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The Home Front: 1918
... I Europe, is even more dire than usual. "Dickey Christmas tree -- 1918." 8x6 inch glass negative. View full size. Let ... in on the wires and and one of the bulbs? Now the Christmas season has officially started Shorpy has posted its annual Dickey ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/16/2013 - 8:07pm -

        The spherical tree, the scattershot expressions, the faint undercurrent of anomie and alienation -- yes, it's our annual holiday dispatch from the family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey, who has a decade's worth of Christmases preserved in the archives of the National Photo Company. Their 1918 portrait, with an Army surgeon and map of World War I Europe, is even more dire than usual. "Dickey Christmas tree -- 1918." 8x6 inch glass negative. View full size. Let there be light!There are lights on the tree, you just have to find the twisted electrical wires hidden within the branches. Perhaps one of our guardian angels can zoom in on the wires and and one of the bulbs? Now the Christmas season has officially startedShorpy has posted its annual Dickey family photograph! Let the festivities begin! The great thing is their expressions don't change and they never fake happiness from familial togetherness. Still, they did manage to spread the joy of the season. Too bad they never expressed that same joy in their Christmas portraits or measured the tree to fit their house. Mercury glassThat tree is a wealth of glass ornaments and garlands, many probably mercury glass. I love them! I have been collecting them but don't have many older than the unsilvered WW II ones. I do not see any lights on this tree though unless I am missing them. This family was wealthy enough that they might have had electric lights on the tree. The first electrified tree was in the 1880s although they didn't become common for ordinary (not wealthy) people until much later. My mother (born in 1921) reports candles on their well into the 1930s. They lit them once, on Christmas eve, and stood ready with a bucket of water. This poor tree is a bit too tall for the ceiling, too. First Toy TankAlso noteworthy is the toy tank at the bottom of the photograph, obviously a replica (not a completely accurate one) of the British Mark I tank. This early tank had only entered service in 1916. Oh ......Christmas Bush, Oh Christmas Bush .... Now that you mention Christmas tree lights...For me the Christmas lights have been a major part of the holiday season. Since I spent the better part of my life in Michigan, putting up outdoor lights around Thanksgiving was a very cold process while taking them down off of snow and ice filled gutters after January 1st was pure torture. I have collected a few strings of the old series strung lights where if one goes out they all go out. I still use them indoors. The secret to increasing their bulb life is to hook them up to a light dimmer and burn them at half brightness. Perhaps the most complete history of Christmas lights to be found is at http://www.oldchristmastreelights.com/bills_site/. From this site I learned that when electric lights first became available for Christmas trees,that stores would rent the set of lights for the holiday season since they were so expensive to buy outright. (The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Natl Photo, The Dickeys)
Koh-I-Noor: 1902
... just waiting to be nibbled on! Dear Santa With Christmas fast approaching, can you go back in time and get me that Thatcher ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:52pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1902: "Window display, art and drafting supplies." Our second look at Richmond & Backus, printers, binders and "office outfitters." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The reflections are interestingBeyond the scope of the photograph, the reflections in the window are intriguing. I see an Army recruitment center across the street. Is this enough clues for someone to come up with an address? [111 Woodward Avenue. - Dave] Window GlassInteresting reflections!I think the male reflection is the photographer. French CurvesDarn! Those sure are some sexy French Curves in that window!!! Same in 1982 as 1902Most of the items and brands in this window were still what we used in architecture school 80 years after this was taken. It's only in the last 15 or so years most of these drafting supplies became rare - everything's on computers now. The Fox in the HatHubba hubba! Take our brief survey.Looks like surveying scales mixed in with the drafting implements. Richmond & Backus adFrom the 1902 Detroit City Directory. Perhaps created in the "bohemian lair with lots of flair." Cuff GaitersThat's what I need to keep the AutoCAD smears off my shirt! Office ImplementsI have a cased surveyor's tape almost identical to the one on the far left; our son gave it to me some years ago (hand-me-up?), purchased from the Greenwich Observatory gift shop. And it's been forever since I last saw those circular erasers, although these don't have the conveniently attached brush! Hand-me-downsWhen I went into art school, Dad presented me with one of his sets of Koh-I-Noor drafting sets (he was a mechanical engineer - heating, cooling, and refrigeration). They had stood him in good stead for over 30 years. I gave them to my brother about 20 years ago and he's still using them for projects. Hopefully, his son will get them. A Different Skill SetHow much "hand skill" went into drafting! We've all crossed the borders between eras in some way; I remember practicing my alphabet in college at 19 (or I should say relearning), and now it's point-and-click. I'm honest enough to admit that saying I miss the pencil and eraser sounds old, and watching a good CAD draftsperson is like watching magic, but producing a good drawing with your head, your eye, AND your hand -- a different skill set. Library Paste ... Yum!Some big jars of great smelling minty tasting paste there, just waiting to be nibbled on! Dear SantaWith Christmas fast approaching, can you go back in time and get me that Thatcher High-Precision Slide Rule? It's the grooved drum in the top center of the display. In my time they cost one or two thousand, can we strike a deal on this one? Railroad curvesI have a box like that sitting on my drafting table at work loaded with railroad curves. It even has the two hook latches to keep the lid closed. And it looks like engineering or architectural scales in a circular holder on top of the box. Leaning on the box is a range pole, with three Philly Rods and targets in the window. I still have my Koh-I-Noors in a drawer at work - but I haven't used them in years. DetailsThis picture is a perfect example of why I love this site so much. The small details and the memories they trigger are fascinating. E. Faber The School Journal, Vol. 59, 1899 The lead pencil and paper has largely taken the place of the slate and pencil in school, and no wonder. Cleanliness is one consideration and not the only one. The pencils of E. Faber, New York, and Chicago, will be found of an excellent quality. He also manufactures standard sorts of pen-holders, rubber erasers, rulers and other articles in this line. Sign of the timesIn the upper left is Prang's Standard Alphabet - which, among other things, could be used as a standard for sign painting. If that copy still exists in good condition, it might be worth quite a bit (though possibly not as much as the linked first edition.) ComputerWould the device prominently displayed center top of the case be used to convert various measurements to drawing scale? Thacher's Calculating InstrumentThe device at the center of the top shelf is Thacher's Calculating Instrument. It is a cylindrical slide rule, four inches in diameter and 18 inches long. The inner cylinder rotates and slides longitudinally within 20 scales. These give the instrument an effective length of 30 feet and an accuracy of up to five digits. Basically, it's a slide rule on steroids. They are very desirable today and bring in excess of $2,000 at auction. Koh-I-Noor: 1902 extended through at least 1959I was a photo interpreter and photogrammetrist in the USAF during the years 1956-1960. Part of the equipment issued was a "P.I. Kit", offering most of the tools required for those jobs. Kit included a sheaf of Koh-I-Noor pencils. Very good for their purpose: Drawing precise lines on an acetate overlay that would eventually be photographed and printed as a (Sectional Aeronautical) Chart. After my service, some folks presumed my "USAF" implied I was a pilot. "What did you fly?" "Koh-I-Noors". (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Stores & Markets)
The Office: 1923
... I wonder how long they got for lunch? Office Christmas Party With that entire group of sober, somber and serious toilers, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 3:34pm -

Washington, 1923. "Stamp Division, Post Office." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. Everyone look busy! Dalton Adding MachineThe adding machines appear to be Dalton Ten Key models, manufactured from 1902 to 1928. Museum of HP calculators Also love those staplers: Acme No. 2. Early Office Museum [Oooh. An Acme. A great brand! And they'll deliver anywhere. A cave out in the desert, for instance. - Dave] Stamp subjectsSome of those old geezers look like they should be posing for stamps. At computer with the computerIn the early days, accountants were often called computers - the human adding machine. In the middle of this photo it appears we have a woman "computer" at a very large calculating machine - electric by the looks of the cord hanging down. Must be the head number cruncher... I'll be that made some noise when it ran a calculation! DiversityAn amazing diversity of ages in the office. Don't know that you would see that now. Time TravelerCheck out the young guy on the left, 4th desk back from the front. He looks like he is from 40 years later (i.e. shirt collar, haircut style). Surfing at WorkSome things never change! The CrowdReminds me of a scene in the 1928 film "The Crowd". The other thing is, I am a bit surprised to see the older ladies in the workforce; would have expected only young secretarial types looking for that first husband while trying to make it in the city. Next QuestionWhat are they doing exactly? Anyone know? I was thinking exactly the same thing.His doleful expression also seems very modern, I recognize that look, I'm sure I portrayed it myself. Stamp DivisionThe Stamp Division of the (then) Post Office Department managed the supply and distribution of postage stamps and stamped paper for all the post offices throughout the country. They would fulfill orders from local offices and also receive back damaged and unsalable stock. Given the magnitude of the operation, a big part of their function involved accounting, which appears to be going on here. William H MacyLeft column of desks 6th row looks like William H Macy or a close relative. i wonder what his grandfather was doing in 1923? Paging Jim HalpertThe person who stands out most for me is the young man on the right behind the lady standing. He doesn't quite fit in and yet he seems happy to be there. My thought is that he's fresh out of college and is honored to be working amid such esteemed company. Look around him at the generations of intelligent men and women in the room. He seems to gain inspiration in knowing that one day he too will be older and venerated. His jacket is off, but rather than attempting to look casual, he's smartly dressed and his perfectly knotted tie is surrounded by a dapper vest and crowned by a starched collar. The older men around him serve as an inspiration to him and his belief in the system. They are role models, peers, and father figures. The gentleman immediately behind the young man could easily have stepped off a Smith's cough drops box and exudes 19th century style and dignity. The man to the right appears to be related somehow to Wilford Brimley and behind him is a pre-campaign John McCain. Looking around the room, I can see why he wants to fit in and be one of the crowd. Looking back at him I can see that he never would. The slight smile tells me he wants to rise and strike out as an artist. The culture of the era wouldn't allow him to do so. With some luck, at some point in his career he was allowed to rise and become one of the supervisors who stood watch over the room. Our young man's supervisor is standing far in the back, ready to answer questions and shake those drifting off. I imagine that after the image was snapped, he thought, "I wonder if I'll see that picture? I hope I looked OK." Then his eyes went back to the ledger and suppressing a yawn started adding those sums again... At least we have cubiclesAt least we have cubicles now. Fascinating though -- other than the racial homogeneity, these faces could easily be those of the co-workers around me today. Also, it's almost lunchtime. I wonder how long they got for lunch? Office Christmas PartyWith that entire group of sober, somber and serious toilers, imagine what their holiday party was like. Not one laborer is hamming it up for the camera, not even a shadow of a smile to be had in the bunch, no out-of-bounds behavior for a picture to be frozen in time. The job must have had excellent fringe benefits (or French benefits) and although they all looked absolutely miserable and more like salt mine workers than accountants, they wanted to keep those joyless jobs. Try to imagine the annual holiday party with alcoholic spirits served to bring these stuffy stiffs to life. Those three old girls on the left would be kicking off their shoes and dancing on their desks. Someone should have told them "a little nonsense now and then is relished by the best of men." Do you suppose they had casual Fridays. [I wonder how many government office parties served booze during Prohibition. - Dave] SociallyI guess the older women struck out. Manhattan is full of them. Ordinary expressionsWell, some of them are smiling or have pleasant expressions on their faces, despite the fact that most likely the photographer had just yelled out, "OK everybody, when I say 'HOLD IT' don't move a muscle for X seconds!" Anyway, just exactly how joyful does anyone expect accountancy to make a person? ShortyI can empathize with the lady sitting in the rolling chair with her side to the camera. Her feet don't reach the floor when her chair is high enough to reach her machine. That makes for a VERY uncomfortable 8-10 hours. Though she does have great shoes... BytesAll the data contained in those cabinets would fit into my PC. FacesAs someone who enjoys the study of the Faces of Mankind, this is a wonderful photo to look at. I wonder if they had to use postage stamps to ship out any of the reports that came out of their calculators, or did they have access to email, instead? Older WorkersWell, this WAS before Social Security. People worked till they dropped. [Government employees usually had pensions. - Dave] IBMAnd in 30 years most of offices like this would be taken over by IBM and their punch cards. Amazing pictureThis is one of the most amazing pictures I've seen on Shorpy. Definitely the most people looking right at the camera, and a real study in captured moments. That young, disgruntled looking fellow certainly could belong to several different eras. So many old, distinguished types. It's one of those photos where you can smell the wood, leather and shoe polish. Thank you for all these images. So-So History but Excellent HumorOlder than Yoda cracked me up with his vision of the matrons in this shot indulging in barefoot, desk-top dancing at the office party! The sobering (sorry) response about Prohibition being in force at the time just made it all the funnier! Jim Halpert?He looks more like the 1920's Dwight Schrute to me. Dwight's main ambition in life is to die at his desk, this fellow probably did. Smiles"Smiles, everyone! Smiles! Welcome to Fantasy Island!" Look at that lighting!The ceiling's covered with classic ribbed acid-etched Holophane glass pendants -- the elder fixtures -- and between those are newish "schoolhouse" style opal glass shades. The schoolhouse fixtures became institutional classics and probably have 150 watt bulbs inside the shades. The Holophane shades were designed to refract and emphasize weaker early light bulbs, and worked surprisingly well as task lights. What a great scene this is, in so many ways. Those LampsWe have four schoolhouse lights in our home exactly like the ones in the picture. They were taken out of the old post office here and have "1917" etched inside the fixture. Whenever we move, we take them with us. Grumpy Mother in LawThat lady on the far left looks like one of those "children should be seen and not heard" types. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, The Office)
Field of Mars: 1890
... One of them, in Zilker Park, gets strung up like a Christmas tree every year. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/26/2012 - 4:55pm -

