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- Office Xmas Party: 1925
- ... . . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy ... then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for ... Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -
![ It's two Fridays before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 98 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.
December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Leer Kings"That Guy" looks like he could be the son of the older leering man directly to the right of him. I shall call them Denis Leery Jr. and Denis Leery Sr. The two men with them are obviously Christopher Walken as The Continental, and a young Franz Mesmer.
Just a little creepy....Some of the looks on their faces, wouldn't you love to know what they were thinking!
Debauchery 2.0Four years after behaving scandalously at the Krazy Kat, our bohemian friends find themselves slogging away at desk jobs in the boring adult world. Just WAIT until the Christmas party, though!
The oil canOf course the bear and the cabin weren't mentioned -- everyone knows the best part of the party is getting well-oiled!
Thank you. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your server.
H.P. Lovecraft?Could it be? Standing in front of the "Go Go" guy, half hidden? Maybe Franz Kafka, instead? This would be the guy who takes an extra-long time in the lav in order to scratch unseemly things onto the stall partitions. Every office has one of these guys and in this office, its either him or else its the nearly invisible guy standing across from him on the other side of the tree. Also, the girl on the far left, standing in front of the door, is unforgivably cute. I'll bet she's told a lot of these guys "NO" and that's why she's way over there.
The Power Bloc ...Have you happened to notice how Big Boss Man - the guy holding that little stubby cigar - is surrounded by thugly-type guys? This is the power bloc for this office. The guys up on the top left are all from a different Department and are wary of Big Boss Man's thugs. There is a little bit of cross-pollenation, however. The first guy standing on the table at the right is shooting a bemused glance in the direction of his bud in that other Department. He's the shorter, unjacketed guy with the full frontal grin and the eyebrows in serious need of plucking. To them, this is all a goof. They hang out together and keep each other informed as to who says what about whom, which of the girls are doable and what the scuttlebutt is coming down from the top. There's more here but I don't want to get censored.
A Story in every faceThis photo can inspire everyone to write a novel because there is indeed a colorful character with his own personal bio in every set of eyes. The bald guy with the candle on his head particularly stands out as one who has a complex persona but so does everybody else in the picture. Some appear depressed, some look beat up, some seem desperate. Make up your own scenarios. Personally, I used to look forward to the office parties when the most unexpected facets of co-workers' personalities would be revealed, giving us the rest of the year to talk about that until the next one. Stuffy old lady accountants and spinsters turned out to shock us the most when relaxed by a "touch of the grape". Lots of fun, too bad they have mostly been eliminated. Thank you for this blast from the past.
[That's a "GO-GO" traffic signal on Mr. Complex Persona's noggin. - Dave]
WiredCould it be that they tapped the power for the Christmas tree lights from the ceiling fixture?
What a mod hairdo!The brunette peeking from behind the desk (right above the black purse) has such a 1960's hairstyle!
Fat ChanceThe corpulent boss, stogie in hand, actually thinks that removing his glasses improves his appearance. He also seems to be playing footsie with the marcel-waved cutie who inexplicably has an oil can in front of her.
A KnockoutThe woman with the pearl necklace sitting at the very corner of the desk is a knockout! She looks like a present-day actress whose name escapes me. The guy standing up and glaring into the lens at the extreme top right of the photo may very well be the Antichrist. His stare gives me chills. The guy behind him looks like an "evil character" straight out of Central Casting. This is a great photo.
Thought BubblesIt would take me all day to write out thought bubbles for what I imagine is going through all those heads, but the lady at dead center seems to be thinking, "What was IN that punch? Did they repeal Prohibition and nobody told me?"
The "dark lady" downstage right is thinking, "I hope they snap that picture before I freeze to death down here on the bare floorboards. You would think the electric company would have better heaters in its own offices, but old man Pennyfarthing won't even spring for a rug to keep the draft out."
Western Electric (Shock Therapy)Great pic. And I'm sure there are as many stories as people in this one. But let's admit that the lady sitting on the floor on the left has to have the most interesting one. There is a haunted, post-experimental-therapy look to her that immediately reminded me of the psych-ward scenes in "Changeling."
Where's the copier?Ahhh, the days before every office had a copier, and every office had some joker trying to get the temp to sit on it!
Re: Fat ChanceWait -- so the oil can is worth noting, but not the bear statuette or the small house?
Western ElectricWestern Electric was the manufacturing and distribution arm of American Telephone and Telegraph. I suppose that this office in Washington was one of their distribution points. At any rate one interesting thing about the photo is the decided separation of men and women as though they might have come from different sections of the business. I also note that the ladies are sitting on a pretty rough floor, which is something I would have thought they would have avoided in those clothes. As to the glasses, I suspect that the photographer cautioned them that the flash might reflect from the lenses, assuming that I can assert that there was flash. Who knows, maybe there's a window somewhere.
That Office GirlI find her the most intriguing face in the picture. She looks almost out of place in this setting... her face is striking. Her expression says that she's part of a back story going on around the office that no one knows about.
Wow. I'm falling in love with a woman who's long long dead. How sad is that?
GiftedJudging by the peculiar items in the shot I'm thinking they exchanged white elephant gifts at the party. I got a big stuffed fish at our last party. I would have preferred the oil can.
This is so great!A bevy of attractive females here but I'm partial to the blond girl standing at the far left of the photo.
Wowzer!
Also, standing next to Boss Stogie on his left: ladies and gentlemen ... Mr. Joaquin Phoenix.
The Black WidowQuick somebody, get the story on the raven-haired woman sitting in front of the desk.
She looks like she ate her young; perhaps she has a few "missing" husbands buried in her dirt-floor basement.
I get the very distinct impression that if you crossed her, you ended up joining the silent majority long before your time.
Dark LadyWell.....the woman at bottom left certainly catches the eye. Something of a femme fatale, I think. Not generally popular with the more strait-laced ladies, like the woman two to her right who's giving her a very frosty look. The younger woman though, above and slightly to the left, is more sympathetic.
Since it's not uncommon here on Shorpy for unflattering comments to be directed at the olden-days womenfolk, let me be the first to say what a grim bunch the men are. I'll make an exception for the guy under the tree.
Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas PartyThe oil can on the foreground floor is absolutely precious. There can be no rational explanation for it. Then again, one tends to get oiled at the office party.
The hot babe is standing, far left, if not the girl sitting left, in pearls by the purse on the desk corner.
The fat guy with the cigar has his conjoined twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other? Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling us why that guy is holding the little horsey?
"Hey, Griselda. Spin my copter. If it says 'STOP - STOP', you are not mine. If it says 'Go - GO', oh you kid!"
Most riveting photo ever.I've been a lurker on Shorpy for months, but this photo has prompted me to register and comment. I've been coming back to this picture every day since it was posted, showing it to everyone I know.
What strikes me is that though there are several vintage-type characters here, there are also quite a few very contemporary looking people as well. This photograph represents such a vibrant living moment in the lives of these people. Some of them look like they could speak to you right from the picture. And, oh what a story they could tell!
This photo takes first place from my previous Shorpy favourite, They Shall Remain Nameless.
(But it's so close... check it out if you missed it.)
Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there ...
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen......hair! I think that's my favorite part of this picture. There's such a great group of hairstyles among the women. A few of those girls were pretty darn good with the curling iron, or whatever they used. I wonder if they're more glammed up than usual for the big party. For some reason, the hairstyles are more striking to me than in other pictures. Anyway, fascinating as always.
P.S. I think the guy that bdgbill thinks looks like the antichrist is actually kind of a hottie. I'm going to go on the assumption that he didn't look that intense all the time. If he did...well, I could see bdgbill's point then.
Now I KnowMy father worked for Western Electric. The money wasn't very good, so I never figured out why he stayed there. Guess this answers the question.
IN and OUTI noticed the IN basket on the desk to the far right, but where's the OUT basket? I sometimes wonder why I have an OUT basket on my desk at work - it's always less full than the IN one.
The woman sitting on the floor to the far left bears a striking resemblance to the Italian actress Ana Magnani (The Rose Tattoo).
Dramatis PersonaeMona, the woman on floor, far left (one of the few without the Marcel wave), is probably a Suffragist or at least politically active. Maybe she's trying to organize these party animals into a union and all they want to do is balance traffic signals on their heads and be wildly social.
Don't mess with these guys!The boss from Hades has what looks like a goose egg on his forehead and the coatless guy on his right has a black eye and cuts on the nose and eyebrow: maybe the partying started the night before. Looks like a smoking hot curling iron was de rigueur for any well-coifed lady.
That guyOf the four guys standing in the upper right, the guy who is on the left side, closest to the tree -- which girl is he leering at?
Western ElectricIf you flip the picture around, you can sort of read the door sign. I can make out:
504
[Western Elec]tric Com[pany].
[INCORP]ORATED
[?]ION DEPARTMENT
I wonder what the missing part is. Administration?
Office TensionThis must have been just after Phyllis spilled the beans about Dwight and Angela. Poor Andy!
The Power Bloc, continuedThe balding gent just over Boss Stogie's left shoulder-- the real power in the office, he certainly looks confident that his recent appointment to regional director will lead to greater things. Boss Stogie's son, Junior (with the candy cane), was on the fast track to becoming a junior partner until he was befriended by Harold from the mailroom (his hand on Junior's shoulder), which displeased Boss to no end.
UndercoverIsn't anyone going to ask why the woman in the middle is wearing a hat with a Police badge? Is this a costume xmas party? Could she possibly be a real cop??
My GirlSay what you want about the woman on the floor or the blonde with the pearl necklace, but my heart belongs to the woman standing fourth from the left, middle row. She reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
The henchman second from the right at the top has a menacing Snidely Whiplash quality about him. You just know he slipped a mickey into someone's drink.
Re: Western ElectricYou know you're a Shorpy addict when you "get" Anonymous Tipster's reference to the photographer's use of flash (or WAS there a window somewhere?!). Nice shot, A.T.!
Twins or Sisters?Study the features of the young woman directly in front of the door - then look at the one just to the right of (and looking directly at) "blondie with the pearls". Eyes, hair, smile, shape of face, body build: if they are not twins then they must at least be sisters. It is uncanny!
Christmas BackstoryYes, the young lady at the lower left leaning against the desk has the most interesting backstory in the room. Thanks to the passage of time we'll never know what was behind her haunted expression beyond that the woman giving her the evil eye must have had something to do with it.
Dave continues to put these evocative photos up knowing our emotions will never be satisfied!!
Meanwhile, notice the vintage Chia Pet resting on the scales in the "shipping department" (the desk along the left side). The girl in the fake police hat is looking longingly at it. Chia bunny? Chia elf?
The guy in front of the Christmas tree holding the toy, "I got a PONY!"
Keep them in their place.I, too, wonder why all the women are sitting on the floor in their silk satin dresses with fur collars. Surely there were some men who would have been glad to give up their places for them (and to sit amongst the women!)
How did they get Xmas light strings in 1925?I thought people used small candles until the '60s. How did they happen to have these string lights? Great pic of us back then.
[The 1960s being, I guess, when covered wagons brought in the first supplies of wired Christmas lights. - Dave]
I spy...Second woman in the third row...Frida Kahlo, at her day job.
SpellbindingI cannot stop looking at this picture. So much to see. The Al Capone looking guy is mesmerizing. The guy at top, second from right gives me the creeps.
1920'sI'm kind of young so maybe I'm missing something, but did pretty women not have to hold jobs in the 1920's? This office is worse than the one I work in, I didn't think that was possible.
Re: 1920sI'm kind of young too, but I disagree with you. I think this office has quite a collection of lovely women (and some not-as-lovely ones too, just like today). Sometimes, it's hard to look past the hairstyles and the clothes. If you are young (20-something? younger?), you've really only seen one ideal of beauty--you've missed a lot of the different fashions and hairdos of the rest of the 20th century. You also underestimate what modern makeup does for women. There are so many more varieties of it today than there were then, and it's generally of higher quality and easier to use than in the past. If you took one of the women in this picture, say, the girl with pearls sitting next to the desk and plunked her down in 2008 to get a makeover, her hair would be longer, probably highlighted and dyed, and aided by daily washing and a host of conditioners. Then, add some good moisturizer, foundation, and concealer, as well as a lash curler, mascara, and a healthy helping of eye liner, and I'm guessing you'd think her quite the fox.
Conversely, take the most attractive woman you know now, and put her in short hair and marcel waves, take away her hair dye and most of her makeup, and I'm guessing she'd look quite similar to the ladies in this photo. Even something as simple as the shape of plucked eyebrows really change the look of someone, and with the change in aesthetics, it's sometimes hard to get past the fashion to see beauty.
It works with the men too--you'd probably look a lot different with a side part and a pompadour!
That's right . . .. . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy
Las Vegas
That's my desk!I have a desk that's identical to the one on the left. I had guessed it was 1940's vintage. It's nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker?Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still climbing. That's a lot of forensic partyologists! I wonder if even Dave knew what he had pulled out of the hat with this one?
[I am shocked. Shocked! - Dave]
re: Xmas light strings LOL! Dave, a lot of your comments (like this one) crack me up! Are you a comedian in real life? Merry Christmas!
[Please folks, no applause. Just throw money. - Dave]
Hotness quantificationI count 20 women in that picture; most of them you can see no more than their face and hair, and two you can't even see all of that.
Out of the 18 you have a good facial shot of, I'd put 3 of them at 8.5-9.5 on the scale... three of them are SMOKING hot. I'd put another 4 at the 7-8.5 mark, meaning serious cuties, and at least three of the others are a 6 -7.
Where I work we have 100 women in my office; I'd put exactly three in the 8.5-9.5 scale, and another 10 in th 7-8.5 scale; of the rest, probably only a smattering are really in the 5+ range.
So, I have to know ... where do you work that the women are so attractive? Playboy Enterprises?
Taking into account the differences in style, these women were, mostly, very attractive, and even a couple of the less attractive weren't awful.
The Men of Western ElectricIn the interest of gender equality, I got to wondering about the relative charms of the office boys. I found three who tickled my fancy.
1. The tall smiling fellow whose head is sticking up behind and to the right of Police Woman. His face is open and honest, he's smiling with his twinkly dark eyes as well as his mouth, and although his ears are a bit prominent there's a lovely overall symmetry to his face. I'll call him Dimples.
2. The one man who has the sense to sit down with the ladies. He's a bit older, but I love his soft wavy hair. There's a certain aristocratic but slightly sad angle to his tired half-smile that puts me in mind of a young Prince Philip. I'll call him Phil.
3. OK, here's the hotness - the brash, cocky young sheik peeking out confidently between the heads of Boss Stogie Pennyfarthing and his wan shirtsleeved assistant. He's got the eyes of Frank Sinatra and the hair of Jack Kennedy. I don't know what he looks like from the neck down, but from the Arrow collar up he's all, "How YOU doin'?" I'll call him Frankie.
In summary: Were I one of the office flappers, I would ride in Frankie's Studebaker, nurse a secret unrequited crush on Phil, and take Dimples home to meet Mother.
Rogues' GalleryI can't stop staring at the chilly filly down by the leftern desk. She looks like three out of every five women I've ever fallen for. It's the eyes. As to the resemblance to Ana Magnani, she might be of Italian descent.
I am also like the older gentleman in the upper right. Mr. Leery Senior, was it? Right between Charlie Sheen (or Leery Jr.), Snidely Whiplash, and Mr. Deer-in-the-headlights. What a jovial sort. And a snappy dresser, as well. Conversely, the startled fellow's vest is well off-center and makes him look like he couldn't decide which part of him was the front. Or maybe he was taking a nap under a desk just before the photo op and somebody had to drag him out.
Funny how a photograph will turn Bob & Lisa from the office into Dick Tracy characters once you let your imagination do the walking. Thanks to all you for sharing your insights.
You were linkedA local blogger from Beaumont's newspaper linked your site today. I will be forever gratful! Nevermind I got absolutely nothing done today and instead pored over your site at length. This is truly an awesome site!
This Won't DoOne chubby gal. One chubby guy.
As an official with the State of California, I say that this does not pass muster. There was hiring discrimination here. Walk into any State office and you'll see what I mean. Not to mention the plethora of Caucasians.
The chubby gal is next to sheet music. Wonder what this melba toast group was singing?
They're all dead nowJust think ... they all had their youth, their lives, their personalities, and now they are all turned into worm food. Just a happy thought for Christmas.
No, wait a minute. . . okay, I've changed my mind. Now I like Miss Lookingaway, sitting in the lower left. Definitely. She's the one.
Foy
Las Vegas
Oil Can GalThe siren sitting with the oil can is undressing me with her eyes. I'll ignore the fact she is 112 years of age, and let her.
[Guess that explains the oil can. - Dave]
Houdini?The guy on the left side, just above and to the right of the P.D. hat girl....did Houdini make a special appearance? In any event, he's got a mean set of eyebrows.
And you are correct, Stinky, the girl on the far left by the door is surely a looker!
Lost in the crowdNobody seems to have spotted Hugh Grant peeking out between Stogie Boss and Bald Guy.
Famous facesTo keep Hugh Grant company, fellow British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is peeking out from behind Shirtsleeves.
He is not a crookOh, my gosh. There's Richard Nixon on the upper right (with face partially hidden) just below old boss and crooked-vest guys.
Roxie & Co.I love this picture, and all the comments! Here's my .02:
*Girl with the oil can doesn't want to undress you, she's too in love with herself. You can see it in her eyes; she's a Roxie Hart if I ever saw one. "Eat your heart out, Sophie Tucker."
*I swear I graduated with the girl who has her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She's the one who organizes all our class reunions.
*If I were one of those girls, I'd probably want to date the guy sitting on the desk, right hand side. However, I have a feeling he'd want to "just be friends." So,
*I'd have to go for the one behind Ol' Pennyfarthing. No, not that one, the bald one. Handsome features and sense enough to not put some ridiculous piece of fur on his head.
*Girl leering at our castoff looks like one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Drucilla, I believe.
Office HottieI think the guy looking over the RIGHT shoulder of chubby-stogie dude is hot. There's something about the eyes that grab me. And the hint of a smile.
British InvasionNot only Hugh and Rowan - isn't that the actress/singer Patsy Kensit on the left, standing in front of the office door?
Can't Get Over This PhotoI can't get over this picture. It's my favorite one on Shorpy, which is saying a LOT. And, it has nothing to do with my collection of high-end Western Electric phones from 1905-1939.
The woman in front, referred to as the "Black Widow," I can't look at her enough. She surely would get a large kick out of the ruckus she would caused in 2008, unless it bored her as also being commonplace in her own time. The woman over her left shoulder has movie star looks.
They are on the fifth floor, and I wish I could see the name on the glass door. Then again, the woman obscuring it may be the one to take home to meet the family, so she can stay.
The finish on the floor is badly worn, as contrasted by the part under the desk. These fellas were habitually hustling to and fro, and with the feminine charms represented here, it's no wonder. Office romances must have been all there rage therein.
I have been hoping the Farkers would be all over this one, except they love to specialize in the one-person quirk shots. I could place the Black Widow in countless situations...
Is this the only picture you have on this stunning group?
[Afraid so. - Dave]
If onlyTterrance had taken this photo! We would know all about it, mystery solved.
I thinkthe mysterious suicidal communist was probably a cleaning lady whom the photographer sort of forced to be in the picture and she's embarrassed to be photographed in shabby clothes and feels naturally out place amongst the staff with whom she's always been subservient.
She reminds me of Camille Claudel on her way to the madhouse.
50 Little IndiansThis photo looks like a cast of characters who would end up in an Agatha Christie mystery....and I'm pretty sure I know who did it!
The Officethis picture reminds me of the TV show The Office. Jim is sitting on the desk in the right corner. Pam is all the way to the left in the back row. Michael is the guy with his hand on Jim's shoulder although he should be the bossman with the cigar. Stanley is the guy between the man holding the horse and the man with the cigar. Creed is Mr Leery. Kevin is holding the horse. Dwight is the only guy in glasses. Kelly is the bobbed woman behind the desk with the permanent smile on her face. Meredith is the creepy woman off alone... she's just waiting for her next drink of alcohol. Andy Bernard is the guy to the right in the back with the striped tie. I couldn't decide who Angela was. Ryan is the deer in headlights next to Andy. Phyllis is in the satiny dress to the right. Oscar is right by the right hand edge.
Man I love this picture.
AngelaAngela's sitting on the floor with that big lace collar, giving the stink-eye to Meredith.
Naughty NaughtySome young lady has just done something naughty off screen left. The Leery Boys approve, the Black Widow and Stink Eye don't, and the young lady behind Stink Eye is too drunk to comprehend.
Also, is the bald man by the Christmas tree wearing a traffic signal on his head, set to "Go?"
Somewhere in this crowd must be Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet and Prof. Plum.
