers could have accumulated ten months of the new “New Yorker.”
But let’s hope that they still had a few years to be blissfully unaware of Mein Kampf, published in Germany in July.
There's one in every office. Frank is holding up an equipment assignment sheet while calling (vainly) for the frivolity to end and a return to work. He will not succeed.
Group AnalysisObviously far too long a comment, but Shorpy is so inspirational. Still had fun thinking and writing, as well as viewing picture again.
I was wondering about the woman at the far left. She is showing a sideways glance, and nobody else in the picture has a sideways glance. A sideways glance can be a powerful indication of attention to a subject, like romantic attention or professional attention or just surprise, but in any case something out of the ordinary. Like here, it seems different, just that one woman.
Trying to analyze a sideways glance, there is the face angle (determined by the nose angle) and the eyes angle. For a sideways glance like this, the eyes are directly pointed at the subject, but the face is pointed elsewhere. Using a reasonably limited choice of angles (0, 15, 30, 45) and expressing angles as "eyes angle / face angle" (eyes come first, most expressive), then this mystery woman with the sideways glance could be a 0/30.
Directly below her on the floor is a 45/0 woman, and her eyes angle is the extreme opposite. Seems absolute difference between the two angles can show degree of interest or attention, not the amount of either angle. With any 45/0 difference then attention seems to be very much elsewhere. The 30/45 woman to her right apparently has her attention directed to the same subject, but not to the same degree, more a casual interest, just a difference of 15 between her angles.
And the next woman above is a 30/30, also looking in that direction, but no difference between her angles, no indication of interest or attention, just looking.
Also just looking, but now at the camera, are all the 0/0 men and women, no differences, the largest group. They seem to be posing conventionally for the picture, and there is no apparent sign of interest or attention (other than to the camera). The exact pose varies by individual, some are smiling more than others, but they are all 0/0's. Some 0/0's may be simple conformists, and others may be nonconformists bored stiff (they can still smile, for the camera), but you can't probably tell which is which from the picture.
The big boss on the right is a 0/0, and the men in line with him are mostly 0/0's too, diligently following his traditional example. Above him are three 45/45's, you may not be able to tell about attention or interest from a 45/45, no difference there, in that way like a 0/0. However they are definitely not posing for the camera in any conventional way, not following the big boss example, and probably not in line to succeed him. His successor would probably be a 0/0 closest to him.
We could also consider tilt angle of the head as a variable, but that's more difficult to determine, because it varies with perspective, further away or closer to the camera. Also could consider extent of smiles, but that also difficult to determine. Eyes angle and face angle (nose angle) should be easier.
These angle measurements are probably useful only in a posed office photo, like this one. In a family photo 0/0's can be visibly full of emotion. And in real life anyone can look at you straight on, a 0/0, with amazement or fury or love or anything else. So angles won't help much in real life, although a sideways glance can still show interest and then create reciprocal interest, even mutual interest.
Mistletoe and High Voltage for all the women!I love how the ladies' hair has that "Bride of Frankenstein" look ... creepy yet sexy. It reminds me to get the yule log out.
ZoomThat was a quick year.
Another Year Gone ByBeen seeing this annually for a long time now, am I the first to comment ?? Anyways all these souls, their troubles and happy days are behind them and now are just dust in the wind … enjoy yourselves as we will be dust too! Merry Christmas
My Newest Favorite Christmas Tradition!I have gotten to the point of looking so forward to this party each year, it has indeed become one of my favorite Christmas traditions! LOL
For most of those attending the party, they are indeed, "living life!" That is so valuable, the ability to live life. On a personal note, I am learning that this year, having lost my precious wife in March, to Dementia. As iamjanicemarie well noted, all of these, are now just "dust in the wind."
Which makes me wonder, in what order did they pass? Did some in the picture in 1925 not survive till the party in 1926? Who was the last to go, and in what year? In the hundreds of comments, some pointing out actual things, others just speculating ... we can learn one lesson.
Live Life Fully Every Day. Who knows, a hundred years from now, you may still be having an effect on someone who you never even met!
Merry Christmas, Shorpy family!
What's up with the gals?Are they wearing kryptonite jewelry?
Old friendsI never get tired of this party and these coworkers. The job, yeah, I'm sick of it, but the people make it all worthwhile. I feel like I've known them forever.
Welcome Back, Dear 1925 Office Party Friends. . . and all Shorpy friends, too!
I look forward to seeing this wonderful photo every year. These folks never age, unlike the rest of us. I find this reassuring: life goes on, as it did for the office partiers whose lives continued through the Depression, WWII, and possibly even on to the 1990s. I always wonder who they were and what happened to them.
Here's to a Happy Holiday season and a peaceful 2024.
Seems Like Old TimesNice to see familiar faces, even though I never met them. However much they aged after this photograph, we'll never know, so just once each year, it's 1925 again.
StableThis firm has a very stable workforce. Every year, it's the same folks in the Christmas photo.
Macabre variationAlthough certainly macabre, I do like the door that iamjanicemarie tentatively opened and that HarahanTim swung fully open. In what order did these people pass? The annual response to this photo has definitely taken a curious turn, but I’m glad to chime in.
First to go, I believe, was Boss Man with the cigar, the very next morning, in the wee hours. He’s clearly in bad physical shape, a massive coronary waiting to happen. And it wasn’t the fault of one of those young ladies sitting on the floor that it happened in her bed. It was a different time when office and sexual politics were vile, and everyone was drunk.
Last to go was Heather on the far left in back, framed by the glass of the door. She’s only 23 in the photo, and she lived right into the next century, dying at 102 in 2004. She had moved back to Ohio, and on her last day was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even one of her great-great-grandchildren. They all loved her very much.
It's finally Christmas ...... when this bunch show up. I checked; they're all there. Proceed to celebrate. Merry Christmas, everyone xoxo
In the officeIt's hard to imagine this bunch "working from home". The dynamic would be lost with a "Zoom" holiday party.
Fire ExtinguisherJust behind the gentleman with the "GO" signal on his head it looks like there is a classic soda/acid fire extinguisher that I noticed for the first time today. Conveniently located next to what appears to be a rather combustible tree. Season's Greetings to Dave, tterrace and the whole Shorpy gang.
Well, having had time to ponderabout these folk for a good decade since discovering Shorpy, I have come to a tentative yet preliminary assessment.
The only woman with no apparent makeup and yet the most beautiful features is the lady sitting on the floor at bottom left. Really in a class of her own in this crowd with those almond eyes and high cheekbones, yet with hair and dressed a bit out of date, but still sporting brand new shoes judging by their soles. How they got her to sit on the dirty floor for the pic is beyond me.
In any case, the photographer has just given her a huge suggestive wink, and she's snapped her head to the right in response, looking faintly amused / bemused, no doubt used to the unwanted male gaze. The woman second to her left is staring at her, annoyed that Gloria (for that is her name) has caught the roving eye of the photographer instead of her -- the body language is obvious. The flapper two to the left of Ms Envious is giving the photographer a bit of a come-on with her lopsided grin -- she has sussed out his game.
Mr Fatlips the boss is terminally near-sighted but for photos and thus posterity takes his glasses off when posing, as one can see. What he looks like with them on is a subject for a horror movie.
The rest of the crowd barring a few are to a greater or lesser degree tipsy on smuggled-in booze, it being Temperance Time, er, prohibited drinkees time in America
I'll have an update in future when other things become more clear to me from my favorite Shorpy image.
Merry Xmas to all!
Finger WavesThe blond and brunette whose backs are against the door and doorjamb, respectively, look modern. The other modern looking girl is two rows in front of them, also a brunette. These three look timeless. The other women either still have long hair wrapped up some way or they have those awful finger waves that look like ridges in their hair. None of the girls that have finger waves have benefitted from that style. It does not flatter any face shape, it just looks weird and kind of Bride of Frankensteinish.
The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why.
Holiday Party Fun (2023)Dear Shorpy folks and friends of the site.
This year I used this very photo to make a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game at our work Christmas party.
Each of the participants had 20 minutes to spot all 19 differences. I used Photoshop and AI to make the changes to the photo and we all had so much fun with it.
If you would like me to post that image here, you may have fun too! Let me know Dave!
Also, we have some new friends that might be joining us on this site as they were fascinated by all the expressions of this 1925 party. I did inform them of the site and URL.
Merry Christmas everyone
What is on the hand of the number 2 guy next to the boss?There is something on his pointer finger and thumb. Could these be some type of grippers for leaving through papers? Could it be he was working until they forced him to come get his picture taken? He is clearly annoyed to be there. Maybe he is plotting to have the boss removed so he can be in charge?
Half a MillionI expect that the number of reads for Office Xmas Party will pass 500,000 shortly. Is this a record number of reads for a Shorpy photo?
[Office Xmas Party holds the No. 2 spot. Shorpy's most popular post is ... Lady in the Water, with over 640,000 reads. And at No. 3 is The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Merry Christmas to all Shorpians!May your holidays be merry and bright. A special Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace who keep this very special website going. And to all pictured from that office party held nearly 100 years ago, a Merry Heavenly Christmas to all!
ONE MORE TIMEAfter passing this photo around for everyone to look and laugh at, it was probably hung on the wall for a time, then taken to someone's home and put away in a chest and forgotten ... perhaps copies were made.
But how would these people feel if they knew that almost a half million people have studied it?
Also those desks have been in their current positions for a very long time, the floor below them new and pristine.
[This was not a casual snapshot -- the National Photo Company was primarily a news service. Its photographs appeared in newspapers, advertisements and publicity material. This particular image might have been used for Western Electric's in-house newsletter or a company Christmas card. - Dave]
Thank ya Dave for clearing that up.
Meet some of the boys ...Introducing ...
Charles S. Barker, District Superintendent: "With the right personnel and a good organization, you can do anything in telephony"
E.N. Searles, Division Superintendent
J.E. Grant, R.D. Dick, and...
Walter W. Lodding, Division Accountant
... with an invitation to Christmas at the Loddings':
This image was featured in the December 1926 issue of the Western Electric News with the title: "YOUTH AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" and caption: "Santa Claus did right by this little lad the son of W.W. Lodding of the Installation Division 11 Headquarters"
Looking daggers?Susanhumeston wondered, "The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why."
I have always been intrigued by that interaction. Pretty much come to the conclusion that three of the ladies were diverted by something off set to the left. One (Charlotte) clearly annoyed, one (Lila) merely taking it in, and one (Gwen) mildly amused.
NamesMarkJo - nice job finding the real names!
I'm fascinated by the different names and nicknames in all the posts. Then I scroll to 12/23/21; alex_shorpy did a great job labeling everyone. Or go further back to 12/22/19 and see davidk's comment.
I also don't look at these folks as having turned into dust. Every year they come alive in the imaginations of many readers.
Maligayang Pasko to all.
Well, what else?Say, we don't view the full size for a micro-study. What we see is the "pyramid" of working stiffs that retracted into one side of the office against the forceful advance of upper management group. Sharp diagonal dividing line was disturbed somewhat at the bottom, by the lady and gent behind her.
There he is!Every year I look forward to seeing dear old Mr. Hilter at the top of the picture looking so skeptical!
"Mildred, what did you do with my flask"?This party was during the TEETH of prohibition too! The REAL fun will come later.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, Natl Photo, The Office)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/32246u.thumbnail.jpg "Office Xmas Party: 1925")
- Bud and Dick: 1915
- 1915. "Baker and O'Brien, transcontinental motorcyclists, at north of Ellipse ... View full size.
The Bike Looks like the 1915 V-Twin Indian. And after 10000 miles she'd have been nicely broken in. ... I love the Depth of Field on this one. Look at the blurred car on the background. Looks great!
Interesting indeed... Cross country ... Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:56am -
![1915. "Baker and O'Brien, transcontinental motorcyclists, at north of Ellipse below White House." Dick O'Brien and Bud Baker were two "Washington high school boys" who made a five-month, 10,000-mile round trip to the West Coast to see the California expositions. Said Dick: "Our experiences will prove mighty interesting when we start to tell them." Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.
The BikeLooks like the 1915 V-Twin Indian. And after 10000 miles she'd have been nicely broken in. Doubtless Bud and Dick went on to the next big adventure in a couple of years. I hope they survived that one, though so many didn't.
ow ow OWWWTen thousand miles?! On that bike? My butt goes numb after a couple hundred miles on a comfortable, modern Ducati or Triumph. I can't imagine a cross-country trip on that prehistoric Indian. It's a cute bike, but still...no thanks.