Circa 1890s. "Campus Martius, Detroit." Down the street, a "moonlight tower" arc-lamp stanchion. Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size. Oh, boy!This is so beautiful. What a glimpse at the past! Dave, I'm from Brazil, and I'm a huge fan of your site. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing pictures! Best regards! EmissionsIf you want to know what it smelled like to live in those times, just visit Mackinac Island. Horses are the main transport there, and you begin to get a whiff of it a mile offshore, and it's a lot cleaner than the street in this photo. Austin TowersThis very tower could now be residing in Austin, TX, as 31 used towers were purchased and relocated there in 1894-95. 17 are now still in use and listed as historical sites by the State of Texas. re: The writing on the wellThe visible side says FOR THE PEOPLE FROM. The four sides say: TESTAMENTARY GIFT FOR THE PEOPLE FROM JOHN JUDSON BAGLEY A.D. MDCCCLXXXVII The writing on the wellWhat does is say on the steeple above the well in the front of the picture? Something about fortune? Or is it some latin phrase I can't decipher? Also, there is some really beautiful architecture in this picture. Sort of looks like a Sunday to me, with everyone dressed up in their best clothes. TowerI wonder what that tower on the left side of the street with the guy wires is for? Surely this was some time before any wireless transmissions were practical on such a scale. [It is, as noted in the caption, a carbon-arc lamp. - Dave] EmissionsThe sheer quantity of horse urine and manure is striking. Street HeatStreet car #497 looks like it has a chimney for a stove on the roof. #288 doesn't seem to have a chimney. Were some of these cars heated? [They both have the same chimney. - Dave] Progress schmogressIt's the loss of wonderfully articulated buildings like the old City Hall that make progress a dirty word. Grand details wherever you look. Campus MartiusThe Bagley fountain in the foreground is the only existing work of H.H. Richardson in Michigan. Richardson also built an armory in Detroit, but it is long gone. Today the fountain sits in a different location in Cadillac Square. All the buildings in this photo have been demolished except for the Fort Street Presbyterian Church (spire just left of the lighting tower) The Hammond building is the large structure to the left. It was one of Detroit's first skyscrapers. The Second Empire building on the right is the old city hall. it was demolished c. 1960 to build a underground parking garage. in the last 5 years a modern office building has been built on the site. Before the automobile ruledIt's interesting to see all the various offices for different types of transportation in Detroit...except for cars. Less than halfway through the decade, Henry Ford's quadricycle would emerge from his humble backyard workshop to change all that. Brand new building and new age lightingAccording to the information on the front of the building, it was completed in 1889. Brand new! In keeping with new innovations, the "moonlight tower" was evidently quite the fad for a while. I had never heard of such a thing, but see the attached clip. I'm surprised that everybody didn't go blind from staring at the devices! Department of SanitationNo wonder people thought that cars (when they came along) were "clean"! I'm not a youngster, to say the least. My father, who grew up in NYC, told me how awful the cities were in the summer. Horse waste was only part of the problem but a big one. The "better neighborhoods" always got cleaned up but the poorer sections were last on the street cleaner's list. Manure would dry up an blow around onto people, into houses and onto laundry. No wonder anyone who could afford it left the city in the summer months. Moonlight TowersAustin, Texas, went in with the moonlight tower fad and originally installed them in 1895. Growing up there, I was always told that we put them up because it was the rage in Paris. Then everyone tore theirs down, but we kept them. One of them, in Zilker Park, gets strung up like a Christmas tree every year. http://www.aroundaustin.com/2004/03/austin_moonligh.html Bagley Memorial FountainDetroit's first public drinking fountain was built in 1887 with money from the estate of John Judson Bagley. Recently refurbished and moved to Cadillac Square. Bagley was a New York tobacconist who came to Detroit in 1846. He helped organize the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Co. and the Republican Party, and served as Michigan's governor from 1872 to 1876. The four sides say: TESTAMENTARY GIFT FOR THE PEOPLE FROM JOHN JUDSON BAGLEY A.D. MDCCCLXXXVII AstonishedThank you Dave for that wonderful picture! Never knew anything about light masts like this one! It's definitely absolutely new experience to me! I personally was confused as I thought it looks like cell phone base station. Live long - study forever! Thank you once more! (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Horses, Streetcars)
Barbie Christmas: 1964
... It must have been difficult enough trying to sleep on Christmas Eve without those devices burrowing into your head. Doll Clothes ... over the bathtub! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas) ... 
 
Posted by delworthio - 06/26/2008 - 10:13am -

Barbie was made out to be some sort of vixen on those carrying cases, huh? View full size. Vixen-BarbieShe looks like Marlene Dietrich at a nightclub microphone Doll House of HorrorsMy aunt had four or five of these first Barbies, which were there for the kids (me, brother, cousin) to play with when we visited in the summer. The boys tortured the Barbies and I'm afraid I cut their hair off. All that money......... BarbieBarbie has a good reason to look like vixenish. Mattel bought the molds for the original Barbie from a German company that had marketed her as a doll for adults, based on an adult comic strip. Mattel executives were very unsure about an adult doll for children -- at least, we can assume, until the serious money started rolling in. My sister had one of those first generation versions. They are worth a lot of money now. I had the first G.I. Joe, back when fathers were quite leery of their sons playing with dolls, so the term "action figure" had to be invented. Joe was a lot more masculine than Ken. Barbie publicly dated Ken, but secretly wanted Joe. Barbie & MeBarbie was wonderful until I figured out she couldn't ride any of my Johnny West horses without doing the splits... She just didn't have an athletic bone in her rigid little body. Then I found out you could pull her head off with a "pop." Shocking, to say the least. Wish I had kept just one with the original clothing. Perhaps I could put a kid partially through college. Barbie and SkipperPerched on the top of a bookshelf behind me are a short-haired dark brunette Barbie and a pretty darn cute lighter-brunette Skipper (Barbie's little sister, I think). Both were my wife's from long ago and I suppose they are worth something today. They are wearing dresses that my mother-in-law made from scratch. How many out there can say they had a mother who made clothes for their Barbies? We've also got a black Barbie case identical to the one in the picture. Tinsel IntactI guess you didn't have a cat, or that low-hanging tinsel would be missing from the tree and found in small gobs on the floor around the house. Barbie ClothesMy daughter had all of the "Barbie Family" and I was one of those mothers who made not only clothes for her but even knitted teeny tiny little sweaters. I admit I was crazy but after buying the dolls we couldn't afford the clothes. She took care of them and still has them. Deja BarbOh my gosh! I had the same Barbie case except mine was pink and my sister had a blue one. Wish I still had it, but I do still have Skipper and talking Barbie from when they first came out. Visions of BarbiesHoly crow, I just noticed that the young lady to our right has curlers covered by a hairnet. It must have been difficult enough trying to sleep on Christmas Eve without those devices burrowing into your head. Doll Clothes These DaysMy mother made lots of Barbie clothes for my dolls, I still have some crocheted dresses and sweaters that an aunt made also. My daughter played with them and they are packed away now in the hopes that there will someday be a granddaughter to play with them. The store-bought outfits of today fall apart after dressing and undressing a few times but the homemade dresses look as good as new. Some Things Never ChangeI'm one of those moms! I regularly make clothes for my four year old daughter's Barbie dolls. She picks out the fabrics and trims, and we go to town! Re: RailsplitterMy grandmother made clothes for my Barbies. Furniture, too! Barbie MemoriesI can relate to so many posts on this page! I too was disappointed that Barbie couldn't ride Thunderbolt or Flame without taking a leg out of its socket, although I eventually got an articulated bay horse made just for her. My sister's Barbies were from the early 60s, and mine from the late 60s. My aunt in Germany knitted and crocheted outfits for ours, based on the latest styles from Coco Chanel! We also made our own from leftover scraps of cloth. I think the only store-bought clothes we had were what came on each doll, and my sister had a gorgeous 50's era wedding dress and nurse's outfit, and a tuxedo for Ken, which probably came with him. http://www.fashion-doll-guide.com/Vintage-Ken-Tuxedo.html We never knew quite what to do with the Ken doll, so I think we just sent him off "to work." Those curlersare the soft sponge ones. Not *too* horrible. At least she didn't have to sleep on the brush ones! Impossible. And I have one of the black Barbie cases in my attic right now. What a surprise to see it here! Glad I was born a boyEven as a youngster I did not envy what women had to go through, reminded by the curlers and hair net on that girl. My sister and mother owned the bathroom. I think they spent more time in there than in any other room in the house. Not just going through the personal appearance thing, but constantly hand washing clothes like nylons and woolens. I did resent the little clotheslines strung everywhere, particularly over the bathtub! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)
Xmas Bags: 1924
... Confusion I don't wish to get into the "X-mas" vs "Christmas" line of debate, but one question puzzles me. Why does the tag ... affluent and the poor and life will never be fair. CHRISTmas I boycott all stores that substitute X for Christ and those bags ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/03/2011 - 10:59am -

December 24, 1924. "Mrs. Coolidge giving out first Xmas bag for Salvation Army." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. OOPSThe young lady to the left of the bag on the table looks like she just remembered something she forgot to put into the bag. And the SA member just to her right looks as in the bag is about to explode. Not everyone was comfortable with getting their picture taken. A real ScreamThe young lady left of center looks like she's getting ready to try out for the Edvard Munch holiday diorama. Holiday ConfusionI don't wish to get into the "X-mas" vs "Christmas" line of debate, but one question puzzles me. Why does the tag line say "Halloween"? Just call me curious. [Oops! - Dave] Squinty!I'm guessing that the lady on the right with the umbrella thinks that the camera will steal her spirit away if she opens her eyes. Either that or she's stifling a sneeze. [It think it probably has to do with the cloud of flash powder illuminating the proceeedings. - Dave] Mr. Magoo's momIs that her on the right? Ah cha-chaIt appears Mrs. Coolidge was escorted to the event by a cross-dressing Jimmy Durante. Those two on the left with the glassesThe epitome of chastity, but somehow I see them as a couple that go nuts behind closed doors. Strike a posePossibilities for the look on the face of the 3rd person from the right: 1. wishing this bad dream would all go away 2. in pain from foot being stabbed by umbrella 3. about to sneeze 4. constipated Other than that I find no earthly reason for the look on someone's face like this in a pose with the first lady. Also, the two to the right of Mrs. Coolidge qualify for 2nd and 3rd prizes. Talk about "frumpy"Looks like the life force of the room was just sucked out. The Not-So-Roaring '20sThis is the side of the Roaring Twenties, with its jazz, high living and extravagant escapades that we don't often see. If this is the lot of some people at the height of a booming economy, what is life going to be like for these same individuals if they are still alive in ten years at the depth of the Great Depression? A wonderful mix of characters in this pictureThere is a lot of see in this photo. The two in their Salvation Army outfits to the left could be from any classic photo or painting I've seen. But on their right, it almost looks like the lady is taking off a mask of -- herself, with a different hair color. I realized after looking closer, it is a shorter lady in front of her wearing the same hat and coat that makes it so odd. Everyone else seems to be waiting for the flash open-eyed, but the lady below the hanging lamp on the right -- what a face she is making! I wonder how long she held that look. No re-shoots hereWith so few truly odd/interesting shots around these days (probably due to the fact that 21st century photograpy allows editing, deleting and/or making one's pictures just so-even in the camera) these shots are truly fascinating for what they reveal. You have the rather supercilious looking Mrs. Coolidge, the sad looking first recepient in all black, the rather horrible looking offerings (the turkey/chicken legs hanging out don't add to the holiday appeal) and then there are faces being grabbed or squinched up or looking rather dismayed. Oh, what I would give to step into this shot and ask these folks what was on their minds just at the moment this picture was taken. The givers, the humbled and the shabbyIt is not difficult to see who are the "haves" and who are the "have-nots" in this picture. Everyone left of the Jimmy Durante lady (in the used velvet coat with one button) works with the S.A. and Mrs. Coolidge. The recipients of the food are embarrassed and sheepish about receiving charity. The young boy with the dirty hands received a gift which looks like a kite or balsawood plane while his sister, with a hole in her stocking and worn-out clothes, seems empty-handed but hopeful. The closed-eyes lady seems humiliated but needs the groceries. As for the food bags, unwrapped raw poultry flung into a paper bag on top of bread and other items would not meet health standards today. Unfortunately, the world will always have the affluent and the poor and life will never be fair. CHRISTmasI boycott all stores that substitute X for Christ and those bags CLEARLY say "Christmas" on them. I hope that I don't have to stop viewing Shorpy also. [You're laboring under a common misconception. Below, an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for "Xmas." - Dave] The X comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χριστός (Christ). There is a common misconception that the word Xmas is a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Yes that is true long ago BUT we all know that X is meant to eliminate Christ in today's world. Centuries ago the X was used to mean Christ but NOT in today's world. God bless all the Shorpy fans this Christmas season!!! [Actually no, "we" do not "all know that," for the simple reason that it's not true. In this particular instance, the caption is written in longhand on a tiny paper label affixed to the negative, and "Xmas" is a convenient abbreviation, employed for the usual reasons one uses an abbreviation: It fits where the longer word does not, or it's easier to write. If people want to secularize Christmas, they call it "the holidays." They don't use "Xmas," which begins with a literal representation of the cross and goes back to the very beginnings of Christianity. The idea that the word is meant to "eliminate Christ" is an erroneous notion rooted in ignorance. -Dave] Xmas Bags?Xmas has nothing to do with it. Now we know....Why President Coolidge was a man of few words. Yuletide Charity Washington Post, December 25, 1924. Mrs. Coolidge Takes Part in City's Yuletide Charity With Mrs. Calvin Coolidge taking a prominent part, Washington yesterday turned wholeheartedly to the spreading of Christmas cheer among its unfortunates. … Yesterday morning Mrs. Coolidge acted the part of Santa Claus for a few moments at the entertainment given to approximately 1,200 children at Keith's theater under the auspices of the Central Union Mission. In the afternoon she assisted in the distribution at the Salvation Army auditorium at 606 E street northwest. More than 650 bags of food, each with dinner enough for five persons, were given away. … In my opinionThere is way too much gaiety and fun going on in this room. Settle down, people! Beam me up ScottyI believe that the person in the funny hat with the umbrella is really Captain Kirk impatiently waiting for Scotty to beam him up off this dreadful little planet and to get back on the bridge and pour himself a stiff drink! Helping OthersI believe the three youngish looking ladies/girls with the tan coats and hats wearing kerchiefs are Girl Scouts earning a merit badge. You can see the GS insignia on the collar of the girl to the right of Jemima Durante. Alternate TakeShowing a slightly different degree of mortification. Click to embiggen. Re CHRISTmasIn addition to Dave's on-the-money clarification, some historians believe many crucifixions were not done with the traditional tee-shaped cross but with ones shaped like an X. Much easier to build and to erect. While it is believed that Christ died on a tee-shaped cross, the X version also is associated with that era of Christianity. (The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Natl Photo)
Karl the Karrot: 1955
... that Karl used. By the way does anybody remember during Christmas time when Happy Holly of the Whitehouse department store called ... he had some major kid appeal. The 50's Bay Area Christmas While reminiscing about Fireman Frank and Captain Fortune, each ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/22/2011 - 4:52pm -