My favorite pictureI and my co-worker check this site at least three times a day. He has never been on the Internet and when he passes by he will invariably ask "Anything new?" Which I know to mean "Anything new on Shorpy?" This Christmas Office Party is our favorite. We both live in Maryland and have seen many of the areas displayed in these pictures. When we scan the Office picture and see the "mob boss" guy with the stogie and the gun in his pants, he does a great Al Capone voice. I hope my posting this comment will bring new fans to
this amazing photo.
Merry Christmas everyone!have a great holiday and prosperous New Year.
Oh Christmas Twig! Oh Christmas Twig!Considering it is 1925 and an urban area they probably had a hard time locating a showpiece Christmas tree. Probably the best they could do was this poor little immortalized twig.
Timeless peopleEver notice how nearly every photo of a large group, from about 1900 on, contains at least one person who looks like he/she could have been photographed in just about any decade, or just the other day? The lady by the desk behind the pretty girl with the pearls looks like a teacher at my kids' school! There is nothing about her teeth, hairstyle, makeup, etc., that gives away the fact that she was photographed in 1925 except, of course, for most of the other people in it.
The Timeless DeskI'm still using the exact same desk as the one in the photo; my wife purchased it from McGill university when they replaced the professors' desks in the mid 1960s.
Oh what funAdolf (second from right at very top) has quite the leer going on. Peter Sellers could imitate him well. Mystery Lady could have been even more beautiful. I imagine her long hair flowing and her prominent features brought out even more with an expert's touch.
What is Stogie Man carrying, besides his eyeglasses? I also wonder who took this photo. It obviously took some arranging, with the piling up of people.
Excellent, almost spellbinding picture! I come here about six times a day just to visit it. I wonder who lived the longest, and what year they all died and how? Yes, I'm a morbid one.
Office A-Go-GoThe gent at the back is, indeed wearing the miniature street signal (it has 4 arms to the signal so not a railway signal) on his head. Firstly, the only thing behind him is a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, certainly nothing that the signal could be perched on. And, secondly, if it was sitting on something, it would not be sitting at the angle it is.
Then and Now I'm wondering -- in today's world there is usually at least one person at an office party of that size who gets a little too inebriated and winds up making photocopies of their nether parts for distribution to all. Was there a way to do the same thing using a mimeograph machine or whatever other copying technology existed in 1925? Would the tipsy individual first have to draw their naughty bits on some special copy medium? Our grandparents sure had a lot of hardships to deal with.
At First Glanceand in the zoomed out view, I thought the gent at the far right might be the office troublemaker and that the folks wrapped him up in Christmas lights for his just deserts. Alas and alack, when you go in for a closer look, it's simply the ravages of time taking their toll on the negative.
[This batch of plates has water damage along one side. - Dave]
The Lady of the Deskjust wandered in from the Sergei Eisenstein film that was shooting on the set next door. She's on a break between takes of the Odessa Steps sequence.
RE: Oh GreatIf CBS could give us Rudolph, Shorpy can give us Western Electric.
2010 InterpretationsThis year, I think the Black Widow has pretty much just had it with that place.
Stink-Eye isn't looking at the Black Widow. She's disapproving of something messy on the front of the desk.
I can't find Don Draper Nor Joan Holloway, but this sure conjures up thoughts of Mad Men, 45 years earlier. I burst out laughing when my eyes scanned to the guy in the back with the stop and go-go item on his head! Maybe THAT is the flavor of the evening? More GO than STOP? This is the roaring 20s after all and these are certainly modern women..
Yes, this picture and your readers' comments may be my very favorites to date!
Some Like It Hot The mademoiselle standing in front of the woman wearing the Policeman's hat could have been Billy Wilder's inspiration for his casting Jack Lemmon in drag.
Another WorldThese people are denizens of another universe that, no matter how many photographs we study or books we read, we will never fully understand because we didn't live in it and never will.
These are people who knew how to navigate themselves in the distant world of 1925. All of these people were born at the beginning of the last century and were brought up by people from the 19th century.
If a modern young person were to be suddenly transported here without preparation he would find it completely disorienting and possibly quite frightening, because of so many technological and cultural and social differences between now and then.
Deja vuI loved this picture.
But the lass in front of the desk, looking stage right, is memorable. I think I've seen this picture before.
Then I noticed the dates of the previous comments. 2208? Surely two years cannot have gone by so quickly.
[To say nothing of the 198 after that! - Dave]
SteamyThere are some SERIOUS sexual crosscurrents and hot vibes in this picture! Amazing!
Slow on the uptakeI'm pretty sure Mr. Semaphore head isn't actually wearing that thing on his head; it's behind him. What is alarming is the second head growing out of his chest. The heads seem to be in agreement to lurk.
Oh great!Shorpy is doing reruns for the holidays.
Kidding.
Merry Christmas.
Uh-Oh TannenbaumThat's the most bedraggled Christmas tree I've ever seen. It has more tinsel than needles.
An unflattering portraitMy god, this is by far the ugliest group photo I've ever seen! Both girls and guys look like winners from the Walmart Ugly Photo Contest.
Kimono-wearing parrot?With a bouffant, no less? Over there, on the scale!!
The gal with the candy cane, to our left of the much-ballyhooed oil can chick, seems to be presaging late '60s hairstyles.
And yes, the balding dude in the rear with the traffic semaphore on his head wins the covert group-photo clown award in spades.
Sad to SaySo many hotties, so many dorks.
Season's GreetingsHope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, from Walter and all his friends in this, my favorite Shorpy picture.
General Electric Crime FamilyOk, a lot of the men look like mafiosi with the big-lips guy in front being the capo. The two guys at the right, top, are hit men.
Western Electrical FireI can't believe, in 90+ comments on this remarkable photo, that not one person pointed out the extension cord running from the ceiling light fixture to the tree. I think the answer to the comment about how and when these folks died is: a few minutes after this photo was taken, in a horrible electrical fire.
It would be a chore, but could someone pleasecolorize this!
BeautyI love the woman sitting on the floor next to the desk looking away. At first glance you think; boy she looks tired, and then you look again and you see how beautiful she really is. She is just stunning. I also find it interesting with the commentary just how similar our comments in the office were to the ones posted on this site. We too made up stories about these folks. I love this photo. Thanks for sharing it.
I never tire of looking at this one.Always noticing something new, frinstance,
The object on the scale, seems to have some heft to it based on how far the scale dial has moved, maybe a cast iron toy?
The young fellow on the far right, Candy Cane in his right hand but whats on his left hand? Looks like it's slipped inside of something, a toy holster maybe?
Completion All this tableau requires (perhaps) to make it complete, is a large paper bag on the floor stuffed with goodies, including the obligatory pair of turkey-feet protruding upward in a festive fashion.
Best of the Season to All in the Shorpyverse Continuum!
Secrets never revealedThere is no question that many secret alliances and not-always discreet hook-ups probably took place during and after this festive celebration 86 years ago. Luckily for those involved, there were no surveillance cameras, cell phone cameras, tape recorders, security guards, texting devices or other pesky snooping devices that could cause the merrymakers a permanent record (and deep lifetime regret) of their missteps. They were the roaring 20's when people gathered their rosebuds where they may and parties were for having the best time you could have. I'm betting many of these revelers took their sweet and sordid memories of that night to their graves.
Another Shorpy Party!I love this photo and we're going to test the limits of the reply counter. Merry Christmas everyone and have a grand new year!
Lord Almighty!!!It's the butler in the pantry!!!
I have never, ever seen so many guilty people in one photograph.
Unbelievable that it was not staged. But it obviously wasn't.
Wow!!!
My hat!How did she get it?
"Pure horse, Danno. Book 'em."Having just spotted the drug paraphernalia on the left - the scale, the packaging materials, the kimono-wearing parrot - our undercover coppette in mid-pack has whipped out her official police hat and ignoring the cries of "that baggy's not mine!" is about ready to haul the whole gang downtown. A bust like this baby was sure to bump her upstairs and away from all these dreary office parties.
Up to no good?The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?
Cost of that treeCould not have been more then a dollar in 2011 money
Must have been last minute!!!
The ion DepartmentA quick flip of the door confirms we are in room 504 of the ion Department.
FestivusIts good to see this one again. I just keep looking at the people and see more than a few that would have been great company. I hope everyone, viewers, commenters, Dave and webmaster Ken has a great Holiday Season in the company of friends and loved ones.
She apparently had a good time with my grandpa.As she is my grandma!
"The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?"
3rd rowfrom the top 3rd from the left. I'm in love.
Oh wait.
Party HeartyOoooo -- Roaring twenties office party, bathtub gin. Oooooo -- I think I just threw up in my throat a little bit.
Shorpy Christmas cardIf Dave would produce an annual Shorpy Christmas card I would buy a few boxes, and I'm sure others would as well. Cards with this photo would be seen in every business cubicle in the country and quite a few places around the globe. It says Merry Xmas for me.
So much to read into This picture is as familiar to longtime readers of this blog as our own family photos and as evergreen as that Christmas Tree was before it was cut down. One can imagine so much here, for example that as soon as the photographer finishes with his duties, the Volstead Act will be violated by most of the people in this room (there are a few who look as if they might disapprove), and the usual office party shenanigans will occur, some of which might have consequences in the months to follow even if they all swear that what happens at the Office Party stays at the Office Party.
Al JolsonIs that Al Jolson in front of the "Traffic signal" bald guy? He's peering out just a bit from behind the guy with the vest and holding his glasses. 1925, the timeline is right. :)
Iconic StatusThis photo has taken on a level of immortality that few others can hope to achieve. A Photograph for the ages that will always be appreciated and admired. A Tradition is born! Thanks to Dave and all that visit here; hopefully someday your office pictures will be shown here and we can all marvel at how far we've come in so short a time.
Tiny Tim said it best so I shan't repeat it but that is my wish for one and all.
Thank you, DaveI hope this re-posting will bring new fans. Merry Xmas,everyone!
Why the oil canThose three objects in front - Maybe just spur-of-the-moment party silliness?
Another year olderI just love this photo. There's so much to analyze. Saw it last year for the first time. Here we all are, another year older. That would include those in the picture, in a macabre sort of way.
Best Christmas Party EverFirst, Dave, you have cured my holiday depression. I found this during a post-Xmas hangover and there are no words. I was instantly addicted to your site. Thank you.
Second, if there is anyone out there with connections to the BAU I would like you to seriously consider imposing yourself on that relationship and get them on it. I'm dying for a more complete story. You must be too if you're reading this. You know who you are. Pick up that phone and give him/her a call.
Not Al JolsonWade in NW Florida: if he looks like anybody of that period, it would most likely be Eddie Cantor, not Al Jolson.
The other 13I have just spent an extremely enjoyable hour reading all the comments reaching back to 2008. Of the 47 people in the photo, 34 have been commented on. So what about the other 13? Six guys in the upper left have been ignored, plus seven gals in the pack. The most prominent of the abandoned baker's dozen are, to my mind, the two women standing side by side, closest to the tree. Both have bead necklaces: one tucked in, one on the outside. They seem neither hot nor cold, neither suicidal nor drunk. The two of them actually look (dare I say?) like really nice people.
NOW it's the holiday season.....when Shorpy breaks out this holiday classic! I wonder what pop-culture figures of the past year will be likened to our hard-partying crew?
The face that could sink a thousand shipsThe guy holding the cigar, oh man I want to punch his face!
Every yearEvery year when I look at this, I think the same thing: do all those dames hate Desk Woman for the same reason, or different ones?
Lots of single women in that officeNo wedding rings on almost all of them. Perhaps a woman worked until she got married, or at least until she had children - and then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for these ladies to go from office life, with its daily human contact and pleasures (such as this office party) to a few rooms, kitchen and nursery figuring predominantly. My grandmother still reminisced proudly about her work as a lawyer's assistant in the 1920s, way back before she got married, had three children, and spent most of her time in the top floor of a Boston triple-decker for the next 20 years.
Colorized Version Hidden in Plain SightCheck out https://www.shorpy.com/node/11937 for colorized version in Colorized Photos by members. Dave, do I get a prize for finding it?
Talk About Your Lonely HeartsThis could be the Sgt. Pepper album just before The Beatles stepped into the shot
Par-TAY!I totally wanna party with this crew. I've always loved the Roaring-Twenties era, and the show Boardwalk Empire is doing a great job with the fashions and the music. I think Nucky Thompson needs to sprinkle a little Xmas cheer on this group. Volstead Act be damned!
Young bald guyEvery time I see this, my eyes go to the young, very handsome man who is looking over the shoulder of the rather portly guy on the right side of the photo. Balding men didn't have many options, then, like they do now, but I rather doubt that the premature balding kept all the young ladies away from him!
I wonder which of these men were veterans of WWI?
At the Ion Department Christmas Party . . .That exotic woman sitting in front of the desk in the lower left STILL seems distracted by something just out of camera, and the woman in front of her is still watching her carefully.
It's a wonderful photo worth our annual holiday attention!
--Jim
Naughty or Nice?This oft-repeated photo is starting to remind me of the traditional holiday tune by Eric Cartman (of South Park fame) singing about the Swiss Colony Beef Log; irreverent but fun.
What's printed on that document?Dave, can you zoom in on the piece of paper being held by the guy kneeling in the center, right in front of the tree? It's almost as if he's trying to show it to the camera. Thanks!
-------------------------------------
Just a something something
TO WISH
You and Yours
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Division Four Office
1925
Worth a second or third look There are some half dozen ladies in this photo. Like the one right behind the corner of the desk, with the chevron shapes on her dress and the one directly in front of the door on the left that are definitely worth seeing again.
Merry Christmas Shorpyites!
Is there anybody out there?Surely one of these people in the photo has a living relative (great grandkids, grandkids, etc) that might be able to shed some light on this photo.
2%Of the 47 people in the photo, only one is wearing glasses. Did the Ion Department require perfect vision of its workers?
My cueI don't even start listening to Christmas music until I see this picture reheated. It's a classic.
The Girl with the Curl -- and the candy cane. There once was a girl
with a pretty little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good
She was very, very good
and when she was bad
she was even better!
Re 2%The cigar smoker on the right in the three-button suit and the gent on his right both are holding eyeglasses, all the more to ratchet up their smashing good looks. Well, maybe just looks.
What's Left To Say?Besides their clothes and hair dos, two things that I’m glad have changed: The way Christmas trees look and protective coating for hardwood floors. And I’m guessing they had a White Elephant gift exchange, thus the whimsical gifts.
Raise your glassesI'm sure one of our more knowledgeable posters might know better, but I wonder if glasses were removed to prevent unwanted flash effects?
Could it be?I've looked at this photo for three Decembers now, and I just noticed that the girl sitting behind the girl with the striped blouse, and how much she looks like she could be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother.
Party TimeThe office parties and associated grab bags were created to give us all a chance to regift.
Allow me now to wish all of our Shorpy viewers, creators and commenters a very happy Holiday season. Let us all be well, prosper and keep returning to this wonderful site.
Love this photo....Like so many of you, I love it when this photo is trotted out! We are so drawn to it and love imagining what this party must have been like, the silly little gifts, the party girls, and those who just wanted it to all be over with so they could get back to work.
Each year I am struck by the lady behind the one in the striped blouse. She looks like she could have been in my high school annual from 1970. Yes, I dated myself there! Her hair style looks like it could have been from the 1970's, unlike her co-workers with their many finger waves. Keep posting this one, Dave....truly a classic!
An Evocative PhotographThe romance of old photographs is especially powerful in a picture like this. Studying the faces of what we assume are long departed strangers, we can't help speculating about the nature of their inner lives and how things turned out for them. Who ended up married to someone who made them happy or miserable? Which one(s) got ahead and who descended into poverty? Who died young - and so on?
With hindsight we know that only a few years after that Christmas party in 1925, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Then World War II winnowed out a great many - how did this group of individuals make out through all those difficult times? There are many such questions which occur to the curious.
This is an extraordinarily evocative photograph. The transience of everything is plain to see in this picture if you notice such things.
This photois what prompted me to make an account on Shorpy. The first thing that jumped out at me was, is that a man in drag standing with his hand on the young lady's shoulder? The lady in question looks a bit like Drew Barrymore.
I noticed the indentations between the eyes of many of the men, and realized that they did take their glasses off for the photo, to minimize glare. No featherweight lenses in those days!
Tales from the Jazz AgeI'd like to take a crack at imagining who some of these people could be --
Oil Can Girl (seated at bottom, center) - Never turns down a chance to cut a rug at a speke. Very generous with the contents of her hip flask, which in a pinch can supply fuel for her sometime-boyfriend’s Hupmobile.
Desk Girl (seated at bottom, left) - Staring intently at a winged, two-horned leopard and wondering if she should jump up and scream at everybody to run for their lives.
Lace Collar Girl (two left from Oil Can Girl) - Wondering why Desk Girl is staring so intently at the office kitty-cat.
Time Warp Girl - (immediately above Desk Girl) - Up until a few weeks ago was a liberal arts major at an Ivy League university in the year 1969, then stumbled through a time portal into 1925. Decided to stay and get a job because, well, things are a lot less crazy here.
Starlet Girl - (above and to the right of Time Warp Girl) - Avid reader of Photoplay, Picture-Play, Screenland, Movie Weekly, Movie Mirror, and lots more. Passionately believes that her good looks could bring her fame in Hollywood, if only she could manage to stop tossing money away on magazines and save up for the train fare.
Hat Girl (immediately above Starlet Girl) - Took a few slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, now having trouble remembering her name.
Trashed Girl (immediately to the right of Hat Girl) - Took even more slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, but still conscious enough to realize that if she stops leaning on the girl below her, she’ll tumble to the floor.
Handsome Guy (standing in the back, left side, farthest left) - All the office girls have swooned over him at one time or another. Been engaged six times, but it always breaks off when he tells his bride-to-be that his mother will be living with them.
New Pretty Girl - (third from left, standing) - Just started work this past month. Soon to be Handsome Guy’s next ex-fiancee.
Wow, this is way too long already. Anyway, you get the idea. This is fun!
White Elephant Gift ExchangeI going with a White Elephant Gift Exchange for an Office Christmas Party. It explains the goofy gifts and the attire. Some of the exchanged presents still have tags on them.
No one seems to have noticedbut the shy guy in front of GO GO is none other than Irving Berlin, on a guided tour of the Western Electric facility and already evidencing the reclusiveness of his later years. At uppermost left, we have the mustachioed miscreant looking disdainfully at those beneath him, which is everyone. And finally, we have Grishkin at lowermost right left, a handsome woman whose lean and hungry look hath a troubled aspect not customarily associated with holiday gatherings (apart from those with family members present). She seems to have wandered in from one of those Russian plays that Ira Gershwin makes reference to.
All of which can only mean one thing - it's Christmas time here at Shorpy's. Greetings and salutations to all!
Times they don't changeThe women definitely place this picture in time by their clothes and hair. The men, especially the back row, center in photo, remind me of my father's photos of the late 1950's. It's all quite timeless.
Hey, long time listener, first time caller!I wonder if camp Pierce Brosnan (top row, far left) found the Ion Deptartment accepting of his flamboyant wonderfulness.
Festive DressThe bald gentleman in the back has the best holiday hat I have ever seen, the festive Go Go hat atop his bald head.
We need those names!The spectacular Massafornian colorized image should have some labels for the people in it.
So, here we go.
(Gimp and Python/PIL scripts did the job)
Thanks for the MemoriesThank you for publishing this picture again this year. It just doesn't seem right to not have these wonderful people wishing all of us a Merry Christmas. I wish all of the Shorpy readers and the Admins a Merry Christmas also.
Merry Christmas!I'm a faithful reader of Shorpy, have been for over 10 years now, since I joined up. Every year, I always look forward to the Shorpy Office Xmas Party picture. I don't know what it is; maybe it's the continuity of it. We know every year we'll see it, and every year we'll get to talk about new fictions we've created for the people therein. It's such great fun.
Re Office StoriesNice commentary! You really bring life to this party.
Glad for TradIt's truly a fun Shorpy-looker tradition to view this pic large and spend an hour time traveling and reading the comments. Hope everybody had a Groovy Solstice yesterday. Happy Holidays!
Hair dressersWho did the hair styles back then, terrible......
Sic transit ursusI love the Shorpy Christmas party! This guy still startled me when I spied him on the floor, despite the fact that I commented on him FIVE YEARS AGO.
Dean NorrisAh, it wouldn't be Christmas without this delight from Shorpy!
The guy behind the big boss's left shoulder looks like a sightly younger version of actor Dean Norris. According to IMDB, Dean Norris was born in 1962 or 1963, but if this post on Shorpy is any guide, he's at least 100 years old. Is he pretending to be younger than he really is? And what's the secret of looking so young?
Cheers!Thanks for posting again, this is one of my favourite pictures on Shorpy. Some odd Barnets going on with some of the women though...I'd love to know if there was a gramophone at this party and if so, what the playlist was.
Tradition I can almost hear Tevya, singing the song in "Fiddler On The Roof", but not quite. It is of course the Holiday Season, office parties and good will to men and of course women. It is time for us Shorpy Junkies to wish each other the best of the season. Good health, prosperity and peace to all. Thanks to our Hosts Dave and Ken and to our interlocutor terrace for their grand efforts.