The Eternal Teenager, ReduxThe photos you present here often have a timeless and (almost) immediate quality to them that are capable of taking my breath away, Dave. I can't think of any other place that I've been -- not books, not movies - and certainly not old family photo albums - that have the ability to convey that sense. I live in a part of the U.S that is blessed with thousands of old houses and I've oftentimes looked at one, imagining how it might have looked the day the builders finished it. But because I am relying only on my imagination, I'm left with an incomplete, unsatisfied mental picture. Here, though, I can look into the faces of people long dead and see their youth and vitality clearly -- and I can appreciate the relative newness (and vitality) of a motorcycle that, more likely, I would otherwise only see in the back, dusty recesses of a junk/antique barn -- rusted, banged up and worn out. I hope that Bud and Dick went on to live relatively happy lives and died knowing that their lives weren't a waste of time.
Great DOF!I love the Depth of Field on this one. Look at the blurred car on the background. Looks great!
Interesting indeed...Cross country with no helmets? No leathers? Not even a saddlebag? My, what stories they must have been able to tell!!
Candid CameraI agree with Stinky on your incredible website giving us a whole new perspective on the way it was in days of yore. In all seriousness, I must say that the young man in the front looks very unhappy, almost like he is in pain. Its been said one can tell a happy biker by the number of flies in his teeth, but these kids really do not seem to be enjoying their adventure. And is that a "Clarabelle" horn on the handlebars?
Dick and Bud's Excellent AdventureWashington Post, Oct. 4, 1915.
10,000 MILES ON MOTORCYCLE
Two Washington Boys Back Home After
Trip to Pacific Coast.
Two former Washington high school boys -- "Dick" O'Brien, of Technical, and "Bud" Baker, of Central -- reached this city yesterday after a trip to the expositions in California on a motorcycle. They were gone five months to the day, and 10,000 miles were covered. The boys left this city May 3. At Denver they gave an exhibition of their proficiency by riding up and down the steps of the statehouse.
"We were, I believe, the first to cross the continent on a motor-driven tandem," said young O'Brien, "and our experiences will prove mighty interesting when we start to tell them. We were stopped for five days by reason of storms in Kansas, and at other points our patience was severely tested by poor roads. The roads of the East are far superior to those of the West, and the installation of the Lincoln memorial highway from coast to coast will go a long ways toward opening up a new country.
"In Reno the thermometer was 110 as we passed through, and an hour later we were throwing snowballs at each other on top of the Sierras. We stopped at the fair for some time. We are glad to get back home. But it was a great trip."
"Dick" O'Brien is the son of Richard E. O'Brien, inspector of plumbing in the District building.
Would it happen today?I find it difficult to believe anyone's parents would let a couple of HS teenagers disappear across the country today ... even in a car, let alone on a motorcycle. Did anyone do this kind of thing while still in high school in more recent times?
[So if you were 18 and and had just graduated from high school, you'd be asking Mom and Dad for permission to take a trip? - Dave]
Permission? What permission? At that time most boys over twelve were considered grown, and any parental effort to require permission to take a job or make a trip would have been seriously resented. To the point of the boy "riding the rods" to less nosy climes.
Quite a few young men made similar pilgrimages, to the West Coast, to Mexico, and anywhere else their fancy turned.
In fact, a twelve year old boy drove a CAR from Oklahoma to New York City to meet his father's returning troopship at the end of WWI. The greatest problem was the necessity for frequent tire repairs. This feat attracted a small amount of notice in the newspapers, and father and son took turns driving home.
Old Radio Man
Vroom"Dick" can ride on my backseat anytime, with or without a helmet.
1915 IndianFrom this video you can get a bit more of an idea of what the two intrepid teens had for a ride back in 1915.
Also, an excellent picture of another restored version here.
To see the bike in color makes me think Baker and O'Brien must have attracted a lot of attention from wide-eyed lasses across America.
Either time is frozen......or they are supported by a hidden pole. The emulsion (most likely on a glass plate) from 1915 was rather slow, so there would have been some blurring if the bike was in motion. But look at the spokes on the rear wheel, which are in sharp focus. The top spokes aren't blurred at all.
Methinks some photographic license is being taken here.
[Emulsions in 1915 were not slow. Fast enough to freeze a baseball. Shutter speeds were demarcated in thousandths of a second. - Dave]
Teens Always Dream of AdventuresAt my high school graduation, June 1969, here in upstate NY, a fellow classmate walked on stage to receive his diploma while wearing biker boots. Immediately after, his parents saw him and three others ride off on their motorcycles with backpacks to visit Baja Mexico. Teens will always dream of travel and adventure. I remember wishing I could go with them, still wish I went...
Pricey rideThe 1915 1000 cc Indian would have been a very expensive motorcycle in its day (and even more so now!). Baker and O'Brian must have saved a lot of money from summer jobs or had some very indulgent parents.
They also must have been excellent mechanics because motorcycles in those days took a great deal of on-going repair and maintenance to keep them functional. Other cross-country motorcycle diaries from those days indicate an amazing level of resourcefulness was necessary to to complete the trip. In one case, two fellows traveling by sidecar rig broke down and managed to repair the engine's ignition system mechanicals with a bit of material from the passenger's false teeth!
Bike SpecsIt appears to be 1913 or earlier since it does not have a headlight. Those were introduced in 1914. I've been Googling around trying to find the engine size/horsepower. Anyone know? I can't imagine it has more than 10-15hp. It looks like an oversized moped.
The wind in your hair...and the bugs in your teeth! Can you imagine riding all that way with no face protection from bugs, gravel, dirt, etc.? Only the young have that kind of fortitude!
[My guess would be that they at least wore goggles. - Dave]
1915 roadsIn 1919 the Army decided to send a truck convoy across the country from California to Washington, D.C. A young Captain Dwight Eisenhower made sure to get himself included in the adventure. They discovered the roads of America to be appallingly bad in many areas, and were almost forced to give up the journey on several occasions.
After many months they made it to their destination. Later in the 1950's, when Ike was president, this experience was a major factor in his determination to give the United States a first-class interstate highway system.
The roads these guys must have traveled would have been horrendous in many areas. A motorcycle would probably have had a better chance than a four-wheeled vehicle, but there were probably spots where they were just driving through total wilderness.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Motorcycles, Travel & Vacation)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/05778a1.thumbnail.jpg "Bud and Dick: 1915")
- Elinor Blevins, Auto Fiend: 1915
- Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Miss Elinor Blevins. Movie star, aviatrix, auto fiend." Harris & ... who apparently went to Lincoln.
Streamliner The car is a racing car (giveaway is the big numbers), but it's also equipped for ... between the wheels.
[Shutter speeds on a good circa 1915 camera -- measured in thousandths of a second -- would indeed be fast ... Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 4:26am -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Miss Elinor Blevins. Movie star, aviatrix, auto fiend." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Movie StarEleanor Blevins from Lincoln, Nebraska, was in 24 movies between 1913 and 1916. This list of Iowa orphans lists an "Elinor Blevins" who apparently went to Lincoln.
StreamlinerThe car is a racing car (giveaway is the big numbers), but it's also equipped for high speeds with special aerodynamic modifications. Note the fairing around the radiator in front and the boat tail. It might be that the exhaust coming out of the dashboard, as noted by Toto, is some sort of aero trick of the period, since it would be tough on the passenger. It would be piping hot after a few minutes with engine running, and if it leaked, it would gas both the occupants with carbon monoxide (cars of the period usually ran rich, and of course had no catalytic converters).
I do not see any third person in the car even though I blew up the picture. To me it looks like the car is right hand drive and Miss Blevins is driving, even though the male passenger has goggles (appropriate for the period with no windshield) and she doesn't. The cockpits of racing cars of the period would hardly have room for a third person anyway.
Could it be that the car was prepared for a land speed record attempt? That would explain the fairing. Could it be British? That might explain the right hand drive.
[There were plenty of RHD American cars in the teens. No one would be gassed by CO -- it's an open car. That "hidden driver" comment -- it was a joke. Next! - Dave]
Hidden DriverI can't be the only one to notice that she isn't driving the car. There are three occupants. The man in the near passenger seat, she is in the middle, and the driver is clearly a slouched-down Oscar the Grouch. You can see his hand on the steering wheel.
ExhaustedCould that possibly be the exhaust pipe coming out of the passenger compartment beneath the man's arm? If not what is it?
They're definitely sittingThey're definitely sitting still, as the cameras of that period didn't have fast enough shutters to capture motion effectively. Not a pedal car, though. You can see the engine crank on the front between the wheels.
[Shutter speeds on a good circa 1915 camera -- measured in thousandths of a second -- would indeed be fast enough to freeze the wheels on a moving vehicle. The question would be how fast can the car be going before the wheels start to blur. - Dave]
Whoah, Nellie!"Movie star, aviatrix, auto fiend?" I think I have a new girl-crush!
Weightman SpecialWell at long last I know her name! The guy is one D. Braily Gish, a hot-shoe auto dealer in the Washington area known for his fast driving. Who knows if he was related to the famous actress sisters. The racing car is called the Weightman Special and still exists. It was made up by an eccentric millionaire named William "Wild Bill" Weightman, the ne'er-do-well heir of a Philadelphia dynasty known for its monopoly on the production of quinine. "Will Bill" fancied himself a race car driver and bought up or built several such cars. This one was made on the frame of a Stutz Bearcat and had a most unusual racing engine -- hence the exhaust pipe exiting through the cockpit.
The pictures were probably part of a set taken by the National Photo Company in Washington during November of 1916, when auto races were held at the Benning Track, a horse racing oval east of the city. D. Braily Gish won the feature race in the Weightman Special against other local speed demons. The car was then sent to California, where "Wild Bill" Weightman raced it. It survives in a private collection.
And here it is todayAt Monterey.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Movies)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/08141a.thumbnail.jpg "Elinor Blevins, Auto Fiend: 1915")
- Ninth Street: 1915
- Washington, D.C., 1915. "Street scene, Ninth Street N.W." Among the merchants represented here is ... lot of sales. Its last use came in 1955. - Dave]
The Car It would be interesting to know the make and year of the car on the left ... reels of film? (in front of Washington Film Exchange). 1915 was the year of "Birth of a Nation" so who knows?
Sign for Smyrna rugs ... Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:18pm -
![Washington, D.C., 1915. "Street scene, Ninth Street N.W." Among the merchants represented here is department-store magnate Julius Lansburgh. View full size.
Devil in the detailsAnother great Shorpy photo, teeming with robust urbanites, no doubt in early spring. Look at those women. New York's Fifth Avenue had nothing on them! This photo depicts the plethora of transportation modes available in cities in those days. We need to take a cue for our own times, though bringing back the horse could be problematic.
Fixed gear bikesNotice that none of the bikes left leaning against the curb have locks. Imagine trying that today.
AdvertisingI love the painted-on-brick ads. You only see faded ones nowadays - I wonder why they went out of fashion? Maybe they needed touching up too often.
I'm intrigued by the "Backward Season" sign at the importers' on the far left. Was Backward Season a widely-used term for something, or just their own little promotion name à la "Dollar Days?"
["Backward season" was, to judge from the clothing ads in the Washington Post archives, a term used in retailing to describe unseasonable weather in both spring and fall. It was certainly the occasion for a lot of sales. Its last use came in 1955. - Dave]
The CarIt would be interesting to know the make and year of the car on the left of the photo...it appears to be a right-hand drive. I've done some superficial Google images research and can't identify it. Early American cars were produced in RHD. Ford switched to left hand drive production in 1906 and Cadillac in 1916. What a great image....thanks Shorpy!!
Horse anchorWhat is that cone-like thing on the ground with a rope or something leading up to the horse. Is that some sort of anchor to make the horse stay put while the driver's inside? Kind of like the anchor of a boat? If not, the question still stands. What is that thing?
I actually think...This is Ninth Street NW looking north. Just beyond the Lansburgh that's the old Riggs Bank building at the southwest corner of Ninth & F.
[You are correct! I have changed the caption accordingly. - Dave]
Wow, what detail!Horse drawn (no overhead wires) trolley tracks. [The trolleys were electric. See above. - Dave]
Packages at far right perhaps reels of film? (in front of Washington Film Exchange). 1915 was the year of "Birth of a Nation" so who knows?
Sign for Smyrna rugs is seen 7 years in advance of the burning and slaughter of many citizens of Smyrna, now known as Izmir.