This button was a promotional piece about 1-3/4" in diameter, given out by shoe stores on the purchase of a pair of Keds, one of the sponsors of the daily kids' show "Fireman Frank" broadcast by KRON-TV in San Francisco during the mid-50s. Fireman Frank was George Lemont, a hip SF deejay who stepped into the role after the original Fireman, a roly-poly avuncular gent more in the style of a kids' TV host, dropped dead. Lemont's humor appealed as much to adults as well as kids; you could hear the studio crew guffawing off-camera at things that went over our heads. Between cartoons, Lemont brought out his cast of puppets, including robot Dynamo Dudley, the beret-wearing, bop-talking Scat the Cat and best of all, Karl the Karrot. Karl, as you can see, was a sort of proto-beatnik, literally a carrot with a pair of shades. His dialog consisted entirely of "blubble-lubble-lubble" while he thrashed about, chlorophyl topknot flailing. At home, we were all in convulsions on the floor. Original Fireman FrankI remember watching the jolly chubby Fireman Frank. One day he was gone. I wondered what happen to him. Does anyone know his name? Fireman Frank FanThis is cool. I loved afternoons and Saturdays with Fireman Frank on the tube. It killed me how Fireman Frank broke himself up waving around a limp Karl the Karrot - where Karl would stare out blankly, bobbling up and down as Frank tried to contain his hysterics below while snorting in a vain attempt to conceal his own amusement. Fireman FrankHey, my cousin, best friend and I were on that show. We just loved it. When he interviewed the peanut galery (that was on Firman Frank I think) He asked my cousin, who had swiped her mom's hat to wear there, to show her profile so that the audience could see her hat. She of course did not know what that meant, so she took it off and gave it to him. It was funny to me because when she got home she got into trouble for taking the hat. I of course was happy she had gotten scolded as she was a very pretty girl and was always the center of attention. I was just a messy little tomboy that just went along for the ride. Thanks for the memories. Local live kid showsmust have been a national staple. In Texas, we had Mr. Peppermint in Fort Worth, Uncle Jay and his sidekick Packer Jack, an old prospector, in Austin and Cap'n Jack (I think) in San Antonio. Even tiny KCEN in Temple had their own guy, who could draw a picture from a kid's scrawl. We went for my brother's birthday, ca. 1959/1960. Local Kids ShowsThe Lincoln, Nebraska area had Sheriff Bill and Silent Orv (who was silent because they'd have to pay him more if he spoke). Later on, I learned television directing on the last live "Romper Room" in the country - never knew what might happen with a roomful of pre-schoolers on live TV. Fireman Frank FanTo add to the Fireman Frank archive: Dynamo Dudley's mother (or mother-in-law) was a can of nails that would be grabbed and rattled whenever it seemed necessary. Yahoo! At Last...he's alive!!!I have vivid memories of Karl the Karrot...one of my all time favorite TV characters. I have been asking people "Do you ever remember watching a show in the 50's with Karl the Karrot who just bobbled his head around and went...blblblblblblblbl blblblblb blblbl?" No one remembered and I was beginning to think I'd made it up! Thank you for bringing Karl (and that cool button) back to me...I shall forward this page to the zillion people who thought I was just having another acid flash!! Holy Karrot juice!Never thought I'd find a person who had seen that show. I remember the carrot losing his "vigor" over the week and being pretty limp on Friday to be revitalized on Monday. I have the button also. (After 50-some years) Fireman FrankI was on Fireman Frank with the greatest young comedienne of her time, Westlake Stephie, age 7. It was a fun show. Fireman Frank againWatched it everyday it with on. The thing I remember most was, Fireman Frank said "we don't like Lima beans," and I still don't like them. Rhode Island RedI, too, loved Fireman Frank. Wasn't Rhode Island Red one of his characters, too? The limp Karl the Karrot, wobbling around by Friday afternoon, was something we all looked forward to. Thanks for bringing back these wonderful memories. Too bad there aren't any witty kids' shows today. And I think the Peanut Gallery was Howdy Doody (with Buffalo Bob Smith) and not part of Fireman Frank. Karlotta Karrot During those years of childhood in San Francisco there were truly great kids' shows. Fireman Frank was without question the best. I remember Karl's girlfriend Karlotta, who spoke in the same type of oogle pattern that Karl used. By the way does anybody remember during Christmas time when Happy Holly of the Whitehouse department store called Santa? Love Karl the KarrotKids' shows in the '50s were great. I loved Fireman Frank and Karl the Karrot. My absolute favorite though was the Banana Man on Captain Kangaroo! Banana ManI never saw Karl the Karrot (we had The Old Rebel and Cowboy Fred and Captain Five at various times), but The Banana Man was my absolute, all-time favorite too. If you never saw his act, it's hard to imagine what it was like. Here is a website, somewhat disorganized, with a lot of info: http://facweb.furman.edu/~rbryson/BananaMan/index.html The "Sam Levine" and "History" links are the best, but it's all interesting (to absolute fans anyway). Py-O-My was the sponsorI remember having to put up with Frank while babysitting my little sister after school before the folks got home (I was a teenager then) and the sponsor for a while was Py-O-My (kind of like Betty Crocker) dessert and pudding mix. Rumor was that the original Fireman Frank partook too much of Py-O-My and dropped dead of blocked arteries. I remember a couple of guys in our neighborhood and I set up a FF-like puppet show one summer to earn money to buy Superman and other comics by charging a nickel to the little kids who wanted to watch. One guy's older sister made a "Scat the Cat"-type sock puppet while I had fun cutting and pasting pieces of cardboard together to make a Dynamo Dudley. I remember one kid's mom getting upset because he has swiped the only two carrots in the house to make Karl (In those days two carrots went into the stew). We made enough to make our local grocer happy to sell those horrible old comic books. Fond RekollektionsI remember the Karl the Karrot episode where he had a fight with Rocky Mashed Potato. I loved Scat the Cat,with his band-aid on one of his cheeks. Rhode Island Red the giant rooster puppet, with a wing that would pop up like it was pointing while he said, "He went thataway!" then break into a silly laugh while his head went up & down. Wish someone can find the name of the original Fireman Frank...just for memories and recognition for him. Fireman Frank ShowThat was a great show; a classic 50's kids show. Can't forget Skipper Sedley who became "Sir Sedley" for whatever reason. Also "Mayor Art"; "Bozo The Clown"; "Captain Satellite" and on a national level, "Howdy Doody" and "The Micky Mouse Club" These were all basically afternoon and Saturday shows. The essential 50's morning children's show was of course, "Captain Kangaroo" with the classic serial Cartoon "Tom Terrific".. Frank and Karl! Oh yeah!Great memories. Loved Fireman Frank and Karl too. I remember Karl getting more wilted every day. And I do remember Happy Holly at Xmas time. This is the first time I have heard anyone else mention Happy. Those were great days for kids' shows. I had the TV pretty much to myself as my parents and older sisters had not acquired the habit of watching very much. I have been trying to find video snips of some of those old shows but they are rare. Loved Fireman Frank!Fireman Frank used to show "The Little Rascals" as well as cartoons. Plus he demonstrated how to make chocolate milk with Bosco. His puppets were hilarious. Scat the Cat had been in fights and had a rough voice. I think robot Dynamo Dudley talked in gibberish like Karl the Karrot. I had a Dynamo Dudley Club Card at one time. The funniest puppet was Rhode Island Red, the rooster. My mother would come into the room and laugh. I would love to see photos or kinescopes of that show. Where is this stuff? THE DAY KARL "DIED" !The "Fireman Frank Show" with Lemont was the best kids program ever and Karl The Karrot was special. Karl was a real carrot and noticably "age" or wilt every day due to the hot studio lights. I clearly remember Karl breaking off in Lemont's hand during their dialogue and Lemont saying something like: "Ah kids; Karl is hurt but will be back like new soon. And of course Karl returned as a fresh new carrot for the next show. I'll never forget the shock of Karl's "accident" and "relief" at seeing him back better than ever for the next show! My kids thought I was making this story up when shared during their youth. Thanks for the super comments. Fireman FrankSeveral commenters have asked about the first Fireman Frank, the one who George Lemont took over from. I just came across a post on a forum from someone who remembers, and the guy's name was apparently Frank Smith. So now we also know where the Frank came from. Fireman Frank 1955-57Coming to the SF Bay Area and getting our first TV in April 1955 I only recall the latter (thin) Fireman Frank (with his weekday nightly KRON show after the early evening news and a longer one on Saturday afternoons with a drawing contest that I submitted to a few times). Captain Fortune had an early Sat morn one on KPIX, with the stock intro showing a bunch of kids running up to a large Victorian-looking house on a hill. One of CF's standard features was to have one of the guests make some scrawl on a large drawing pad and then ask him to turn it into a specific item. KPIX also had a late afternoon (pre-news) Deputy Dave featuring, of course, western films (vs cartoons). It seemed like that they all had Bosco as a sponsor (using a milk carton that had its brand obscured). He once had a contest for an (outboard) power boat - awarded for the best name for it. An acquaintance of my father won with "DD5" for Deputy Dave (Channel) 5! The arrival of the Mickey Mouse Club on ABC (KGO) in October 1955 provided some stiff competition for some of these locally-originated afternoon kid shows. The San Antonio show mentioned earlier was Captain Gus on KENS in the afternoons http://www.dmd52.net/blast.html feauring mostly Popeye and Three Stooges fare, at least during the few seasons of its 2-decade + run that it had my attention. Before Fireman FrankGeorge Lemont was to kids as Don Sherwood was to the adults. I remember his predecessor, Frank Smith, but George had a show before Fireman Frank. He was called Uncle George and would draw caricatures and cartoon pictures. He used clever cross-hatch shading on his drawings and would call them "the downtown treatment." I loved his puppets, but he reached a new height with the introduction of Karl the Karrot! Great days of kids' TV back then: Kris Kuts (the felt shapes), Deputy Dave Allen, Captain Fortune (Who's that knocking on my barrel?), Mayor Art, Crusader Rabbit (voice done by a lady from Petaluma, I'm told)and Captain Satellite (I remember seeing his first telecast on that NEW channel, KTVU). Del Courtney and Tony Petucci (Ralph Manza), Sandy (The moon belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free) Spellman, Fran O'Brien, Sherwood's minions, Bobby Troop, George Cerutti, Julie London, and Ronnie Schell. Great times. Rad CarrotThat is a mighty rad carrot with a hairy nose and wild hair. No wonder why he had some major kid appeal. The 50's Bay Area Christmas While reminiscing about Fireman Frank and Captain Fortune, each Christmas, I always recall with grand fondness those early television trips to the North Pole escorted by the magic elf, Happy Hollie. "Happy Hollie calling Santa Claus at the North Pole... come in, Santa!" I believe it was brought to you by either "The White House", or "City of Paris". You could always be assured there'd be one commercial by "Mission Pac"... fruit packages for mail delivery to east coast friends. "No gift so bright, so gay, so right, send a Mission Pac on its way" Fireman FrankI'm so happy to learn there are others that have fond memories of Fireman Frank / Uncle George! Remember how he'd have the puppets refer to him as "skinny-in-the pit"? I would crack up when he'd tell the kids to be sure to send in for his one-way yoyo while just dropping a stringless yoyo. The lady who voiced Crusader RabbitHer name was Lucille Bliss, and she also did Smurfette. But legendary to me is the fact she waited tables on the side, and a deejay from KSAN recognized her voice, and asked her to come into the station and record the doomsday alerts. "This is a test - this is only a test. In the event of an actual alert, " etc. In the voice of Crusader Rabbit! This included (I assume) the real kiss your butt goodbye warning, in the event of nuclear war! Man- would I love to hear a copy of this. Jay Ward with Art Alexander created the Rabbit here in Berkeley, eventually moving to LA for production. You can read all about it in The Moose That Roared, by Keith Scott. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Curiosities, tterrapix)
Christmas Stockings: 1950
... aunt and uncle’s house just outside of Baltimore during Christmas. Elvis will be on the record player and there will be a fake Christmas tree set up, kinda like the ones at Gimbel's, but covered with angel ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/22/2022 - 12:28pm -

November 11, 1950. New York. "Gimbel Brothers department store. Interior. Raymond Loewy Associates, architect." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.   A street floor named desire         Ah for the infinite loveliness of Gimbels. We're the most enticing, most alluring street floor that ever walked the ways of beauty. So captivating are we, you just can't resist us. Our walls are delicately tinted. Our counters are sleek. If we were a bell, we would tinkle. We're all this, and more, because Raymond Loewy, genius at transforming an ugly duckling into a raving beauty, has given us his magic touch. And the best part is, this beauty of ours will be a joy forever. Our loveliness will never pass into nothingness. Why? Because those sweet, sweet bargains and those low, low price tags keep coming and coming and coming ... (NYT ad, Feb. 1951) Lingerie on 6, wife-beaters on 7 "Does Macy's tell Gimbels?"I first heard that now antiquated line on "I Love Lucy". Lucy and Ethel bought identical dresses at the competing stories. The witticism was so familiar that Gimbels used it in a 1953 ad. The New York Gimbels opened in 1910, a block south of Macy's in the Herald Square shopping area. It was the company's third flagship after Milwaukee (glimpsed earlier on Shorpy) and Philadelphia. Light 'em up!By 9:30 a.m., the floor of Gimbel Brothers Department Store will be covered in cigarette butts. By the early 1960s I'll be visiting my aunt and uncle’s house just outside of Baltimore during Christmas. Elvis will be on the record player and there will be a fake Christmas tree set up, kinda like the ones at Gimbel's, but covered with angel hair and a revolving color wheel on the floor to the right of the tree. Oh yeah, and there'll cigarette smoke hovering in the air. The Martians have landed... in small ships on the ceiling. This seems like a compromise redo (new fixtures and lights, while retaining the basic shell, perhaps befitting their image as the runner-up. Or maybe not: IIRC it didn't look much different 30+ years later when it closed — an unexpectedly elegant looking store. Later that same centuryThe lone and level sands stretch far away. Out of the WayIn the awkward space underneath the escalator's angle was the Stamp & Coin Department. It not only sold collecting supplies but also had actual old stamps and coins for sale. This was a franchise operation that, at its height in the early 1960s, had 38 locations in department stores nationwide. These hobby nooks are all closed now, but they sure sparked the imagination of young boys (and sometimes girls). If you want to read the historyNice summary on Wikipedia. There's a part about the New York City flagship store that stands out because, as today, people will ruin what was intended to be a benefit, "When this building opened, on September 29, 1910, a major selling point was its many doors leading to the Herald Square New York City Subway station. Due to such easy access, by the time Gimbels closed in 1986, this store had the highest rate of 'shrinkage,' or shoplifting losses, in the world." Of course, that's not what caused Gimbels to close, but it didn't help. (The Gallery, Christmas, Gottscho-Schleisner, NYC, Stores & Markets)
Christmas Story: 1920
... Collection glass negative. View full size. Merry Christmas, all! When I first looked at this picture, I perceived the topmost ... or whatever got into the manger scene! Anyway, Merry Christmas! Radio bulb Growing up we always called little round bulbs ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/24/2012 - 1:13pm -

A circa 1920 Nativity scene labeled "Calvo, Miss." Note the light bulb. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Merry Christmas, all!When I first looked at this picture, I perceived the topmost lightbulb as an animal's eye, and I wondered how a rabbit or whatever got into the manger scene! Anyway, Merry Christmas! Radio bulbGrowing up we always called little round bulbs like this one that, as they were used to light the dial on our radio and my grandfather kept some in a little box to replace burned out ones. The inside itself of the big radio was interesting too, with its warm glowing vacuum tubes. Itty bitty bulbsAnother use was in various components of our 1940s-era electric train set, like an illuminated billboard, the light at the top of the water tower, the interior of a train station and a street lamp. PerfectSetting for wishing the whole Shorpy Family the very best of the Holiday Season and to enjoy the Best Christmas ever! Away in a MangerIt looks as though the toddler Jesus should be proclaiming, "Ta Da". (The Gallery, Christmas, Natl Photo)
A Vintage Christmas Carol
... in Ohio presents the Federal Theatre for youth in 'A Christmas Carol.'" This poster for the Federal Theatre Project presentation of "A Christmas Carol" was created between 1936 and 1941. View full size | ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 12/15/2007 - 1:20pm -

"The Works Progress Administration in Ohio presents the Federal Theatre for youth in 'A Christmas Carol.'" This poster for the Federal Theatre Project presentation of "A Christmas Carol" was created between 1936 and 1941.View full size | Vintage Christmas Photos Art DecoWhat a great poster. There was such a futuristic sense of style back then. Love the color scheme. (The Gallery, Art & Design, Christmas, Posters)
Christmas Booty: 1951
... thought Grandpa Abe would love a 12 pound candy cane for Christmas. It probably annihilated all the teeth he had left. The interior ... my family wasn't the only one to stage the "post-frenzy" Christmas take photo. Superior Camera Picking up on previous comment, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2014 - 4:17pm -