G-manI had to do ctrl-f for all three pages, and I'm amazed that no one to date has identified J. Edgar Hoover standing in the front row, cigar butt in hand, between vest-and-watch chain guy and three-piece suit guy. I can't believe I didn't notice him when I first commented three years ago.
Time for a Shorpy Xmas party!I think we are overdue to have one where we all meet and discuss THIS picture (because with 150 comments, we clearly have a lot on our minds about this W.E. holiday soiree).
Merry Christmas ShorpyitesMerry Christmas to one and all, fans of the photos posted in Shorpy. Thanks to Dave and everyone who helps out with the site.
I hope the new year is good to all and everyone will be back next Christmas to view Xmas Party.
I've been a member for 3 years, 2 days and anonymous for several before that I think.
What's with the oil can?I understand the Teddy Bear and little house in the front of the photo. But what is the significance of the Christmas Oil Can?
[Yet another beloved Christmas legend inspired by this photo. -tterrace]
Do they know?The standing gal, 3rd from the left, and the kneeling gal (center and one row back) both have the same necklace on (7 little cascading chains ending in a pearl). I think that the boss-man, J. Edgar Hoover (on the right with the cigar), is having an affair with both of these gals and he gave them both the same necklace. He thinks it's really funny and smiles when he sees them together; his own little private joke! I wonder if the gals know and are just playing him for whatever they can get? We will never know for sure.
Modern Woman+89
One must wonder if oiling the bear will make the Yuletide bright?
Thanks again!This is now my official notification that the Xmas season has begun. The Office Party re-post.
Threadbare BoughsNow I know where Charlie Brown got his tree. Merry Christmas everyone!
Hours and hoursI, like so many others here, have spent hours with this image. I'm always drawn back to the woman in the lower left. She's always struck me as the office outcast trying to get out of the picture. The woman to the right of her, with the lace collar, looks like her boss giving her the stink eye for not participating.
Roaring Twenties!Thanks for this flash-back, Shorpy!
Love the very mysterious Lady on the left...
and still dislike that pompous guy with the cigar.
Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets, moose... and a hippo gnu year!
I have to askDoes "Office Xmas Party" have the largest amount of comments?
[That record might be held by Our Lady of Lourdes School. Another much-commented post was The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
FinallyShorpy's annual "Office Xmas Party" has arrived! There's my guy standing in the back row, far left still waiting for me. Swoon.
Happy Holidays, Shorpyites!
And thank you, Dave, for all that you do.
Re 2%, and Raise your glassesI think glasses were considered unattractive. I remember lots of members of this generation (my grandparents') or the next who would whip off their glasses whenever someone raised a camera.
Tough Day At The Office?The best part about these office parties are the grab bags. It's always the best way to regift. Other than that, I hope Dave, Ken, tterace and all our outstanding commentators and readers have a wonderful holiday and a healthy prosperous New Year.
Must have been a heck of a partyAll the way in the back is a tall bald man with a traffic signal on his head! That's better than a lampshade. The body language between the woman on the far left and the woman to her right who is glaring at her is really very sad. You wonder what sort of ugliness was going on behind the scenes. The lady looks like she's been crying a bit. Who knows. It's fascinating to see such a candid photo none the less.
An oilcan!Now I know the perfect gift to get for all my co-workers. Merry Christmas Shorpy nation.
I look forward to these people each yearThey've become familiar yet remain interesting. As I said years ago, we're testing the counter on this one.
Merry Christmas fellow Shorpyites and wish a grand New Year!
It was ninety years ago today ...... and the photo never ceases to give.
The fun is overOkay, we had our Christmas celebration, now everyone back to your desks and let's finish out the day at 5:00.
The lucky onesDue to the magic of photography, this happy group has been celebrating now for ninety years. If you enlarge the picture and study their faces and demeanors, you may get some insight into their characters and personalities in 1925. After seeing this photo for many Christmases on Shorpy, I almost feel that I know some of them as well I know my own friends. Merry Christmas to all, especially the Shorpy staff.
What are we missing?Great photo, been seeing it for years now, but I always wonder what else was going on? People are looking left, right, straight, up, down. What was going on out of frame? That lady in lower left looks ready to bolt, especially with the other lady looking on concernedly. If this was a Halloween photo, the massacre would be about to begin.
I've been ill, and maybe delirious...
Spooky Lady of Christmas PastI remain endlessly curious regarding the woman with her back to the desk.
Spooky and haunting, amid all the fascinating characters in this classic shot, she is The One.
Department Name for Room 504Western Electric Company
Installation Department
5th Floor
1319 F Street
Washington DC
(From the 1925 Washington City Directory)
This department installed Central Office equipment (testboards, operator switchboards, signaling equipment, etc) supporting both local and long distance telephone service.
Google street view has an office building that looks old enough to be our Christmas Office party location. Perhaps another Shorpyite can add the street view for us.
[It was built in 1913. Interestingly enough, it's just one building away from Harris & Ewing, another source of many Shorpy photos. -tterrace]
Merry Christmas, George BabbittThe guy on the right, in front, with the grand forehead, holding the stogie, reminds me of Sinclair Lewis's protagonist in "Babbitt" (1922):
"He was the modern business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His head suddenly appeared not babyish but weighty, and you noted his heavy, blunt nose, his straight mouth and thick, long upper lip, his chin overfleshy but strong; with respect you beheld him put on the rest of his uniform as a Solid Citizen."
Room 504Flip the photo horizontally, and you will see that we are on the 5th floor. Who can guess the "department" we are in?
Now it is Christmastime for sureI couldn't truly celebrate Christmas without seeing this picture again. It must be after Thanksgiving or Shorpy would not have posted it. Any comments I could make about this picture would only be a pale response to all the previous comments. It just makes me try to think what an office Christmas party like this must have been compared to a modern day party. I look forward to this picture every year for some crazy reason.
294408That's how many people have called up this photo. Over a quarter million! And this isn't YouTube. What an amazing picture. What an amazing site. Merry Christmas to all my Shorpy comrades and a huge thank-you to Dave and tterrace for all they do to bring this amazingness to us every day.
YuletideI heard Springsteen singing about Santa on my way to work, and now I see this. It is truly Christmastime now.
Oh, Beautiful Lady in the Lower Left......let me unwrap that bear for you, before your nearby friend gets more worried that you're not having any fun.
DoppelgangerThe young woman framed in the door on the left looks remarkably like today's woman who was a business partner of mine.
Nothing but the best at Shorpy!!Thanks for this expected post!
Never noticed this beforeThe men's jackets have creases running the length of the arms. I wonder if this was a customary thing for "the office" or typical treatment "of the times" for pressing? Perhaps this treatment was typical only of a worsted fabric?
P. D. Police Dept.I keep being intrigued by the one and only joker in the crowd, our lady with the "P.D. Police ...." hat. There must be another word after "Police," I suppose it is just "Dept."
Marching In PlaceSeeing this picture so many times tells me that I'm growing older but these celebrants have become ageless. Along with that piece of wisdom allow me to add my Seasonal Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah Past and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all. Of course we are all in the debt of Dave,Ken and tterrace (who may or may not be on the Payroll) for their addictive posts, explanations and comment rebuttals.
From NYC, where the Christmas Eve Fahrenheit is forecasted at 72º.
Mel
[tterrace is salaried, deals in a service and is bigger than a bread box. -John Charles Daly]
Life of the partyMy best guess for "life of the party" status goes to the lady in front with elf buckles on her shoes. I love this image- there so much detail and depth of relational perspective.
Afterlife Office PartyThis photograph has become a holiday tradition for me, as anticipated as my Christmas eve tradition of baking cookies, wrapping gifts and gently placing a dish towel under Uncle Trouble's chin so he doesn't drool on his good shirt after passing out on the couch.
Scanning the full-screen photo, I wonder if a small corner of the afterlife might be populated by tenants doomed to spend eternity at a perpetual office Christmas party for some workplace sin like stealing lunches from the office fridge, pilfering office supplies, or failing to replace paper or toner in the printer. I can picture Dickensian clarks with ink-stained fingers forever mingling over paper-cupped eggnog with 60's swinging secretaries, Old Kingdom robed Egyptian scribes trimming the tree with bored mid-level Qing Dynasty bureaucrats, and that impenetrable knot of young IT guys and gals speaking in that techno-babble, side-eyeing the boss, forever giggling.
I imagine the mirthless rounds of the eternal white elephant gift exchange: the Take Me to the River-singing fish going round and round and round the conference table ad infinitum. I can see the everlasting greasy pile of stale taquitos, timeless sips from the bottle of booze hidden in the file cabinet, Starbucks Christmas Jazz CD playing in an endless loop -- the horror.
Goober Pea
UpdatedUsing John J's sleuthing on the location of this office, I recently ventured there to see if any resemblance to the photo remains. I got as far as the only door in the hall on that floor. Nothing appeared to remain.
Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!TimeAndAgainPhoto, that's a great job of investigating one of our Shorpy.com favorites, but I'm convinced that if you'll just badge your way into that office, you'll find a fellow in there with a traffic signal on his head.
I hope so, anyway.
Re: Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!Jim Page - I had to badge my way past security and up the elevator before I was stopped by the secured door.
Those were the daysI really do miss the office Christmas parties from my working years which gave us an opportunity to meet, greet and schmooze with people we hadn't seen in 20 minutes. Merry Christmas to all, rejoice and be glad.
Every Year and I am Still Captivated But I Don't Know WhyThanks Dave, I'm still enjoying this for some reason I don't understand, and I'm still curious about the front and center oil can.
SNL Time Traveler?That person standing directly to the left of the tree is either a time-traveling, cross-dressing Pete Davidson from SNL or his Great Grandmother worked at Western Electric Group in 1925!
Shorpy - I look forward to this picture every year and am a regular viewer of your site. Even have a couple of large prints on my walls at home, with another coming soon!
Thanks for this site - it's one of the pleasures of my day!
Yuletide.I love seeing this picture every year. As do my co-workers. Thank you.
I have seen this picture for six (I believe) years nowBut today, today there is a new face, one I instantly recognize, that I would swear was not there in any previous year.
I once found my wife's doppleganger (Trackless Trolley) in one of these pictures. Today, I find my youngest daughter, Cecilia (16); she's poking her face out between the 2nd and 3rd fully visible women on the left side of the photo (their right) from the tree.
Ok, it's spooky Dave.... but I'm starting to believe someone has a time travel machine, and everyone but me in my family is using it.
P.D. clocheWonder what she's hiding under that hat?
It's timeThis picture (and the myriad comments) are so entertaining, I sometimes search for it when I'm feeling low, even in July! I especially love Oil Can Sally's come hither look.
I amost know these peopleMy Great-Great Grand uncle was Dan Richardson, a senior accountant for Western Electric in the New England/Northeast US area. He certainly visited Washington D. C. during his time with Western Electric, and would have met and worked with one or more of the people in this photo.
Odd to think I could, via relatives, have been introduced to these people.
This is my first ChristmasI see 26 men, 21 women and hundreds of possibilities.
Oh My GoodnessI had no idea it was so close to Christmas. We really need to finish the baking...
Old Friends From The OfficeAre like warm Gluehwein to heat the cold heart at Christmas.
Merry Christmas my Shorpyite friends and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially Dave who keeps all of us in memories. [updated]
Phyllis Diller"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
QuorumThis picture puts the "mass" back in Christmas.
Sturdy DesksI guess the nine guys head and shoulders above everyone else are standing on two or three of these desks. Curious as anyone about the office relationships and the lady sitting in front of the desk. My eighth year of wondering and guessing about this picture.
The scraggly looking treein the picture most probably was bought with donations from some of the people in this picture.
Older Shorpyites will no doubt remember the single set of lights on the tree. The lighting "outfit" was an inexpensive 8 light series set, with C-6 miniature based bulbs. When a bulb burned out, it was time to hunt for it with a good one...unscrewing every bulb in the set until it was found.
I remember helping my grandmother do just that. For some reason, the C-6 series set was always at the top of the tree. Grandma would get up on a stool, with me holding the good bulb, and switching it one by one until the set lit.
Wonderful times. Timeless memories.
What Are They ThinkingI've enjoyed this picture year after year, and like many who had suffered through office parties, I often thought what goes through their minds.
Click to enlarge.
Lady in the foregroundI've also wondered (several years in a row) about the lady with her back to the desk. The thing that really stands out to me, is her hair. As far as I can tell, she has her hair swept back in a bun, which is clearly very old-fashioned compared to all the bobbed and shingled ladies in the office.
I know this is a bit far-fetched but her clothes and hair suggest to me that she wasn't an office worker, as they give the impression of having less money to spend on herself. I wondered if maybe she was the office cleaner/ tea lady who was called in to be part of the photo?
It could explain why she seems a bit distant from all the others in the group.
It's here! It's here!The Shorpy Christmas Cheer office party picture is here! Smack dab in the middle of Prohibition, the gang at Western Electric make merry with two or three hundred stories or thoughts about what the heck was going on in their heads!
My favorite is the seductress "oil can" Sally with her bathtub-gin induced come-hither gaze!
Merry Christmas!
#UsTooI bet if those girls had a voice today there would be some explaining to do.
Night Before ChristmasWhen what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a company Christmas calendar, the same as last year.
Season's GreetingsThis is simply the greatest captured moment in the history of office photography!
Nothing puts me in the spirit like --this pic, a glass of egg nog and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on a loop! Merry Christmas all!!
The distant gazeAs fun as it is, I think we're way overthinking the motives of the 5 or so "looking away" women. Yes, even the comment-generating pair of the sultry one in the lower left corner and the one sitting to her left who appears to be staring her down. It was evidently fashionable for many decades for women to "look into the distance" for a portrait photograph, and I think that's all they're doing here. My theory is that this practice started as a way to prevent the "zombie eyes" effect of the exposure capturing the blink after the flash. My mother always did it, even when I implored her to look at my camera with everyone else.
That GirlIn the middle front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
[Nursery rhyme by Longfellow. - Dave]
Every yearI feel sorrier than the year before for the one sitting on the floor with her back to the desk. She looks like she is just waiting for the party to be over so she can throw herself out the window.
Reminds me of "The Office"I can find the whole cast from Dunder-Mifflin -- Michael, Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute, Stanley, Kevin, Angela, and Phyllis.
Let's danceHey, did anyone remember to bring their Lasses White albums?
ClaireThis pretty gal looks exactly like my wife. I just printed out the image and am going to show her tonight.
Work or PleasureIs the machine on the desk at the right (above the In Box) a record player brought in? A radio? Or is it merely some office device like maybe a phone-related routing/switchboard machine?
Also, wingtips apparently were in style.
Sure SignOf the Season: this picture on Shorpy (Thanks, Dave) and "A Christmas Carol" on TCM. All the best to all wherever ye might be!
Ghosts of Christmas pastIt really is curious that we can scrutinize a picture like this every year and each time we notice something different that we did not notice before. This year, while observing enlarged close-ups of these people's faces, I see resemblances to many of my own acquaintances, friends and public figures and one can almost even determine the personality and attitude of each person. I think the young lady standing on the extreme left, second row, closest to the door, looks like a younger Martha Stewart. I also know that these happy holiday office parties are quickly disappearing due to the current lawsuits involving harassment, etc. so the people of my generation (old fossils) can move into the history books with them and just remember how it "used to be" and know it will never be again.
This festive group gets a prime spot in that chapter and exemplifies what it was like, for better or for worse. Party on kids, 'til the end of time.
The BossThe one sure thing about this photo is who the boss is, probably flanked by his second in command to his right.
Ion Dept. XmasI have followed this wonderful Xmas photo for years but have never commented, till now. I always wondered what I might say, since so much has been said. But what really made me start this year -- the thing I’d never really noticed before – the new thing! – is that guy (head) craning behind the Xmas tree. Compared with all the other people, he’s really only half there, penciled in, lacking in the vibrancy and heft of every other person. So I guess my comment is: Merry Xmas, Ion Tree guy! (And Merry Xmas to all my Shorpy sisters and brothers, and of course to our all-puissant but beneficent overlords, Dave and tterrace, who make this daily joy available to us all.)
[Or maybe Ion Guy is just tinseled in. - Dave]
Was the Electric Company a Communist Front?Psychodramas? How about it looks like Alger Hiss and Whitiker Chambers’ cousins were exchanging Christmas gifts in Washington in 1925. Alger’s stands to the left and Whitiker’s to the right—significant? Whitiker’s cousin looks like someone socked him on the forehead and Alger’s has a smile on his face.
[Ahem. Whittaker, not "Whitiker." - Dave]
That Temptress!All these folks saying they see something new each year -- nuts. I first laid eyes on the beauty behind the oil can, what -- a decade ago now? And she has had me in her spell ever since. It is now officially Christmas season for me.
I'm busy here!You Shorpyites who fantasize about folks from over 90 years ago -- How strange you are.
And all your blather is distracting me from my mission of saving the saintly Love of My Life whose shoulder had been latched onto by the Evil Witch with no opposable thumb ...
I must complete this pesky time machine before Christmas.
Holiday RomanceI see that its time to renew my holiday romance. Every year I fall in love with the young lady the farthest to the left. Brings warmth to my heart, of course, I don't dare tell my wife.
Season's Greetings!I look forward to this picture every year. I like that it's been a running thing here for so long, because I see it as a way to bind all us Shorpyites together. No matter where we live, how old we are, what we're doing in our lives, we can all stop here and comment on this picture, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. Thank you, Dave, for providing that for us.
I wish all of you that read this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2019 be the year you've been waiting for.
Hip FlasksEven the Bear won't tell, but, I am sure the oil can will.
1925! Prohibition! Almost every woman had one and, I am sure, that there may be a few here.
Maybe, that's why Gladys sitting with the Bear and oil can, is smiling knowingly?
Even the person who introduced Prohibition had a still in his basement.
"It was 93 years ago today" Happy Christmas, John! Happy Christmas, Yoko!...Esther, Mary, Eugenia, Mabel, Nellie, Ida, Clara, Edith, Winifred, Maude, Violet, Gladys, Daisy,Doris, Agatha, Gertrude, Elspeth, Velma, Thelma, Myrna, Hortence...
The LevelingTo paraphrase William Makepeace Thackeray "It was in the reign of President Calvin Coolidge, that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."
Most popular galMy favorite - Oil Can Sally - has three gag gifts displayed. That probably makes her the most popular woman in the office. In addition, her provocative smile suggests a hangover was in her future!
Still GOGO after all these yearsI love the bald guy just visible in the back row with the traffic signal "ballanced" perfectly on the top of his head. Very steady!
It sounds crazy... but I swear the bear moved a bit since last year.
That old gang is back!The Christmas Party Picture is back! I'd actually forgotten about it, so a quick check of Shorpy was the most welcome way to end my Friday. The week to come will reveal new snarks about these buddies of ours, and I look forward to that. Thank you, Shorpy!
Those EyesThe beauty sitting against the desk gets me every year. She looks exhausted.
My Favorite TraditionI don't post a lot of comments, but I check the site every day to see what's new and to read what *other* people have said. This is probably one of my favorite posts on this site because it's great to go back through the years of comments and read people's observations about the image, maybe see if someone has come up with something new. I hope we keep seeing this picture on the Friday before Christmas until the heat death of the universe. It would be a lovely constant.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Shorpy. I hope it's filled with love, contentment, and joy.
If you like this photo ...You loved the Shorpy.com postcard you just received!!!
When mine came in the mail, my wife said, "Do you know those people?"
OF COURSE I DO!!!
Find the BossI just love the way he stands there holding his cigar. You can almost hear him barking out orders in a very Edward G. Robinson-ish voice.
This reminds me of --That photo in "The Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel. These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy traditionEvery year when I see the office party pic, my eyes always wind up gazing into the sideways glance of that beauty in front of the desk.
I cant help imagining what the conversations of the day were, who brought a flask full of illegal libations, was jazz coming from a tube type radio, did everyone get a little Christmas bonus (it was the roaring 20's mind you), and who has a crush on who?
Dave, thanks for all you do. Shorpy is a constant in my day.
Be well everyone!
I guessed the right number of buttons in the jarMerry Christmas!