One of the best.
Horse TetherThat "anchor thing" on a leather strap was a steel weight to temporarily tether the horse, used on milk and bread wagons as well.
Hitching weightThe triangular thing on the ground under the horse is probably a hitching weight, somewhat like this. Just heavy enough that the horse thinks it's tied up, but light enough to transport.
Not horse drawn street carsThe street cars in downtown D.C. ran from an underground feed (see the slit midway between the rails). As you moved away from the downtown area they raised the trolley pole and switched to the overhead wires.
Washington Trolleyswere electric by 1915. What looks like a third rail on the tracks is a slot, in which the power line was buried. The trolley cars had a pickup on a "plow" that projected down into the slot and made contact. That system stayed in use until trolley service was discontinued in the early 1960s.
Actually trolley power came from underneathTexcritic, the tracks aren't for horsecars. The Washington system was a cable car system with a continuously moving cable underground which each car would engage in order to move. See the "center rail" between the tracks? The gap in that center rail allowed the cars to grab the cable and move.
[Not quite. The streetcars here were electric. Although there was a traction line in Georgetown. - Dave]
Ninth St NWDave, I think this is 400 block of Ninth Street NW looking north. A few of the businesses I have verified are:
Dean Hats, 422 9th St - Benjamin D. Dean, proprietor
Howard A French, 424 9th St - Indian Motorcycles
Christiani Drug Store, 426 9th St
Friedlander Bros, 428 9th St - Men's Suits
S.S. Shedd & Bros, 432 9th St
Plaza Theater, 434 9th St
Offterdinger Cigars, 504 9th st - Henry T. Offterdinger, proprietor
On the right side of the street are Crandall's and Moore's Garden Theaters - seen in this Shorpy photo.
Kodak momentI note on the left of the image a sign offering Kodak film and developing. Makes me think that someone from that business stepped out across the street to make an impromptu photo. What is amazing is that for the slow speed of the films (low sensitivity to light) in those days that they were able to get the motion of the pedestrians almost unblurred. It must have been a very sunny day to get away with a faster shutter speed to freeze the action.
[This photograph was made on glass, not film. - Dave]
Hair splittingI think this is 9th street looking south, taken from the immediate left of the old Riggs building. It's going downhill sharply, and I remember the Gaiety theater being a few doors down from Riggs on the right when looking south.
Those buildings on the left house the Spy Museum.
[This is looking north, not south -- even-numbered addresses are on the left. The Spy Museum is on F Street. The buildings on the left have all been replaced by the J. Edgar Hoover Building. - Dave]
Not Ninth StreetThe photo is of Seventh Street, NW. Look at the top center for the Lansburgh Dept Store signage.
[This is indeed Ninth Street. You're confusing the Lansburgh department store with the Lansburgh furniture store. - Dave]
+95Below is the same view from December of 2010.
Early FordThe forged front axle is the identifying feature. It is a Ford prior to the Model T. I'm leaning toward a 1911 Touring Car. The very basic design is reflected in Henry's Model B of 1905. That would be about the sixth Ford model produced.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/04626a.thumbnail.jpg "Ninth Street: 1915")
- The Skeptic: 1915
- March 28, 1915. Washington, D.C. "Argo station wagon at Square Deal Auto Exchange." ...
What's this thing? It's on the side of the car.
[The tank's compartments hold calcium carbide and water, which ... and when the auto business went down the toilet in 1915, then Briggs built more toilets.
Re: wavy windshield glass Well it ... Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:53pm -
![March 28, 1915. Washington, D.C. "Argo station wagon at Square Deal Auto Exchange." Who'll be the first to Street View this location? View full size.
The SkepticThe horse looks decidedly unimpressed. Somehow I don't think he felt very threatened by this new invention.
$295Advertised price of the strippo Argo (no headlights), seen here at Union Station. Also seen earlier at the Smithsonian. Click below to enlarge.
Ta-da1823 14th Street NW. Now the "City Paws" pet clinic.
View Larger Map
Kia Rio of the pastIt sure looks like a super cheap (inexpensive) vehicle of its day.
What's this thing?It's on the side of the car.
[The tank's compartments hold calcium carbide and water, which combine to generate acetylene gas for the headlights. - Dave]
SalesmenI'll bet they spent alot of time in the poolhall next door.
Hack, coughThat looks like a cross between a cycle car and a depot hack.
WavyThat's the wobbliest windshield glass I have ever seen on an automobile. I think a person would get a headache driving around in that thing.
RippledYikes. Look how wavy the windshield glass is!
A black and white paintingThe patina of this photo at full size makes it almost look like a painting. I'm not sure who would do a black-and-white painting, but there it is.
Upwardly mobile career change.The Detroiter auto was built by Briggs-Detroiter and when the auto business went down the toilet in 1915, then Briggs built more toilets.
Re: wavy windshield glassWell it is 95 years old!
Rrrrrr ...Looks like the world's first hot rod.
The GlassThat glass, my friends, is 100% genuine prescription windshield glass. Lower your bifocals for one moment and you will see with stunning clarity the latest innovation for the 1915 Argo!
Kinda coolIt may have a wobbly windshield, but that car is interesting, anyway. Never mind the Model T, this is an everyman's car. Too bad it was so modest, because likely nobody bothered to preserve/restore one for us to see today.
Monochrome artI've done a painting of sorts that was in gray/sepia tones like an old photo would look I guess, from a slide of my cousin in the 1950's.
This one was easy.It took me 3 seconds to figure out this was 14th Street NW. Walked by it many times!
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Horses, Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/30952u.thumbnail.jpg "The Skeptic: 1915")
- Shoe Hospital: 1915
- Circa 1915, another look at Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Where the Shoe ... I love the tiny "Cars stop here" sign on top of the cable car wires. Were drivers actually supposed to see that?
["Cars" means ... Posted by Dave - 03/12/2023 - 12:20pm -
![Circa 1915, another look at Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Where the Shoe Hospital and Five Cents Savings Bank are mere steps apart. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Bank and North MainThe Five Cents Savings Bank was the ancestor of today's BankFive.
Tiny stop signI love the tiny "Cars stop here" sign on top of the cable car wires. Were drivers actually supposed to see that?
["Cars" means streetcars. - Dave]
Fall River Bijou & First Baptist ChurchThe Bijou theater (162 N Main St) was built in 1904 and was partially demolished in 1933.
In the back of this photo, you can see the old steeple that used to be on the top of the First Baptist Church of Fall River. The church still stands, but the steeple is long gone.
Deposit TimeI noticed Chief of Police Jones escorting his wife to the bank to make her five cent deposit -- chivalry lives!
Cop on the BeatLove how you can see the cop swinging his club as he walks. Mind the horse droppings as you cross the street! And you have to wonder what's playing across the street at Loew's Bijou.
(The Gallery, DPC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a25690a.thumbnail.jpg "Shoe Hospital: 1915")
- The Lettermen: 1915
- Circa 1915. "Mailman and truck," location unknown. Collection times 6:15 a.m. to ... vehicles still being right-hand drive. However, in c.1915, many, if not most, US-built commercial trucks were right-hand drive, ... passenger. But it was the best $750 I ever spent on a car.
However, you're right in that all Mail Delivery trucks had right-hand ... Posted by Dave - 09/11/2014 - 11:26am -
![Circa 1915. "Mailman and truck," location unknown. Collection times 6:15 a.m. to noon. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
H-pattern gearshiftThe lever closest to the driver is almost certainly for shifting gears. At its base is a gate mechanism with two arched parallel slots with a path between them at the halfway point. This to to enforce the H-pattern.
Why two levers?I was surprised to see the mailman has a driver. What are the two levers for by his right knee. One looks like a parking brake. What's the other one for?
Where is it today?That delivery truck, so beautiful! As late as the 1970s, in Queens NY City, we had a cast iron mailbox like this mounted on a cement pole. When the lid flapped closed it did so with a dull THUD.
Not Entirely UnknownWell we do know it's at the intersection of Waverly Place and some other road, surely some intrepid individual can put match it to a city.
Mail PeriodThere's that obligatory period again. Right after mail.
Re: Why two levers?The other may be to disengage the transmission and/or to switch from forward to reverse.
Right-hand-drive vehicleThe mailbox says US mail so we know it is the United States at least. Why then is it the truck right-hand-drive? Is it so the driver is closer to the edge of the road so he can put stuff in some letterboxes without leaving his seat?
[All U.S. mail delivery vehicles are right-hand drive for that very reason. -tterrace]
Re: Right-Hand Drivetterrace is correct about USPS delivery vehicles still being right-hand drive. However, in c.1915, many, if not most, US-built commercial trucks were right-hand drive, regardless of application. I don't know why trucks were often right-hand drive when passenger cars had already become uniformly left-hand drive in the U.S. It seems that by the end of WWI, American trucks had mostly become left-hand drive.
Sorting?Wonder if the mailman has a driver in order that he can perform sorting or other similar tasks as he is being chauffeured about on his route. Scenically, I noted that the lampposts are equipped with the "arms" on which the "Old Lamplighter" would rest his ladder when tending the lamps.
Photo op does make more sense, tterrace. Semper vigilans!
Playing post officeThere's no telling what the purpose of this photo is, so it may not fully reflect real postal operations. One guess is that it was to illustrate the Post Office Department's use of motorized vehicles, and the idea was to make the shot more interesting by having a larger cast and more action, as it were. Normally there'd be no reason for postal employees to be traveling in pairs. Anyway, in actual practice, the only reason a carrier would service a collection box of that size would be to remove the outgoing mail, and any processing, including sorting, would be done back at the post office, not in the truck.
St. Louis?Due to the victorian homes, I cross searched victorian homes with Waverly Place and came up with a bit of St. Louis history.
[The National Photo Company operated in just the Washington, D.C. area, though. -tterrace]
Motorized Postal ServiceI fall in with tterrace and think this might have been a photo op showcasing the motorization of the postal force; it coincides with the retirement of the last postal horses in Washington.
The letterbox being emptied appears similar to the drop-bottom design patented by Dr. S. Clifford Cox of Washington, DC. More info at previous Shorpy post Letterbox: 1912.
The center of Bethesda, Maryland has a short Waverly Street but the area is so redeveloped that Google Maps doesn't yield any obvious matches.
Washington Post, June 6, 1915.
Motors Only to Carry Mail
Last Horse Soon to Be Dropped From Service Here.
The horseless age is not a dream of the distant future. At least, it is not in so far as Uncle Sam's Washington mail service is concerned. Within the next 90 days, it develops from an announcement yesterday, the last “Old Dobbin” on the city postoffice force will be thrown into the discard and the service will be placed entirely on a motor basis.
Only sixteen horses have survived the rapid motorization of the service so far, and those are slated to go. The complete motorization of the service was brought measurably nearer last week when the horse-driven collection wagons in use of in the eastern section of the city were superseded by automobiles.
Right-hand drive: deliberate, or default?Although Americans have driven on the right-hand side of the road since at least the 1790s, Henry Ford was the first person to persuasively argue the case for a driver sitting on the left, in 1908. Even in 1915, most vehicles (including this non-Ford) by default had the controls on the right, and the USPS (like many fleet owners) had not yet learned the wisdom of limiting the number of different makes and models in service.
But it seems that in 1954, Popular Mechanics felt their readers would find a right-hand drive mail truck (the Jeep many of us recall from our youth) a "Continental" novelty.
I was wondering why the USPS website had such a large gap in their collection of historical mail vehicles. Oh, of course. Depression budget cuts, followed by wartime rationing. It seems that in the interim, the Ford Model A was the postal truck of choice. Anybody in the DC area (hint, hint) care to walk or take the Metro to the National Postal Museum and tell me if this one is right-hand drive?
Why mailmen driveThe driving letter carrier (aka "mailman") is largely a post-WWII development. Prior to that, carriers mostly walked, except in rural areas. Vehicles were mostly used to transport mail between postal stations, deliver parcel post and carrier relay mail - segments of the carriers' load placed in special boxes (the ones marked "not for deposit of mail") to access as they progressed along the route. After the war, the growth of suburbia and the increasing volume of mail made this system increasingly impractical; having the carriers take all their own mail, including parcel post, was more efficient. The carriers you see walking today are using the park-and-loop method; rather than driving to each address, they'll park, take a satchel of several blocks' worth of mail and follow a circular path from the truck and back, then drive to the next point and repeat the process.