"Abe & Julia - Dec. 25 1951." Radiating holiday cheer from the Teal Sofa, Hubert's parents make their Minnesota Kodachromes debut. View full size. Bless HerShe was not pleased to have her photo taken. My mom was the same. Rougher Than A CorncobMy neighbors had a very similar sofa; the springs and scratchy fabric made for some very brief sit-down chats. Those drapes: absolutely gorgeous. Want! Simplicity-of-LifeIt's been very warm and cozy experiencing the 1950's in such Vivid Living Ektachrome Color! [Or Kodachrome, for that matter. -tterrace] So many of the simplicity of life photos this photographer captured have been exquisite and actually looked liked paintings. Thanks Shorpy, for finding and sharing this special treat with us. And Happy Holidays to you and yours! You Shouldn't HaveAbe doesn't look too happy about it, but I'd love to have that grey & red plaid shirt! Nice Electric Clock!Can anyone identify the electric clock ? It looks like the type of clock that Sessions Clock Co. used to make. Is it possible to enlarge that portion of the image sufficiently to read the wording on the clock face? (Might be a good time to discuss the limitations of a fixed-focus, fixed-f-stop snapshot camera vs. the more sophisticated cameras.) PatternsPatterns on the wall, patterns on the sofa, patterns on the curtains, patterns on the pillow, on his tie, slippers, socks, shirts -- it's just the way it was back then. Ummmmm! Warm!I'd love that beautiful peach colored wool blanket that Abe is showing us. I have three solid color wool blankets from the 1950's that are still warm and oh so comfy! Not Many Solid Colors......forget Abe's shirt, I want Abe's tie! Granny SquaresThe throw over the back of the sofa was assembled of 5" x 5" 'Granny Squares', crocheted blocks of yarn. My grandmother, Julia, crocheted one for each of her grandchildren. Same pattern. They're indestructible. I still have mine and curl up under it nightly, here in Minnesota, to watch TV. No hint of wear. Someday, my 19 year old granddaughter, Julia, will do the same. American GothicWith curtains. Startling curtains. PragmaticAnyone that's been in Minnesota in the Winter knows: those are useful gifts, especially for the elderly. A Sad Period of Interior DesignSo someone thought Grandpa Abe would love a 12 pound candy cane for Christmas. It probably annihilated all the teeth he had left. The interior design standards were absouletly dismal. Sadly, my grandma's house was very similar. Those couches were so rough that they would hurt your legs if you were wearing shorts. You can see why there is no retro design revival movement for the 40's and very early 50's. My GrandparentsMy grandparents were just a few years younger in 1951 than Abe and Julia. Older folks of that period all had that same "life has been hard" but they would never let on to their grandchildren. Julia's dress could have been right out of my grandmother's closet in Boone Iowa. Oh dem fluffy slippers!I wold love to have those slippers. Real sheepskin lining I bet. Not like today where everything is faux this and faux that. They do look warm for a cold winters night even here in Ohio. Tis the Season to beSensible. Glad to see...that my family wasn't the only one to stage the "post-frenzy" Christmas take photo. Superior CameraPicking up on previous comment, the excellent quality of this series is accomplished by the camera having been a Contax with a Heiland flash attached. Quite heady (and costly) for snapshots. [Hubert did have a Heiland flash, but his camera was a Kodak Signet 35. -tterrace] (Christmas, Minnesota Kodachromes)
Best Christmas Ever: 1971
... messed it up by giving my brother a Green Machine for Christmas. The Green Machine was similar in profile, but steered with two ... to take that thing off. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas, Kids, tterrapix) ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/04/2009 - 8:26pm -

December 24, 1971. My nephew Dave, age 6, on his just-unwrapped and assembled Big Wheels. He uses this for his Facebook profile pic now. A Polaroid by yours truly. View full size. THOSE NOISY THINGSi hated those things as they scared my horses. i feared for my life when i would be riding along the roads and hear one of those things coming. later on they would be my enemy again as the neighbors would allow the kids to use them at an early hour, waking up and causing cranky husbands to roar, making for a bad morning. me? im an early riser and they didnt wake me up at all. I loved mine!I still miss mine today, and I'm 45. I felt like I rode it all over Anaheim. Big Wheels in the City by the BayYou may have ridden a Big Wheel but unless you have done it with us in San Francisco on Easter weekend you havn't lived. I would have been so jealousNever did get a Big Wheel; I'm a year younger than your nephew here. Three years later, that would be me with my first bike, while two years earlier, that would be me in a photo that I will one day upload here, in a 1965 Mustang pedal car (wish I still had that thing, it would be worth a fortune today). Seems to me that it was either the 1970 or 1971 shot that still had me in Doctor Dentons (the pajamas with built in feet!) and a Matchbox superset that included a car carrier. The neighbour's catsoon learned to stay off the sidewalk. My four year old daughter wore out a couple of those, roaring up and down, spinning out, colliding with other members of her gang. They were known as Heck's Angels. BrownLooking at this photo bolsters my memory the early to mid 70s were brown. Other color memories include avocado and variations of orange/gold/yellow. Never met the kidBut I dearly miss everything ELSE in that picture. Massive TV? Check. Fringed vest? Check. "Earth shoes"? Check. Brown cords? Check. I would've been 18 days shy of 10 when this was taken. Photoshop my head onto that kid and you'd have no trouble convincing me this was taken in my living room. Sigh.... Don't step on my brown suede shoes!The brown cords ... check! Brown suede shoes ... check! the cowboy vest! Check! Streamers on the handlebars ... check! It's officially 1971 (and your happy nephew looks exactly the same as I did in '71). Noisy and disposableThose noisy darn things..I was too big and too old when they appeared here in southern Ontario. The neighbours had three, one for each of their children. Being constructed entirely of plastic, the front wheel eventually became worn, and then hollow and then only so much scrap and not recyclable. Somehow the earlier tricycles manufactured from metal, and rubber (tyres) and wooden seats were more durable, repairable and domestically constructed. These days those noisy contraptions have been replaced by skateboards and their variants, ditto the children, both of which I can well without. Change one wordSteppenwolf would be appalled! "Born to be miiiillld" (cue the music) Big Wheel Keep on Turnin'I loved my Big Wheel. When I was a kid, my brother and I would ride ours halfway around the block to a friend's house, where he'd join us in Big Wheel races. Our track used his entire driveway (one-car wide until it doubled in width as it approached the garage), plus the sidewalk in front of his house, with a hairpin turn at the foot of his neighbor's driveway. We'd give each other room on the sidewalk, and all was well... until my parents unwittingly messed it up by giving my brother a Green Machine for Christmas. The Green Machine was similar in profile, but steered with two levers that worked the ultra-wide rear axle. The unorthodox steering wasn't the problem, but it made overtaking impossible. My ShirtI just got this shirt back from the cleaners. It looks just like the one tterrace's nephew is wearing. I bought at Bloomingdales about three years ago. It's like "Back to the Future." Big Wheel a bad dream for meIn 1976, driving down a street with many parked cars, I hit a kid on a Big Wheel. He had zoomed out of a driveway and the very low profile gave me no chance to see him until he hit me on the side. He only had some head lacerations and was plenty scared. I was very lucky I didn't run over him. His parents saw the whole thing and apologized to me. Big 3I'm 42 and I'll never forget the clickety-click sound they made. I loved mine to pieces until I graduated to a bicycle. Lost Times, Good Times...I miss the times and memories that these photos evoke. TTerrace, you are a blessing, sir. Disposable RacersI was 7 in 1971. Boy I loved my Big Wheel. I so fondly remember building up speed, then turning the front wheel sharply to slide around. They did not last long. So, off I go with my grandfather to the downtown Sears to get another one. Very fond memories indeed! MemoriesMy son wore out three of these -- the classic as pictured, an Incredible Hulk model, and his favorite, the Dukes of Hazzard edition. There was something on the back wheel that made a lot of noise. We quickly learned to take that thing off. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas, Kids, tterrapix)
Western Electric Christmas (Colorized): 1925
... picture colorized. View full size. The Colors of Christmas Nice job, especially considering there are a lot of subjects to ... 
 
Posted by richland1254 - 12/20/2011 - 2:59pm -

Another fine Shorpy picture colorized. View full size. The Colors of ChristmasNice job, especially considering there are a lot of subjects to work with. But even in color, I still believe the woman standing with her right hand on the young lady's shoulder is Stan Laurel in drag. NOW it feels like Xmas!Thank you SO much! great jobI'm very impressed, I think you did a great job right down to the small detail stuff on the desk and tree, can I ask how long did it take you? western electricI'm glad you all like it, thank you so much. This took me a little over 4 hrs to do. (Colorized Photos)
Toy Story: 1923
... December 26, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Madame Prochnik, Christmas." Gretchen Prochnik, wife of the Austrian charge d'affaires, and ... on nymphs, evidently. And, we have seen a number of real Christmas trees in recent Shorpy photos. Today's cultivated, pruned, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 6:20pm -

December 26, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Madame Prochnik, Christmas." Gretchen Prochnik, wife of the Austrian charge d'affaires, and children. View full size. Worlds apartSuch fortunate little children. They're just worlds away from our memorable Shorpy, aren't they? I bet that room is very colourful and the tree is beautiful! Are the arms movable?Madame Prochnik looks like a real doll, as it were. Another ratty tree, but a great toy car. FascinatingThe kids look real and alive, and awash in toys, but Madame Prochnik looks like a figure from a wax museum. This is a fascinating photograph. What is that behind her? Looks like a small stage, although the roll-down curtain appears to be unfortunately water-stained. I love the stenciled nymphs near the top of the wall, and the fact they are repeated on the curtain bottoms. Ms. P was big on nymphs, evidently. And, we have seen a number of real Christmas trees in recent Shorpy photos. Today's cultivated, pruned, fertilized, and pesticided "real" trees are just too phony perfect. Looks like a good Christmas, if only Gretchen would lighten up. Plug-insHow are these youngsters possibly going to keep themselves occupied and happy for very long? Not one of their toys plugs into the wall or runs on a battery! Such deprivation our forebears endured! (By the way, what on earth is that backdrop behind the tree? It looked at first to be a stage and a proscenium arch, but it appears on closer inspection to be only two-dimensional.) Love this RoomI love this tree. I like the style of long limbs with a lot of space in between with garland strung across. If I had a tree it would look like this. I also love the stencils on the wall that are also on the curtains.. What a fantastic room! Hair-don'tI guess it was fashionable in 1923 to bunch your hair up into a wad and balance it on your forehead. (See also: Is Your Child Healthy?) TOOOOOOTShouldn't Captain von Trapp be blowing his whistle??? A little child shall lead themAh, the lead tinsel has arrived! Yay! We were only allowed to hang -- never sling -- the tinsel one strand at a time. The best part, then, was taking down the tree and getting to wad up the tinsel into great, heavy balls of lead (slung at fellow siblings). I find it unfortunate that Madame Prochnik's tunic is so very unflattering. It just hangs on her. But that was the style at the moment. I'd choose the sailor suit over that frock any day. Expensive toysI'd like to see that toy car on Antiques Roadshow to see what its worth today. And tinsel. Nobody really does tinsel anymore. I guess its too much work and you would find it in the house months later. But our Christmas trees always looked super loaded with tinsel when I was a young boy. My Favorite ThingsThey look like the von Trapp family, pre-Maria. The oldest girl (seated)is thinking: "Look at all the loot they got, and all I got was this dumb book! Yes she has the mannequin pose down very wellLittle boy looks like he'd much rather be playing with his new drum or toy car than posing with sister and her tea set! What's behind the curtain?Is that a small stage behind the curtain? It's interesting to see what the upper-class were buying their children at that time. I like that metal toy car, too. I bet they were sorry about that drum after a couple of weeks, though. A small fortune...is represented by the collectables in this image! Dad must have been in the Austrian Navy to outfit the kids with those neat uniforms. Twins in the middle, I presume from the haircuts. The children have their own theater built in to the room's wall as well. Cool! Mom? She looks a bit peeved at something that can only be guessed. Any idea who the photographer was? Pro, or Daddy? Mannequin stareMom is thinking about the next performance her little girls will have on that stage behind her. If she knew then...One wonders where those adorable children were, 20 years hence. Deb in the makingThe table manners that Madame Prochnik was teaching the youngest pair (two-year old Patricia and Edgar Jr., seated at the table) would ultimately help Patricia become Washington's top debutante of the 1939-40 season, and the subject of a major profile in Life Magazine (http://books.google.com/books?id=50EEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source...). The mother of jazz vocalist Stephanie Nakasian, Patricia passed away in 1996. SilhouettesThe silhouette-embellished curtains cleverly match the wall decorations, but they're ugly as sin. They look like bath towels with a silly little valance between them. Antiques RoadshowA toy car exactly like the large one in this photo was on Antiques Roadshow once. I don't recall what the auction estimate was, but I think it was in the 2 to 3 thousand range. I do remember that the steering wheel moves the tires and the doors open and close. The woman - a younger woman and not the original owner - said when she was a kid she would sit on it and ride it down the sidewalk. The thing is heavy and built to last. I bet the Jungle Adventure Petting Zoo would sell for a pretty penny today if you could find a complete set. MissingThis is all well and good but where is Krampus? Unexpected designNice sans serif typeface on the blocks. Many ThanksI'm very grateful to Shorpy commenter jsmakbkr for the link to Life Magazine. What you delivered was a treasure trove of 1939 ads that I found much more interesting than the Prochniks. Coincidence?The accordion-like musical instrument in the foreground is very similar or identical to the one held by Margaret, the little girl in another photo (Deck the Halls: 1920.) The little girl on the left is holding a Patsy doll: I know it well, having named my Boston terrier after the googly eyed, square-faced little dear. The Brown MansionAccording to two New York Tribune articles, the Prochnik family lived in the Embassy, which in after 1922 was at 1851 Wyoming Avenue, just around the corner from Columbia Road. The fortress-like Promenade apartment building now occupies the area. It was described the previous decade as the Brown Mansion, when it was the home of President Wilson's Secretary of the Navy (Josephus Daniels) and his wife Addie. The room in the photo matches the Nov. 14, 1915 Washington Post description of a fourth-floor ballroom, which it said had been "converted some time ago into a theater suitable for amateur theatricals." Although it changed hands in 1915 for $35,000, an display ad in the Post during the first week of the Harding Administration offered it for $15,000 in cash. Before Austria could acquire it, Prochnik needed to sell off the former Austro-Hungarian embassy and divide the proceeds between Hungary and Austria. Madame Prochnik's and her OrnamentsAs I recall, several months ago we saw another picture of Madame Prochnik and her ornaments: https://www.shorpy.com/node/6406 To me, both she and her children look quite different in the two photos. Me and My DrumMy uncle gave me a drum for Christmas when I was about this boy's age. My parents never forgave him. More Prochnik, PleaseSee Mrs. Prochnik in her glory: https://www.shorpy.com/node/6410 (The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo)
Electric Santa: 1921
... too thought that "Xmas" was part of the secularization of Christmas. Prices Electric lights must have been extravagant back then. I can buy Christmas lights for $2.99 at Walgreen's today! All I want for Christmas... ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 10:48am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "H.I. Scharr Electric Co., front." Harry Scharr started out with a store at 711 13th Street N.W., then added a location at 739 11th Street. In 1927 he filed for bankruptcy. National Photo Co. View full size. FascinatingThe Wikipedia article is very good. I too thought that "Xmas" was part of the secularization of Christmas. PricesElectric lights must have been extravagant back then. I can buy Christmas lights for $2.99 at Walgreen's today! All I want for Christmas...is a couple of those little boudoir lamps. Sorry HarryToo bad it didn't quite work out for Harry, but I love these window-dressing photos. The way they put the objects of the day in such concise context sheds a nice light on my father's era (bad pun, sorry). The competitionThe biggest competition to this type of store was the local electric utility. I remember when Consolidated Edison (we called it "The Edison"), our local Gas & Electric company supplied to their customers a GE AM table radio with push button tuning, a GE toaster and a GE floor lamp with a 3 way bulb in it. This happend in the 1940s. I don't remember the prices but a few dollars was added to the customer's monthly bill until they were paid for. The tie in with General Electric was a natural as Thomas A Edison was a founder of both companies. Most Utilities sold major appliances as well. Days of yoreWeird to look back into a time when electricity was still considered a novelty. Light Your Tree by ElectricityI too am surprised by the high cost of early electric lights. $3.50 in 1921 is equivalent to $40 today! I hope that is the price for a string of lights and not an individual bulb. I remember the lights we had when I was a kid: one burned-out bulb would darken the entire series. It took lots of patience to go through and figure out which was the bad one. Expensive LightsThose lights would run over $40 in 2007 dollars. Toaster, lower leftThat kind of toaster was still on my grandmother's kitchen table in the 1940s. When you opened the door on either side the bread slid down and you closed the door again to toast the other side -- and hoped you remembered to get the toast out before it was burned to a crisp. In which case you could use a knife to scrape the burned part into the sink. Vas ist?I see an old toaster with drop-down sides (bottom left), but what is the appliance on the table to the right and just below the "Electric trains $7.50" sign? [It's a Universal toaster (see above, and below). - Dave] Toasters!My grandmother also had a similar electric toaster. I count three in the window. The previously mentioned one on the lower left, as well as one within the train track oval and another on the shelf on the right. Not surprisingly, there are a few Web sites dedicated to old toasters. I make out the one in the center to be an Electro Weld "Reverso" (Toaster Gallery). On the right, the toaster with the top-mounted rack was manufactured by the Universal company of New Britain, CT. (Toaster Central.) When was the first Xmas?Interesting that the term "Xmas" is used here -- I would have thought it was a much more recent invention. [Below, an "X-mas" example from the Dec. 26, 1853, edition of the New-York Times. The Wikipedia entry for "Xmas" skewers a few canards. - Dave] Harry Scharr's BankruptcyHarry's electric shop had to file for bankruptcy because it couldn't stay current. Mysterious applianceWhat is the thing at the left end inside the railroad tracks? It looks like it might be used to heat frozen waffles, but I'd be surprised to learn that there were any in 1921. [It's a toaster. - Dave] Old ToastersThe toasters in the window here have little value today, but you see them all over eBay. There were so many of them sold. Some other styles command hundreds and a couple command thousands. Probably 25 of the ones shown in this photo have appeared on eBay in the past couple of months. I look for one special kind in particular, and have to sort through the ones shown here, and the dozens and dozens like them. Butterfly Toasters RockI love my butterfly toaster, and have no desire for a more modern one. Mine is a late 1930s Westinghouse with solid panel wings. As in the older models, the bread (usually) flips itself over to toast the second side when the wings are opened. I've found that it's much better for toasting spongy round things like English muffins, which always got caught in the more modern slot toasters I had. And it has a nagging little bell that tinks insistently from somewhere inside to remind me when the moment has come. Those lightsBest I can count, it looks like ten bulbs in each string. I can't really make out how the knot where the individual bulb leaves the string goes, but I'm thinking yes, these are series lights with individual 12V bulbs. It's possible there are two strings of ten to each plug-in, in which case the bulbs would be 6V -- much more probable. 6.3V radio pilot lights were already common by that time, but 12V bulbs were less so. (The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)
The Dakota: 1912
... murdered. I was on my way home from a job I had singing Christmas carols for shoppers at ZCMI Center in Salt Lake City. I shed quite a ... Lavin December 9, 1980 I was decorating my Christmas tree as my first child, who was three months old to the day (she's 30 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:43pm -