The Shorpy Ion Dept.A crazy thought occurred to me this year with respect to this beloved standard photograph: what if it were not the Ion Dept. from 1925 but the Shorpy regular contributors from 2019? Which one is Dave? Where is tterrace? And what about so many of the devoted Shorpsters (in no special order) – Jim Page, fanhead, TheGeezer, PhotoFan, Baxado, BethF, TimeAndAgainPhoto, Vintagetvs, OTY, Solo, Jeb70, switzarch, DaveA, JennyPennifer, rhhardin, pennsylvaniaproud, JohnHoward, kines, loujudson, lindab, Jano, StefanJ, jimmylee42, Hayslip, rivlax, Mattie, joemanning, Born40YearsTooLate, GarandFan, mountainrev, perpster, Dbell, Doubleclutchin, Root 66, KathyRo, archfan, GlenJay, alexinv, karenfryxell, Gooberpea, Angus J, 510Russ, Michael R, Brett, BillyB, bobzyerunkl, Alex, jsmakbkr, Marchbanks, Commishbob, Jimmy Longshanks, DoninVa, mgolden, Alonzo, Dag, Juan de la cruz, bobstothfang, Ice gang, Rute Boye, Vonderbees, Ad Orientem, MacKenzie Kavanaugh, JazzDad, Maniak Productions, EvenSteven, Doghouse Riley, John.Debold, Sewickley, Paul A, and jd taylor. And let’s not forget some of the people we haven’t seen for a while: stanton_square, aenthal, Mr Mel. (My apologies to those I have not listed.) Best of the season to you all, my fellow Shorpsters!
Who's WhoDavid K - Dave runs the joint, so he's the three piece with the cigar. TTerrace is his major player on this site, so he is the guy looking over Dave's left shoulder. Now we just need someone to post a picture with numbers, and we label them.
Maligayang Pasko all.
Re:Shorpy Ion Dept@davidk, I'm the one peeking from behind the Christmas tree.
I hope everyone in the Shorpy pantheon enjoys all the holidays!
Postcards From The EdgeWhen I got mine, I literally jumped for joy seeing the people that I love and cherish so much. Now I can look at them anytime throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
And, thank you to DAVIDK for the mention.
[@davidk, I would be the guy with the object upon his head]
Our own office partyI love seeing this photo every year and thanks to davidk for the guest book entries of our office. Top of the season everyone!
Still HereEvery time I see this picture I think that these people could have been my mom or dad.The time and ages represented are almost perfect. It reminds me of aunts and uncles and family friends who are long gone although I will never forget them. I just turned 80 years old this past July and can remember a lot of people who would have been right at home in this picture. Thank you davidk for including me in your list of people who have liked this picture in the past and a big Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace for maintaining the site.
This one never gets oldHow is it that an old picture never gets old? Every year, I always notice something new that I hadn't noticed before. This year it's the guy with the beard, hiding behind the tree.
Also, the woman just above and just to the left of the woman in the striped blouse (her left, that is) - could that be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother? I see a definite resemblance.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love itI love this photo. The expressions, the faces. Some of the women are quite attractive. The man with his hand draped across the shoulder of another man is interesting.
Office desk sultry beautyI wonder why the dark hair beauty is staring off to the side? Was she jilted? Was she sick of the many advances by the suited men, or despondent that the one she wanted got away. Why does the women in the RBG collar stare at her? Does she know what happened?
I love the captions from another commenter.
Michael ScottIf Michael Scott were the manager of this office, I wonder if he would have said (as he did 85 years later on the TV show), "Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for these people and they freak-out. Well happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame."
Merry Christmas, Shorpy! And for the record, I don't consider this a lame birthday party, and I doubt Jesus would, either.
Bal MasqueNinety-five years later, if there even would be a party! With an added suspense -- what does Hermione look like, under that mask?
Socially DistantWould they have believed it had someone told them that in 95 years their photograph would be the highlight of 2020 for a group of remote observers?
Merry and BrightThis photo has become the official kickoff of the holidays for me.
Best wishes to all the Shorpy regulars and particularly those who keep this place running.
Neither here nor thereEach year my attention is drawn immediately to the three beauties at the bottom left of the photo: sultry beauty far left floor level, looking off to her right at someone/something off camera; the lady to that lady's left who seems to be watching her with deliberate intent; exquisite beauty just behind the desk corner, beheld with what appears to be fond regard by the lady just behind her to her left; and wholesome beauty smiling behind exquisite beauty, being kept tabs on by the lady in the Police Department helmet.
I do eventually get past these women, to study the remainder of visages and postures and wonder about the other long-dead revelers of both genders, but it is these six who take up most of my time each year as I wonder what might have been the complexities of the various relationships. And as always, I hope each one in the photo had a Merry Christmas that year and many years after. I know that the likelihood is slim to none that all lived long and were carefree throughout, but that's still what I wish for in this suspended moment that so many have celebrated for so long, thanks to Shorpy.
So a Merry Christmas to beloved Shorpy and its erudite, esteemed company of gazers no less fascinating than any who attended Office Xmas Party: 1925.
Thanks Again Dave and Merry ChristmasThanks again Dave, I've been waiting for it. Obviously, we all love this yearly Christmas "surprise". I enjoy everyone's take on this party I missed awhile back.
Questions, questionsEvery year I wonder.
What is that thing on the postal scale? A misplaced elf? A misshapen magus?
Why is that woman with the oil can looking at me? Am I safe?
And why is the Christmas tree so scrawny?
Merry Christmas Dave!And to all the crew at Shorpy! Thanks for the memories and keeping some of us sane in 2020!
What I want for ChristmasI don't care what it is, I want one.
[Update, thanks to all the gizmo identifiers. I love tape dispensers! Now I really want it!]
Nothing stops this partyOh, thank goodness the Shorpy party is still on! It's the only event the pandemic cannot cancel!
Judging youDon't know what got into her holiday spirit. Not too pleased with someone.
Re: tterrace What I want for ChristmasIt's a gummed tape dispenser, similar to this one:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-ornate-cast-iron-...
She of the averted gazeI know that we enjoy interpreting what is in - or not in - this photograph each year. However, eight people, including "she of the averted gaze" are looking in that direction, suggesting something was going on while the picture was taken, sufficient to distract. A further basis for interpretation and speculation, perhaps? Merry Christmas.
Only one bow tieAmong all those Windsor knots on the gents, third on upper right. In group after group they are always in the minority, even until today.
Going to a Go-GoNothing says Christmas like a Go-Go party hat.
That machineMay be a gummed tape applicator.
National Package Sealer model #206
Do they know?Do you think the two women wearing the exact same necklace (dripping pearls) suspect that it might have come from the same man? Are the pearls from the handsome young gentleman with the pen sticking out of his pocket? Is this an early version of "The Bachelor" that we are witnessing? Which one will he choose?
Austerity Christmas?From the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to the lack of any visible food or drinks (except for a few candy canes) to the blank, unimpressed looks on some faces, it looks like an Austerity Christmas in Anytown this year.
Well, Merry Christmas TermiteYou can probably still find one somewhere. It's an automatic wetter and cutter for wide, brown packing tape. You just mash down on the handle and it shoots out a measured length of wet sticky tape and cuts it when you release. There is a messy water reservoir up front. I used one in a shipping department in 1974.
Buddha Bear!Puts in his once a year appearance.
Merry Christmas to Dave & Ken & tterrace and all the naughty boys & girls at Shorpy!
Nice $-value todayThat horse that guy in front of Christmas tree is holding. All with bit of wear and patina collected in 95 years.
Another yearWe all get another year older and they stay the same.
Five groupsPart of the endless fun with this photo is deciding which part of it to center as the embiggened image on my screen. I fluctuate between the five main Ion Dept. groups: on the left, the ladies on the floor, the ladies standing, and the men standing above them, and on the right, the lower men and the upper men. (If I had to distinguish a special sub-group, it would be solo guy behind the tree and the fellow on the very far right who hovers between the upper and lower groups.) Once I have the group du jour embiggened, I focus on the individual characters. As we who have been doing this for years well know, that’s when the fun begins.
Might I take this opportunity to offer the best of the season to Dave and Ken and tterrace and all my fellow Shorpsters. In this extraordinary year of greater screen time than ever before, I find that my Shorpy screen time is even more intense and valuable, if such a thing is actually possible. Bless Shorpy, and bless you all.
Elbow to elbowEvery year I have a different response to this photograph, depending on general mood and the state of the world. This year, I truly envy those people. They get to stand together in a bunch, breathing one another’s air, touching each other casually, sharing food and drink, simply going in to work at an office. They all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Happy holidays to all the people who create and enjoy this wonderful website that gives me joy and perspective on a daily basis.
Re: Elbow to elbowI must concur. Having spent nine months wearing a mask, practically bathing in hand sanitizer every time I touch anything, and staying as far removed from people I don't live with as humanly possible, I'm jealous of these long-dead coworkers for being able to crowd together, enjoying one another's company in person, rather than over Zoom or FaceTime.
It's been a bad, bad year, there's no denying that, but Shorpy has been a bright spot in my day since January, much as I'm sure it's been for the rest of you. Happy Holidays to all the Shorpyites out there — may you find some contentment and peace in the face of all this tragedy and come out the other side hale and hearty.
That Time of Year AgainThrough the miracle of photography and our friends at Shorpy, we are able to visit this party again.
A Vintage CrumpleAfter all these annual viewings I finally noticed what looks like a lone crumpled piece of paper at lower right. We'll never know what was on it. Maybe a dig at one of these people? Or love note? Ah, the mysteries!
Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at once!Every year I wonder about the dark-haired smiling young woman third from the front, beside the desk. With her modern-looking bob, she looks like a Time Traveler, so that's what I've named her. (Not far away are The Maniac, Da Boss, and The Very Secret Lovers.) This photo, along with its subjects, never gets old, and I hope the Holiday Spirit that originally inspired it never does either. Happiest of Holidays to everybody who produces and sees Shorpy, and a New Year of peace, love, courage, and good health to all.
12 Years of ChristmasMerry Christmas Shorpy. Thanks for the memories.
[This is Shorpy's 14th Christmas! - Dave]
PerspectiveThey all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Thanks, jdtaylor--I'm sure I'm not the only one who needed that perspective today.
Happy holidays to Dave and all the Shorpyites. This site has been a great distraction lately!
Time to Move OnI vote that next year you post the 1926 photo. Some of the lingering issues must have been resolved by then.
The X-mas Party Presents!And here you may have a look on how Christmas looked 100 years ago in the U.K. (including a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater).
Mysterious machineNow that the gummed tape dispenser has been identified, I hope someone will be able to reveal the secret of the machine on the desk behind the in-box. A perforator or a mimeograph machine perhaps?
[It's called a typewriter. - Dave]
Dead ringer, etc.At the very back and far left - the attractive woman 3 in - I have a friend who looks exactly like her but with a more modern hair style, but identical facial features. How eerie!
Something tells me that Oil Can Mary's wicked smile indicates that she is already planning what flapper attire she will wear at the local speakeasy that night. Her future toast might be: "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!" Published in 1920. Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I often wonder what became of all these people. It is my hope that they all lived long, happy, prosperous lives but alas, as we know, life can be more complicated than that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you ghosts of Christmas past!
The only Christmas party I'll go to.Merry Christmas to Dave and the Shorpy Crew, as well as my fellow Shorpy followers. It appears that I've been around for 12.5 of the 14 years of Shorpy.com, though it seems like yesterday and DoninVa no longer lives in Va. There's always something to be found in a Shorpy photo: the young woman framed in the glass of the door is the doppelganger for someone I once worked with. Cheers!
Newcomer To The PartyAfter viewing Shorpy for some years now, I finally decided to join this party; I'm in awe of the many observations, and for now, am unable to come up with any new angles on this fascinating photo. I do want to say that the comments of jd taylor and BethF most definitely struck a chord with me; I, too, envy those in the photo, survivors of even greater trouble, coming as it did following The Great War. Hope to see you all back at the party next year, and a few other places along the way. May you all find peace and hopefully some joy this Christmas.
A Merry Christmas to You All!It's been a rough few years for me (family deaths, health issues), and my Internet usage dropped off considerably. I may have stopped commenting, but I never stopped reading, and I've looked forward to this photo every year for a long, long time. I'm glad that for all the things in flux in this world, the Shorpy Office Xmas Party remains the same.
I wish you and yours the very merriest and happiest of holiday seasons. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. :-D
EerieWhy the rush?
[??? - Dave]
MassafornianWhat a great comment, thank you. I’ve never colorized, and I use Photoshop for barely 10% of what it can do, but I truly appreciated your insight into the process. More amazing is that you’ve named them all. Gosh, I’d love to know who the others are, in addition to Mary, Bobbie, Lulu, and Lila. And how honest to share with us your faves, Mary and Bobbie, made legit by your wife asking. I agree about Lila: trouble. Also the lady with the marcel wave in the purple dress and blue coat with fur fringe behind the bear and oilcan and house: you might think of her in off moments but you could never make it work. (What’s her name?) Thanks for explaining about Remini because I wondered how their teeth and various other features were so brilliant and precise. And don’t worry about the rouging: it raised the temperature on the whole event (and not just on the ladies – it’s perfect for that guy third from the left in the upper right, the older fellow with the red tie, who’s had too much to drink or is about to have a stroke or both). One more thing: I’d never really noticed that unsightly blotch on the forehead of the boss with the cigar – you did it full, gross justice. Again, great job, and thanks, man!
I'd like to be the first this yearSurely, it's not too soon for this Yuletide Jewel ...
The Oilcan Need an explanation for the purpose of the oil can at the party.
[It's not a party unless everyone is well-lubricated. - Dave]
Now the season is complete!I look forward to revisiting this every year. Thank you!
- Ken
Colorized versionI've been working off and on to colorize this wonderful image throughout the year. Here's the result. You can also find it here in high resolution:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.jpg
Merry Christmas!
[Bravo! - Dave]
Amazing colorization!@ Massafornian -- thanks so much for that epic job. It adds so much to an already incredible image. (Judging by your username, I suspect we are compatriots -- I was born in Massachusetts and live in California.)
Merry and BrightWith retirement, our lives have been simpler here so the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier. But it isn't *really* the season until the annual Shorpy office party. Happy Holidays to Dave and the regular contributors that make this place special.
BTW...it's kind of odd that I get older but none of the partygoers ever seem to. Must be something in the eggnog.
As We Seek Normalcy, This Pic Provides it!The last two pandemic driven years, makes most of us seek glimpses of normalcy. Having this Christmas tradition each year, having a peek into the office Christmas party, gives a moment of that peace. Knowing these, and their children, and their grandchildren...made it through the Great Depression, WWll, the Cold War, etc., etc., still, a moment frozen in time, gives a certain reassurance, that everything is going to be ok!
Merry Christmas, office party, as well as all the Shorpy members that crash the party each year!
Bravo, indeedWell done on the colorization, Massafornian. It adds a level of vibrancy to an already-lively photo of an intriguing bunch of people. I’m also surprised at some of the effects, for example the oft-commented-upon woman in the lower left, sitting against the desk, craning her neck for a beady glare offstage – the rouge on her cheeks and the lipstick blunt the ultra-crazy impression and make her look, dare I say, somewhat fetching. Thank you for your addition to this seasonal favourite. And best of the season to my fellow Shorpsters and to the toilers in the digital mines who bring us this much-loved website.
Everybody's back in the officeNobody's working from home and the party is ON! Happy holidays!
WFHAs we head into Covid Christmas #2, it again strikes me that these folks would have no idea what working from home would even mean. (Taking in sewing?) Here they are, in joyous proximity one to the other, while we are still asked to distance, mask up, etc. Their mingled exhalations, their casual touches, the humid density of their gathering – how I envy them. Well, we come here to dream and fantasize, don’t we? Happy holidays to my fellow dreamers and observers and to the hard-working trio who bring us the stuff that dreams are made of.
Up to good or no goodI am incredulous that I have never really noticed the girl at the far left of the photo, just in front of the door -- the last of the women. She is concealing something. Knowledge or intent, benevolent or nefarious ... no matter. Keep a weather eye on that one.
Egad! New versions!Shorpy Patreon members have been treated to a short, elegant--well, creepy--music video in Ken-Burns-goes-Edward Gorey style. And now a colorized photo with costumes straight out of Technicolor heaven. And in 2021 they all sneaked in to party on Saturday!
Old FriendsI've seen this picture so many times over the years at Christmas time on Shorpy that the faces have become like familiar old friends. I'm of the opinion that Christmas will never be the same for me unless I get to see this photo at least once during the Christmas season.
Girl At The Far LeftNo one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”
Time For A Rhyme...or TwoIt's Christmas Party time again, so back to yesteryear,
To faces from so long ago, we now hold somewhat dear
They lived through their pandemic, and now we've had our own
For some, it was an ordeal; of much more time alone,
Yet, gazing at these faces here shows us things will improve,
And then to next year's gala even more will gladly move!
A Merry Christmas to you all, here at this special time
I thank you all so very much for bearing with my rhymes,
May next year's party be the one our current trial's behind us
But our friends from 1925 will be there to remind us ...
A very special thanks to Massafornian for the superb colorization!
A bit more on the colorizationThe colorization was done by hand, for about an hour most every morning, when I had the spare time while listening to podcasts. I started in early January and completed it around April. I am sure that most Shorpians know that colorization is tedious, mostly due to the need to mask objects and details as much as possible, to distinguish them from other objects. (The Christmas tree with its fir needles and tinsel was a bit of a job). Automated colorization just doesn’t compare in quality to doing it by hand.
Each person is a smart layer in Photoshop that in turn contains many layers of isolated bits to colorize. The fun part was choosing the colors of people’s attire. Hopefully what I chose is close enough to what this cast of characters might’ve actually worn in 1925, but I won’t claim any historical research was performed for color accuracy.
I could easily spend the same amount of time on this image again, by further masking textures and smaller objects, and separating their colors. If anyone wants the original layered PSD to do more magic, you can have it here:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.2021.psd.zi...
You have exactly one year to post the next refinement!
You might notice in the high resolution version that the faces are oddly higher resolution than the surrounding parts of the image. This is a bit of AI deployed on the faces, called Remini. Google it to learn more, but in a nutshell, Remini analyzes a face that is low resolution or blurry and magically reconstructs it in high resolution by drawing from a huge library of face components. Remini reassembles face components onto a map based on the original image. The process is hit-or-miss as far as how it can interpret low-quality image data. It was fun to apply it to this image one face at a time and integrate the rendered AI faces back into the master image.
I feel that I know all these characters in the photo intimately, having spent a lot of time on each one of them. I’ve given them all first names to distinguish the Photoshop layer names. My wife asks me which lady I might’ve fancied back in the day, and I think it’s a tie between ‘Mary’ (the blonde in front of the ‘504’ door wearing purple) and ‘Bobbie’ (third-to-the-right of ‘Lulu’, (the pixie by the desk), with brown hair, a green coat and blue dress, looking directly into the camera). Those two have nice, approachable personalities. I’m intrigued by ‘Lila’ (the mysterious lady on the floor in front of the desk), but she’s perhaps too brooding for 1925 Me to take on; and ‘Lulu’ is far too racy and trendy for my sensibilities.
I was born in 1963, so I imagined a lot of these people from 1925 as being my many older relatives who were a huge part of my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. My grandmother was born in 1890 and her gaggle of five sisters had birth years that ranged between 1885 and 1902. Though elderly, they were all alive and vibrant for most of my childhood, and greatly influenced me.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this time of year when Dave publishes this wonderful photo, to submit my contribution. I think this version turned out pretty nice.
@ Born Too Late - my geographical fate is the opposite of yours: I started out in the Alameda, California and moved to Massachusetts some 20 years ago. Massachusetts is really a great place to live—weather be damned!
@ DavidK - Yes, ‘Lila’ did indeed turn out to be beautified by the AI software, Remini. In retrospect I think I got carried away with rouging people’s cheeks, but without it, the skin tones just seemed too flat.
Cheers,
—Massafornian
HUAAgreed, davidk ... most likely she's a downright dollbaby but there is a definite glint in her eye and you must admit she has a secret or two or ten. Maybe she's even got something on some of the other girls.
Not nefariousI’ve had my eye on that woman on the far left in front of the ION window for years, JennyPennifer. She has a touch of high color, and I really like that ringlet that has broken loose by her right eye. She seems mild yet ready for fun. Not naughty.
At this rateI'm thinking that by the 2025 centenary we should be ready for an animatronic enlivening of this ongoing party.
Cast of charactersAbsolutely outstanding job of colorization, Massafornian!
It really brings out details that were easy to overlook.
I see the Serbian Anarchist, peering out just to the right of the Big Boss with the cigar, and wonder what he's planning. And the guy hiding just below the life of the party, with the STOP/GO headgear - he looks like he's hiding something, for sure.
But is the Big Boss truly the Man? My money is on the distinguished looking silver haired gent at the top right, overlooking the affair with a cautious gaze ...
And, who really *is* the mustachioed guy to his left, glaring at the photographer?
Is he worried about this photo getting out? Does he appear on a Wanted poster??
Merry Thank YouBecause it's never Christmas until the Office Party and new Office Party Comments.
Office Stories@ DavidK - If you have Photoshop, try downloading the PSD and you’ll see their names in the layers palette. The oilcan lady I named ‘Janelle’ because she looks like my cousin who has that name. I believe ‘Janelle’ to be the well-regarded office trickster.
The aging lush in the top-right standing group of men is named ‘Redd’. Me thinks he’s barely evading his mortality this fine evening, and perhaps is about to fall off of whatever he’s perched upon, to be carried out to a waiting cab, muttering something about his childhood pet dog, Wilberforce. After his early departure his hip flask was found on the floor, where he fell. No one knows what happened to it, or its contents.