Right-Hand Drive"[All U.S. mail delivery vehicles are right-hand drive for that very reason. -tterrace]"
Not all. I had an ex-Postal Delivery Jeep (1968 Kaiser DJ-5) with a steering wheel on the left side. A limited number of them were made in this fashion for Postal Inspectors, mechanics and supervisors. Of course, the primary heat outlets were STILL on the right side for my non-existent passenger. But it was the best $750 I ever spent on a car.
However, you're right in that all Mail Delivery trucks had right-hand drive.
MilwaukeeThis exact picture is shown in the book Motorized Mail by James H. Bruns and published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1997. The caption states the following on page 83 (paragraphing added).
"In 1911, the Post Office Department tested 'drop bottom' mailboxes in 20 cities, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin where this half-ton Johnson Service Co. 'light delivery wagon' was used for collections. The Milwaukee made vehicle was powered by a four-cylinder, 35-hp gasoline engine.
"The idea for drop bottom boxes came from David C. Owens, Milwaukee's postmaster. 'The idea appealed to me,' Owens said, 'when I first became postmaster and being formerly in the coal business, where drop bottom cars have become generally used, I thought the same principle could be applied to the mailbox. In this way, the carrier can empty a dozen or more boxes in the same time as he could empty one by the old method of reaching in and hauling the mail out by hand.'
"This type of box was basically the same as the others then in use, except that instead of removing mail from the front or side, these had a hinged bottom that would automatically dump all the contents into the carrier's sack as soon as it was unlocked. The first 500 drop bottom boxes were manufactured in Milwaukee by the A.O. Smith Co."
The Johnson Service Co. made a variety of steam and gas vehicles from 1901 to 1912. "Johnson" is Professor Warren S. Johnson (1847 - 1911) of the State Normal School, now the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, who received a patent for the first electric room thermostat. His company, which began in 1885, survives today and is now known as Johnson Controls. Since 1978 the firm has again been involved with automobiles - first with making batteries and gradually adding the ability to make all of the interior parts of a vehicle.
You may have seen Johnson's handiwork when visiting Philadelphia. His pneumatic time system was installed in the Philadelphia City Hall Clock in 1898 (started Jan 1, 1899). The Floral Clock at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) of 1904 also used his invention (the clock works still exist).
Noon? Or later?Even though it does look like "12:00 P.M." in the photo, I wonder if it isn't a blurry 10:00 P.M. instead. A few things occur to me. One is that the Post Office used to collect mail typically throughout the day, with both morning and afternoon (and sometimes evening) collection times. Another is that the lower part of the placard is divided into two sections, which may be an early version of the two-column A.M./P.M. format that the Post Office used for many years. If so, what we're seeing are two morning times and two afternoon/evening times. Also, it's a fairly modern thing to refer to noon as "12:00 P.M." In 1915 they would have (correctly) said "12:00 Noon."
[The card says "12:00 P.M." - Dave]
So it does! And the two sections at the bottom of the placard are Sunday and holiday collection times. Thanks for the detail.
Thing is, if Sunday collections were at 8:20 A.M. and 9:45 P.M. and holiday collections were at 9:30 A.M. and 9:25 P.M., then "12:00 P.M." almost certainly means midnight. Probably a limitation of having "A.M." and "P.M." preprinted on the placard.
Location Found! Just came across this image. I thought the street sign said Waverly Pl, which is on the lower east side of Milwaukee. Drove around street view until I came across the intersection of Waverly Pl and Juneau Ave. This is looking east down Juneau. The peaked roof building in the background is the key. This neighborhood still has a number of beautiful mansion-quality homes, but so many have fallen to the wrecking ball in favor of parking lots and faceless apartment buildings. Oh, to travel time.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_28018u.thumbnail.jpg "The Lettermen: 1915")
- Jacked Up: 1915
- San Francisco circa 1915. "Studebaker motor car in repair shop with garage mechanic." Don't try this at home. Or at work. ... ago. At any rate, it might have taken two guys to lift the car, but it isn't very heavy. If there is not a locking cog on one of the ... Posted by Dave - 06/16/2022 - 7:08pm -
![San Francisco circa 1915. "Studebaker motor car in repair shop with garage mechanic." Don't try this at home. Or at work. 6.5 x 8.5 inch glass negative from the Wyland Stanley collection of Bay Area historical memorabilia. View full size.
Bearing replacementOil pan has been dropped and the mechanic has a piston and rod positioned. Posed for the photographer it seems since the bearing cap is attached to the rod. Or maybe he is making sure the cap stays with its proper rod.
So jacked up!Ok, I am assuming that hydraulic jacks weren't in existence back then.
Also, probably the cleanest garage I ever saw. The broom in the background must have been used a lot.
Hill-HoldersThe post WW2 Studebakers had them as an option for drivers who were slow on the clutch pulling ahead from stops when driving uphill. This decades earlier photo reminds me of that factory option, one of the Studebaker corporation's many innovations. They generally made sturdy and well-engineered vehicles, worthy of a better fate than befell them in the 1960s.
[That would be a very handy option for driving in the City, believe me. -tterrace]
Dad will love thisHe's an auto mechanic and this will be great on his garage wall!
Done that at home!We have a set of those chain falls hanging up in our barn/smithy. In fact the last time they were used was to lift the rear of a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle so my dad could drop and remove the engine.
UNCHAINEDThe chain hoist is not now supporting the auto. The continuous chain goes up over the top pulley, around the bottom pulley, and then back over the top adjoining pulley. I think this makes the weight lifted seem to be half of actual. My high school physics was lost years ago. At any rate, it might have taken two guys to lift the car, but it isn't very heavy. If there is not a locking cog on one of the pulleys the wood frame support will be positioned by helpers while the lifters hold the load.
Quintessential garage decor.As one who enjoys tinkering with my vehicles, I must say this photo would look fantastic on display in my garage. I love it.
Hey you!Out of the gene pool!
I sure hope the brake is set.
Crouching Photographer, Hidden LensTripod in the right front pocket (door). Capped photographer visible on his knees.
OSHAIt looks safe enough to me. The wood is sturdy and under compression only, and presumably can't slip off the axle.
Also the weight of the car is mostly on the back wheels.
I do question how they got it up there, what with only two pulleys apparent. Maybe there are more hidden behind.
The lift arrangement apparently can roll anywhere on the overhead track where it's needed.
Best PracticesOK the car appears to be supported by both the jackstand under the front axle and also by the chain hoist. I think it would have also been prudent to use a couple of wheel chocks on each of the rear wheels. Just for peace of mind.
Only one small concern.Those supports are more than sturdy enough to support an automobile. However, the lack of wheel chocks is troubling.
Crucial OmissionThey forgot to include the smoldering butt which ought to be dangling from the corner of the mechanic's mouth.
Not a PhotographerThat 'tripod' is a sledgehammer leaning against a table with some sort of heavy vice attached to it.
As a side observation, this is the first garage I have ever seen that hasn't been plastered with advertisements, calendars, lists of prices, x-rated posters or any of that kind of paraphernalia at all.
My guess is it hasn't been in operation for very long (hence the surprisingly clean floors).
[As noted in Perpster's comment, the photographer and his tripod are reflected in the car door. A heavy vice: sinful. A heavy vise: useful. - Dave]
I like the creeperI like his homemade creeper, very well thought out and perfect for working like that. I bet he could still bend when he got home at night.
It's going to be a son of a gun to get that piston back in the cylinder from underneath with the crankshaft and everything in the way.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, San Francisco, W. Stanley)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-1720.thumbnail.jpg "Jacked Up: 1915")
- Gasoline Plant: 1915
- 1915. "Dr. Walter F. Rittman. Gasoline plant at Pittsburg." Bureau of Mines ... before the explosion.
Washington Post, Jun 27, 1915
Bang! I guess this plant was a rather dangerous place to ... same thing. - Dave]
Sole representative The lone car in the right foreground is the only harbinger of the internal combustion ... Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 9:54am -
![1915. "Dr. Walter F. Rittman. Gasoline plant at Pittsburg." Bureau of Mines chemical engineer Walter Rittman developed the "Rittman process" used in petroleum refining. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Chicken CoopBetween, and above the fourth and fifth smokestack from left, there appears to be a gravity defying chicken coop. Collect those eggs, and then scram!
GeolocationThat enormous ravine looks rather wide and deep to be an excavated railroad cut, so I am assuming it is a natural geological feature, yet I don't see any stream that would have caused it. There has been excavating to lay the upper tier of tracks to the far left, perhaps on the same level as the tracks that run next to the factory (also a rock cut apparent in the far right). If the high bridge is also for rail traffic, this is quite a complex. Housing has made use of every foot of available real estate as far as the eye can see.
Safety firstYou think the catwalk between the buildings in the foreground is OSHA approved?
Aetna Chemical PlantI'm also curious as to where this is in Pittsburgh. The Aetna Chemical Company had a plant in Oakdale, 15 miles west of Pittsburgh but this appears more metropolitan than that. It is surprising how closely the residential neighborhood is located to this industrial setting. As the Anonymous Tipster pointed out, I expected to see water in the bottom of the large ravine (perhaps the mighty Monongahela!) - maybe the large confluence of rail tracks is a sufficient clue for a native Pittsburghian (Pittsburgher?) to figure out where this is.
Three Killed in Explosion
7 Others are Burned When
Superintendent Experiments With Gasoline
Piitsburgh, Pa., June 25. - Ten were burned, three fatally, late Friday by an explosion at the plant of the Aetna Chemical Company, where experiments are being made under government direction of a new process for the manufacture of gasoline. Among those who died was George Lobdell, superintendent of the plant.
Local representatives of the company maintained secrecy regarding the cause of the explosion, but according to the police, it resulted from an experiment being made by Supt. Lobdell.
Dr. Rittman, the government scientist whose processes are being experimented with, left the plant just before the explosion.
Washington Post, Jun 27, 1915
Bang!I guess this plant was a rather dangerous place to work. There was another explosion there in 1918.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/s_568139.html
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pahsc/aetna.html
[There seem to have been several Aetna facilities around Pittsburgh. A munitions plant and a refinery (our photo) are not the same thing. - Dave]
Sole representativeThe lone car in the right foreground is the only harbinger of the internal combustion revolution that will largely supplant all other modes of ground transport, and the reason for the gasoline refining technology.
Turtle Creek ValleyPretty sure it's the Turtle Creek Valley, East Pittsburgh. If so, the high bridge is on the current site of the George Westinghouse bridge, built 1932.
View Larger Map
George Westinghouse BridgeComparing with satellite, it appears the GW bridge was built right over the site of the gasoline plant, not where the high iron bridge was.
Skunk HollowI believe this is in the "Skunk Hollow" section of Pittsburgh. That's the (old) Bloomfield Bridge. The tracks on the embankment to the left would be the Pennsylvania RR (Strip District ahead of us, Shadyside and East Liberty behind us). The tracks below, to the right, would be the B&O. Up on the hill to the right is Bloomfield.
The George Washington Bridge over Turtle Creek was a new structure; it didn't replace anything at that location.
Skunk HollowThe Anonymous Tipster before me is correct on all counts, regarding the location and landmarks in the picture. The site of the gas plant is now an intersection on the Martin Luther King Busway and North Neville Street. A careful inspection of the Bing bird's eye picture leads me to believe some of those houses on the hill are still there. The church peeking up from behind the Bloomfield Bridge is also still there, but no longer has its spire. I have no idea what the story is there.
It is indeed a natural feature. This hollow is the ancient (really ancient) channel cut by the Monongahela River. The Forks of the Ohio were about 1.25 miles west of the site (which is the direction the low B&O tracks are turning towards), and that's about 2.5 miles from the current Point. If you look at a map of Pittsburgh, you can easy see where the Mon makes one final turn west before forming the Ohio. At this point, the river once flowed north to this place. A topographic map makes this very easy to see, as the old channel hides in regular aerial photos. The PJRR/B&O/CSX/AVR tracks (hey I dont know how old your map is!) are the quickest way to trace it.
Incidentally, the University of Pittsburgh's historical photo archives has a picture of the Bloomfield Bridge facing the opposite direction down the hollow. The railroad overpass and accompanying signal bridge are visible, but this gasoline plant is obscured by another building. So who knows whether or not it survived until at least 1951, when that photo was taken.
(The Gallery, Factories, Harris + Ewing, Pittsburgh)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/07567a_0.thumbnail.jpg "Gasoline Plant: 1915")
- Straight Talk Express: 1915
- Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Senate Subway R.R." Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Capitol. Harris ... cars look like an airport shuttle mixed with a subway car.