New York circa 1912. "Dakota Apartments, Central Park West and West 72nd Street." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The KillerIt sort of pleases me that none of the 27 or so commenters has mentioned the name of John Lennon's murderer and neither will I. He is now 55 years old, serving 20 years to life, he has been denied parole six times. Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York houses him, it is a perfect alternative to a death sentence. ImagineWhen this photo was taken, the Dakota was only 28 years old. Here's nearly the same view today. The Dakota TerritoryPossibly my very favorite building in all of Manhattan. In the late 70s, when I was a teenager, I would cut school and hang out there with a fellow John Lennon adorer. We met him many times, and he'd let us walk with him to Broadway where he bought his gum and newspapers. We'd also regularly see the other celeb denizens - Paul Simon, Rex Reed, and Lauren Bacall ( Bacall still lives there.) The night Lennon got shot, we were there within hours, holding a vigil outside with dozens of other people. When I became a horse-drawn carriage driver in the early 80s, it was one of the most requested sites by my customers, as it sits directly facing Central Park at 72nd St. I had a long line of trivia I would tell them about the building, including that it was named "The Dakota" because the owner and builder, Mr. Singer of Singer Sewing Machine Co. fame, was teased by his 5th Ave and downtown friends that his new building was so far away from the chic parts of NYC at the time, that "it might as well have been in the Dakota Territory." A few things - where the man is standing at the right in the Park (near that wonderful sign that should be reproduced and again posted for today's selfish Handy Andys) is about 20 feet from where the Lennon memorial, Strawberry Fields, is today. The building has not, to my eye, changed even one iota - masonry is still all intact, carriageway is still there, planters and fabulous railing all still there. It has even managed to retain its original windows, a great architectural boon in my opinion, with so many other old lovely buildings having had theirs replaced. The one difference is that there has been for decades a large, nice, bronze doorman's booth on the left side of the carriageway. I'm loving the horse-drawn wagon at the back of of the line of cars (taxis?) Kind of a metaphor, as it was 1912 and the horse-drawn vehicle was on its way out. I don't have a magnifying glass - can anyone tell me what it says on the back of the wagon? Thank you SO much for this pic - I have seen many photos of The Dakota, but never this one, what a treat. [Below: Stern Brother department store delivery van. - Dave] Thank you! Dakota TriviaJohn Lennon, who would have turned 70 on Oct 9th, was murdered outside The Dakota. His widow, Yoko Ono, still lives there. The 1968 film 'Rosemary's Baby' filmed some scenes at The Dakota. It was renamed 'The Bramford' in the movie. Happy Birthday JohnJohn Lennon would have been 70 on Saturday the 9th. Nice of you to remember Dave. Thanks. Happy birthday John LennonThat's a grand old building John and Yoko lived in. They don't build them like that anymoreThe Dakota is one of the most beautiful buildings in NYC. BTW, I was a teen watching Monday Night Football when Cosell announced Lennon's death on air. You can hear it here. Si Morley was hereI first heard of this building in one of my favorite books, Jack Finney's "Time and Again," published in 1970 or so. The Dakota is nearly a character in its own right in this book. What a beautiful building. John Lennon at 70Here's a computer image of what John may have looked like when he was 70 years of age. Happy birthday John!John Lennon would have been 70 years old today had he not been shot at the Dakota. Beautiful BuildingA sad way to commemorate tomorrow being John Lennon's 70th birthday. (How is that even possible?) Fitting.Happy Birthday, John. In MemoriamT'is sad that the main thing that this building is known for is the tragedy that happened outside. Performing Flea.I don't intend to be a performing flea any more. I was the dreamweaver, but although I'll be around I don't intend to be running at 20,000 miles an hour trying to prove myself. I don't want to die at 40. ~ John Lennon +70Happy 70th Birthday, John Winston Ono Lennon. Wish you were here. Strawberry Fields ForeverThe site of the murder of John Lennon (born on this day in 1940). Living life in peaceThis was John Lennon's home in New York, and where he was murdered on the street in 1980. Had he lived, Lennon would have turned 70 tomorrow. Film locationRosemary's Baby. If you saw "Rosemary's Baby"rest assured that the interior of the Dakota is a far cry from that which Mia Farrow moved around in. I have seen a few a few of the apartments, ranging from a very large one that Robert Ryan and his wife lived in to a much smaller, but far from cramped one that was Roberta Flack's residence. They ere all quite elegant. I live farther up on Central Park West, so I frequently pass by the Dakota and it is not unusual to see Lennon fans hanging around the entrance. Of course it did not all begin with Lennon, the Dakota was a home to celebrities for a few decades before he and Yoko moved in. A great building that once seemed to stand out of town. I believe that's how it acquired the name—it seemed to be in the sticks. More Dakota TriviaThe Dakota also plays a major part in Jack Finney's novel "Time And Again," a beautifully crafted mystery novel set in the 1970s and 1880s. What were you doing the evening of 9 Dec. 1980?I see that there are many here who also know that John Winston Ono Lennon would have been 70 years old today. I would guess that you also remember what you were doing when you heard the terrible announcement that he had been murdered. I was on my way home from a job I had singing Christmas carols for shoppers at ZCMI Center in Salt Lake City. I shed quite a few tears that night, and the next day. It is hard for most people to understand why some of us love him so much. It is absolutely not your run-of-the-mill celebrity worship. There was something special about John Lennon that was still developing, the older he got. Happy Birthday JohnHis music is so timeless and inspirational. I hope he found the peace he wanted so much in life. Shrubbery defacers, bewareI think this guy intends to see that the "punish" precedes the "arrest." I heard the news that night oh boyI had read about Lennon's upcoming album back in October. And every so often, I'd tune up the AM dial (how quaint) and down the FM dial, hoping to hear one of the new songs. I was doing that the night of December 8, when I caught "Just Like Starting Over" halfway through. I recognized the old-time rock-and-roll style which had been described in the newspaper preview (which Lennon referred to as "Elvis Orbison.") And I liked it-- no avant garde, experimental, primal scream, political stuff-- just fun. When the record ended, the DJ said "We'll have more details on the death of John Lennon right after this," and they went to a commercial break. I was so shocked, I tried to bend what the DJ had said, to something I could handle. Perhaps he had introduced the record by telling people to listen for "clues" that John is Also Dead? (Goofing off on the Paul is Dead hoax.) Or, if he was really dead, I was wondering, From What? Before the DJ returned, a friend called me and said that Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football had reported John Lennon had been murdered. So I had just that minute and a half of "Cool, he's back, and it sounds great!" 12-8-80I was home on leave from the Navy watching the Dolphins/Patriots game on Monday Night Football with my Dad when Howard Cosell came on and announced that John Lennon had been shot. Awful. Unforgettable momentI was living in Madison, Wisconsin on Langdon Street and walked over to Rocky Rococo's Pizza on State Street near campus to enjoy a slab of Pizza and watch Monday Night Football. The game coverage (the voice over commentary) was interrupted and I think I first heard of the news either from an announcement read by Howard Cosell or Frank Gifford. Then they broke in with an actual news bulletin that indicated he had been shot and was en route to the hospital. In the time that it took to walk back over to Langdon Street and enter my apartment it was announced that he had died. I turned on the radio and heard the actual announcement he had died and just recall thinking what a bizarre thing this was. His then recently released album was already getting a lot of play in Madison, and after the news it was complete saturation. Every time I see the DakotaOne of my favorite Christine Lavin songs: The Dakota. [YouTube link] It was a Monday morning, I was coming in from a long trip on the road. I flagged a cab near the East Side Terminal, I said, "Please take me home." We drove up along Third Avenue, crossed through Central Park. When we came out at Seventy second Street, I felt a cold chill in my heart. Every time I see the Dakota, I think about that night. Shots ringing out, the angry shouts, A man losing his life. Well, it's something we shouldn't dwell upon, But it's something we shouldn't ignore. Too many good men have been cut down, Let's pray there won't be any more. ... Words and Music by Christine Lavin December 9, 1980I was decorating my Christmas tree as my first child, who was three months old to the day (she's 30 now, obviously), watched from her infantseat. I was never a Beatles fan but I do remember the night they debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show; I was sitting on the couch after my bath, in my pajamas, a five-year-old wondering what all the fuss was about. The night John Lennon died I was listening to the radio and honestly -- and I know this next part won't be appreciated by many, but it's a free country and I believe we still enjoy free speech, at least for a little while longer -- after an hour or so I got a little tired of hearing the late Beatle practically elevated to sainthood by the announcer and every caller. I called the radio station not to speak ill of the dead, but to point out that perhaps we should temper our comments understanding that this man and what he stood for did a great deal to tear at the fabric of our society. (I don't think anyone really believes hippie-freakdom fueled by rock music has done all of us a world of good. Why do we have to act like it has?) The announcer, once he was onto my gist, hung up on me. So much for free speech. But I do adore Johnny Depp so maybe I'm a great big hypocrite. You make the call. A creepy place.I never liked that building from the time I first saw it in Rosemary's Baby, and that was some 12 years before Lennon was shot. It creeped me out then and creeps me out now, just looking at it. Time and Again and AgainNobody is going to mention Simon Morley using the Dakota as a time machine to travel back to the blustery cold winter days of 1882 in Jack Finney's novel "Time and Again?" It's such a fun and well researched book. [Somebody did mention it! - Dave] In MemoriamIn the new 4-CD Lennon compilation "Gimme Some Truth" there's a booklet that includes a photo of Lennon and Ono in their bedroom. Assuming it was taken at the Dakota, it's far less fancy then you would expect the apartment of a wealthy icon to be today. While it's a large room by New York City postwar apartment standards, it's not large by McMansion standards. The wall behind the bed is painted brick and there's nothing all that fancy in the room. As for Jenny Pennifer's comments, you certainly have the right to make any comments you like, but you obviously don't have a clue as to Lennon's impact, either culturally, politically or musically. To understand that impact, all you have to do is look up the hundreds, if not thousands of other artists who have recorded his songs, see the number of people who gather at Strawberry Fields or at the Dakota each day and listen to the radio where his songs are still played 30 to 47 years after they were written. Lennon did not tear at our society except to try and stop an illegal and useless war (what happened when we finally pulled out? Nothing except people stopped being killed.) and to fight for peace and the rights of all human beings. And I'll take "hippie freakdom" over the money and 15 minutes of fame obsessed (think Jersey Shore) and the cruel internet culture we live with today. I've been inside onceI was inside the Dakota once, at a political fundraiser in about 1995. The apartment belonged to the head of the European equities desk at a large hedge fund. It was very large, and clearly very expensive, but it was not as fabulous as the glass-walled penthouses overlooking the city in many other buildings, or even some of the (probably much less expensive) apartments in less famous buildings, but which have large terraces overlooking central park. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC)
Time to Save: 1922
... left today... is the storm drain inlet in the curb. Christmas Club My mom always urged us to join the local bank's Christmas Club as very young kids because even though we received no formal ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 7:37pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Security Savings & Commercial Bank, 9th and G." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. All that's left today...is the storm drain inlet in the curb. Christmas ClubMy mom always urged us to join the local bank's Christmas Club as very young kids because even though we received no formal allowance as kids, we could somehow manage to scrape together 50 cents a week and in early December, we would receive our check for $25.00. How wealthy and prosperous we would feel when we received in the mail that official bank check with which to buy gifts for our parents, siblings and best friend. When I think back to how kind the bank tellers were (never annoyed) when we would come in with our coinage and bankbook and how they would take the time to enter our deposit, rubber stamp the page and assure us of how smart we were, we received personal service and attention with no extra charge. With 3% interest on our money that was more than the savings accounts give us today. Ya' really have to wonder where it all went wrong and we got to where we are today. No, I wouldn't want to go backwards, but there was a time when every person mattered, and still the banks made sufficient profits. FascinatingI like the fact the two clocks, one on what I presume is the Rialto, are very close in time, and someone who appears to be a Louis Abraham was next door to the bank buying gold and diamonds. Finally, I notice the bank was paying 3 percent on Christmas Club. Of course in recent years, banks just simply couldn't do that. Parallel ParkingThese drivers could really park in tight spaces! PopupYou can see a man's head on the right near the sidewalk. According to my learned co-worker, he is utilizing a freight elevator. Hanging out..I love the wise guy hanging out, leaning against the tree without a care in the world! Street Car TracksNotice the streetcar tracks with the slot in the center for the 3rd rail plow for power pick up. Overhead trolley wires were not allowed in DC Head above the parapet.Did anyone notice the guy emerging from the cellar to watch the ghosts pass by? Seven years laterthe same corner was probably crowded again, but for substantially different reasons. Cable Car?I think D.C. had cable cars, not electric trolleys. That line in the middle would be for the car's cable-gripping apparatus, not an electrical contact. [These tracks are for electric streetcars. D.C.'s cable cars were replaced by an electric system in the 1890s. - Dave] Christmas Savings, did I make a mistake?I have to pay one year = 52 weeks every week 50 cent and I get $25 only? Where is my profit? [50 weeks, not 52. - Dave] What is the odd dark globeWhat is the odd dark globe fancy street light in front of the bank? Is this a fire or police call box? [Police call box. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Stores & Markets)
Little Country Doctor: 1951
... error. I’ll submit to the lashes, but in the spirit of Christmas please keep them soft. Merry Christmas to everyone. Marx Trains! Not Lionel? That kid was adopted! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2012 - 11:04pm -