The leader of the pack is named ‘Boss’, for obvious reasons. My wife thinks that perhaps he has a familial connection to ‘Bertha’, the large lady in the red dress. Boss’s blotch is an expanding skin growth. By 1945, it will have grown over his face, poor fellow. Unfortunately, the portly Boss died of a heart attack in 1946 while un-crating his new supply of Consuegra cigars and munching on a donut.
I note in this photo that there is no evidence of food or drink, save the candy canes. So while we have conjectured on this post about the state of inebriation these people might be in, strong drink seems unlikely at this event, particularly in the age of prohibition these people find themselves in. (Redd is the exception, having brought his own supply of spirits.) The food might be in another part of the room, but the lack of it has me thinking that this event was a relatively brief gathering after work.
‘Lulu’, the office pixie, is only 19 years old. She is Boss’s niece. This makes her somewhat problematic for all concerned in the office, and something of a political figure. She’s not exactly incompetent at her job, but the office matriarch, ‘Ursula’ (sitting on the floor in the green dress) was grudgingly forced to hire her. Lulu got married to a Studebaker salesman in 1928, moved to Pasadena in 1930, and had 4 children. She died in 1988 in a car accident.
The thing about the brooding ‘Lila’ that no one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million dollars in property and bonds. She moved to the Upper East Side in 1936, but never married. She lived to the age of 103, dying in 1998.
Here's a closeup of Lila:
Go-GoIs that something hanging from the wall or sitting on the man's head as a prank? Has it ever been commented on before? Though not shown, there has to be a portable Victrola and stack of jazz records somewhere for when the party gets hot! This was the height of the Charleston era and there are plenty of flappers present!
A White Elephant In The RoomMay explain the oil can, the Honey Bear, and all the other strange gifts.
I don't know how long the White Elephant Gift party has been around, but my wife and I just had one at our house.
That is one thing that I have been looking at all these years on Shorpy (the crazy gifts), and now realize the crazy gifts could be from the White Elephant in the room.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my Shorpyite brothers and sisters.
(Thanks archfan. Good to know that it is still around after all these years)
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Re: Go-GoVictrolaJazz asks if the mini traffic signal on the head of the man at the back, to the right of the tree, has been commented on before. Yes! Many times over the years, in fact. This would provide a fine opportunity to review the long and enjoyable string of comments where you will find the following: Going to a Go-Go (12/12/2020), Still GOGO after all these years (12/20/2019), Festive Dress (12/19/2015), Must have been a heck of a party (12/23/2014), No one seems to have noticed (12/14/2012), Office A-Go-Go (12/25/2010), Slow on the uptake (12/24/2010), Kimono-wearing parrot? (12/23/2010), I can’t find Don Draper (12/23/2010), Naughty Naughty (04/21/2009), Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas Party (12/15/2008), Dramatis Personae (12/15/2008), and, finally, A Story in every face (12/15/2008) which includes a Dave link to a Shorpy post with a real GO-GO traffic signal in it.
Time travel?Either Johnny Depp was the original Doctor Who time travelling as a woman or his mother was working Working for Western Electric that Christmas
A white elephant party?I hadn't thought of that and now I'm disappointed. For years I have been daydreaming about the oil can lady, the one with the unnervingly lascivious direct look.
Then I remember she'd be old enough to be my grandmother. Jeepers.
Grateful Holiday pome These people, alas, are all now dust.
But we on Shorpy surely must
visit them once more.
Cheer to all on Shorpy!
Sad or Stimulating, or a bit of both?Having been recently retired, with no more company Christmas parties to attend, I am faced with a conundrum.
Is it sad that the 1925 Christmas Party on Shorpy is now the Office Party I look forward to the most, or is it tantalizing that the faces and actions of these folks, now long gone, give all of us smiles nearly a century later?
Let this serve as a reminder to treat every moment as if that moment is also "frozen in time"!
Merry Christmas, Dave, and the entire Shorpy family!
MomObviously, this is another photo in the Shorpy Hall of Fame inaugural class, but the best thing about it for me is that it was likely taken when my mom was just a newborn, having come into this world on December 17, 1925. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Heavenly 97th Birthday to my mom!
My how time fliesSeems like it was just a month or two ago when last Christmas flew by with this pic.
NobodyHas changed much from last year. Remarkable.
Gag Gifts?I look forward to this party every year, and I notice something new each December. It's occurred to me that everyone in the photo is holding some kind of small gift, and all of them look like "white elephants": a toy horse, an oil can, a little bear, a toy policeman's hat—perhaps it was a "Secret Santa" kind of gag gift swap, and each gift was appropriately unique to the receiver. The photograph makes every one of these people forever young, and I always wonder what happened to each one of them: all those life stories that we'll never know. (I hope they all got a Christmas bonus!) Happiest of Holidays—and a Happy, Healthy New Year—to every Shorpyite.
The finer detailsI’ve chosen to focus on some of the smaller, obscure points this year in my investigation of this beloved photo. The woman in the bobby hat towards the left? Go south to the hand of the woman in front of her, the hand on the shoulder of the woman in the light-colored dress: that hand looks disembodied and is therefore creepy. Person who looks most Photoshopped in? The woman to the immediate left of that hand, staring right into your soul. Stuff like that. The picture is positively filthy with wacky, kooky, scary little things.
Sober thoughtFourteen years of beautiful fascination. Wonder if some folks who commented earlier, by now "are with the people on the photo" too?
Go-Go indeedI just wanted to second the man at the back, being bald myself. Go Go, folks.
Christmas TreesIf nothing else, we have made great advances in Christmas tree technology.
Every year they look a bit youngerMeanwhile, every year I look less like my father and more like my grandfather.
Love the ones you're withThanks for the labor of love and commerce Shorpy is. Years ago this photo evoked for me speculations about what may have divided these office mates. Now what comes out of this photo is the love that is possible if only ... with enough time and enough patience and enough "having lived through" being absent from one another we arrive at a finality of cherishing "in spite of" or even "because of" the uniqueness we bring.
The big read 1925I wonder how many of them were concealing new books in their purses, briefcases, or desk drawers. It was an era of readers, and 1925 was a banner year. Here are some of the newly-printed titles waiting for them in bookstores:
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, In Our Time
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Dreiser, An American Tragedy
Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Cather, The Professor’s House
Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Milne, a Winnie the Pooh story at Christmas
Kafka, The Trial (if you read German)
Proust, Albertine Disparue (if you read French—though some of them may still be working through the 1922 translation of Swann’s Way).
By December, early subscribers could have accumulated ten months of the new “New Yorker.”
But let’s hope that they still had a few years to be blissfully unaware of Mein Kampf, published in Germany in July.
There's one in every office. Frank is holding up an equipment assignment sheet while calling (vainly) for the frivolity to end and a return to work. He will not succeed.
Group AnalysisObviously far too long a comment, but Shorpy is so inspirational. Still had fun thinking and writing, as well as viewing picture again.
I was wondering about the woman at the far left. She is showing a sideways glance, and nobody else in the picture has a sideways glance. A sideways glance can be a powerful indication of attention to a subject, like romantic attention or professional attention or just surprise, but in any case something out of the ordinary. Like here, it seems different, just that one woman.
Trying to analyze a sideways glance, there is the face angle (determined by the nose angle) and the eyes angle. For a sideways glance like this, the eyes are directly pointed at the subject, but the face is pointed elsewhere. Using a reasonably limited choice of angles (0, 15, 30, 45) and expressing angles as "eyes angle / face angle" (eyes come first, most expressive), then this mystery woman with the sideways glance could be a 0/30.
Directly below her on the floor is a 45/0 woman, and her eyes angle is the extreme opposite. Seems absolute difference between the two angles can show degree of interest or attention, not the amount of either angle. With any 45/0 difference then attention seems to be very much elsewhere. The 30/45 woman to her right apparently has her attention directed to the same subject, but not to the same degree, more a casual interest, just a difference of 15 between her angles.
And the next woman above is a 30/30, also looking in that direction, but no difference between her angles, no indication of interest or attention, just looking.
Also just looking, but now at the camera, are all the 0/0 men and women, no differences, the largest group. They seem to be posing conventionally for the picture, and there is no apparent sign of interest or attention (other than to the camera). The exact pose varies by individual, some are smiling more than others, but they are all 0/0's. Some 0/0's may be simple conformists, and others may be nonconformists bored stiff (they can still smile, for the camera), but you can't probably tell which is which from the picture.
The big boss on the right is a 0/0, and the men in line with him are mostly 0/0's too, diligently following his traditional example. Above him are three 45/45's, you may not be able to tell about attention or interest from a 45/45, no difference there, in that way like a 0/0. However they are definitely not posing for the camera in any conventional way, not following the big boss example, and probably not in line to succeed him. His successor would probably be a 0/0 closest to him.
We could also consider tilt angle of the head as a variable, but that's more difficult to determine, because it varies with perspective, further away or closer to the camera. Also could consider extent of smiles, but that also difficult to determine. Eyes angle and face angle (nose angle) should be easier.
These angle measurements are probably useful only in a posed office photo, like this one. In a family photo 0/0's can be visibly full of emotion. And in real life anyone can look at you straight on, a 0/0, with amazement or fury or love or anything else. So angles won't help much in real life, although a sideways glance can still show interest and then create reciprocal interest, even mutual interest.
Mistletoe and High Voltage for all the women!I love how the ladies' hair has that "Bride of Frankenstein" look ... creepy yet sexy. It reminds me to get the yule log out.
ZoomThat was a quick year.
Another Year Gone ByBeen seeing this annually for a long time now, am I the first to comment ?? Anyways all these souls, their troubles and happy days are behind them and now are just dust in the wind … enjoy yourselves as we will be dust too! Merry Christmas
My Newest Favorite Christmas Tradition!I have gotten to the point of looking so forward to this party each year, it has indeed become one of my favorite Christmas traditions! LOL
For most of those attending the party, they are indeed, "living life!" That is so valuable, the ability to live life. On a personal note, I am learning that this year, having lost my precious wife in March, to Dementia. As iamjanicemarie well noted, all of these, are now just "dust in the wind."
Which makes me wonder, in what order did they pass? Did some in the picture in 1925 not survive till the party in 1926? Who was the last to go, and in what year? In the hundreds of comments, some pointing out actual things, others just speculating ... we can learn one lesson.
Live Life Fully Every Day. Who knows, a hundred years from now, you may still be having an effect on someone who you never even met!
Merry Christmas, Shorpy family!
What's up with the gals?Are they wearing kryptonite jewelry?
Old friendsI never get tired of this party and these coworkers. The job, yeah, I'm sick of it, but the people make it all worthwhile. I feel like I've known them forever.
Welcome Back, Dear 1925 Office Party Friends. . . and all Shorpy friends, too!
I look forward to seeing this wonderful photo every year. These folks never age, unlike the rest of us. I find this reassuring: life goes on, as it did for the office partiers whose lives continued through the Depression, WWII, and possibly even on to the 1990s. I always wonder who they were and what happened to them.
Here's to a Happy Holiday season and a peaceful 2024.
Seems Like Old TimesNice to see familiar faces, even though I never met them. However much they aged after this photograph, we'll never know, so just once each year, it's 1925 again.
StableThis firm has a very stable workforce. Every year, it's the same folks in the Christmas photo.
Macabre variationAlthough certainly macabre, I do like the door that iamjanicemarie tentatively opened and that HarahanTim swung fully open. In what order did these people pass? The annual response to this photo has definitely taken a curious turn, but I’m glad to chime in.
First to go, I believe, was Boss Man with the cigar, the very next morning, in the wee hours. He’s clearly in bad physical shape, a massive coronary waiting to happen. And it wasn’t the fault of one of those young ladies sitting on the floor that it happened in her bed. It was a different time when office and sexual politics were vile, and everyone was drunk.
Last to go was Heather on the far left in back, framed by the glass of the door. She’s only 23 in the photo, and she lived right into the next century, dying at 102 in 2004. She had moved back to Ohio, and on her last day was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even one of her great-great-grandchildren. They all loved her very much.
It's finally Christmas ...... when this bunch show up. I checked; they're all there. Proceed to celebrate. Merry Christmas, everyone xoxo
In the officeIt's hard to imagine this bunch "working from home". The dynamic would be lost with a "Zoom" holiday party.
Fire ExtinguisherJust behind the gentleman with the "GO" signal on his head it looks like there is a classic soda/acid fire extinguisher that I noticed for the first time today. Conveniently located next to what appears to be a rather combustible tree. Season's Greetings to Dave, tterrace and the whole Shorpy gang.
Well, having had time to ponderabout these folk for a good decade since discovering Shorpy, I have come to a tentative yet preliminary assessment.
The only woman with no apparent makeup and yet the most beautiful features is the lady sitting on the floor at bottom left. Really in a class of her own in this crowd with those almond eyes and high cheekbones, yet with hair and dressed a bit out of date, but still sporting brand new shoes judging by their soles. How they got her to sit on the dirty floor for the pic is beyond me.
In any case, the photographer has just given her a huge suggestive wink, and she's snapped her head to the right in response, looking faintly amused / bemused, no doubt used to the unwanted male gaze. The woman second to her left is staring at her, annoyed that Gloria (for that is her name) has caught the roving eye of the photographer instead of her -- the body language is obvious. The flapper two to the left of Ms Envious is giving the photographer a bit of a come-on with her lopsided grin -- she has sussed out his game.
Mr Fatlips the boss is terminally near-sighted but for photos and thus posterity takes his glasses off when posing, as one can see. What he looks like with them on is a subject for a horror movie.
The rest of the crowd barring a few are to a greater or lesser degree tipsy on smuggled-in booze, it being Temperance Time, er, prohibited drinkees time in America
I'll have an update in future when other things become more clear to me from my favorite Shorpy image.
Merry Xmas to all!
Finger WavesThe blond and brunette whose backs are against the door and doorjamb, respectively, look modern. The other modern looking girl is two rows in front of them, also a brunette. These three look timeless. The other women either still have long hair wrapped up some way or they have those awful finger waves that look like ridges in their hair. None of the girls that have finger waves have benefitted from that style. It does not flatter any face shape, it just looks weird and kind of Bride of Frankensteinish.
The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why.
Holiday Party Fun (2023)Dear Shorpy folks and friends of the site.
This year I used this very photo to make a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game at our work Christmas party.
Each of the participants had 20 minutes to spot all 19 differences. I used Photoshop and AI to make the changes to the photo and we all had so much fun with it.
If you would like me to post that image here, you may have fun too! Let me know Dave!
Also, we have some new friends that might be joining us on this site as they were fascinated by all the expressions of this 1925 party. I did inform them of the site and URL.
Merry Christmas everyone
What is on the hand of the number 2 guy next to the boss?There is something on his pointer finger and thumb. Could these be some type of grippers for leaving through papers? Could it be he was working until they forced him to come get his picture taken? He is clearly annoyed to be there. Maybe he is plotting to have the boss removed so he can be in charge?
Half a MillionI expect that the number of reads for Office Xmas Party will pass 500,000 shortly. Is this a record number of reads for a Shorpy photo?
[Office Xmas Party holds the No. 2 spot. Shorpy's most popular post is ... Lady in the Water, with over 640,000 reads. And at No. 3 is The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Merry Christmas to all Shorpians!May your holidays be merry and bright. A special Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace who keep this very special website going. And to all pictured from that office party held nearly 100 years ago, a Merry Heavenly Christmas to all!
ONE MORE TIMEAfter passing this photo around for everyone to look and laugh at, it was probably hung on the wall for a time, then taken to someone's home and put away in a chest and forgotten ... perhaps copies were made.
But how would these people feel if they knew that almost a half million people have studied it?
Also those desks have been in their current positions for a very long time, the floor below them new and pristine.
[This was not a casual snapshot -- the National Photo Company was primarily a news service. Its photographs appeared in newspapers, advertisements and publicity material. This particular image might have been used for Western Electric's in-house newsletter or a company Christmas card. - Dave]
Thank ya Dave for clearing that up.
Meet some of the boys ...Introducing ...
Charles S. Barker, District Superintendent: "With the right personnel and a good organization, you can do anything in telephony"
E.N. Searles, Division Superintendent
J.E. Grant, R.D. Dick, and...
Walter W. Lodding, Division Accountant
... with an invitation to Christmas at the Loddings':
This image was featured in the December 1926 issue of the Western Electric News with the title: "YOUTH AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" and caption: "Santa Claus did right by this little lad the son of W.W. Lodding of the Installation Division 11 Headquarters"
Looking daggers?Susanhumeston wondered, "The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why."
I have always been intrigued by that interaction. Pretty much come to the conclusion that three of the ladies were diverted by something off set to the left. One (Charlotte) clearly annoyed, one (Lila) merely taking it in, and one (Gwen) mildly amused.
NamesMarkJo - nice job finding the real names!
I'm fascinated by the different names and nicknames in all the posts. Then I scroll to 12/23/21; alex_shorpy did a great job labeling everyone. Or go further back to 12/22/19 and see davidk's comment.
I also don't look at these folks as having turned into dust. Every year they come alive in the imaginations of many readers.
Maligayang Pasko to all.
Well, what else?Say, we don't view the full size for a micro-study. What we see is the "pyramid" of working stiffs that retracted into one side of the office against the forceful advance of upper management group. Sharp diagonal dividing line was disturbed somewhat at the bottom, by the lady and gent behind her.
There he is!Every year I look forward to seeing dear old Mr. Hilter at the top of the picture looking so skeptical!
"Mildred, what did you do with my flask"?This party was during the TEETH of prohibition too! The REAL fun will come later.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, Natl Photo, The Office)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/32246u.thumbnail.jpg "Office Xmas Party: 1925")
- Miss Illegible: 1921
- ... UPDATE: This is the lovely Miss Nellie Orr!
Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Nellie [Illegible], Miss Philadelphia." Perhaps someone out there can put a last name to this ... and one of only eight contestants in the first (1921) Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.
... Posted by Dave - 03/22/2022 - 12:25pm -
![ UPDATE: This is the lovely Miss Nellie Orr!
Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Nellie [Illegible], Miss Philadelphia." Perhaps someone out there can put a last name to this winsome face. View full size.
Like some kind of sea creatureWhat a fantastically weird hat.
Nellie OrrI think it was Orr.
http://www.misspa.org/past.htm
Up in Here"Why are ya'all up in my grill?"
Actually,she's the cutest beauty pageant contestant ever.
Miss Nellie OrrMiss Nellie Orr, Miss Philly 1921 and one of only eight contestants in the first (1921) Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.
http://www.pageantopolis.com/international/America_1920.htm
Nellie looked "spunky".
Miss Nellie OrrThe Coshocton Tribune (Ohio), 10 September 1921 (via NewspaperArchive.com):
SHE'LL REPRESENT MISS PHILADELPHIA IN BEAUTY REVIEW
Miss Nellie Orr of Philadelphia was chosen in the recent beauty contest to represent the Quaker City in the beauty review to be held in Atlantic City some time in September.
Literally winsomeNellie didn't have much equipment even by the standards of that day (teeth didn't matter, shape did!) but something in her look tells me she would have been a formidable competitor in anything she chose. She certainly didn't get the scarred lip and broken tooth from tea parties or knitting.
Miss Illegible: 1921The girl was Nellie Orr. See this link for list of Miss Philadelphia winners.
http://www.misspa.org/past.htm
Whoa NellieMISS AMERICA 1921
1921 September 7
8 entries
Result
1 WASHINGTON DC - Margaret Gorman
Remainder
CAMDEN (NJ) - Kathryn M. Gearon
HARRISBURG (PA) - Emma Pharo
NEW YORK CITY (NY) - Virginia Lee
NEWARK (NJ) - Margaret Bates
OCEAN CITY (NJ) - Hazel Harris
PHILADELPHIA (PA) - Nellie Orr
PITTSBURGH (PA) - Thelma Matthews
Miss Orr: 1921Looks to the future and tells herself: "I'm gonna be the best Miss Philadelphia ever and with my winnings I'm gonna buy another letter or two for my pathetically short last name!"
Near Miss In 1921 Nellie Orr competed as Miss Philly in what would soon become known as the Miss America Pageant, where out of 500 contestants in the "bathers' review," she finished second. Something must have been stuffed -- either the ballot box, or ...
Heeere she isIn the Racine Journal-News, same great hat
Poor PhiladelphiaFlat as a pancake, foul teeth! My God! I wonder what her contenders looked like.
Prosthodontically speakingMiss Orr seems to be sporting a none too artfully fashioned porcelain jacket crown. Or is it an inlay?
Her nameYes it was Orr, and she was my great-grandmother on my mom's side. From what my grandfather has told me about her, she was very spunky and outspoken. He used to tell me I reminded him of her!
Nellie OrrNellie was my mother's older sister. My mother is 82 and still lives in Haddon Heights, NJ.