It blows my mind to think of how many people have ridden through ... like a monorail, wheels on the floor like a bicycle/slot car ... yow!
Remembering my '61 Chevy Most of us like to remember ... Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 3:10pm -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Senate Subway R.R." Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Capitol. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Fashion StatementWhite hi-tops, black tights, knee-length shorts. If he let those bangs grow out a bit more he could pass as a hipster bike messenger in today's NYC.
Back when it was still open to the public, I had the thrill of riding this subway back in the 70's during a family trip to D.C. which included a visit to one of our state representative's office
Not TodayIf that's the Straight Talk Express I don't believe any member of congress could ride it today.
100th anniversaryhttp://thehill.com/capital-living/cover-stories/70059-exhibit-marks-100-...
This year marks a century of underground subway travel through the Capitol complex, but while hitching a ride has long been a convenient way for lawmakers and staffers to stay safe and dry on the one-fifth-mile journey to the Capitol, the trip wasn’t always as comfortable as it is today.
and
http://world.nycsubway.org/us/washdc/capsubway.html
Really cool!Does it still exist?
I guessthe Edwards boy missed this train.
Road to nowhereFinally we have visual proof!
Cars have been preservedhttp://www.clouse.org/capitol1.html
"Two subway lines serve three Senate Office Buildings and have a long history. Starting in 1909, the Senate Office Buildings were serviced by an electric bus. This was replaced in 1912 by a monorail vehicle which featured a wicker coach. This monorail, I have been told, can be seen in the movie "Advice and Consent." In 1960, this monorail was replaced by trolleys, one of which remains today and runs between the Senate side and the Russell Senate Office Building. At this time, the tunnels were apparently enlarged to accommodate the new trolleys.
"The trolleys installed in 1960 still run on the shortest line that runs from the Senate side to the Russell Senate Office Building."
A Fortuitous RideIn my senior year of high school, I was awarded a trip to DC with the Close Up Foundation (spring of 1982). I was in Congressman Jim Broyhill's office, who was my state representative at that time, and as he talked to me he was distracted by an unusual lighted clock on the wall. As a few of the lights changed to red, he explained that it indicated he only had a few minutes left to cast his vote on an important issue. I assumed the visit was over, but he told me to come with him. When the elevator we took opened I was shocked to see a subway system. I rode with him on the subway from the Rayburn building to the Capitol.
Usually, if I tell that story to people, there is a look of disbelief, as most people usually respond they didn't know there was a subway system connecting the buildings. They think I'm fabricating some tale about this mythical transport, but as you see, it does exist.
Thanks for the links that show the changes through the years.
The page in the white shoesCould pass for Matt Damon.
Been there, done that!When I was a kid in the 1960s we got to ride on the Senate Subway and ate at the Senate Cafeteria, dining on Senate Bean Soup.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/blogs/yeas-and-nays/Eat-like-...
I had forgotten about that adventure until I saw this photo!
The original version......of the Senate's Filli-Bus.
PhooeyJust another example of what's good for us geese ain't good
for you ganders.
Still there...Those tunnels are still there and used as seen here.
They have since been updated, though; when I visited as a young lad in the late '80s, I don't remember them being the same as the current version.
Rode the 1970 versionRode the 1970 version with my 6th grade class as part of our Summer 1970 class trip to Washington D.C.
CurvesThis is obviously not the Straight Talk Express. It is as crooked as the people who ride them. The kind of people who are "too good" to do their own walking for a short distance between two buildings. Walking must be "for the little people" Crooked subways are for the crooked ruling class.
[It's not a "short distance." And the "kind of people" who use it are mostly pages and secretaries, who might travel a few miles every day on trips back and forth between the various buildings served by the system. - Dave]
Which of those young men is Robert Byrd?(I know, I know, I know... he was born two years after this photo.)
D.C. underground same as above.It all takes place out of sight in places not open to the constituents.
Important transportsThe Senate subway and the House subway both serve the vital functions of quickly transporting Senators and Representatives (and the staffs and other personnel) from their respective office buildings to the Capitol building.
Not only does it save time, but it is much safer than having to deal with crossing busy streets to get to the Capitol, and they are also protected from the elements and anyone who might want to interfere with them.
Saving time in getting from the offices to the Senate and House chambers is no small consideration where voting is concerned, or quorum calls. I believe when voting or quorum calls are under way, the subway cars become reserved for members only, just as some of the elevators do.
AmazingI rode the modern version back in 2007 when my government class competed in the National We the People Competiton and we were given a tour of the Senate. The current cars look like an airport shuttle mixed with a subway car.
It blows my mind to think of how many people have ridden through those tunnels.
Did Dr. Seuss design that?What a contraption! Hangs like a monorail, wheels on the floor like a bicycle/slot car ... yow!
Remembering my '61 ChevyMost of us like to remember our old cars. We think of them as though they were our long lost buddies and we miss them. I bought my 1961 Chevy Bel-Air in 1964 while serving in the U. S. Air Force in Missouri. This was big time luxury for a young airman as that V8 engine ran as smoothly as any car I ever had. Was it a better car than those made today? No, today's cars are much better. But, I have a lot of great memories of that car and regardless of the quality of today's cars, memories from your youth spent in an old heap can't be replaced.
[Great photo, but why is it posted here? - Dave]
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Politics, Railroads)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/14708a.thumbnail.jpg "Straight Talk Express: 1915")
- Bustling Detroit: 1915
- Detroit circa 1915. "Woodward Avenue and Campus Martius." Among the Motown landmarks in this ... times, but the changes that had taken place by 1915 were incredible.
Right hand drive Wikipedia has this comment about ... vehicles, the driving seat was positioned centrally. Some car manufacturers later chose to place it on the side of the car closest to the ... Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 4:11pm -
- Cross-Country: 1915
- 1915. "Baker and O'Brien, transcontinental motorcyclists, back of White House." ... Baker and Dick O'Brien, whom we first met here . In May 1915 they embarked on a five-month, 10,000-mile jaunt to the West Coast via ... to bad you could get out and push/pull the bike where a car needed a team of horses to get it out. Still, it makes my trip harrowing ... Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:50am -
![1915. "Baker and O'Brien, transcontinental motorcyclists, back of White House." Bud Baker and Dick O'Brien, whom we first met here. In May 1915 they embarked on a five-month, 10,000-mile jaunt to the West Coast via Indian motorcycle to see the California expositions. Harris & Ewing. View full size.
Hard to believe this actually happened....10 K miles, 5 months--1 K a week? Seems hard to believe--no headlight so no night riding; tires no good for the muddy roads they'd meet with after every thunderstorm; the stone exhaustion riding that unmuffled, suicide-clutched, barely-sprung boneshaker; the flat tires, the dust, the breakdowns.... Where are their goggles (they wouldn't get far without eye protection.) Where are their gloves? Where's their repair kit--that box on the gas tank won't begin to hold their spares? Where's their tent, gear, clothing, canteens? Apart from the breeches and puttees or gaiters and that snappy Indian pennant, they seem woefully unprepared.
[Not to belabor the obvious, but: This not during their trip. They lived in Washington. - Dave]
Cool Boys of the RoadAdmire these guys immensely. What an adventure. With a great masculine style. I'm fascinated by those shin guards. Modern armor for the modern man, very chic.
Handsome DevilThat one on the left is dreamy. I wonder if he's got a great-grandson...
Leather putteesThe "shin guards" appear to be standard-issue Army leather puttees, as used by the cavalry starting in 1911:
http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopexd.asp?id=3138
ArithmeticNot to further belabor, but 10,000 miles over five months works out to about 475 miles a week, or less than 70 miles a day.
Raindrops keep falling on my shin guardsIt's so late '60s, early '70s. This would have made a great property for Paul Newman and Robert Redford back in the day.
70 miles....70 miles a day on dusty, muddy, ungraded country roads or greasy city cobblestones. 70 miles a day on tires regularly puncturing. 70 miles a day over mountain passes with thin oxygen (check that carburetor!) and nighttime temps below freezing. 70 miles a day in Plains thunderstorms, desert dust (check that carburetor again, boys!), across skittery rail and trolley tracks, through piles of slithery horse poop. 70 miles a day without decent roadmaps. It would have been a grand odyssey, but I’d dearly love to know what actually happened.
If they were simply swanning around DC on their cherry Indian looking intrepid and not yet actually prepping to leave, fine, but I wish there were a later picture of them suited, geared, gauntleted, goggles, and ready to roll. I wouldn’t ride around the block dressed this way, sexy puttees or no.
Indian PowerplusDecember 1915 ad from a Kingston, Jamaica, newspaper that mentions the boys' trip.
Where's their book!?Dear Lord - what an adventure -- where's their book? I hope these two guys lived to enjoy enormous notoriety and maybe a few $$
Did they really make the trip? The suspense is killing this 76 y-o scooterist!
Amazing adventureIt was a different time. I saw a documentary about Indian cycles. One of the selling points of the early models including this one was its ability to go through muddy, nasty, rough road conditions where cars would be stuck. If it got to bad you could get out and push/pull the bike where a car needed a team of horses to get it out. Still, it makes my trip harrowing to 1000/1500 IBA ride to Colorado, Pikes Peak and points west last summer pale in comparison.
Right Write a book? Probably not though they more than likely wrote letters to their loved ones all along the route. It was a different time. Mail traveled by rail. Phones were in 30% of the homes. Tennessee wasn't electrified and these guys road rode two-up on a motorcycle across the same place where barely more than 50 years earlier the Poney Pony Express riders road rode.
I guess we all have hero's heroes. There's two more for my list.
William Crane
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Motorcycles)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/05779a.thumbnail.jpg "Cross-Country: 1915")
- The Flying Merkel: 1915
- Circa 1915, location unknown. "Mailman & motorcycle." And not just any motorbike ... Cowboy Who wouldn't have wanted to be a mailman in 1915? Especially if you got to wear those cool boots and gloves!
... and even homes, everywhere.
It was cheaper than a car The 1915 Flying Merkel model 750 with belt drive was priced at $240. ... Posted by Dave - 01/09/2014 - 2:49pm -
- The Great Race: 1915
- May 1915. "York, Pa., auto races -- start of Washington, D.C., cars." Please ignore ... the finish line.
Did AAA sponsor this race? The car behind race car #3 doesn't look like a race car and doesn't have the white ... are traveling there to participate in the July 5, 1915 series of five-mile races on the York half-mile dirt track. Nearly all of ... Posted by Dave - 07/12/2012 - 10:44am -
![May 1915. "York, Pa., auto races -- start of Washington, D.C., cars." Please ignore the mold. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
First or NothingThe American spirit - I love it!
Who won?Anybody? The guy with the bicycle?
Beefy No. 13Fat tires, heavy suspension, and trimmed down to fighting weight. (no lights for these racers, they pack just the essentials!) One can only imagine the engine under that loooong hood. And, by the license plate, it's street legal! It looks like these boys have done this before!
Watch out, boys!Right after crossing into Maryland on I-83, look out for radar traps. And then 695, the Baltimore beltway, has construction zone cameras for you speeders.
But seriously, most likely they took York Road through Towson, then maybe Charles Street into downtown Baltimore where they grabbed U.S. Route 1 somewhere south of town en route to D.C.
[They're in D.C., about to leave for Pennsylvania. - Dave]
Oh, drat. Yes, of course. OK then, new GPS info for everyone! "When possible, make a U-turn."
#6They're going to have to pedal hard to keep up.
I wonder...how many hats made it across the finish line.
Did AAA sponsor this race?The car behind race car #3 doesn't look like a race car and doesn't have the white thing across the hood with the car # on it. It does have what appears to be the AAA logo on the radiator.
No PedalsThe car on the far left is an Argo made in Jackson, Michigan between 1914 and 1918 that has been stripped of most of its body work and accessories. This one is from 1914 - 1916 as the later models were more conventional and cost more than $400. A Ford Model T Runabout cost about $345 in 1916.
The Argo had a 4 cylinder 12 horsepower engine, shaft drive, weighed 750 pounds, with a 44 inch tread width, 4 gallon gas tank, an expected 35 - 45 mpg, could go up to 40 mph, and two forward speeds and one reverse gear. It came equipped with tools, but if you wanted your top, windshield, generator, and headlights attached you had to pay $20 extra.