"Xmas 1951." A closer look at some of the toys seen here two weeks ago, and that some of us may have actually had. 35mm Kodachrome. View full size. Justifiably rebukedYes perpster, like the one you linked. But as you already know, it‘s an M-10003 and not an M-10000. I’ve already been rebuked by my grandson for the egregious error. I’ll submit to the lashes, but in the spirit of Christmas please keep them soft. Merry Christmas to everyone. Marx Trains!Not Lionel? That kid was adopted! Wyandotte ToysThe "birds on a wire" and the toy behind the plane's wings are both shooting gallery-type toys. You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Road GraderI have that exact toy siting in my floor bed outside. Wired BirdsThe "Birds on a Wire" used plastic pistols shooting corks. Pretty hard to do much damage. I'm not sure when I got mine, possibly around 1947. Plastics were being used more for toys after war production ended. B-25That's a B-25 Mitchell bomber. My father was an Army Air Corps engine mechanic during WWII and worked on the bombers. During my childhood (I was born in '47), I had toys and models of all of them: B-17, -24, -25, -29. Windup TrainReceived a similar windup train the Christmas before my 4th birthday. Walked up to the train while it was running on Christmas morning and it ran over my foot. My sister in the picture is 8 months old. UP M-10000?Looks like the locomotive set was ‘inspired’ by the Union Pacific M-10000. I’m certain the boy receiving this train was very happy to have it. My guess is it was a wind-up. Merry Christmas!Here's a picture of the jigsaw puzzle on the right: Deja WooWookreriver: Sort of likee here? All Wound UpThe locomotive is definitely a clockwork or wind-up toy. If you look carefully you can see the stem of the key sticking out of the left (or outer) side of the engine once you see that you can see the handle of the key fairly easily. Interesting that locomotive and cars all appear to be made from tinplate. By this time move American manufactures of toy trains - and most toys in fact - had gone over to plastics. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but I can't see any evidence to suggest that this set was manufactured by Louis Marx and Co. I'm wondering if this might not have been a cheap import of the short you bought when you weren't sure your son was old enough for a Lionel train set. PinballI think the toy behind the plane's wings is a marble pinball - maybe my brother had one something like this. You can see the metal pocket for the spring at right and there are rims to guide the marbles into the targets under the circus animals. Saving for a rainy dayI believe that's a Bank of America piggy bank truck on the left. I wonder if it came with instructions to save your pennies, because some executive was going to waste them, 50 years into the future, and earn himself a billion dollar bailout bonus. My Marx BrotherThe train set was definitely a Louis Marx Co. product, likely made in the USA at that time. For Christmas of 1953, when I was 7, my parents got me the Lionel "027" black & gold Erie diesel freight train set I'd admired so much in the catalogue that year. And either that Christmas or the next, in age-appropriate dialectical materialism, they got my brother (4 1/2 years my junior) a Marx wind-up metal train similar to the one in this photo. His had the same Union Pacific diesel (though only one unit in his set), the same UP caboose (behind the shooting-gallery birds in the picture) and two-rail track, but with different freight cars, though I can't recall their exact markings now. SmittyThat Smith-Miller truck on the far left is worth a pretty penny today. The company is still manufacturing toys, but for adults. Check out the company history here: http://smittytoytrucks.com/AboutUs.htm Very interesting read for all of you treasure hunters out there. A pretty good haul that year.The road grader was made in Rockford IL by the Nylint Toy Company and wasn't cheap. It sold for $7.95 in 1954. Nylint started production in 1947 and continued until succumbing to the changing economy in 2001. One of my childhood friends' uncle was the company president and he got all the new toys each Christmas. But sadly, he never thought to ask for an extra or two for the neighborhood kids. Damnit. 30 Seconds Over TokyoWaht do you think the chances are that that B-25 was made in Japan? Talk about irony. Marx M10005 Train setThe train set is indeed a Marx wind up set. It was made in the USA, at the Marx factory in Girard, PA. The cars are 6 Inch Tin, and Marx continued to make tin sets all the way to 1974. (Christmas, Michigan Kodachromes)
Leaving Town: 1959
... Street View. View Larger Map A Christmas Story. Hammond, Indiana, was the home of Jean Shepherd, and locale ... 
 
Posted by Cazzorla - 05/27/2014 - 10:33am -

I purchased this slide dated December 1959 at a swap meet. There was no other information printed on it. Where could this be? View full size. Possibly in INThere was a Mandel's Reliable Furniture in Hammond, Indiana. So that's a place to start, but given that Hammond is on the border between Gary and Chicago, and that this is the age of the car, the ad on the bus bench could pretty far away. Anyway, it's a start. You Are HereLet's try Hammond, Indiana. Mandel's Reliable FurnitureDavid Roth Mandel, 93 of Munster, IN passed away on Monday, February 17, 2014. He was the owner of Mandel's Reliable Furniture in Hammond, IN. David Roth Mandel obituary Mandel'sLooks like Mandel's Reliable Furniture and Star Sheet Metal Works were both in Hammond, Indiana. But I'm guessing I'm not the first person to get that far. Recently Deceased OwnerObituary David Roth Mandel, 93 of Munster, IN passed away on Monday, February 17, 2014. David was the owner of Mandel's Reliable Furniture in Hammond, IN. Birth: Apr. 16, 1920 Death: Feb. 17, 2014 Hammond, Indiana, perhaps?I did a google search and found: MANDEL'S RELIABLE FURNITURE CO. 544 State St. Ph. WE 2-2910 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nwitimes/obituary.aspx?pid=169753768 http://newspaperarchive.com/us/indiana/hammond/hammond-times/1969/03-02/... Star Sheet Metal WorksListed June, 1961 STAR SHEET METAL WORKS, INC. ESTABLISHED 1910 General and Industrial Sheet Metal 5334-5338 Sohl Avenue--Hammond, Ind. WEstmore 2-0633 http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/54752482/ Star Sheet MetalStar Sheet Metal was at 5334 Sohl Avenue in Hammond, Indiana. The building is still there, recognizable in Google Street View. View Larger Map A Christmas Story.Hammond, Indiana, was the home of Jean Shepherd, and locale of many of his stories. Bus StopLooks like she was waiting on State Street. The white building with tan brick next to the car is still there. If you "drive" down Sohl Avenue you can see it. The parking lots are still there, just fenced now. Here's the Street View of where she was standing: View Larger Map Great detective work!Thanks to everyone for the great detective work in finding out the location of the photo! Wrong Date?Hammond might be correct but you wouldn't expect to see green foliage and short sleeves in December. [Slide mounts were printed with the month the film was developed. -tterrace] Hard work aheadWell, it looks like the Shorpy Nation has solved the easy part. Now let's find out who the woman is... PerspectiveIt's fascinating. I've been trying to discover the exact location of the bench and the camera angle. The puzzle led me to the concrete bases of the 'parking' obelisks to be discovered, in the streetview pics right next to the fence on the right. The back one is crooked, the front one is right next to the fence. Lincoln YearThe year 1959 was Abraham Lincoln's 150th birthday, so Indiana honored him by replacing the "Drive Safely" slogan on their passenger car license plates with "Lincoln Year." An example of the license plate is below. The "Drive Safely" slogan was used all other years from 1956 through 1962. The car in the parking lot is a 1954 Chevrolet 210 Deluxe Series 4 door sedan, the mid-level model between the lower model 150 Special Series and the upper model Bel Air. Base price was $1,771 and it weighed 3,230 pounds. This was the first year that Chevy offered power steering ($135), power brakes ($38), power front seat ($86), and electric front windows ($86). With 235,146 of this model produced it was the Deluxe Series' most popular model. One more thingI'm always amazed at the detective work done by Shorpy members. I am a bit surprised, however, that the make and model of the car hasn't been mentioned. It's a 1954 Chevy. With all due respectThat's a 1936 Smoot-Hawley, sporting the 582 cubic inch triple overhead cam option and it looks to have about 61,379 miles on the odometer, give or take a league or two. Ambient temperature is 38 degrees centigrade, the highest recorded figure for the month of February in Old Lower East Flotsam, Connecticut, since they began keeping records in 1612. Oil filter needs changing. ActuallyThe first year for power steering on Chevrolets was 1953, not 1954, according to original factory brochures, and it was offered on all models. Phone number and exchangeThe "Sheff" was the Sheffield exchange for Hammond. Growing up in Hammond, our phone number was Sheffield 9411M, with the M telling others that it was a party line. These prefixes were changed to WESTMORE (or 93x) as the phone system and the community grew. We were part of "Illinois Bell System" http://www.hhs59.com/bell.htm Enjoy! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Christmas: Early 50s
... in Haledon, New Jersey. View full size. re: Christmas Early 50s That's almost our floor lamp, almost our TV and very ... wunnerful; thanks! Cool I still have some of the Christmas ornaments my mother bought in the '50s. They are much like the ones ... 
 
Posted by Highdee - 09/18/2011 - 11:21pm -

This is my Grandmother Eleanor and my Mom, Sharon, in Haledon, New Jersey. View full size. re: Christmas Early 50sThat's almost our floor lamp, almost our TV and very close to our carpeting. We didn't have anything with that fuzzy-nap upholstering, but I've sat on things with it many times. I wonder what was in the gray hassock at the right; ours was red and (still is) full of 78rpm records. Did your mom become a nurse or a doctor? Wunnerful, wunnerful; thanks! CoolI still have some of the Christmas ornaments my mother bought in the '50s. They are much like the ones on that tree. And I know my dad had a ashtray like that tall one there. After a few years he threw out the stand and just kept the glass ashtray insert. I am curious as to what those two containers are under the tree. They look like an oatmeal can and a salt box. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)
Lunch Meet: 1942
... photo doesn't have the intrigue of our favorite office Christmas party, we do have the two people at the counter who are not stuffing ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2022 - 2:48pm -

July 1942. "Lunchtime in the wartime capital. People's Drug store on G Street N.W. at noon." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. People's #7Located at 1100 G Street NW across 11th Street from the Woodward & Lothrop department store, making it a very popular lunch spot. The building was razed in the mid 1960s. Odor SweetI reversed an image in a mirror. I'm at a loss as to what products would be stocked under the heading "Odor Sweet." It's not a great hook phrase for perfume. Thanks, Dave, for identifying the product. I'm gonna stick with my current deodorant, No Stink. A Rare Non-SightingMy completely unscientific impression is that this is the only known Shorpy picture of any establishment that doesn't feature a Coca Cola sign on, in or near the premises. How did Coke's marketing department, omnipresent even in 1942, miss these folks? [They didn't. ICE COLD. - Dave] Front of People's #7As an add-on to sshistory's comment below, Shorpy and Dave posted a pic of the front of People's #7 circa 1920 back on 11/27/2009 here: https://www.shorpy.com/node/7213 Pure AmericanaFascinating. Perhaps it's just my little area of Canada, but I've never seen a drugstore here with a lunch counter or serving milkshakes and floats. My experience goes back to the 1950s. It was the department stores that had the lunch counters, plus of course regular restaurants which also had booths and/or tables. And lining up to get service while people slowly ate their way through a sandwich or piece of pie just was never on. If it was that busy, you'd find somewhere else as there was plenty of choice. Different country, different mores. The Happy Couple?Although this photo doesn't have the intrigue of our favorite office Christmas party, we do have the two people at the counter who are not stuffing their faces but are participating in a stare-down. What's going through their minds? Are they a married couple, communicating with their facial expressions? Since they both are pretty blank, I doubt it. She seems to have raised eyebrows. Maybe it's an office romance. Is she saying, "We've got time before we have to get back to work." Maybe they're strangers just trying to figure each other out. Then, there are the man and woman behind them waiting not so patiently, trying to burn holes in the back of the sitting people heads with their stares, particularly the woman. You know she's thinking, "If you're done, would you get up already and get a room. I'm hungry." And the guy with his hands on his hips is about ready to pull someone out of their seats if they don't hurry up. There's a lot going on here for such a simple picture. Conundrum's conundrumConundrum, here's an article about the history of lunch counters at drug stores. They sounded like the fast food of the time - a quick lunch while you're shopping for other things. As for the people in line, I suspect they were crowded because Washington DC grew enormously during WW2. The influx of people must have overwhelmed the existing restaurants, and July 1942 may have been too soon for new restaurants to open. (The Gallery, D.C., Eateries & Bars, Marjory Collins)
Christmas 1959
... part to my brother's new magic set was not working by late Christmas morning. This was my second picture with the Argus C-Twenty camera I ... Vision Looks like somebody got a pair of binoculars for Christmas. I got a pair for Christmas when I was eleven, and I still use them, ... 
 