I hope Heaven is far awayOtherwise, she's still embarrassed every time someone looks at this picture. She's probably saying something on the order of, "Of all the photos taken of me, how did this get to be the one people are still looking at? Now that it is on Shorpy, I will never live it down!"
Equipped Just FineMiss Nellie is actually built perfectly for the standards of the day. By 1921 the flapper era was in full swing, emphasizing an almost boyish look with bobbed hair, flattened breasts and few visible curves. It was a reaction to the Victorian style of very long hair and fairly extreme curves accentuated by a corset. It's no surprise she would finish second in the "bathers' revue."
(Full disclosure: my grandmother was a flapper. Her hair had never been cut until 1919 at age 12, when she got a bob. She told me her father didn't speak to her for weeks!)
What Happened to Miss Philadelphia 1921 Nellie Orr?Does anyone know what became of Nellie Orr? I am researching all eight of the 1921 Miss America Contestants from the first contest and located info on all except for Nellie. Looking for her parents names, Nellie’s married name and when she passed away. Many thanks! You can contact me at NRFB59@aol.com
Nellie Orr at Miss America 1921Here she is in her black taffeta swimsuit.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/04951u.thumbnail.jpg "Miss Illegible: 1921")
- The Babe: 1924
- Eighteen-year-old Ruth Malcomson, Miss Philadelphia of 1924. Later that year in Atlantic City, she would be crowned Miss America. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, Atlantic Foto Service/George ... Posted by Dave - 08/19/2012 - 1:41pm -
![Eighteen-year-old Ruth Malcomson, Miss Philadelphia of 1924. Later that year in Atlantic City, she would be crowned Miss America. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, Atlantic Foto Service/George Grantham Bain Collection.
Because of HerI found this tidbit.
"1924 Ruth Malcomson decides not to defend her title as Miss America, and compete again. Because of this, a rule is instated that woman cannot hold the Miss America title more than once."
Time marches onShe is 103 today, if still alive.
[Ruth Malcomson Schaubel died in 1988. She appeared in the 1974 Miss America pageant on the 50th anniversary of her win. - Dave]
*whistle*
Beautiful!!*whistle*
Beautiful!!
1924 Miss Philadelphia and Miss AmericaIf anyone has any photos of Ruth that they would like to sell - please post contact info.
I am a relative (granddaughter)
will consider buying if not too expensive
Oh the humanityGreat pose. Miss Americas looked so much more human back then.
Ahhhhooga!What a dish!
Ruth MalcolmsonInteresting. Not only is she beautiful ... but also made a bit of history, of sorts... as she decided not to defend her title as Miss America, and compete again. Because of this, a rule is instated that woman cannot hold the Miss America title more than once
She reminds me of. . . actress Paula Malcomson, who played Trixie on the HBO series "Deadwood."
Ruth MalcolmsonI have some photos of your grandmother. I am located in Drexel Hill, PA and can be reached at the Ardmart Antiques Mall. Check our website for contact information.
Grandma Ruth's TrophyDo you know what happened to that silver shell trophy? It is amazingly beautiful and so large - a true work of art! Were you able to acquire any photos from anyone?
Then and NowI find it really odd to look at a picture of someone when they were young and then to think that right now they're not even alive anymore. It seems like an impossibility at times to imagine yourself ever becoming old.
Growing OldI smiled--ruefully--at the comment about not being able to imagine yourself old. When I was in my teens, I calculated that I'd be 63 at the turn of the twenty-first century. I could not even conceive of being so ancient.
And now...oh, yes, it tolls for thee.
We are relatedI have been researching my family history and learned that I am related to your grandmother. My grandmother, Lida Roberts, was the wife of Hugh Malcomson. If you have any information on your grandmother's ancestry, I would surely appreciate it, if you are willing to share it. You can contact me at
normindell@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Shallow DOFNote the very shallow depth of field afforded by the long lens on 5x7 format and the slowness of the emulsion, even in decent daylight
WOWShe is absolutely stunning! I'm amazed.
(The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Pretty Girls)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_37484u.thumbnail.jpg "The Babe: 1924")
- Marjory - Miss Toronto 1923
- ... of the photo (call it part 2). And what is the pageant? Miss Atlantic City maybe?
The Cop What really gets me is the cop to our ...
Marjorie Smith I think the photo is of the 1922 Miss America contestants in Atlantic City. Marjorie Smith Deyell (Grandma Marjory) ... Posted by EgoSlaier - 09/22/2011 - 11:38pm -
- Inter-City Beauties: 1927
- ... the middle. She's about to sink a knife into the back of Miss Wichita.
tim I think I've seen this image before on the american ... not apply.
Pageant I was watching the Miss Black America Pageant and I didnt find any blue eyes. I guess Germans need not apply. ... Posted by Ken - 02/20/2014 - 5:04pm -
- Beach Policeman: 1922
- ... hearing in the media about the increase of obesity among America's young people is true. As they entered the building today with their ... was a compliment in those days. Look at the first 10 Miss America winners (not to mention Playboy centerfolds). The current idea ... Posted by Ken - 08/31/2022 - 12:51am -
![ Commemorating the Potomac Thighway Patrol's 100th anniversary, and one of Shorpy's most popular posts --
June 30, 1922. "Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrill, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee." 4x5 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
This poor guy would have a stroke......if he could see what our high schoolers are wearing to summer school this summer. I honestly don't know where to put my eyes.
And obesity does NOT stop them from wearing too little and revealing too much. I wish I could "un-see" some of this summer's ensembles! (Rolls of exposed fat, ripples, dimples, man breasts, and so much more...)
Side note: What you are hearing in the media about the increase of obesity among America's young people is true. As they entered the building today with their doughnuts and Gatorades and Rock Stars (breakfast they buy at convenience stores on the way to school!), I realized that the summer FACULTY is more trim and fit than the summer school STUDENT BODY. Of course, we *do* have a lot of coaches, male and female, working this summer, but still...
Oh my God, it's the REALOh my God, it's the REAL bikini inspector!
Bathing Suits RequirementsNo kidding! My grandmother was arrested in the early 1900's for showing too much leg at a beach on Lake Michigan. Great pictures.... Al . Sacramento, Ca.
Modesty, Please!Today he'd be looking for thongs. I wonder what the next step is.
Looking upI'm sure he hated his job!! Yeah right!!
Today he couldlook for bulbous folks who have no business wearing Spandex
My only question is...Where are the beaches in Washington, DC?!?!
[Along the Potomac or Anacostia rivers. This is probably near the Tidal Basin. - Dave]
Beaches in DCIs that the Washington Monument in the distance? With the Smithsonian Castle over to the right? That might put this at the swimming beach where the Jefferson Memorial is now.
Its a tough jobbut somebody's got to do it!!!
heaven forbidmen see more flesh than is already present...they just wouldn't be able to control themselves...monsters that they are...
RE: This poor guy would have a stroke...Awww... but these are sure some nice pictures on this site, eh?
sadthis picture is so disheartening. not saying that measuring women's bathing suits isn't a bit humiliating and patronizingly obnoxious, but why are our teenagers pretending they're porn stars?!
["Pretending"? - Dave]
MemoriesI remember being a kid and having someone measure the distance between my knee and my shorts. Even though you knew what you wore was long enough, it never stopped the butterflies caused by wondering if the man doing the measuring was going to think they were too short! What an embarrassing time!
Re: SadJust because some bratty little kids dress in very little at all doesn't mean they're pretending to be filming an adult movie. I'm sure there are people at the time of this picture who were offended by the girl's skimpy suits, but you don't really have to go off calling them porn stars.
Beach policemanNotice how they aren't measuring the men.
Well, look at the girls.Well, look at the girls. He's more like the "cover yourself up, fatty" inspector. Too bad we don't have those today...
Re: Well, look at the girls.You're an idiot. That's what real women used to look like before the media and anorexia started coming down on everyone. You think they had Twinkies and Ding Dongs back then to gorge on, while sitting in front of the TV? Those girls are not overweight. Your tiny mind has been warped by today's sick society.
D.C. "beach"The area where the Jefferson Memorial is today was once a segregated public beach.
Good Work If You Can Get ItSo, did she pass inspection?
I Knew It!I've suspected for some time that my job sucked. Now I have photographic proof!
The SwimmerI like that she's leaning forward. I'm pretty sure that'll slide the fabric down at least a little. Way to work the system, bathing suit girl!
Double Standards???I don't see any men in the picture, but do notice the boys in the background are wearing essentially the same outfits, which modern boys would consider somewhat uncomfortable, I'd bet.
You can see from the marks……above her knees that she had taken off her stockings only a short time before the picture was taken.
For the sake of HumanityIt's obvious that what our parents taught us didn't matter to us, nor did they care for their parents as well. People had envy for their integrity and honor, and people cared for one another as if they were family, it's sad to see our world slope down to a level beyond wearing bikinis, to a level where we are happy how our children become more and more as adults to copy what we call "celebrities" and where short skirts and show skin. In my search I have found the answer and the solution to this problem, I have found a religion so great. Over time and as skin began to increase people see it as being normal, and that covering up is so abnormal, demeaning and a violation to one's rights, it's the beginning of humanity where Adam and Eve try to cover up, it's in our nature, in reality I found what integrity really means, to me and my family. Although I am double searched at airports because of my religion but in the end I am happy and can lift my head up high, and be proud of our honor, and what we have become in a hateful and evil world.
[So in this evil, bikini-wearing world, you're finally feeling good about yourself? Super. - Dave]
On Our KneesWhen one can determine what the appropriate amount is required to be modest, then the only fashion will be that one definition... A lot of people need to evolve..
Hmmm. 1922?Nice pic - but perhaps the foreground images are a little bright, sharp and contrasty for a 1922 image? And a right click of the mouse and a quick squizz at the image properties reveal the use of a $25,000 Sinar digital camera back - and Photoshop CS3. Surely digitizing with a normal film or flatbed scanner would have been more appropriate? I do hope I'm wrong and that they are the real thing but...... Hmmmm.
[These images were digitized using a Sinar 54 scan back and then adjusted for contrast and turned from tiffs into jpegs with Photoshop CS3. - Dave]
ScannerDon't get your point - I would expect you to use a scanner - either a film or flatbed type - to scan these rather than a digital camera. Just curious to know why all the pix on the site put through the Sinar look slightly unnatural for their time, that's all. Maybe we're all used to faded images from the period.
[You wouldn't use a film scanner because there is no film -- these images were recorded on glass plates the size of windowpanes. Flatbed scanners are more suited to reflective media (prints) than transmissive media (glass plates, film transparencies, negatives). Plus, flatbed scanners would be much too slow. The single-exposure scan back (in this instance, made by the Swiss firm Sinar) is standard equipment in a lot of archival facilities where hundreds or thousands of images have to be processed every day. The principle behind each scanning method is the same, though -- light shines through the transmissive media being digitized and hits a semiconductor array. - Dave]
NecklacesThey have to be mother and daughter, related somehow...Matching necklaces...can we get a zoom in of the Medallions... please.. Dave? (Love this site by the way)
[Those are claim tags for the changing-room lockers. - Dave]
Integrity IS hard to find!It's really sad to be a 21 year old girl these days. Everyone I know is getting on their knees to get male attention instead of being subtle or witty. I'm reading and drinking coffee with my nose in a book. I think I've got the right idea, and my joints are no worse for the wear.
Washington PolicemanThe policeman in question is a member of the United States Park Police. At the time they were under the control of the Bureau of Public Buildings and Grounds. They eventually were transferred to the National Park Service when the Bureau of Public Buildings and Grounds was reorganized to create the General Services Administration.(GSA got the buildings and the Park Service got the grounds).
Some Warning, PleaseDave! Please! I had to clean my morning tea off my monitor. Too funny!
Fat Was Beautiful"Plump" was a compliment in those days. Look at the first 10 Miss America winners (not to mention Playboy centerfolds). The current idea that "Bony is Beautiful" is of fairly recent development and is a forced denigration of all that makes women biologically successful.
(For the "Yeah...sour grapes" crowd, I'm 5'2" and weigh 97 lbs. I wish I had a little more padding.)
Pull over miss!Pull over miss while I wrap my fingers around your knee cap! I bet his mother, his wife, his children, and his in-laws are so proud. How does he explain to his children what he does for a living? Yes, my dad measures women's bathing suits at the beach. Sooo funny. Nope, Madonna wouldn't put up with this. Note the little boy carrying (I think) a brownie camera in the back.
See him in actionYou can see our man in action in this YouTube movie, round the 3:10 and 3:40 mark.
Presidential dippingI notice the location may be along the Potomac. A trivia fact is that President John Quincy Adams loved to swim nude in the Potomac.
Reminders of mini-skirtsForty-six years after this, I was a freshman at Fort Knox High School. While the fashion was for skirts to be several inches above the knee, at FKHS, if they thought someone's skirt was too short, they would make her kneel on the floor. If her skirt didn't touch the ground, they could send her home to change. The very young VP was generally the one who did that. Since I had grown four inches taller in the previous few months, but my dresses hadn't, I did my best to avoid him!
Taking no chancesThe young girl on the extreme left is definitely not going to drown as she is wearing TWO, not just one, inner tubes around her waist and keeps them on either in or out of the water. Better safe than sorry.
Touch my leg??!!Is this the origin of the expression "cop a feel"? Just wondering.
A perfect illustrationof bureaucratic inefficiency. What's with the tape measure? If the law says six inches, all he needs to measure with is something six inches long, that he can press against ladies thighs. Hmmm....
[That wouldn't have made as effective a photo. This was shot for newspaper distribution. - tterrace]
Oh, it would have made an effective photo alright! I doubt they could have printed it in the newspaper, though.
Not Park PoliceHe is wearing a Metropolitan Police badge.
Very PresidentialI always wondered what FDR did in the 20's before becoming president!
The measure of a manMr. Sherrill had definite ideas about things --
"But this did not satisfy them""They wanted to play golf on the same days and at the same time as the white people." Imagine!
[Really. The nerve of some people! - Dave]
Get Back in Your BurkaWhy the ladies don't kick sand in the face of this doofus is a good question. I'm guessing the boys standing just behind are wearing suits just as short.
1963This very thing happened to me in high school on Long Island!!
I think I know what job I want when I grow upThe boys may be thinking this is the job for them!
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Curiosities, D.C., Natl Photo, Swimming)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/06624u.thumbnail.jpg "Beach Policeman: 1922")
- American Beauty: 1926
- August 2, 1926. "Miss Marjorie Joesting." Our second look at Marjorie, who was Miss Washington, D.C., and a Miss America runner-up at Atlantic City. National Photo Company Collection glass ... Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 5:32pm -
![August 2, 1926. "Miss Marjorie Joesting." Our second look at Marjorie, who was Miss Washington, D.C., and a Miss America runner-up at Atlantic City. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Runner Up?If she was a runner up, bring on whoever was 1st.
Hubba hubbaMiss Marjorie Joesting was robbed! There couldn't have been a more beautiful contestant in 1926.
Well hello there!YOWZA! I agree that she was robbed. The fix was in.
MarjorieWhat an apt title. The American Beauty is a rose... something with a natural beauty, like this girl's. I do wonder if she'd win today, though.
She's So ModernThis really looks like it could have been taken yesterday. Such a crisp shot.
Crowning GloryJust sweet. I wonder if she succumbed to fashion and had her hair bobbed.
You guys all beat me to it.Yeah, I couldn't believe she was only runner up either. Must have dropped the baton or something she was juggling in the talent competition....
I don't think soIf she was competing today, she would need some "work" done on her nose and veneers on her teeth as well. Plus probably lose about 15 pounds, I hate to say.
Are You Kidding?If she were running today, she'd need a resurrection, not a nose job.
I Fail to See.......anything wrong with her nose, teeth, or weight.
And the winner is...I believe she lost to Norma Smallwood from Oklahoma, the first native American Miss America.
ProtectionNow if there's anyone that would need protection from those oglers and cake-eaters it's this gal. I wonder if the Anti-Flirt Club was still around three years later.
"Miss Shorpy" Beauty PageantWith all the cuties that have appeared here during the past year, I suggest we nominate one to be "Miss Shorpy" 2008. This doll deserves another chance at a title.
Too BadShe didn't know curly hair shouldn't be brushed.
Imagine....Rather than wonder how she would fare today, I would rather imagine myself back in 1926, and being Marjorie's beau.
She is as beautiful in this photo as she was in the first one. Just a gorgeous young, nineteen-twenties, lady.
Intriguing idea...The suggestion about having a "Miss Shorpy" 2008 is interesting. The biggest drawback is that so many of these ladies of yesteryear have SO MUCH natural beauty--it might be difficult to choose! But some of these women should have the "first prize" they didn't get in their own time. ...It would also be interesting to see some of today's "beauties" without the benefit of airbrush, plastic surgery, advanced cosmetics, etc.
Marjorie JoestingThis is an except from an obituary that appeared in the Alton (Illinois) Evening Telegraph on Dec 8, 1956.
Arthur Lange, 65, widely known Hollywood motion picture director and composer, died Friday in Doctor's Hospital, in Washington, DC. He was the husband of the former Miss Marjorie Joesting of Alton, winner of the Miss Washington beauty contest in 1926, and later a model with parts in pictures.
Mr. Lange composed music and directed the Shirley Temple pictures, and also composed music for the "Great Ziegfeld."
He was married to Miss Joesting in 1931. News of his death came to Misses Helen and Eugenia Joesting, of Alton, sisters of Mrs. Lange.
Hope LangeAccording to Arthur Lange's IMDb entry, he divorced Charlotte Lange in 1931, and the obituary posted below has him marrying Marjorie Joesting in 1931. Arthur's daughter, actress Hope Lange, was born in 1933. So, is this a photo of Hope Lange's mother?
[Whoever wrote that IMDB bio seems to be mistaken. According to various newspaper articles from 1956 announcing Hope's engagement (as well as her Wikipedia entry), her parents were John (Johnny) Lange and Minnette Buddecke Lange. - Dave]
Hope's parentsHope Lange was the daughter of Zeigfeld Follies director John Lange and the actress Minnette Von Buddecke. I should know -- I'm her son.
[Thanks. I always liked your mom. A class act. - Dave]
My cousin MarjorieI am her cousin twice removed. Marjorie was a very interesting woman. She was married to Arthur Lange and lived in Beverly Hills. I used to play his piano, which was too big for me.
She was John Robert Powers's first model in New York and led a very interesting life. If anyone knows more about her family history I would really like to hear from you.
I don't know if we can leave an email address so I won't unless I hear otherwise. I will check here for an answer.
Hope's sonThen you had a part in my favorite film: See you in the Morning. You played one of the participants in the group therapy. Loved your playful, typical confused male part! Great job!
Donna
MarjorieI googled Margorie Joesting after finding a lovely photo of her in a vintage Woman's Home Companion. She is wearing a black cloche hat, wide smile, and is advertising Colgate toothpaste. I became intrigued with her.
1926 Miss America pagentMy wife's grandmother was a contestant from New York in some sort of preliminary leading up to the final 1926 Miss America Pageant but we can't find info on where the event was held and when. Any information would be very appreciated as we're writing her life story. Contact Terry at terrystone127@yahoo.com
Thanks.
[A search of just about any newspaper archive might have the information you need. Grandma's name would help. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Natl Photo, Pretty Girls)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/16114u_0.thumbnail.jpg "American Beauty: 1926")
- Beauticult of America: 1926
- ... Shop, Connecticut Avenue." Member of the "Beauticult of America." H&E glass negative. View full size.
French Bobbing A ... on the door, enabled you to walk like an Egyptian?
Miss Left If that hair is red, she's the woman of my dreams.
(The ... Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 12:44pm -
- Peoples Drug No. 5: 1920
- ... business in Utica, Ohio. They have factory tours too.
Miss America Miss America, the Chocolate Sensation! Look inside the door at ... Posted by Dave - 01/28/2015 - 4:05pm -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "People's Drug Store No. 5, Eighth and H Street N.E." If you're not lured in by the abdominal trusses, cigars or Hypo-Cod, there's always the photoplay next door -- "Blazing the (Something)." View full size.
Blazing the Way"Blazing The Way," starring James B. Warner. Universal Film Manufacturing Company.
Red Cross MessengerJohnson & Johnson on How to Decorate a Pharmacy Window.
Note the flu medicines on displayThis was right after the influenza pandemic that killed 50 million worldwide. Vinol was made of beef and cod liver peptones, iron, manganese and glycerophosphates. Hypo Cod was a cod liver oil tonic "flu tonic" that was supposed to "build you up."
The Velvet KindStill in business in Utica, Ohio. They have factory tours too.
Miss AmericaMiss America, the Chocolate Sensation! Look inside the door at display sign.
Not UticaI had checked this once before when I saw ice cream in Washington with the Velvet name. See the ad here. I think it is a different company than the one still here in Ohio.