An extract from a LOC photo of an Argo and a close-up of the logo is shown below. The Argo was previously seen on Shorpy here, https://www.shorpy.com/node/11292, and here, https://www.shorpy.com/node/4332, and several other posts.
American Automobile AssociationThe car in the background with the AAA badge carries the officials of the race. The AAA became the official sanctioning body for auto racing in the US in 1902. They formed the United States Automobile Club in 1955 and turned over all sanctioning to them after the Le Mans tragedy caused them to rethink their goals. All racing during this period, including the Indy 500, was officiated by the AAA.
This is the same body that banned women from racing shortly after Joan Newton Cuneo won the amateur national championship.
Lexington Not Made Near ConcordThe car on the far right appears to be a 1910 - 1913 Lexington automobile which were originally made in Lexington, Kentucky and then Connorsville, Indiana from 1909 to 1927. A little more than 38,000 Lexington cars were built during that time.
Lexington won the Pike's Peak hillclimb in both 1920 (first and second places) and 1924 (first, second, and third places). An amazing performance for a tiny company.
Pictures of Lexington's are not easy to come by. The radiator emblem on this car is similar to the Lexington emblem in the color plate section of Jack Martell's book Antique Automotive Collectibles.
A picture of the a Lexington car that was in the Glidden Tour is shown below along with another picture. Note the radiator with the same shape (but no emblem on the radiator, just the company name in script).
The Streets and Sanitation truck behind the Lexington is also interesting with paper piled up inside, bags hanging off the back, and a mustachioed driver looking directly at the photographer.
At least one Lexington survives.
A day at the racesThese cars are not racing the ninety-miles to York—they are traveling there to participate in the July 5, 1915 series of five-mile races on the York half-mile dirt track. Nearly all of the contestants were from the Washington D. C. area, and had been expressly invited by the York Motor Club, under whose auspices the meet was held. While BradL is correct in his assessment of the AAA, this particular event was not sanctioned by them. In fact, the event was being held for the Washington drivers who had been suspended by the AAA on June 18 for driving in another non-sanctioned race at the York track on the previous Memorial Day. Irvin Barber and Don Moore—along with their cars—were "disqualified and suspended" for one year, and six other drivers who were not AAA members were placed on the ineligible list for a similar length of time. Although they were not named on the list of ineligible non-members, Walter Smith and Milo Burbage didn't join the AAA until the first available date after the ban was lifted on June 1, 1916. At the time Smith was still recovering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound received in February, 1916 in a suicide attempt.
This photo shows eight of the twelve cars that were going to race at York. It was taken on Saturday July 3, 1915 shortly before noon, and is a bit of a homecoming for Shorpy readers, as a few of these people have graced these pages in the past. They are gathered by I. T. Donohue's auto parts store at 14th and I Streets in Washington D. C.—that's Franklin Park to their left—ready to start out at 12 o'clock sharp for a (non-competitive) 90-mile run to York where, as planned, they arrived in time to participate in the 8:00 p.m. automotive parade.
Irvin Donohue was quite the race booster and in his store he had on display the Batavla tires and Rayfield carburetor that had been on Irving Barber's car May 31 at York, when he took first place in a 5-mile free-for-all, and second place in a handicap free-for-all (after skidding off the track, spinning completely around twice, and driving back onto the track). Donohue, himself a racer and an AAA member, went along this trip and served as pit crew for the drivers.
The cars and drivers, as near as I can identify them, are (front row-left to right):
The red and white 1915 Argo Speedster with Walter L. Smith (middle initial is not "F" as the news photo has it), the 22-year old owner of the Smith Motor Sales Company, at the wheel. Next to him is, I believe, his father Ulysses Grant Smith who was born in 1865 (naturally), and served as the private secretary to the Secretary of Commerce.
Next car over is Irvin C. Barber in his bright red 90-hp Carter Brothers-built 1914 Eye-See-Bee (ICB) Washington-based race car (and below is a shot of it in racing trim two months later at the Benning race track in Maryland, just outside of Washington):
When the car was first built in the spring 1914, it was shipped to Indianapolis to participate in the Memorial Day 500-mile race as the "Washington Special" (with Batavia tires furnished by Donohoe). Backed by a wealthy New York broker, the car was to be driven by Mel Stringer, with Barber as relief driver. Although they could hit 90 mph on the straightaways, their 77.680 mph qualification lap wasn't good enough to land them a spot in the starting lineup.
On November 27, 1916 Miss Eleanor Blevins (also known as Peggy and by her married name Betts) used the Eye-See-Bee to break the Philadelphia-to-Washington speed record. With Bailey Gish as her riding mechanic, she made the dash in 3 hours and 15 minutes actual running time (exclusive of all necessary stops)—shaving 35 minutes off of the old mark.
The car in the middle is the circa 1914 Semmes Special with Raphael "Ray" Semmes at the wheel, but Lew Gibson, the man to his left, was the driver at the event (below is same car at speed two months later at the Benning track):
The second car from the right is a circa 1914 Case owned by Don Moore, although G.E. Feeney (in the seat to Moore's left) drove the Case at York, while Moore drove a Mercer owned by Milo Burbage.
The car on the far right is a circa 1912 Stoddard-Dayton driven by William DeKowski.
Back row-left to right:
This appears to be the circa 1913 Cole that was driven by C. Cleveland "Cleve" Campbell.
The car in the middle of the back row is a circa 1911 Warren-Detroit, raced by H. B. Sharp. It was an older car, and had been Barber's before he had the Eye-See-Bee built.
The last car on the right is Paul Miner's 1914 Buick. He too was a member of the AAA (hence the badge), but hadn't raced in May.
The drivers/cars that were at the race but not shown in the picture were: Harry D. Myers/Marquette Buick; Milo C. Burbage/Mercer; and Robert M. Clendening/Oakland; and Frank Stewart/Reo.
On Sunday most of the drivers prepped their cars for Monday's race. This would entail the removal of some or all unnecessary appendages and body parts—if they hadn't already been removed before they left Washington. This could result in quite the menagerie of styles as seen in the photo below of the Labor Day races at the Benning track two months later. The #2 Chevrolet Series H Royal Mail roadster nearest the camera retains it full body minus headlights, while the next two cars (#18 and #15) are stripped to the bare bones. The #17 car is a full bodied speedster with headlights mounted, while the #12 Ford on the far side has a custom body for racing.
Walter L. Smith's Argo Speedster was already stripped down, so Smith took the opportunity of the off day to drive a sixty-mile round-trip to Lancaster and back. On Monday he arrived at the track ready for the light car event, but when no other cars in his class showed up, that match was scrubbed. Undaunted, Smith promptly entered the diminutive Argo in a five-mile scratch race for cars up to 301 cubic inch displacement—putting it against the Mercer, Semmes Special, Cole, and the Buicks. The Mercer won in 7:06 with Don Moore at the wheel while, astonishingly, the Argo beat out two other cars—coming in at 7:58 for a fourth-place finish. The five-mile scratch race for cars from 301 to 450 cubic inch displacement was won by Barber in his Eye-See-Bee at 6:35. The five-mile free-for-all was won by Barber/Eye-See-Bee at 6:24, and the five-mile Australian pursuit race was won at 6:24.5 by Moore/Mercer. An Australian pursuit race is where all the cars begin the race in motion and evenly spaced around the track. When the flag drops the race starts and as soon as you're passed by a car from behind, you are out of the race. Obviously, it goes until there is only one car left. In the case it was Milo Burbage's Mercer, driven by Don Moore.
More was expected of Harry Myers' Marquette-Buick which, with Ted Johnson driving on Nailor's Hill, held the hill-climbing record of Washington D. C., but it did not win any races at York. Myers owned Riggs Garage at 1467 P Street in Washington. The only downside to the day was Frank Stewart's crash at speed in his Reo. He walked away, but the car was totaled.
It wasn't that bad of a loss however, as the Reo was one of the oldest cars in the race and due for retirement. In a few years Frank Stewart would found the Standard Automotive Supply Co.
Most of this group kept racing, most notably at Benning's in Maryland, but the AAA doesn't appear to ever have suspended any of them again for driving in non-sanctioned contests. In fact, it seems to have dropped the penalties for the AAA members, as both Barber and Moore drove in the AAA sanctioned race at Benning's in September. Eight months after the York race Paul Miner went into business with George and Charles Rice and opened The New Garage at 1323 H St. NW, in Washington.
This business soon expanded to 1317-27 H St. NW as the Geo. C. Rice Co. Their address overlapped with the Hotel Hudson.
Cleve Campbell left for Europe the next year and worked for the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps in France, then spent a year in London fitting artificial legs to wounded soldiers. Milo C. Burbage was a bricklayer from Ohio who made it big as a contractor in Washington. Today his house in on the Prince George's County (Maryland) Historic List.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_32181u.thumbnail.jpg "The Great Race: 1915")
- Diplomatic Pooch: 1915
- Washington, D.C., 1915. "Mrs. Robert Lansing in auto." Eleanor Foster Lansing, wife of Woodrow ... of State, with her poodle at the tiller of an electric car. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
... to start them.
[Which we already mentioned below. By 1915 you could get your car with an electric starter if you didn't want to ... Posted by Dave - 08/27/2012 - 3:43pm -
![Washington, D.C., 1915. "Mrs. Robert Lansing in auto." Eleanor Foster Lansing, wife of Woodrow Wilson's new Secretary of State, with her poodle at the tiller of an electric car. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
E.F.LNote her monogram on the door. Very elegant. Most electric cars of that era were marketed for women, as gasoline had become the motive power of choice. No messy gasoline, oil spray, obnoxious noise or that dangerous starting crank for M'Lady.
[Probably the main selling point for women was no clutch and no gears to shift. - Dave]
Two Tillers?Anyone have a rundown of the function of the two tillers.
[Speed and steering. - Dave]
Such FunI would love to have this car for my infrequent, short trips around town. Naturally, I would dress appropriately but without the dog. What a stir it would make. Are amy of them still out there, perhaps in the hands of classic-car lovers?
[NYT article on Jay Leno's Baker Electric. - Dave]
Bipartisan Romance
Death Comes at Summer Home
To Former Secretary's Wife
Mrs. Robert Lansing, widow of Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, died at Henderson Harbor, N.Y., of heart disease.
Mrs. Lansing has been ill more than a year, critically so for the last year. Death came at the summer home, where she had spent her summers for the last 40 years.
Daughter of one Secretary of State and wife of another, Mrs. Lansing, as Miss Eleanor Foster, daughter of the late Secretary of State and Mrs. John W. Foster, came to Washington in 1881 with her parents.
At the time Secretary Foster was an international lawyer of renown and the Foster home soon became a rendezvous of social Washington. In 1883 Mr. Foster became American minister to Spain and Miss Foster went with her parents to that country. They returned to Washington in 1885, and save for several journeys to China, which Mr. Foster represented legally, Mrs. Lansing has lived here almost continuously since that time.
On January 15, 1890, she married Robert Lansing, then a member of the firm of Lansing & Lansing, and like his father-in-law engaged in international law practice. Their romance interested all Washington society, as she came of rock-ribbed Republican stock and he was a New York State Democrat. Their marriage was a brilliant event of the Harrison Administration.
It was often said that as a young girl and young matron of the National Capital, Mrs. Lansing was one of the most beautiful who have presided over a Washington home. Even when she grew older she retained the slender graceful figure of her youth and, though the late years her had grown gray, the "widow's peak," one of her distinguishing signs of beauty, still was evident.
In 1892 Mr. Foster became Secretary of State in Harrison's Cabinet. Mrs. Lansing aided her mother in the social duties incumbent upon her as a cabinet member's wife. When her mother became one of the early presidents general of the National society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Lansing took over more of her social duties in order to free Mrs. Foster for these patriotic activities.
House Was Treasure Trove
For many years Secretary and Mrs. Lansing lived at 1323 Eighteenth street northwest with former Secretary and Mrs. Foster. The house was a treasure trove of objects of art gathered from the four corners of the earth by the globe-trotting Fosters. After Secretary and Mrs. Foster's death the Lansings continued to live in the historic home during Secretary Lansing's term of office as President Wilson's Secretary of State. Many brilliant social events were held there, as well as historic conferences during World War days.
Mrs. Lansing's favorite mode of dressing was in gowns of black velvet and rare old lace. She was regarded as one of the best-dressed women in Washington and a gracious and cultured hostess.
...
Washington Post, Aug 20, 1934
That hatis awesome! I wonder if Jay Leno has it too!