Posted by palm4springs - 05/16/2009 - 6:31pm -

In 1959, my engineer father was, as his expression shows, not happy that a part to my brother's new magic set was not working by late Christmas morning. This was my second picture with the Argus C-Twenty camera I received that day so long ago. For $29.95, the camera kit came with one 20-exposure roll of Kodachrome daylight, six No. 5 blue flashbulbs, plug-in flash gun, and a slide previewer. My parents spent an extra $4.79 for the top-grain leather case. For some reason, they never discarded the Fall-Winter 1959 Montgomery-Ward catalog in which the camera was featured. The catalog is now in my home. The camera served me well through high school, college and beyond. View full size. Double VisionLooks like somebody got a pair of binoculars for Christmas. I got a pair for Christmas when I was eleven, and I still use them, almost 40 years later. And the catalog...The catalog! What would it take to get you to scan and publish that? OrnamentalistYou can mostly make out your shape in the reflection in the ornament. Awesome! The kitchenThe dog sitting at the table is great! Some things will never change. Are we related??Gosh, your dad and mine could have been brothers! And he was very handy too. What a great photo! Do you have more from this special roll? An Argus C20My parents bought the same camera in 1958 or '59. My dad used it once - the pictures didn't come out and the camera was put away until I found it in 1974. I took it with us when we visited my mom's family in Chicago. Only a handful of the pictures survive today, but I still have the camera, flash & manual in storage. I know how he feelsBeing a parent, I think I was usually more upset than my son if something I bought for him did not work right. Forward Into the PastHope we'll see many more of the pictures from that Argus that served you so well! The dog...seems to be more interested in the magic on the plate of whoever is sitting at the table. What a great dad!God bless him. $29.95 in 1959 is serious money. And God bless the doggie hoping for scraps, with at least a slice of Christmas ham. BinocularityMy dad came back from Japan with a pair of binoculars, and they are still in that same case on my bookcase. They have "Made in Occupied Japan" stamped on them. Lead tinsel!Great stuff! Toxic and beautiful. Our cats specialized in gobbling it down, and then it would reappear a day or two later . . . (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)
Cold War Christmas: 1960
Christmas 1960. "Mrs. McKone, RB-47 wife." John McKone, an Air Force lieutenant ... of that time period. Military wives trying to make Christmas "normal" when the father wasn't there. I can remember a lot of ... grandkids with the story of his tinsel-filled diapers on Christmas morning. Xmess Wow. What awful Christmas trees we used to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/07/2008 - 3:27pm -

Christmas 1960. "Mrs. McKone, RB-47 wife." John McKone, an Air Force lieutenant whose plane was shot down over the Arctic Ocean by the Russians, came home in January 1961 after six months in Lyubyanka Prison. Blurry but atmospheric Kodachrome by Grey Villet, Life photo archive. View full size. Col. McKoneIn a 1996 interview Col. McKone discussed the incident in the context of the 1960 presidential elections. Richard Nixon's running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge, had been a harsh critic of Soviet behavior back when he was ambassador to the United Nations. The release of the two surviving crew members in early 1961 was seen by some as a goodwill gesture toward the new Kennedy administration. Wonderfully EvocativeSo evocative of that time period. Military wives trying to make Christmas "normal" when the father wasn't there. I can remember a lot of pictures like this being taken to send overseas. I'm sure there are a lot of similar shots being taken now. The rest of the story1 July 1960 A US Air Force ERB-47H Stratojet (53-4281) of the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, flying over the Barents Sea was downed by Soviet pilot Vasili Poliakov, flying a MiG-15 Fagot. Co-pilot Bruce Olmstead and navigator John McKone survived and were taken captive. The pilot, Bill Palm and ELINT operators Eugene Posa, Oscar Goforth and Dean Phillips were killed. Olmstead and McKone were released from Soviet captivity on January 25th, 1961. Bill Palm's remains were returned to the US on July 25, 1960. Eugene Posa's remains were recovered by the Soviets, but never returned to the US. It's nice but...It's a great picture but with these LIFE posts I'm starting to miss the 'History in HD' I'd like to see. If only Google could post higher resolution scans of these great photos. Holy Tinsel!I know helicopter parenting is a relatively new phenomenon, but I can't help worrying that the baby is going to pull those copious amounts of low-hanging tinsel down and eat it! Of course, that baby is probably sitting somewhere right now embarrassing his grandkids with the story of his tinsel-filled diapers on Christmas morning. XmessWow. What awful Christmas trees we used to have. At least it's not the aluminum one that was illuminated only by a a separate revolving light that changed the entire tree to blue, then green, and then red. Those were the days. Lead TinselThe tinsel back then had lots of lead in it. As kids we'd wander the neighborhood the week after Christmas collecting tinsel off discarded trees and roll it into heavy marble sized balls. Appreciate the comment about military wivesThis picture could almost have been my mother, my sister and I, and our baby brother, one of the four years that Dad was away serving our country during Christmas. Having a parent in the military requires sacrifice from the rest of the family, too. Major Eugene PosaMy grandfather was Major Eugene Posa. I grew up never knowing much about him, since my Grandmother could never bear to talk about what happened. I knew bits and pieces throughout the years and finally in my Grandmothers last years she was able to speak about my Grandfather. She was never truly the same since news of his disappearance and it had lasting effects on both my mother and my aunt who were 10 and 11 when it happened. I have always been interested and have read all I could find regarding what happened. However one day I hope the where abouts of my Grandfathers remains will be known. So we can give him the proper burial he so deserves. That is all my Grandmother ever wanted. (Christmas, Kids, LIFE)
The Girl: 1911
... alone in the whole world. Powerful photo. Tidings from Christmas Past And from the foldings of its robe, the spirit brought two ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/20/2009 - 12:45am -

1911. "The girl works all day in a cannery." Location unspecified but possibly Mississippi. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. HauntingThat stare will stay with me for a long long time. I knew I'd seen that look before!Dave, I've spent half the day trying to remember why this picture looked so familiar; I'd decided that it must be because you posted a picture of a young boy with the same freckles and look (presumably, her brother) about a year or so back. And now I know... Still photographyNo, this is not a hard stare, this is a difficult holding still for the picture. We forget how long people had to stand still in the old pictures. This girl may have had to hold mannequin still up to ten minutes depending on equipment and conditions. In the really old ones like civil war it could be twenty minutes. that's why people didn't smile, it was just too hard to hold an expression that long. Even if a flash pan were used it would still take 30-90sec of posing, which by today's instant standards is still a long time to hold your pose. [You're thinking maybe of the early years (1840s-1850s) of photography, when daguerreotype exposures could last a few minutes. The exposure time for emulsions in the Civil War era would be a few seconds at most for outdoor shooting. Lewis Hine's circa 1910 outdoor exposures would have been made in a fraction of a second. - Dave] Afghanistan USAAlmost everyone remembers the National Geographic girl from Afghanistan cover years ago. This image ranks with it in emotion. SpottedI had freckles like that as a child. They only come out when you get lots of sunshine. She didn't spend all of her summers indoors despite the caption. I'm not suggesting she didn't have a hard life, just reading her freckles. No need to read the caption...This is instantly recognisable as a Hine photo, the look on the kid's face is practically his trademark. Drawn InThis is the face that initially drew me into Shorpy.com, as it is the icon/link from the fabulous Plan59 site. I have to admit I have searched long and hard to see the full photo, and now that I have, it hits me like a 9-pound sledge. This child, who was probably treated as an expendable, faceless entity in her life of labor, could not have dreamed what impact she would have almost 100 years after she "had her picture made". Thanks for posting it. [This photo has been on the site for almost exactly two years (originally posted May 21, 2007). Every now and then we like to move the exceptional images out front for their moment in the sun. - Dave] Roy Batty's Grandmother?She's seen things we would not believe. HardshipWhen you didn't know anything else or any other life, it wasn't hardship. It was life. You worked hard -- whether it was at your family's farm or a factory. You played when you could and you found joys in little things. Reading emotion and meaning into anyone's stare from Shorpy is a tricky thing. Some of us would find it a bit offensive to read despair and hopelessness into our stare just because we worked hard and happened to wonder who in the world was taking our picture. WowI just can't believe the despair and hopelessness captured in this 98-year old photograph. Our self-centered youth of today have no idea what true hardship is. Thanks for giving us a perspective and a glance back at our past. No wonder we have the greatest nation on earth - our forebears were hardy folks. Spooky BeautifulI feel like her eyes can see straight through to my soul. Still, she looks like a sweetie and I want to give her a hug and brush her hair from her forehead. The Eyes Have ItI don't know where to start. Her gaze goes right through you. It's hard to believe someone so young can have a face that says so much about hardship. We see many of these faces on Shorpy. Boring into your soul.Talk about a 1000 yard stare! BackgroundThe lifeless grungy background of this just makes it all the more haunting. Most of Hine's photographs show working conditions or some kind of melancholy scenic background, but this makes it feel like she's alone in the whole world. Powerful photo. Tidings from Christmas PastAnd from the foldings of its robe, the spirit brought two children. They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish ... Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. "Spirit! are they yours?" Scrooge could say no more. "They are Man's, and they cling to me, fleeing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, for on their brow I see written "Doom." "Have they no refuge or resource?" cried Scrooge. "Are there no prisons?" said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. "Are there no workhouses?" The bell struck twelve. FrecklesToo bad we didn't have color photos from back then. With all those freckles she probably had pretty red hair. It's just a lookYou can see the same sort of looks on any kid. Take a look at her for instance. It's not all hardship and despair that we see in these old photos. LikewiseThe stare is freaking me out, too. Regarding the stareI'm not saying the girl in the photo didn't have a hard life because she probably did. However, I work in a middle school and I see that piercing, serious stare in current photos every day, even when the occasion is a happy and proud one. I don't know what the reason was for this young lady's dark stare, but our kids tell me it's just "not cool" to smile in a posed photograph. No reason was given as to why is that so. Just the other day they were photographed by a local newspaper because they won a state tournament and the right to go to the national competition. Their picture showed them as if they were about to attend a funeral. Go figure..... I get this look every dayMy 5-year-old daughter has a stare like this. When she was younger, she'd stare at the people behind us in the checkout line and freak out the other shoppers. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Public Square, Cleveland: 1907
... best known for its appearance in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (1983), where young Ralphie drools over a Red Ryder ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:33pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1907. "Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Public Square." This Civil War monument was dedicated July 4, 1894. Panorama made from two 8x10 glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Memories I waited for the Number 20 bus daily 1972 through 1976 while a schoolboy across the street from this fine monument. The local men who served in the Civil War have their names displayed on the walls on the inside. [One commenter speculated that the monument housed public toilets. - Dave] ComplexThat is an impressive piece of work. Anyone know what was housed in the base of the monument? And, yes, that bicycle looks really lonely just standing there. Details, details.Love the sprinklers, and am curious who would leave a brand new bike just sitting there unlocked. Things to comeNote the harness company sign in the upper left, and, in the streets below, a few examples of the machines that would be the death of that industry. Public vs. individualAlways amazing, how much public transport one can see in these old photos, and how little private transport (shank's mare excluded). Obesity was not much of a problem then and even portly people got up and down stairs well, I suppose. Fascinating picture.Do you know if it was shot from one camera at different times or two cameras simultaneously? If it was a single camera I'm curious if some of the people, and particularly some of the trolleys and carriages appear in both photos? [The exposures were not made simultaneously. Below, the individual plates and their Photoshop marriage. Note the visitor at the base of the monument, present only in the lefthand image, and the difference in the height of the shadows on the wall. - Dave] Below, an initial and not very satisfactory attempt. Drugs/dentistPresumably, one pops upstairs for some of Marshall's cut rate drugs after one has been to the "painless" dentistry below? And after that, off to the church across the road to pray for the pain to go away. Same scene 50 years onHere's an interesting view my father took of the same area in the late 1950s. Floral emblemsI assume the artwork carved into the vegetation around the monument are some type of unit insignias? I notice one for the Corps of Engineers and another for the Signal Corps. ViewpointThe camera is on the southeast corner of Public Square. You can see the edge of the old May Co. building on the left edge of the picture. The location of the Terminal Tower complex would be where the Stein Cafe is in the photo. Signs of the timesThe old street scenes have several things in common. Signs for painless dentistry, cigars and cut rate drugs. Remembering going to the dentist starting about 1950 I have to question the painless statement. InsideThe monument houses a small museum. The photos were taken from the southeast. The Terminal Tower is to the southwest. A great tribute to Ohio's Civil War VetsThat is an amazing monument! When you compare the white objects (dresses/lamp globes) to the white stripes in the American Flag, the air pollution of the day is evident. Old Glory even looks weighted down. Fortunately, it still remains a great monument. I want to go see it. It has its own website: http://soldiersandsailors.com/ Re: Floral EmblemsIf you look closely, the same emblems are carved in the upper portion of the base of the monument. These are the symbols of the different elements of the Union Army 1861-1865. [You can see a close-up here. - Dave] You'll shoot your eye out!Ah yes, The Higbee Company (left) forerunner of the iconic Higbee's department store (in nearby Terminal Tower), perhaps best known for its appearance in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (1983), where young Ralphie drools over a Red Ryder carbine-action Range Model (etc., etc.) BB gun in the window. Statue of "Liberty"When I was a boy, an older friend of our family gave me a tour of this monument and told me that the statue on top was "Liberty" and was deliberately placed facing north with sword unsheathed because, in the years after the Civil War, there was some ill-will with Canada and even some fear that Canada would consider "invading" America and the Cleveland citizens put her up as a warning. Never sure if that was a true story (and have never been able to find a historical reference to it) but that's how I heard it more than 50 years ago. THANK YOU!!Thank you very much for sharing this photo. I have a collection of 4 photos from about the same time (very low quality), that were passed down through ancestors and I was having trouble identifying. Then I came across your photo that has the same Stein Cafe and King Harness signs. This helped me identify the angle and roughly date my photographs. I am enclosing a scaled down version here. Thanks again for sharing. (Panoramas, Civil War, Cleveland, DPC, Streetcars)
Read All About It: 1903
... thought that was just an "I Love Lucy" gag. Life Christmas 1902. Peel Me an Adjective One has to wonder if prosy (meaning ... which only survives in contemporary use as part of "A Christmas Carol". Still, "changes a prosy dinner into a poem" has to be one ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:35pm -