[The "Velvet Kind" trademark was used nationally on ice cream made by many different dairies (Purity among them) owned by the Chapin-Sacks Corp. - Dave]
No, we do not sellbrooms.
The Chocolate SensationThe Miss America Chocolate Company seems to have appeared on the Washington Metropolitan Area (including parts of Pennsylvania) advertising scene in September of 1920, and lasted until 1965 or so—at least that's when their advertising ceased.
At their height they were well known for their packages of Miss America Chocolate Covered Mints and Thin Mints, Chocolate Whipped Creams, Peppermints, and Cocoanut Creams, as well as Chocolate Cordial Fruits, Chocolate Covered Nuts, Chocolate Covered Cherries, and Assorted Chocolates in full pound boxes. Pound cello packages of jelly candies were available in the form of Orange Slices, Spiced or Assorted Jelly Drops, or Spearmint Leaves.
At Easter time in 1962 Peoples Drug Stores were advertising a 12 oz. Miss America Pecan Nougat Egg for 98¢, a 3 oz. one for 29¢, Decorated Chocolate Eggs for 10¢, Chocolate Rabbits, 6 for 25¢, a Decorated Chocolate Cross for 10¢, a Decorated Chocolate Rabbit or a Pig for 10¢ each.
One of their most popular offerings was their Liquid Cordial Cherries, as seen inside the doorway. Normally $1 a box, they were on sale for 89¢ throughout the area in the fall of 1920. The ad below is from the October 20 issue of The Oil City Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania), and shows the same box as in the doorway above.
Their Chocolate Covered Cherries box was less graphic.
And remember, at Peoples Drug Stores:
Name of the MovieThe movie was "Blazing the Way" with James Byron Warner and came out on Universal in 1920. There is a HD restored version of this photo as attached.
(The Gallery, D.C., Movies, Natl Photo, PDS, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY_29515u.thumbnail.jpg "Peoples Drug No. 5: 1920")
- Long Goodie: 1925
- ... the Girl With the Crocodile Car , was the first-ever Miss America. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. ... Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 4:34pm -
![April 14, 1925. "Margaret Gorman with 'Long Goodie.' " Margaret, the Girl With the Crocodile Car, was the first-ever Miss America. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
Long MargaretWhat a gorgeous gal. Lovely gamine demeanor and legs up to here! Love the gloves, coat and hat, too.
Possible Pedigree?http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?z=p_lyAI&d=Long+Goodie&sex=m&color=&birt...
Color White
sex male
date of birth AUG 1919
land of birth US USA
Could be him.
Two great subjects!Beautiful girl, gorgeous dog, GREAT outfit...any nation would be proud to have this young lady as their representative!
SweetnessNow I ask you very confidentially: Ain't she sweet? Ab-so-lute-ly and how! Thanks for sharing. Woof!
Dog ShowWhat was going on that day in April 1925 with those dogs and pretty girls? Same date, same chair, same location as Mae Esterly with Sgt. Jiggs.
Gotta make a buck!An enterprising photographer who probably had them lined up waiting for a photo ... then work all night and delivered prints the next day!
[National Photo was a news service. The event was the Washington Kennel Club dog show at the Riding and Hunt Club. - Dave]
Miss AmericaA long article on Margaret Gorman and the pageant here.
[And we'll forgive New Jersey Monthly for misspelling "ukulele" in the very first sentence! - Dave]
(The Gallery, Dogs, Natl Photo, Pretty Girls)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/13418u.thumbnail.jpg "Long Goodie: 1925")
- Hotel Flanders: 1905
- ... seen behind the hotel, still stands, at least.
Miss Dimond I wonder what she was selling? Dresses, millinery, possibly ... the same as the one in our photo. - Dave]
Bank of America Just another modern building at the location. It looks as thought ... Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 8:50pm -
![Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Hotel Flanders." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
No Mo' HotelThe hotel, at 15th and Walnut, was demolished long ago, as has much of old Center City. The Union League Building, the Second Empire style building seen behind the hotel, still stands, at least.
Miss DimondI wonder what she was selling? Dresses, millinery, possibly foretelling the future? Also the plaque to the left of her window shows a Cross on what could be a coffin, I'm pretty sure that was part of the architectural ornamentation. I tried Googling the image but couldn't find an exact match.
12th & Spruce!Still there!
http://www.alexanderinn.com
[The skinny building at 12th and Spruce is not the same as the one in our photo. - Dave]
Bank of AmericaJust another modern building at the location. It looks as thought the building next to the old Flanders on Walnut is still in place, but with its front drastically altered. Not in the street view, the old Victorian - I think it's a Victorian - with the gabled roof, on 15th is, thankfully, still present.
No Trace LeftWow, what a photo. I used to work in a building at the southwest corner of 15th and Walnut (the current home of Stephen Starr's Butcher & Singer, which is the former home of Striped Bass, as seen in the "The Sixth Sense." From what I can gather, the Hotel Flanders used to be on the southeast corner of 15th and Walnut, with the main entrance on 15th.
Later known asThe Hi-Diddley-Hotel Flanders.
Here's the Skinny - Nine stories tall and no wider than a two car garage - I'm surprised a strong wind didn't knock it over!
Hotel FlandersA review from many years ago rated it as "okely-dokely."
As always...A tip pf the Hatlo hat to Shorpy. The architecture of this era was so richly detailed - you could spend 8-10 minutes examining that photo. At the same time you could imagine how incredibly expensive it would be to maintain, if it had been preserved. All that ornate masonry, in a freeze/thaw climate zone. Fuggetaboutit - there are not enough tuck-pointers in existence to keep such a structure in good form.
However, just down the block215 (South) Walnut is still there, now an Applebee's.
Victorian Down the StreetBelow is a shot of the Victorian that Downer mentions in a previous post. You can see it peeking out further down the street past the Flanders. Neat building!
From head to toeChiropody, Manicuring and Hair Dressing - that about covers it all.
Not The Union League BuildingThat's not The Union League Building behind the hotel. It was, at the time, the 5th District Police Station.
+108Below is the same view from October of 2013.
(The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a22464a.thumbnail.jpg "Hotel Flanders: 1905")
- Dorothy Parker: 1938
- August 4, 1938. Washington, D.C. "Miss Dorothy Parker has been selected as Miss Washington and will compete for the title of Miss America at the Atlantic City beauty pageant to be held during Labor Day week. ... Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 12:23pm -
- Leggy Lady
- ... but WOWSY!! View full size.
Could be a Miss America She looks to me like Bess Myerson (Miss America, 1945). Man, what a ... Posted by mhallack - 07/26/2013 - 7:29pm -
![Another glamour photo from the collection. Again I have no information about the subject, location or photographer but WOWSY!! View full size.
Could be a Miss America She looks to me like Bess Myerson (Miss America, 1945). Man, what a dish! [Does that date me as an old guy?]
Pretty hot-looking.She'd be pretty hot-looking, even now.
WOWSY!! is rightThis incredibly sexy image haunted me for days...I kept thinking she looked sort of familiar, was probably famous, that she wasn't just somebody's hot WWII girlfriend. Then I figured it out: Linda Darnell. I've attached a couple of (not so alluring) photos to back up my hunch.
[I think she's closer to Hedy Lamarr. -tterrace]
You Wish!
I don't think you'd have caught snooty Hedy parked on her ass in the grass, so-to-speak. Now, a good ol' Texas gal like Linda Darnell? ...much more likely.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/leggy.thumbnail.jpg "Leggy Lady")
- Measurements: 1937
- ... right and I are thinking the same thing.
Somewhere in America There's somebody saying, "Oh my God, that's Great-Grandpa in his ... he got over it!
[72? Check your math. - Dave]
Miss Eleanor seems to be getting awfully close to Mr. Johnson!
Fark Off ... Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 7:24pm -
![July 23, 1937. "To enable fathers and mothers to order clothes with the confidence that a size 8 or 10 is all it's supposed to be in length and breadth, the Bureau of Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is leading a project in which colleges and universities will cooperate to discover the clothing dimensions needed by today's children. Special attention is being paid to racial characteristics, as the experts believe that race and neighborhood have something to do with a youngster's size. Dr. Eleanor Hunt, associate anthropometrist, Bureau of Home Economics, is shown training one of the first classes on scientific measurement of the human body." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
She's measuring what now?!I can hardly comment, I'm snickering too hard!
Nice looking kid -- looks a bit like my dad when he was a kid -- though he would not have held still for that.
15 minutes of fame...followed by 25 years of therapy.
Could be worseIt's certainly an improvement over the days when Sears Roebuck promised a perfect fit if you told them your child's age and "whether large or small of age".
Oh Jeez!So much to be said here...
Measuring UpWow - this is such a striking picture I have a number of reactions -- first, that poor kid probably grew up to be a life model for an art class. He has that "I'm not here" look down very well. The dude smirking on the far right probably never grew up. The calipers and tools of measurement make this all look very scientific, but their stated objective of paying attention to race makes me cringe, because it's 1937, and "paying special attention to racial characteristics" doesn't usually mean something good or kindly intended.
Who stole my nightmareThe scary array of measuring tools, the smirking note-takers, the Dr. Seuss socks -- this is the recurring dream I started having when I was 12!
Stranger than fictionYou can't make a picture like this up.
DaveI think a caption contest here would be a bad idea.
The perfect moment Of all the measurements Dr. Hunt took that day, why did the photographer choose this one as his subject? Makes ya wonder...
Tape Measure v. MicrometerMy boyfriend says he would rather this particular examination require a tape measure than a micrometer.
You boys are all very silly. This is nothing to joke about. It is science and all for the betterment of mankind.
Although isn't her rather unnecessary squinting going to psychologically damage this poor young man? I do hope he was paying this no attention.
Mom was rightabout always wearing clean underwear, just in case of moments like this.
Definitely a government operationIt takes eleven people to measure the dimensions of one boy?
Dr. Hunt... you've got cold hands.
GLTPShe is demonstrating the measurement of width at the level of greatest lateral trochanteric projection.
If it weren't for pioneers like this our kids' pants would not fit so well today.
Modern EvolutionJust yesterday I was reading some fascinating material in the March 2009 issue of Discover Magazine wherein evolutionary developmental biologists believe that an extraordinary number of genetic changes over the past 10,000 years has led to significantly different physical characteristics between different ethnic groups. Thus, the above experts may have been ahead of their time.
Does he measure up ?I think the guy on the right and I are thinking the same thing.
Somewhere in AmericaThere's somebody saying, "Oh my God, that's Great-Grandpa in his undies!"
All science aside - - - -just what the heck IS she measuring, and why???
Say What?I don't even know where to begin commenting on this photo. But oh that poor kid.
Wry smilesTwo of the students, the woman, second to left, and the farthest over guy on the right have both cracked what seem probably inadvertent half smiles, the sort of wry grin you get when you are either standing a bit back from the action and actually observing it, or simply the face of someone who is trying to find humor in what is a bit embarrassing.
The poor kid, enduring this display of himself, being measured no less, at an age when this is probably about to become an issue, looks really mortified and fed up both at once. Of course this was depression era. Perhaps his parents were being given a little stipend for this strange bit of child labor? I hope he was rewarded, because he sure was made a show! He's probably about 72 by now. Let's hope he got over it!
[72? Check your math. - Dave]
Miss Eleanorseems to be getting awfully close to Mr. Johnson!
Fark OffI submit this photograph as the greatest potential Shorpy Farker of all time.
With that in mind, let the pros have at it. Restrained commentary is best for this particular shot. Everyone, please back away from your keyboards...
Doc, I swear I can't stopDoc, I swear I can't stop having this nightmare: I'm in a room full of fully dressed people, and I'm standing there in my underwear, and an old biddy with a caliper is carefully measuring, you know, THERE. It's so real, and it's awful. What could it possibly mean??
OMGThat's certainly the first question I put to the men in my life: "Is your 8 or 10 all it's supposed to be in length and breadth?"
Years of therapy...What a strange picture -- the boy has such a look of miserable endurance. Dr. Hunt is lucky she didn't get kicked in the teeth. The seated woman second from left is the only one looking at the boy with any compassion at all, and even that is ambiguous. Poor kid.
Aw, gee... do I have to, Ma?You've got to believe this kid is hoping the fellas don't find out about this. The gent all the way at the end in the white shirt is perhaps thinking the same thing on the kid's behalf. Love all the clashing patterns on the ladies' dresses.
Caption contest?Oh Dave, there HAS to be a caption contest in THIS image? No?
Warm up your PhotoshopThis cries out to be Farked.
Not with a ten-foot poleEven commenting on this is likely to get you investigated.
Oh, Dang....there's a stain on my sock, and what's all that alcohol for!...Are they going to operate? Yikes!!
Times have changedNowadays you'd have to buy her a drink first.
Strange...Is anyone concerned about the guy on the far right with the creepy smile on his face?
I'm more concernedabout the two guys on the left without writing materials and their arms crossed. Those guys are the pervs.
BTW, there is no way in heck that you could have gotten me to stand there like that.
Figure 8So, he's an 8, right? Oh, I get it -- that's why it says "8" on the back of his hand.
Senseless observationThere is nothing wrong with this situation. I once measured a young woman with a tire pressure gauge and a meat thermometer. Not to mention a decibel meter after Mexican food.
Grandpa trousersHe wore his undies pulled up tight all the way to his belly button, that explains why so many men his age now wear their pants pulled up to their armpits!
This is trulyone of the strangest pictures I've ever seen, on this site or anywhere.
(The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Kids)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/23082a.thumbnail.jpg "Measurements: 1937")
- Sashed: 1921
- ... D.C. Margaret would be crowned winner at the very first Miss America pageant. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
... Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 12:23pm -
- Read All About It: 1942
- ... to be the most authoritative.
From "Microcosm of America" leaflet Legend has it that the OWI organized its photos of ... did that for Life Magazine. All of these almost made me miss the penny candy jars, where the clerk would reach in and count them out ... Posted by Dave - 12/10/2013 - 6:02pm -
- Ghost Ship: 1916
- ... with no time to paint them.
Coming to America This is the ship my great great grandfather came to America on!
... its speed would be overestimated, resulting in a torpedo miss instead of a hit. Anything that reduced the probability of a hit was ... Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 7:09pm -
![September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into service as a commerce raider by the Imperial German Navy at the start of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank more than a dozen Allied ships and took hundreds of prisoners. Running low on supplies, its crew and prisoners beset by a variety of illnesses, the battered vessel sought refuge in April 1915 at Newport News, where its sailors were interned for over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and converted into a troop carrier. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Wilhelm's GunsIt would be interesting to know what kind of armament this ship carried as a "raider." It certainly looks innocent enough from this view. What a great story this would make for a period-piece motion picture!
[Exactly what I was thinking. The Wilhelm led quite a dramatic life. The ship seems to have been lightly armed. Wikipedia says two 88mm guns, one machine gun and two 120 mm guns. And of course a lot of small arms. Attacking mostly unarmed and much slower merchant ships, it didn't need much in the way of guns. It was basically a modern-day pirate ship that sailed around under the British flag. It would hail an Allied ship, steam alongside and then raise the German flag instead of the skull and crossbones, send a boarding party, take prisoners, scuttle the enemy ship and be on its way. - Dave]
SailsVery interesting. Even though it is obviously a coal powered ship it has masts and rigging indicating that it could also be sailed under wind power.
[That "rigging" might be antennas for the ship's wireless. Experts? - Dave]
Rusty!Wow, what a rustbucket.
The MastsI believe the masts and rigging are cranes used to lift cargo out of the ship's holds.
No SailsNo sails on that ship. The rigging lines visible in the photo are heavy stays to support the masts for the lookout (crow's nest), for cargo handling when a boom is slung, and for the ship's wireless. The antennas would run fore/aft between the masts, but they were much thinner wires and don't show in the photo.
The Q-ShipSpot on... Like you said, a Raider (or Q-ship on our side) depended on spoofing by fooling the warships and preying on the unarmed (or lightly armed) merchants and so did not need heavy arms. Some cut away portions of the gunwale and covered with painted canvas (or other material) sections that could drop away to expose the guns.
I met an old man that was a victim of some German raider during WWII off the west coast of Africa. He was on a sailing merchant ship when they were captured, put adrift on a lifeboat, and witnessed the scuttling of their ship. They were a week at sea before landing at some fishing village in Africa and made their way back to a port and in time back to the USA where he continued in the merchant marine through the remainder of the war.
Wait a minute: Timeline?So the picture is from Sept 1916, and the ship is (still?) completely messed up. In April 1915 the battered ship had sought refuge; sailors interned for over year; and then sent home sometime in 1916? (US enters the war in April 1917.) Is one of these dates incorrect?
[The dates are all correct. After the United States entered the war, the sailors (who, after their ship was sent to Philadelphia, remained at Norfolk in a "German village" they constructed that became a popular tourist attraction) became prisoners of war and were sent to POW camps in Georgia. - Dave]
Wartime shortagesI've read in many accounts that things became quite hard in the States when they finally entered the Great War, and that there were many shortages in raw materials and goods and services due to the conversion to a wartime economy. But interestingly enough, even though there was a very important use of American infrastructure to turn out war materiel, there was not a complete production reconversion as in WWII. Many car companies, for example, did reduce their output and produce trucks and ambulances for the armed forces, but they nevertheless were still able to produce (and sell) cars to the civilians.
This photo is very interesting, because it shows the importance of these huge and heavy pieces of manufactured equipment in the war effort of any economy. Ships were still the main way to carry large amounts of supplies and soldiers across the Atlantic, and yet they were of strategic importance to any country involved in the war effort. Being a pirate ship under an enemy flag, and considering the cost and time it would take to build an equivalent ship in war conditions, it is evident why the government commissioned this ship to serve under the U.S. flag.
I just can't help wondering; of course I know the States had an active shipbuilding industry back then, but, did they build special-purpose ships during the first World War, like they did with the famous Liberty Ship of the 1940's? Where, how, how many ships they built? And what happened to the many converted steamboats that were used for transporting troops during the war? Were they returned to their owners? Did any of them resume civilian passenger service after the war?
Like is always the case with Shorpy, a very interesting and educational photo, worth a lot of research. Thanks for sharing!
Armed Merchant CruisersKronprinz Wilhelm, like most fast passenger liners including British ships like the Lusitania, were designed (in their blueprints) to serve as armed merchant cruisers in the event of war. For example Lusitania had gun mounts on her port and starboard sides, although guns were never mounted. This was all part of a scheme in which the various governments could subsidize the construction of civilian liners with funds from their navies on the grounds that they could be used as warships. Their speed made them faster than just about anything else on the seas, but that speed meant burning a lot of coal, which was a problem for a country like Germany that couldn't send out regular supplies to its raiders. They also couldn't stand up to even an obsolete warship, as the Kronprinz Wilhelm's sister ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse found out when she went up against the aged HMS Highflyer. Later, more successful German raiders tended to be slower more nondescript merchant ships like Wolf II which sank 35 merchant ships and 2 warships in a 451 day cruise, or the sailing ship Seeadler, which sank 15 ships in a 225 day cruise.
Additionally,..Halfway up the mast there's a crow's nest, which would have dated from the ship's use as a liner. Viewers of "Titanic" will remember the scene just prior to the collision with the two sailors in the same post.
A WarshipI believe that Kronprinz Wilhelm's decrepit state is due to the fact that she was considered a warship, and under international law she couldn't be repaired or even maintained once she was interned. On the other hand, ships like the Imperator, which weren't converted to warships could be maintained by their crews, and could even sail back to Germany. The big problem for them was the blockade - at both ends of the trip. The Royal Navy and the dominion navies (the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies) maintained a blockade of American ports. Their ships would lurk just outside the territorial limit waiting for German ships to try to make a run for it and then seize them. HMCS Niobe operated off New York until 1915 when she was declared "worn out" and HMCS Rainbow operated off Seattle. She even managed to capture a pair of German schooners that tried to escape that port.
[The ship could have been fixed up before heading out to sea, but the captain chose to stay put. Below: New York Times. - Dave]
World War I Emergency ShipbuildingThe answer to Miguel Chavez's question is yes (I'm tempted to write of course). There was a program to produce -- I'm not sure we can say mass produce in that period -- relatively simply designed cargo ships called Hog Islanders at a shipyard at that location (I think it might have been near Philadelphia). Also there was a crash program to produce concrete ships (they would be called ferrocement ships today), becasue steel was in such short supply. Rather surprisingly, they looked just like contemporary steel cargo ships. Also, shipyards in Maine swung into high gear to produce large numbers of wooden, mostly sail-powered schooners, although I don't think there was any Government program behind this, just private industry sensing a chance for a profit.
The last of the concrete ships is partly visible above the water off Cape May Point, New Jersey, to this day.
I believe these programs were almost complete failures. The innovative new designs, while they were economical of materials and labor to produce, didn't start hitting the water in numbers until the war was practically over. In addition, many of them had mechanical or reliability problems and were not successful in a functional sense, either. The Hog Islanders were the most effective at carrying cargo and many of them remained commercially viable until 1929, when the bottom fell out of the shipping market. A few of the Maine sailing ships remained viable till World War II.