No Crank EitherEven more than no clutch and gear shift, no cranking was needed to start them.
[Which we already mentioned below. By 1915 you could get your car with an electric starter if you didn't want to crank it. - Dave]
No pesky broken bones either!Electric cars skipped that pesky crank that could break a wrist or arm. Since they were whisper quiet they didn't upset the neighbors or the horses. What a fabulous first breath of independence for a woman of means who couldn't handle riding a bike or horse into town.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Dogs, Harris + Ewing)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/06196a.thumbnail.jpg "Diplomatic Pooch: 1915")
- Smoke and Buicks: 1915
- ... at West 55th Street. Another view of the January 6, 1915, subway fire in New York. More details here . 5x7 glass negative, ... with all that modern glass window area encircling the car sitting at the corner of the room, especially in 1915.
[That's a ... Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 7:33pm -
![Automobile Row: Broadway at West 55th Street. Another view of the January 6, 1915, subway fire in New York. More details here. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
CarsI find it interesting that this photo is filled with automobiles and no horse-drawn vehicles, while the "Death Avenue" photos, taken just 4 years earlier, contains the opposite. Roughly the same locale - West side of Manhattan - although one looks more industrial and the other more commercial. Still, quite a change in 4 years!
Fisk BuildingYou'll see the sign "Fisk Tires." That's the Fisk Building, still there, although the ground floor now holds a Duane Reade.
[The is the old Fisk building at West 55th and Broadway. The current Fisk Building, at 250 West 57th, hadn't been built yet. It was completed in 1921. - Dave]
PDNY / FDNYInterestingly, the small vehicle facing us to the left of the mounted cop bears the markings "PDNY" (I suppose Police Department of New York) rather than the modern common acronym of "NYPD." Also, the wide vehicle with its back to us in the foreground has an "FDNY" (Fire Department of New York) license plate. I wonder when they changed those abbreviations and why? Perhaps as an image refresher after some sort of scandal.
Window LedgeClick on View Full Size. See the two guys standing on the window ledge ? What a photo !! And the cars !! Great photo !!
LocationThat's 57th St. and 8th Ave. looking SE
[This is Broadway at West 55th. If you're using the current Fisk Building at 250 West 57th as a landmark, it hadn't been built yet. - Dave]
NYPD & FDNYOnly the police department's initials were rearranged. The fire department is still known as FDNY. What's interesting to me is that these vehicles were not required to display state-issued license plates (fire vehicles still aren't), and that in January 1915, 1914 plates are still valid.
Buick on the Second FloorAh---the audacity and extravagance of an automobile display on the second floor--behind the two guys on the outside ledge of the building! That MUST have been impressive to buyers with all that modern glass window area encircling the car sitting at the corner of the room, especially in 1915.
[That's a different business on the second floor. The lettering on the window says Springfield Metal Body Co. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/18114u1.thumbnail.jpg "Smoke and Buicks: 1915")
- Roy's Hoppin Hooptie: 1915
- ... Repp in his bucking Buick ("Maude, the Motor Mule") circa 1915 in New York. ( Three more pics ). View full size. ... 1933 and 1946 "descendants" of Roy's trick car Here are photos and a description of two similar trick cars built by ... Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 11:50am -
![Roy Repp in his bucking Buick ("Maude, the Motor Mule") circa 1915 in New York. (Three more pics). View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.
1933 and 1946 "descendants" of Roy's trick carHere are photos and a description of two similar trick cars built by my grandfather and father. A third photo of the later car can be seen here.
Mike Grobbel
Roy ReppAnyone know anything about Roy? A search through the online archives gives just two hits. He was from Australia, and his "trick automobile" was hit with crowds at racing events in Clinton, New Jersey, and Racine, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1915.
Re: Roy ReppDave, he was supposed to be in the first 24 hour race in Columbus Ohio 7/3/1905 but here is what happened:
Four cars, one of which was manufactured in Columbus, were entered in the 24-hour race, although only three actually competed. Roy Repp, who was scheduled to driver a White Steamer, was hospitalized for surgery the day before the race was to begin, and the entry was withdrawn.
[Thanks Ron! Another piece in the puzzle. - Dave]
THUMP thump thump THUMPI bet he really cranked the Victrola in that thing. And I do mean cranked.
Maude, the Motor MuleMore on Roy Repp in this 1916 item from the Van Nuys News:
An automobile that will run on its “hind legs,” spin about, buck and perform generally like the trick horse or mule of the circus has been the star feature of a number of race meets held in widely separated parts of the country, Popular Science Monthly states. The car is known as “Maude, the Motor Mule.”
Maude’s athletic and adventurous talents are due to a heavy weight hung over her tail and to individual brakes on each rear wheel. The weight is heavy enough to overbalance the car. It runs easily on a little track projecting over the axle, and is concealed beneath a housing. The driver controls the position of the weight by means of a lever and is thus able to make the car buck as he wants it to.
When the car is reared on two wheels one of the independent brakes may be applied and one of the wheels locked, causing the car to spin around on that wheel. The band usually plays a waltz for this and the driver, Roy Repp, manages to keep in time with the music.
Model 16 RoadsterThe car Roy is driving looks like a 1909 - 1910 Buick Model 16 Roadster.
Cost of the Model 16 was $1,750 in 1909 with 497 produced; it rode on a 112 inch wheelbase; it had a three speed gearbox; and it weighed 2,620 pounds.
Full details on the Model 16 for 1910 are here.
There was also a "Maud the Mule" comic strip character. Was Roy influenced in his choice of names for his car by the comic strip? Info on Maud the Mule here.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, G.G. Bain, NYC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/15244u.thumbnail.jpg "Roy's Hoppin Hooptie: 1915")
- Forever Young: 1915
- ... him to Emergency Hospital.
Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Purches, David E." A yar youngster and his mate at the Harris & ... must have been felt by poor Mr. Booker, the driver of the car, who "picked the boy up and took him to Emergency Hospital."
Still sad ... Posted by Dave - 08/14/2014 - 9:12pm -
![BOY KILLED BY AUTO
Washington Post, March 8, 1916
Seven-year-old David Purches, of 1718 Corcoran street northwest, son of the superintendent of the Senate office building, was killed yesterday morning by an automobile near Seventeenth and Church streets northwest. Charles Booker, colored, of 1615 Corcoran street northwest, who operated the automobile, is being detained at No. 3 precinct pending an inquest by Coroner Nevitt. Purches left his home to go to a shoe repairing shop. He was crossing the street when, Booker says, he appeared from behind a dirt cart and got in front of the moving auto. Booker picked the boy up and took him to Emergency Hospital.
Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Purches, David E." A yar youngster and his mate at the Harris & Ewing portrait studio, not long before his life seems to have been cut tragically short in a traffic accident. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
1908-1916There's a David E. Purches listed in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, born in 1908 and died in 1916.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/dc/cemeteries/olivet.txt
[Excellent detective work. I had found two news items about the boy's death before I posted, but wasn't sure if this was he, or maybe a brother, because the neighboring plate is from 1920. (The name on the negative label, when the subject is a minor, or when there are multiple subjects but just one name listed, is generally whoever paid for the portrait, in this case the boy's father, also named David Purches.) Then after seeing your comment I decided this could indeed be from before 1920 because the plate two spots away is of "Camden, J.W., Senator," whose Senate career ended in 1915. - Dave]
EpilogueWashington Post, March 9, 1916.
POLICE NEWS NOTES
Charles Booker, colored, 1615 Corcoran street northwest, was exonerated yesterday by the coroner's jury called to investigate the death of David Purches, 7 years old, 1718 Corcoran street northwest, son of the superintendent of the Senate office building, who was struck by an automobile operated by Booker at Seventeenth and Church streets northwest Tuesday morning. The investigation showed that the death of the lad was purely accidental.
The girl is probably David's sister, Mary.
The loss of a childNearly 100 years later one still gets a sense of the tragedy of the little boy's death and even the horror that must have been felt by poor Mr. Booker, the driver of the car, who "picked the boy up and took him to Emergency Hospital."
Still sadEven though it's 99 years in the past!
1718 Corcoran StreetThe home from which David embarked on his fatal errand is the former Analostan (later Analoston) Apartments at 1718 Corcoran Street, now an upscale condominium.
Running out from between parked carsThat was what we were told never to do. And if you've ever seen, not even an accident, but a kid running out into the road, oblivious to the deadly flow of traffic, then you know the stomach-turning feeling of imminent danger to a child. Such an angelic look on that little boy's face. This is one of the most moving photos I've seen here.
TragedyI had a great-uncle whose car struck and killed a young girl who darted in front of it, evidently in Jacksonville in the 1940s. It was in no way his fault, but the incident haunted him, and he never drove again unless it was an absolute necessity.
LinksHere is a link to a newspaper that lists the marriage license of this boy's parents...
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1907-12-19/ed-1/seq-2/
Also, here is a link to a picture of his grave, along with his mother's...
http://www.usgwarchives.net/dc/tsimages/mtolivet/olivet.html
Wish someone would check ancestry.com to find more information - I let my subscription to it expire!
The Washington times., March 07, 1916The article about the accident.
Close to HomeMy own brother, also named David, died in precisely the same sort of accident 50 years ago, at the same age. No family fully recovers from such a thing. I've often wondered about the poor woman who hit him, too.
(The Gallery, Harris + Ewing, Kids, Portraits)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-17836a.thumbnail.jpg "Forever Young: 1915")
- Ocean Park: 1915
- Santa Monica, Calif., circa 1915. "Pier Avenue, Ocean Park." Meet you in an hour at the Sundae Shop! 5x7 ... glass. - Dave]
I love this picture And I thought car shows were just an idea of today. Autos are lined up exactly like the ones ...
Rental vehicle It seems like the first car is a rental, waiting for customers.
Shoulda Said -- Regarding film ... Posted by Dave - 07/07/2018 - 12:58pm -
![Santa Monica, Calif., circa 1915. "Pier Avenue, Ocean Park." Meet you in an hour at the Sundae Shop! 5x7 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
The man without his hat.Do you think he's embarrassed ?
FocusGreat to see some West Coast work.
The photographer used a view camera for this image. He decided to adjust the lens position to get deep focus on only the left side of Pier Avenue, where most of the interest is. The soft focus on the right was a result of that. The films of that era were "slow" and you couldn't always get straight-on deep focus. Camera adjustments were part of the tricks of the trade.
Dude knew his gear.
[There is no "film". This was shot on glass. - Dave]
I love this pictureAnd I thought car shows were just an idea of today. Autos are lined up exactly like the ones shown this summer.
Where's WaldoOne of the joys of reading the Shorpy comments is going back to look at the picture again ( and again ) to try and find the things other readers caught.
It took me a minute but finally got the popcorn wagon.
EMOCLEW A very beautiful and high quality photograph of an interesting street scene. A strange thing though, is that on the far distant hillside, the large letters that spell out "WELCOME" appear backwards, as though the photograph was printed backwards, and yet all of the rest of the signage in this street scene appears normal. Why does the word WELCOME appear backwards???
Oops! In looking closer, it's not big letters on the hillside; I think it's a "WELCOME" banner stretched across the street, to be read from the other side! "DUH".
What could have beenOcean Park was the town between Santa Monica (to the north) and Venice. Both Ocean Park and Venice developed ahead of Santa Monica because they are at sea level while the cliffs, or palisades, separated SM from the beach. There was much political infighting between the three towns. Ocean Park eventually became part of Santa Monica while Venice was annexed into Los Angeles—and went downhill soon after. Had the towns merged themselves together, there would now be a very large autonomous beach city covering the area.
[And it took Richard Diebenkorn to put the place on the map. - Dave]
Popcorn wagonWow, I’ve never seen one of those old-time popcorn wagons in its actual era - only the reproduction ones you see at Disney, etc.
[I'm counting the minutes until someone finds it in the Cretors catalogue. - Dave]
Ha - I seem to have missed that post!
Good GriefWhat a marvelous photo. A perfect representation of the time and place. Kudos to the photographer.
Rental vehicleIt seems like the first car is a rental, waiting for customers.
Shoulda Said --Regarding film vs glass, I should have said "emulsion".
[And you still can! Comments can be edited. - Dave]
Ocean Park Peer Roller CoasterOcean Park too had his roller coaster, like the Bayou City Roller seen a few days ago, the Ingersol's Scenic Railroad. Although in the Wikipedia lemma about the Pacific Ocean Park it is said that this roller coaster is one of the six of the pier's original attractions that were incorporated into the new park. As far as my research says, the roller coaster in the POP was not Ingersoll's Scenic Railroad but the 1957 Sea Serpent roller coaster at the same spot.