New York circa 1903. "A characteristic sidewalk newsstand." Who can help us date these period periodicals? Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Racy CoverWas a bit surprised at the provocative pose on the cover of Vanity Fair. I figured a more conservative display given the times. ElevatedAs soon as I saw this photo, I thought of a Martin Lewis print from the early 1930's that I have hanging on my living room wall. I wonder if it's the same station? In any case, both are great images. Scientific AmericanThe two Scientific Americans are the Dec. 13 and Dec. 20, 1902, issues. "Sunset"is the November 1902 issue. Tastes Good Because It Is GoodAn adman in 1903 had a damn easy job. "Figaro Illustré"Above the guy with the hands in his pockets to the right, "Figaro Illustré" is the December 1902 issue. http://www.journaux-collection.com/fiche.php?id=356185 The Art of WarThe art print in the center is of British soldiers fighting in the Boer War. ArgosyThe Argosy on the lower right (below "Success") is the January 1903 issue. Harper'sI know that Aram identified the Harper's Magazine as being dated Oct. 4, 1902. But I found the same cover dated Jan. 3, 1903. [Harper's used the Statue of Liberty cover a number of times. - Dave] Poetic gelatinI don't have anything to share about the magazines, except to marvel at the variety available. I would like to know how Knox Gelatine can turn a "prosy" dinner into a poem. Because everything tastes better when it's gelatinous? "Success"The January 1903 issue. Florodora CigarsDo you think that is Evelyn Nesbit pictured on the cigar sign? The timing would be right as she was a sought-after model as well as a "Florodora Girl." Harper'sThe Harper's with the Statue of Liberty is the October 4, 1902, issue. Thank you, everyoneI have nothing to add except to note my good fortune and gratitude at finding this site. The photos are, of course, brilliant. But the background research of the commenters is both amazing and entertaining. As soon as I saw the array of magazine covers, I knew that a deluge of crowd source detail was going to flood in. I'm rarely disappointed. Thanks, everyone. I'm off to Google Street view to check out the neighborhood mentioned by jsmakbkr. The locationappears to be 23rd Street just east of Sixth Avenue, facing south and looking toward the "new" (i.e. after 1896) location of drygoods company James McCreery & Co., at 64 West 23rd Street (less than a block west of the not-yet-completed Flatiron building). It looks like there is still a newsstand there, next to the subway entrance. The McCreery building, however, is gone. Magazine of MysteryJust to the lower right of the Boer War art print is the "Magazine of Mysteries", which covered topics from pragmatic vegetarianism to divine emanations. A 1901 ad for the magazine reads: Remember the Name MAGAZINE OF MYSTERIES A Large Magazine, Beautifully Illustrated, Containing Special Articles by Adept Writers, Mystics, Astrologers and Yogis, explaining the MYSTERIES of Dreams and their Meanings, Glorified Visions, Occult Powers, Astrology, Hypnotism, Psychology, Telepathy, Psychometry, Magnetism, Soul Charming, Clairvoyance, Graphology, Palmistry, Hidden Powers, Spiritualism, etc. THE ONLY MAGAZINE OF THE KIND PUBLISHED IN THE WHOLE WORLD. THE MOST PHENOMENAL SUCCESS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. ALL are delighted with it, because it tells ALL how to get Occult or Psychic power and force, which make for Health, Wealth and Happiness. $1.00 A YEAR, 3 MONTHS FOR 25 CENTS; SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS. For sale at news stands, bookstores, hotels, and on the railroad trains, or mailed direct by the publishers. Address THE MAGAZINE OF MYSTERIES 22 North William St., New York City. On the purely physical plane, the editors recommended chewing your food 40 times before swallowing. And I always thought that was just an "I Love Lucy" gag. LifeChristmas 1902. Peel Me an AdjectiveOne has to wonder if prosy (meaning dull, ordinary, the root word for the now-common prosaic) was a common word 110 or so years ago, or if the copywriters were educated to the level that they didn't care if the general public really understood their advertising slogans. Obviously there are fads and trends in language. Humbug, for instance, was a common 19th century word, which only survives in contemporary use as part of "A Christmas Carol". Still, "changes a prosy dinner into a poem" has to be one of the worst advertising slogans ever, even by 1903 standards. Who the heck wants to EAT poetry? The Knox ad people were reading too much of it. Delightful detailsThanks Shorpy, I love this photo.. from the randomness of the social interactions and expressions of folks on the street, to the wonderful display of all those old magazines and that cute little Tutti-Frutti dispenser. Great clarity and detail. Santa ClausWhat's the magazine with Santa Claus on the cover? [It's the "Juvenile Number" of The Housekeeper. Right next to Toilette. - Dave] Rye Whiskey Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey I CraveAt one time Baltimore or Maryland Rye Whiskey was the choice of many, especially before Prohibition.      As a Marylander I did my civic duty and had my share of Pikesville Rye and I knew I became a man two days after my 21st birthday when I had the traditional shot of Pikesville Rye with my extended family on Christmas Day. I still keep a pint around the house for my Christmas shot and use as a cold remedy. Family lore has it that my grandfather kept all well during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic by administering ample shots to anyone with a sniffle then making them go to bed while being covered with many many many blankets. This caused the patient to sweat out the bug and thus break the fever. I tried this a few times myself and used it when traditional medicine failed. You wake in the morning feeling weak but the bug is usually gone. History of Maryland Rye. Is this the place?"Olde New York" at 00:21 in the clip. Re: ElevatedAnonymous Tipster, you are indeed fortunate to own the Martin Lewis print, "Snow on the 'El'" (1931). Here is what the book, "The Prints of Martin Lewis, A Catalogue Raisonne", by Paul McCarron, has to say about the location of the "El" in your print: "The location depicted in this print is Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue." (p. 174) The previous comment made by jsmakbkr is therefore correct in its identification of the location in the photo. It would appear that the "El" in your print and the "El" in the photo are one and the same. How neat. Harper's WeeklyThe issue of HARPER'S WEEKLY shown is the January 10 1903 issue. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
One Gun, One Bunny: 1922
Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Denby Christmas tree." Junior remembers this as the best Christmas ever! His gun-giving dad is Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby. ... Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Christmas Presents Wonder what she got for Easter. A Santa Claus doll? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/02/2012 - 6:55pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Denby Christmas tree." Junior remembers this as the best Christmas ever! His gun-giving dad is Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Christmas PresentsWonder what she got for Easter. A Santa Claus doll? Happy Days were not aheadEdwin Denby Jr., 10 years old in this photo, was killed in WWII aboard the USS Shark submarine in February 1942 in the South Pacific. He was 29. http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/denby-e.htm Wow!The mouldings in this house are amazing! And the ceiling is insanely high, even by Victorian standards. Those walls look to be at least 16 feet. The sideboard seems like an Empire (mahogany piece) with a wonderful bevel mirror). And I happen to have a few different sizes of antique tin boxes (cash boxes) like the one in front of "junior". They are black with gold and red stripes, and the interior usually has a removable tin tray. Not .410, probably .22It's single-shot and break action, but if you blow up the picture you can see it has an octagonal crowned barrel, a blade front sight and a leaf-type rear sight. Thus, a rifle, not a shotgun. Conceivably not a .22, but some small caliber, and a .22 seems most likely. [So not a .22, but a .22? If you say so. - Dave] There will be blood.Denby is the guy who transferred the naval oil reserves (Teapot Dome) to Albert Fall's Interior Dept in the Harding Administration in 1922. Fall got bribes to lease the lands to Harry Sinclair (Sinclair Oil) and oilman Edward Doheny, the basis of the main character in Upton Sinclair's novel Oil, and who was played by Daniel Day Lewis in the film There Will Be Blood. Given the timing of this photo, one wonders exactly what is on Denby's mind, besides the clear danger the bunny might be in. Uh oh!She gets a rabbit, he gets a rifle. Trouble ahead. Deja VuDidn't we Shorpyites previously see another Denby Christmas Tree? I (think) that I remember it as quite lacking when compared to this one. [You are perhaps thinking of the Dickey family. - Dave] There I go, confusing my Denbys and my Dickeys again. - Mal Hunting seasonNo doubt Junior will be using his sister's Christmas bunny as a target next week. Rifle MinutiaeI am in agreement with "jwp". It looks like a Remington Sporting Rifle No. 4. Single shot octagon barrel, 22 short and long caliber. (also manufactured in 32 caliber) Made from 1890 to 1933. Her bunny is safe but other critters may not be. My non-expert guessLooks to me like a single-shot break-action shotgun, probably 410 gauge, which is not much of a power house. Friend of mine got shot in the small of his back with a 410 from less than a foot away, while getting out of a car with some other hunters (one of them obviously really clumsy) and he survived. Of course he wasn't a soft little bunny. Rifle IdentificationThe rifle is a "Crack shot" model .22 caliber manufactured by the J. Stevens Arms & Tool company. Stevens was the company that developed and introduced the .22 LR round. Arguably the most popular and widely shot rifle/pistol round in history. A Remington Rolling Block It IsOne of the most elegant guns ever made... it's hard to see how there could have been fewer moving parts. Denby Sr.Edwin Denby Sr. is an interesting guys outside of his Teapot Dome involvement. He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private in 1917 at age 47 and was discharged in 1919 as a Major. There had been a large number of mail robberies in 1921 so when appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1921 he ordered that the Marines be used to guard mail trucks and trains. The Marines had a simple instruction: if two Marines were guarding the mail and a robber had them covered, they weren't to put up their hands but both go for their guns. The robber might get one of them but the other would get the robber. "When our Corps goes in as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered, or there must be a Marine dead at the post of duty. There can be no compromise." Remington #4That is a Remington #4 Rolling Block,single shot take down rifle, you can see the take down lever on the side of the receiver.To load you must first cock the hammer and then pull back on the breechblock to expose the chamber then insert the cartridge and push the breechblock closed, you are now ready to fire. Like dddlensman said most likely a .22 rimfire but possibly a .32. A very nice present. (The Gallery, Animals, Christmas, Kids, Natl Photo)
Aluminum Christmas: 1964
It’s Christmas 1964: snow lying heavily on the ground, gifts under the tree and the ... came from Santa, so this photo must have been taken on Christmas Eve. Left to right, slippers for Father, a Johnny Seven for one of ... I got the dolls and cradle shown on the right. Merry Christmas to my fellow Shorpy-ites. View full size. Colored poms? ... 
 
Posted by Hoople365 - 12/21/2012 - 7:56pm -

It’s Christmas 1964: snow lying heavily on the ground, gifts under the tree and the house redolent with the evocative aroma of … aluminum. I believe my parents agreed to buy this tree so that Mother wouldn’t be vacuuming up pine needles until Easter. I still have this tree, (and the color wheel) although it’s not quite as fluffy as shown here. My parents had a policy that the un-wrapped gifts came from Santa, so this photo must have been taken on Christmas Eve. Left to right, slippers for Father, a Johnny Seven for one of my brothers and a rudimentary ice-cream maker that came in handy during the Summer months. On the right is a BB gun that was confiscated by Father later, but my older brother probably consoled himself playing with the slot-car track. Yes, it was a pretty good life in my town of Undisclosed Location. Oh, me? I got the dolls and cradle shown on the right. Merry Christmas to my fellow Shorpy-ites. View full size. Colored poms?Hoople365, Those colored poms about the middle of the tree.. Are those ornaments or part of the tree? Love It!Oh how I wish I had our aluminum tree with the creaky color wheel. I spent countless hours oohing and aahing at the tree changing from red, green, blue (my fav), and yellow. Such a typical Christmas, always a gun, slot cars, or hot wheels,and dolls. I asked my parents about the tree a few years ago, thought it would be retro cool but sadly they threw it away. Enjoy it while you can! Classic 1964 Christmas morning Every little boy on our street wanted a Johnny Seven. How could you resist seven guns in one. The tree is a classic. We actually had the same tree, until our dog destroyed it one Christmas day while we were out. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Nick Noir: 1924
... and forehead, and...) Ho No I'm dreaming of a noir Christmas. Gaaa I am officially freaked out. What kind of goofball ... that guy's shoulder--somebody's getting a balalaika this Christmas! Or maybe the instruments were packaged separately from the Russian ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 1:55pm -

New York, December 1924. "Unloading Railway Express car." When the sleigh's in the shop, Santa might have to hijack a truck. 5x7 glass negative. View full size. ChuckyThe face on the guy helping him load makes me shiver. Nightmare city. CreepyThis is one of the creepiest photos I have seen on Shorpy. The evil clown guy on the truck is going to give me nightmares. Special delivery"Quit clowning around! This box of coal is heavy!" ElvishSanta's beard is definitely the real thing, but that clown face is the thing of nightmares! This SantaI had to chuckle - people are always commenting about how much thinner people are in general in these old pictures. Now I see that even Santa was eating a lower-fat and -sugar diet back then! Disturbing in so many ways...I think it's the clown mask on the guy in the back of the truck. Creepy! Looks like they're loading UP a really bad little boy, possibly for shipment back to the North Pole to work in Santa's Secret Toy Mines until he's "reformed." The fact that there are no air holes is the crate is a bit worrisome ... but poor little Carl was really asking for it. Sorry, but there were a few kids in my neighborhood growing up whose disappearance would have been an occasion of almost universal delight! (And I suspect every neighborhood has one or two...) Awfully coldThe guy inside the truck, taking the package from Santa, seems to have a bad case of frostbite. Jack frost has nipped at his nose (and cheeks, and forehead, and...) Ho NoI'm dreaming of a noir Christmas. GaaaI am officially freaked out. What kind of goofball thinks that a delivery man in clown makeup somehow blends with the xmas theme? And I think Santa needs to get back to eating meat, as his vegan (or bourbon) diet has left him looking remarkably un-Santa-like. Auto deliveryDo you suppose that is the Packard pedal car they are unloading? Santa's little helperI don't know why but that little clown midget gives me the creeps! Santa's Little Helper... is kinda creepy looking. Just Say No To ClownsI didn't realize how many other people found clowns so creepy. So it's not just me. Back In The Yule S.S.R.Look over that guy's shoulder--somebody's getting a balalaika this Christmas! Or maybe the instruments were packaged separately from the Russian band members they hired that are in that box. Man, they had a dreadful flight. You know that tune?Magic Mose & his Royal Rockers, featuring "Blind Sam," from 1984, on Arf! Arf! Records? Fark! The Herald Angels SingMerry Farkmas. Who can spot the entry referencing particle physics and quantum theory? Shrod... schreu... scschrod..., That CatPresumably you mean the first one, "Dead cat - maybe." [Izzactly. Catwise that is. The first one when I look is Squashed Santa. - Dave] That's 'cuz I wasn't paying attention. - tt Edwin and BettieThe folks at Fark have "unique" minds when they work references to Schrodinger's Cat and the recently departed Bettie Page into their Farking of Shorpy's Christmas photos! [You'll notice that the uniqueness collapses as soon as you look at the post. - Dave] Gallery AdditionNominate for the Scary Clowns gallery. [Done! - Dave] Guy behind Santa:I just KNOW I'll be blamed for this. Yes, that is exactly whatYes, that is exactly what they are doing – delivering the Packard pedal car. Santa and the scary clown are shown in the same outfits here in Wanamaker’s Department Store in New York City. https://www.shorpy.com/node/5140 Merry Christmas Colorized itHad a go at colorizing it here. Cheers! (The Gallery, Christmas, Farked, G.G. Bain, NYC, Scary Clowns)
Songbird: 1921
... It's Elaine! She used this photo on her Christmas card. Flashed Yikes. Obviously this revealed a bit more than ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 8:25pm -

One of three circa 1921 glass negatives in the Bain archive labeled "Orloff." Who can identify this diaphanously draped mystery girl? The photo would have been taken in or around New York. George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. I betthose are real. Showgirl Fina OrloffSince there is a pretty good chance that this young lady was a showgirl, I checked the IBDB. There was a Broadway performer named Fina Orloff who performed in "The Magic Melody." Wotta hottie!And just think, she's only around 110 years old now. Where's my time machine! It's curtains for Mme. OrloffHere's an idea. How about you drape yourself in this seductive sheer curtain panel and we'll fasten it closed with a straight pin. Oh, and the granny panties are a perfect touch, baby! [I think that's a granny girdle. - Dave] It's Elaine!She used this photo on her Christmas card. FlashedYikes. Obviously this revealed a bit more than she intended. Orloff MeYou took my sheet, And my parakeet, So why not Take Orloff me? Wait a minuteGrandma?! Nice KeetsReminds me of that great old song by Jud Strunk, "Biggest Parakeets in Town." After holding them and petting them, She gets a thrill in letting them Go swingin' from the ceiling to the ground. Ask anyone who's seen 'em, It's hard to choose between 'em 'Cause she's got the biggest parakeets in town! There it is."Yikes. Obviously this revealed a bit more than she intended." I had to go back and look. Foy loves FinaI love you, Fina. Foy Las vegas "One of"?"One of three circa 1921 glass negatives in the Bain archive labeled 'Orloff'." And, ah, where are the other two? [All in good time. - Dave] Fina OrloffBased on this suggestion, I did some sleuthing. I was able to find a passport application from 1921 for an Esfira Umans, "professionally known as Fina Orloff." There's a photo too, but I couldn't really tell if it's the same person. Although there are some similarities in the strong features. Interestingly, Miss Orloff is one of several young ladies planning a trip to Mexico for "professional business": Lilian White, professionally known as Lilyan White. Marie McCabe, professionally known as Marie Dow. Elizabeth Allen, professionally known as Elizabeth Rohan. Lillian Rich, no stage name given. Some of the applications are witnessed by Martin M. Garner. "professionally known as Jack Mason," Manager - Friar's Club - 48th St., NYC. Perhaps the F on Miss Orloff's jersey is for "Friar's"? I also saw a reference to "Jack Mason's NY Rev" (Revue?) on the signature line of one witness. I then looked up the passport application for Jack Mason/Martin Garner and found one for a Martin Manton Garner, "professionally known as Jack Mason," which is accompanied by a letter from the Franklin Chapman Company to the Secretary of State, Passport Department, requesting assistance in obtaining passports for members of the company who are traveling to Mexico to participate in the Centennial Exposition at invitation of the Mexican Government. The names of the above ladies as well as several other people appear in this letter. So it appears these girls were going to Mexico for legitimate "professional business," although these photos seem to indicate they have less professional occupations! Not sure of the relationship of the Franklin Chapman Company to the Friar's Club. In any case, not sure if this does much to identify the young lady as Miss Orloff but thought you and some of you readers might find this information interesting. Thanks for the great site! Ms. OrloffShe was a famous striptease artist -- first name Tayket. I seeI see one of "the girls" but where is the other? Very pretty photo anyway! [Here and here. - tterrace] (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Portraits, Pretty Girls)
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