Metropoles ApartAmusing synchronicity that this image has a sign for a Hotel Metropole on the left side of the street. It looks like an advertising billboard.
As it also seems to include the amenity of being an "Auto Inn," I doubt if it refers to the Catalina Island hotel shown in the next Shorpy post.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-4a27586a.thumbnail.jpg "Ocean Park: 1915")
- ChalMoCo: 1915
- Detroit circa 1915. "Chalmers Motor Company plant, Jefferson Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate ... I would never have guessed this factory was from 1915. Without the signage and the car, I would assume this picture was from decades later.
Moderne Times ... Posted by Dave - 08/12/2021 - 10:03pm -
- In the Driver's Seat: 1915
- At the wheel circa 1915. "NO CAPTION" is the caption here. Perhaps someone will recognize the ... Joan Newton Cuneo, sitting behind the wheel of her race car, a 1908 Knox Giant and dressed in a smartly styled driving suit. It ... .
Mrs. Cuneo was a socialite who purchased her first car - a steamer - and spent the next year mastering the art of driving, ... Posted by Dave - 08/29/2012 - 2:12pm -
- Traffic Cam: 1915
- "Woman in automobile circa 1915." From of a series of pictures showing National Photo owner Herbert E. ... not most, cars with acetylene headlamps. - Dave]
A car in its natural environment Looking at all these fine pictures, I can't ... Mom of 1908 from 2 days ago -- setting, cleanliness of the car, demeanour of the driver -- this one looks much more real.
Betty Sue ... Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 1:59pm -
!["Woman in automobile circa 1915." From of a series of pictures showing National Photo owner Herbert E. French and friends on motor excursions in the D.C. area. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Gas lamps?That looks like an acetylene bottle on the running board. If that's true, then the headlights have been converted from using calcium carbide to produce acetylene, to being fed from the bottle.
Interesting. I wonder why. Longer running time? More consistent flame/light?
[Convenience and reliability. Prestolite-style pressure tanks began replacing carbide generators around 1906. By the early teens they were standard equipment on many, if not most, cars with acetylene headlamps. - Dave]
A car in its natural environmentLooking at all these fine pictures, I can't help comparing the dirty, mud-covered cars with the pristine specimens in today's museums, and realize that cars back then were not pristine and always clean, but covered in mud and dust. A very interesting contrast. I can hardly imagine what it was like to make a long-distance trip in one.
Road rage?The lady appears to be majorly annoyed about something. Probably because the men wouldn't stop and ask for directions.
ContrastThere is quite a contrast between this one and Soccer Mom of 1908 from 2 days ago -- setting, cleanliness of the car, demeanour of the driver -- this one looks much more real.
Betty Sue needs a dentistKinda cute and feisty but look at those teeth. I have those lamps and Prestolite tank on my 1917 Buick
Eric
MotoringAnyone embarking on a long-distance trip was well-equipped with tools and expecting to make repairs. Roughly speaking, one breakdown per trip was the norm.
Just discoveredShe just found out the car has no CD player - what a piece of junk!
Transcript"Don't you dare take my picture right now! We've been on the road all day and I look like heck!"
Good thing she had no way of knowing that people would still be looking at this nearly a century later!
The carPretty sure this is an early (1912-1913) Detroiter Automobile.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/27662u.thumbnail.jpg "Traffic Cam: 1915")
- Witt-Will: 1915
- Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Witt-Will motor truck plant, 52 N Street N.E." National Photo Company ... factory manager and head designer for the St. Louis Motor Car Company; superintendent for the E.R. Thomas Motor Company, and factory manager and head designer for the Carter Motor Car Corporation.
John L. Bowles, who is the secretary and auditor for the ... Posted by Dave - 07/12/2019 - 12:11pm -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Witt-Will motor truck plant, 52 N Street N.E." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
aaaa-UUUUUU-ggaaaaa!!Looks like a considerable horn mounted there just aft the driver's seat. Electric? Air-powered? Is that a little lever on top for the driver to pump?
Witt-WillWitt-Will trucks were manufactured in Washington, D.C., at 52 N Street N.E., "in the shadow of the White House." The company was an outgrowth of the W.W. Griffith Company, which started as an automobile manufacturer in 1911. In March 1914 Griffith founded the Witt-Will Truck Company, which folded in 1933.
Photobucket has a few photos of Witt-Will coal trucks.
[One of them taken from Shorpy! - Dave]
Giving Good Service
Washington Post, Apr 5, 1914
Making Trucks Here
Witt-Will Company Takes Over Business
Started by W.W. Griffith.
The newly formed Witt-Will company, with large facilities for building motor trucks and maintaining motor-truck service, is the outgrowth of the automobile truck manufacturing business begun here by W.W. Griffith in 1911. The company has taken over the manufacturing plant at 52 N street northeast, and is proceeding on a schedule which calls for five completed motor trucks each month. The company is maintaining a service department and a complete repair shop, together with a body building and paint shop.
The Witt-Will trucks are designed for 1-ton capacity and upward, many heavy trucks being in commission at the present time and giving good service. W.W. Griffith, who is well known as a large coal and ice dealer, is president of the company. William F. Legg, the vice president and factory manager of the company, is a Cornell graduate in mechanical engineering, and has been successively head designer for the Thomas B. Jeffery Company; factory manager and head designer for the St. Louis Motor Car Company; superintendent for the E.R. Thomas Motor Company, and factory manager and head designer for the Carter Motor Car Corporation.
John L. Bowles, who is the secretary and auditor for the company, has had a long business career, and for the past year has been an auditor for Mr. Griffith's motor truck building business. John M. Dugan has resigned as superintendent of the Washington office of the Bradstreet company to accept the position of treasurer and sales manager of the Witt-Will company.
B StreetI'm struck by the truck for G.M. Woolf's "Agricultural Implements and Seeds" located at 1005 B St. NW. I believe the Department of Justice now stands there, on the street long since renamed Constitution Avenue.
Chain driveThe truck in the background has a chain drive on the rear wheels. I didn't know that chain drives were used on road vehicles, I have only seen them used on heavy equipment (tractors, etc.) of the era.
[Many if not most early automobiles and trucks used chain or belt drives. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/30739u.thumbnail.jpg "Witt-Will: 1915")
- Fast Woman: 1915
- Washington circa 1915. "Women auto racers. Miss Elinor Blevins." Our second visit with the racy actress. For details on the car see the comments under the earlier post . Harris & Ewing Collection ... choke knob you pulled out before starting. Miss Blevins's car probably also had a spark advance control -- this was often on the steering ... Posted by Dave - 08/04/2012 - 4:25am -
![Washington circa 1915. "Women auto racers. Miss Elinor Blevins." Our second visit with the racy actress. For details on the car see the comments under the earlier post. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
I want those gloves!This lady knows how to dress for the occasion.
Dirty businessThis auto racing stuff must be some DIRTY BUSINESS! Check out her hosiery!
[Those are spats. - Dave]
Levers of PowerThe outer lever is the handbrake, with a knob on top to disengage the locking mechanism. The inner one is the gearshift, with two forward positions and probably two back, one of which would be reverse. It's shown in neutral.
Mystery LeversCars had many more controls long ago than they do today. I'm myself old enough to remember the choke knob you pulled out before starting. Miss Blevins's car probably also had a spark advance control -- this was often on the steering column -- and of course brakes, a clutch, a gearshift, and an accelerator which could be a hand rather than a foot control. Often the foot accelerator was between the other two pedals if there was a foot brake, but it was also common to have individually controlled brakes (front and rear), with hand brakes about as common as foot brakes. Some early manufacturers thought front brakes were too dangerous and only gave you rears, so spinning out was less likely. But rear brakes are less effective than fronts because of the weight transfer of deceleration.
Has anyone established the make and model? One would think a successful actress could have hired someone to do a better job painting on the race number, and would have had the little dent in the rear quarter fixed!
The two levers on the side of the car are interesting. They are too massive for spark advance or choke. I'm guessing one is the rear brakes (I can see what appears to be a brake drum inboard of the rear wheel). What could the other be? They both move only fore and aft so a gearshift is not likely. There's no linkage leading forward so front brakes are unlikely.
Could it be a hand clutch? I've never heard of such a thing but at this early period, designers were often experimenting. What a terribly dangerous setup that would be, since gearboxes would have been non-synchromesh and double clutching would have been necessary. If the clutch was needed at the same time as the brake, who's steering the car?
It's easy!I drive a 1930 ford, much "newer" than this car, and a family sedan. To start it, you have to turn on the fuel petcock, set the fuel mixture, set the spark, set the hand throttle, pull the choke, depress the clutch, turn on the ignition, press the starter, release the choke and adjust the hand throttle for a comfortable idle speed.
If the battery is low and you have to hand-crank it, it's even more interesting. At least my car has front wheel brakes.
Do those gloves have claws on them?
StutzThe automobile is a Stutz that is known as the Weightman Special. It is also shown in a previous Shorpy image here: https://www.shorpy.com/node/5363
Other images of the car can be found on the web including this one.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Sports)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/08144a.thumbnail.jpg "Fast Woman: 1915")
- Ruby: 1915
- New York, December 11, 1915. "Mrs. John Charles Thomas." The singer Ruby Rothnour, wife of the noted ... was JT was spending too much time painting that damn car of his and fooling around with the Graduola device on his "fancy-schmancy" ... Posted by Dave - 08/19/2012 - 5:40pm -
- Freddie the Newsie: 1915
- May 1915. Sacramento, California. "Freddie Kafer, a very immature little newsie ... 55. He carried this bag for several blocks to the [street]car. Said he was taking them home." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes ... Posted by Dave - 02/15/2008 - 3:22am -
![May 1915. Sacramento, California. "Freddie Kafer, a very immature little newsie selling Saturday Evening Posts and newspapers at the entrance to the State Capitol. He did not know his age, nor much of anything else. He was said to be 5 or 6 years old. Nearby I found Jack, who said he was 8 years old, and who was carrying a bag full of Saturday Evening Posts, which weighed nearly half of his own weight. The bag weighed 24 pounds, and he weighed only 55. He carried this bag for several blocks to the [street]car. Said he was taking them home." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Freddie the NewsieLittle Freddie appears to be wearing a child-size version of carpenter's bib overalls. The slim vertical pocket is to hold a carpenter's flat pencil.
I wonder how high these very young children could count. Probably they rarely if ever had to make change for a purchase. But they would have to trust an adult to settle their accounts and pay them their meager earnings.
That Bagis almost as big as he.
Possible good news about Freddie!If his obit is on this page, he went on to have a wonderful life after he graduated from Princeton in '34!
See http://tinyurl.com/ywdhee !
The time frame works...if he turned 87 in Jan. of '98, he was born in 1911 and would have been 4 at the time of the picture...a little younger than Mr. Hine's estimated 5 or 6.
(The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/05577u.thumbnail.jpg "Freddie the Newsie: 1915")
- Winter Wonderland: 1915
- Dec. 14, 1915. "New York. Central Park at 72nd Street after blizzard." 5x7 glass ... la France... The very distinctive hood shape of the car to the right identifies it as a Renault.
(The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC) ... Posted by Dave - 04/28/2014 - 6:58pm -
- Dope House: 1915
- Washington, D.C., 1915. "Dr. Thomas J. Kemp residence, 15th Street and Massachusetts Avenue N.W." ... an alleged drug addict. View full size.
Electric Car Possibly a Columbus - 1909
That other thing Dr. Kemp's notoriety ... Posted by Dave - 05/03/2017 - 9:26am -
- Chew Sing: 1915
- The Bay Area circa 1915. "Chew Sing produce truck." The Fresh Fruit Ford. 8x6 inch glass negative ... Model T for this vehicle is about a 1917 model. The basic car has been converted to a truck with one of many aftermarket conversion kits ... the specific conversion kit that was used on this Model T car.
From the March 17 1917 issue of Pacific Rural Press, is a mention of a ... Posted by Dave - 04/18/2017 - 8:38am -
- Charles City: 1915
- ... Showing off the new Charles City Western Railway trolley car in 1915 near Central Park in downtown Charles City, Iowa.
103 Years On The ... Posted by jps56 - 10/26/2018 - 10:52am -
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