Possibly Mr. Kaiser and his associates studied this period's failures and that's how the Liberty ships were so successful.
Passenger ships of that era.Those wires are cables for supporting the masts. In regards to captured German cruise ships, there were quite a few that had serious electrical problems. In some cases wiring inside the walls would short and cause fires inside the walls themselves. A few ships burned completely. The Kron Prinz Wilhelm from what I read was used by the US Navy until 1923 and scrapped. A shame. Ships of this era are works of art.
Hard-used Navy shipsThe USS Santa Olivia was a civilian cargo ship taken over by the Navy as a troop ship. My grandmother's uncle was an officer on her.
Below: the ship on completion in July 1918 and then probably in May 1919, when she looks like a rust bucket. I think they just ran the ships back and forth across the Atlantic constantly with no time to paint them.
Coming to AmericaThis is the ship my great great grandfather came to America on!
High-Difference CamouflageSome great photos of dazzle-painted ships here and here.
Early camouflageI don't think that early camo schemes like dazzle were intended to deceive the viewer in the sense of not seeing the target but to confuse the outline to make identification more difficult. If a ship could be identified (or at least its class) then the apparent size of the image could make the range estimation much more accurate if looking though a periscope, and the size of the bow wave could improve the speed estimate, raising the probability of a hit. I have seen pictures of ships painted with a false bow wave so that its speed would be overestimated, resulting in a torpedo miss instead of a hit. Anything that reduced the probability of a hit was helpful.
DazzlingI have no doubt that Dazzle Camouflage is (or rather was) effective in the days when visual sighting rather than radar or sonar was the principal means of identifying a target. The thing is though that for a modern viewer it is difficult to imagine how it could be. We see the images in monochrome and usually under ideal conditions - the ship is in port or stationary. But of course the paint jobs weren't all - or even usually - black and white and the ships that the U-Boat skippers saw were moving through seas at various states and weather conditions. I guess what I'm saying is that when we see black & white photos of ships in Dazzle Camouflage we aren't even getting part of the true effect.
Dazzle CamouflageIf you've ever used a typical manual-focus 35mm camera, you might be able to picture one of the intended effects of "dazzle": making it hard to line up the linear elements in the split image of a rangefinder. Optical rangefinders, using two widely spaced lenses, were the principal method used in warships of this era to determine the distance between them and the target. In principle, you could see a dazzle-painted target plainly but still have difficulty hitting it with guns or torpedoes.
Painting ShipLooking over the images on Shorpy's there aren't many times when I wish that a black & white photo were in colour, but some of these ship pictures are among them. The photos of the Santa Olivia are a huge contrast, but would she have looked as much like a rust bucket in the second photo in colour than she does in black & white. The paint work on the dazzle camouflage patterns in the first picture are so sharp and clear that you'd wonder that it deceived anyone. How much of the appearance of the "rust bucket" version of the ship is dirt and grime and rust, and how much is a more effective effort to deceive?
I think Kronprinz Wilhelm was a rust bucket, almost certainly after almost a year of internment following her time as a raider.
The Baron came to America - Twice.The ship's namesake is Baron (Crown Prince) Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. It's interesting to note the Germans used his title and first name(s) while the US used his title and last name. He was a Prussian trained command officer who met Benjamin Franklin in Paris just as the War for Independence was breaking out in America and volunteered to come to America to help the effort - he was looking for work to help alleviate his personal debt and had heard Benjamin Franklin was going to be in Paris and travelled to meet him. He was endorsed by the French government just as France was forming their alliance with the Americans. He volunteered at first to come (later he was paid) and assist the American war effort and was immediately dispatched to join the American forces. He arrived in the US shortly before the American government was being driven out of the capital in Philadelphia by the British and was present during the exodus. He met up with Continental Army General George Washington at Valley Forge during that cold winter and began his efforts at organizing and training the Army. It's from him that the US developed its concepts of military structure and training programs still in practice today, including command structure, elementary concepts of boot camp and right down to the "in your face" training methods of Drill Sergeants still in use today. He was one of the three Commanders in charge of one of the Divisions when General Cornwallis was trapped and forced to surrender at Yorktown, VA - effectively ending the War for Independence. Incredible photo!
Named after the eldest son of Kaiser WilhelmKronprinz means Crown Prince, or heir to the throne. The German term usually translated as "Baron" is "Freiherr" and is the lowest title of German nobility. This ship would have certainly been named after the Crown Prince of Germany, Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Know as "Little Willie" by the allies, he served during WWI as commander of the German 5th Army until the battle of Verdun, and then in command of an Army Group until the end of the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm,_German_Crown_Prince
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Harris + Ewing, WWI)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/07016a1.thumbnail.jpg "Ghost Ship: 1916")
- Miss Anita Phipps: 1923
- November 24, 1923. Miss Anita Phipps, director of women's relations for the War Department. View ... that the peacetime US Army.
Her job was to persuade America that Mars needs women?
Lace Anyone know if her lace collar is ... or bobbin lace?
Chapeau Wow, that is some hat!
Miss Phipps She looks kind of wistful, like a tired crusader, which ... Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 1:42pm -
![November 24, 1923. Miss Anita Phipps, director of women's relations for the War Department. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.
Job Description Anyone?I wonder what her duties were? Her staff's duties? What did women's relations for the War Department do (in 1923)?
Women's relationsAccording to a book called "War and the American Woman" there was a rising trend in the early 1920s for some women's groups to call for the total abolition of the American "war machine." In response Secretary of War Newton Baker (essentially the modern Secretary of Defense but without jurisdiction over the Navy) appointed Anita Phipps to be the director of Women's Relations. Her job, which was seen by most women as a public relations ploy, was to persuade American women that the peacetime US Army. The problem was that she was never really clear on her role. As women's groups began to demand greater roles in the military services - for example being appointed as civilian aides to the Secretary - Phipps herself developed a plan called the Womens Service Corps. In the event of war some 170,000 women would be mobilized to serve in non combat roles ranging from clerical work, telephone operators, seamstresses, waitresses, cooks, couriers and janitors. The plan was presented in 1926 and met with a complete lack of enthusiasm and languished until 1931 when Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur finally abolished it, calling it of "no military value." Surprisingly it sounds very much like the various women's auxiliary units that were created from scratch at the start of World War II.
>> Her job was to persuade American women that the peacetime US Army.
[Fascinating! Something missing from that sentence though. - Dave]
You're right Dave. Her job was to persuade American Women that the peacetime US Army was not a threat to world peace. At least that's what the Secretary of War envisaged it as. Apparently she hung on to the job at the War Department until 1930.
Ms Phipps>> Her job was to persuade American women that the peacetime US Army.
Her job was to persuade America that Mars needs women?
LaceAnyone know if her lace collar is made from tatting or bobbin lace?
ChapeauWow, that is some hat!
Miss PhippsShe looks kind of wistful, like a tired crusader, which apparently she was. Wasn't Mother's Day originally an antiwar thing?
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Portraits)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/09951u.thumbnail.jpg "Miss Anita Phipps: 1923")
- Fill In the Blank: 1939
- ...
-- Tennessee Williams, "Orpheus Descending"
Ole Miss I guess Mississippi wasn't dry in 1939. It was when I was at Biloxi in ... a home and for the benefit of their former slaves.
Miss. Liquor Sales Mississippi did not end statewide prohibition until 1962; ... Click to enlarge.
(The Gallery, Rural America, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets) ... Posted by Dave - 06/02/2008 - 4:09pm -
![January 1939. "Beer hall. Mound Bayou, Mississippi." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
Wines, Beer and ... Beyond.
Mound BayouI worked around Mound Bayou and the surrounding communities from 1985 until 1990.
This is what most of the small Delta town main streets still looked like even then. Little had changed between 1850, 1939 and 1990. Most of the little Delta towns were time capsules.
I don't know if anything has changed since, but I see highway 61 is at least now 4 lane.
Juking"Juking? Oh! Well, that's when you get in a car, which is preferably open in any kind of weather. And then you drink a little bit and you drive a little bit, and then you stop and you dance a little bit with a jukebox. And then you drink a little bit more and you drive a little bit more, you stop and you dance a little bit more to another juke box! And then you stop dancing and you just drink and you drive. And then, you stop driving."
-- Tennessee Williams, "Orpheus Descending"
Ole MissI guess Mississippi wasn't dry in 1939. It was when I was at Biloxi in 1958 and 59, except for Harrison County of course.
Full FrontalI love the stark frontality of this view. It also looks like the sign-painter who did the "Royal Club" sign was influenced by the lettering style of the famous Coca-Cola logo, as seen next door.
[Note that the sign painter signed his work. - Dave]
What 'Mound Bayou' said...When my family moved to the South in the 60's you could easily still find places like this even in larger cities - even into the early 80s. Too poor to tear them down, too poor to build new - ancient structures abided in many forms from homes, factories, and juke joints like these.
I've passed through the town at least once. Mound Bayou was founded by two former slaves of Joe Davis, the older brother of Jefferson Davis:
From http://www.moundbayou.org/
Shortly after the war in 1867, the Montgomery’s entered an agreement with Joe Davis for the purchase of the plantations, consisting of four thousand acres, for $300,000 at 6% per annum. Joe Davis wished that the plantations would be managed by the Montgomery’s as a home and for the benefit of their former slaves.
Miss. Liquor SalesMississippi did not end statewide prohibition until 1962; however, each county had its own saloons and bootleggers who operated with the complicity of the police.
After 1962, there was the "local option," in which a town could be dry and the county wet, or vice versa. Lauderdale County was dry in 1979; Meridian, the county seat, was wet.
Until 1984 when national drinking age was raised to 21, MS was 18 for beer and 21 for everything else. So some towns were wet for liquor and dry for beer ... Starkville, home of MSU, was one.
Royal ClubSmall 19th-century wood-frame buildings still stand in the poorer districts of Mississippi's cities, towns, and wide spots in the road. The most comprehensive example of this that I have found is the western neighborhoods Jackson, the state capital. The divide between the haves and have-nots never really disappeared here.
Watch your step...The first one is a doozy, building on the right.
--------------------
Jeffery Wright
planetfallstudios.com
Mound BayouMy grandparents lived not far from Mound Bayou and I visited them often, in the 60s and 70s. Most little Delta towns in those days were controlled by the whites, no matter what the population ratio was, but Mound Bayou was known as the town of, by, and for African-Americans, according to the white talk of the day. I drove through a number of times, but don't recall it looking significantly different from Drew or Ruleville or any of the other towns in that area.
New and ImprovedNow in living color! Click to enlarge.
(The Gallery, Rural America, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/8a25121u.thumbnail.jpg "Fill In the Blank: 1939")
- Five and Ten: 1921
- ... Collection glass negative. View full size.
We miss you, Woolworth's Woolworth's was part of America's 20th century memories. Who over 50 hasn't bought housewares, pens, ... Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 10:35am -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Whistle Bottling Works. Woolworth window." An elaborate dime-store window display for Whistle orange soda, "the food drink." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
We miss you, Woolworth'sWoolworth's was part of America's 20th century memories. Who over 50 hasn't bought housewares, pens, books, toys or records at Woolworth's? I still have happy memories going shopping downtown with my mother, and stopping for lunch at the Woolworth's luncheonette. It was (along with the drug store) one of the few places where we ever "ate out."
I've got your "food drink"Try dunking a graham cracker in a cup of hot coffee.
Quartz for a dime?What is that in the other display window? It almost looks like rocks on display cards.
[Jewelry, maybe. Dime-onds. - Dave]
ReflectionThere appears to be a reflection of someone, possibly the photographer, under the Whistle sign to the right of the door and also to the far left of the picture. He appears to be wearing large headphones.
Why the headphones? Could it be someone inside the store? Did Woolworth's have a record department where people could listen to records?
[Those are reflections of the mannequin in the window. He's wearing a radio headset. - Dave]
The Big Woolworth'sThe Woolworth's on Hemming Park in downtown Jacksonville Florida was the "Big" Woolworth. Two floors. Upstairs was the candy department with the caramel corn, and downstairs was the toy department with Corgi cars, balsa wood gliders, and bins and bins of rubber lizards, snake, and bugs!
Woolworth'sMy dad, who was killed in France in 1944, started at Woolworth's as a window dresser in 1938, and worked his way up to manager. As a kid I sometimes heard my Mother singing
It was a lucky April shower,
It was a most convenient storm.
I found a Million Dollar Baby
In the five-and-ten cent store.
Thanks again for all the great pics, Dave.
eBayThere's a fortune in memorabilia in that window.
Battery AcidBattery acid and orange food coloring were the ingredients making up Whistle, at least according to smart schoolkids in St. Louis when I was growing up in the late 40s and 50s. It was drink of choice when consuming White Castle hamburgers!
Cincy Caramel CornThe Woolworth store in downtown Cincinnati had one loooong counter at the entrance of the store dedicated to the making of caramel corn. You could smell it all the way down the street. The aroma was heavenly and so very enticing. They left their door open to traffic, which came in droves. Warm butter + popping corn = Woolworth caramel corn. We pleaded to go downtown just for the warm caramel corn.
5 & 10 againWho of us who have some age will ever forget the "five and dime" or "the dime store."
Woolworth was of course the biggie, but there were the Ben Franklin stores, G.C. Murphy, and SS Kresge (now Kmart) among them -- some with soda fountains, some not. And 10 for a penny candy.
Five and TenWhen I hear "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," I wonder if people under 30 or even 35 know what the term "five and ten" refers to.
Take a look at the five and ten
Glistening once again
With candy canes ...
UK WoolworthsAll of the remaining UK "Woolies" are to be closed in the coming months, victims of the times.
No thanksWhen I want a food drink, I hoist a pint of Guinness.
The 5 & 10I remember Woolworth's and its "5 and 10 cent" motto.
Today it would more likely be "5 and 10 DOLLAR" store! :(
Hey!Is that a folded dollar bill lying right by the door? You could get 20 Whistles with that.
Where's Woolworth's?Any ideas as to where this store was? At the far lower right of the photo is a small sign for the store next door that says "Bee Hive Store 906." 906 was probably the address, but what street?
[906 Seventh Street N.W. - Dave]
The Five and DimeMany also referred to these popular stores as Five and Dimes. As I learned this term after moving away for college I believe it is another example of colorful regionalized language.
[The region there was pretty much the entire United States, once upon a time. Five and Dime might be more generational than geographic. - Dave]
Oasis on a rainy dayMy earliest memories of the old five-and-dimes include the smell of old wood -- wooden floors, bins, and counters -- and the buttery warmth of incandescent lights.
Woolworth'sOur local Woolworth's in upstate NY was turning a great profit into the '90's, but had to close down when the rest of the chain did. The building is a library now.
"Who cares if I drink my lunch? It's the Food Drink!"
Grilled cheese & tomatoGrilled cheese & tomato sandwich at the Woolworth's counter - a great delicacy in my mind.
More seriously, while we're talking Woolworth's lunch counters, the one in the Smithsonian recalls a bit of bravery in recent American history.
MemoriesThat lunch counter In Michigan City, Indiana. Oh yeah. Hot turkey sandwich plates with green gravy. Pistachio, I'd guess.
First JobMy first job was sweeping floors at the Woolworth in Hollywood at Hollywood & Vermont (Barnsdall Park) in Dec 1975. I later worked in the kitchen and out on the floor straightening and stocking shelves. I loved the hot dogs from the luncheonette. They had buns that were all attached and when you pulled them apart the sides were uncrusted. They would brown the sides of the buns in butter (ala a grilled cheese sandwich). Delicious!
5-10-15The expression was everywhere. In Longueuil, Quebec, near Montreal, where I used to live in the 50s, we had a Jazzar store, part of a small chain whose signs read "5-10-15." We used to say that we were going to the "cinq-dix-quinze." Were there 5-10-15 stores in the States? (Now, springing up everywhere are the Dollarama stores where everything is. .. a dollar.)
WhistleFounded in 1916, Vess Beverage still makes a Whistle brand soda. The company is now owned by Cott. Charles Leiper Grigg invented the flavor.
Yesterday 50 years agoWhen I saw this picture this morning the first thing I thought was Oh, how I wish I could walk through those doors one more time! They just don't make stores like that anymore. The smells of wood, of the soda fountain, the candy to be had for a penny a piece, the 10 cent toys. I'm so glad I have those experiences to remember.
Kresge KristmasI have memories of going to the Kresge's near our house at Christmas time. I "rode" my bicycle through sloppy snow to choose treasures for Mom, Dad and my sister. I retrieved the glorious pink with white daisies Kleenex box cover and cup I bought on that trip from Mom's last year when we closed out her house. The matching johnny mop holder is lost. I'm happy she got 40 years of use out of them.
I also went there with Dad to use the tube tester to ascertain which TV or radio tubes needed to be replaced. Holy crow, am I getting old.
Cunningham DrugsWe always thought Cunningham Drugs was an upscale Woolworth's because they had their name tiled in at the front entrance.
To this day, when I walk into an old building that used to house a drugstore or five-and-dime, I look for the tiled name. In old towns, I find the names quite often. It's always a little treat (probably also indicates a lifetime lack of big treats).
I Found A Million Dollar BabyRob's bittersweet memory of the song, which captured the homey American love affair with five-and-dimes, sent me looking for a recording. This was one of the most popular songs of 1931 and thereafter, and was introduced on Broadway in May, 1931 by Fanny Brice, in the musical revue "Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt." Those who have Real Player on their computers can hear the best-selling 1931 recording of the song (Fred Waring's Orchestra, with vocals by Clare Hanlon and the "Three Girlfriends") at http://www.jazz-on-line.com/a/rama/VIC53080-2.ram Those without this player can find several 1931 recordings of it by visiting http://www.jazz-on-line.com/pageinterrogation.php and entering I Found A Million Dollar Baby on the page's search engine.
All That JazzThanks Anonymous Tipster for the link to jazz online. That's really appreciated. If someone has other links to classic/traditional Jazz (New Orleans/Chicago/N.Y. but not Ragtime) please post. Thanks. Red Hot Jazz (history of jazz before 1930) is one of my favorites. I was also glad I found Jazzology. Merry Christmas to you all.
The Dime StoreI was born in 1973, but my mom and dad always referred to the Ben Franklin store as the dime store.
Nosey Little GirlI would always head for the pet department, candy, and toy sections. The candy counter had a real person who gave me what I wanted without a bar code. I always reported any animals that appeared sick, or dead, to the nearest clerk on duty. Heaven help them if they didn't remove the dead fish right away ! I would tell my mother. I miss dime stores very much. I won't go into Wal Mart.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/31361u.thumbnail.jpg "Five and Ten: 1921")
- Shiny Datsun: 1971
- ... like he's got her in a solid arm lock.
Meanwhile, America is still recovering from the 1970's.
I totally love that car. I ... 1970s includes a timeline that begins with Marilyn Lange - Miss May 1974 - and ends with Farrah Fawcett. The lady in this picture is ... Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:49pm -
![August 1971. A car that today you'd most likely see as a rusting hulk in a junkyard or vacant lot, and clothes in a Goodwill. My brother and sister-in-law pose with their 1967 Datsun Bluebird parked on my father's garage ramp on Walnut Avenue in Larkspur, California. All kidding aside, I think they're both pretty snappily dressed, and her expression is pricelessly inscrutable. My Kodachrome slide. View full size.
Easy GuessI think you could classify that expression as "resigned"; she knows that the picture has to be taken and will be taken!
Desert boots!I must have worn out 10 pairs of those crepe-soled, ankle high boots with the soft brushed leather. Most comfortable footgear I ever owned until they began making running shoes that were light and flexible. Haven't seen a pair for years, so I doubt they even make them any longer.
LeMans San BernardinoThat dealership brings back memories.
Meet the Swinger ...... Polaroid Swinger. For some reason this reminds me of that insidiously catchy jingle.
Suddenly it's gonna dawn on you... Datsun saaaaves!I went to hear folk singer Greg Greenway tonight. He mentioned buying a used Datsun 510 wagon "mostly orange, with a 2.5 Briggs and Stratton motor." It's a rare day when I encounter a "Datsun" reference twice in a day.
I think she's amusedI think she's amused actually. I sense a definite "That's my brother taking the picture" type feeling from her. With that in mind, I would guess she's a bit older than her brother.
[The photographer is the girl's brother-in-law. The guy in the photo, her husband, is his brother. - Dave]
Re: Desert Boots!It's suede, and they haven't stopped making them. I used to wear desert boots during college in the '80s.
http://clarks.zappos.com/n/p/dp/42711682/c/231.html
ClarksLike most things these days the new Clarks are not the same as old. Manufacturing moved to Asia for the past 10+ years and the quality has taken a hit.
[That's too bad. Former Wallabees wearer myself. - Dave]
TwisterActually her expression may be one of bemused pain, as it looks like he's got her in a solid arm lock.
Meanwhile, America is still recovering from the 1970's.
I totally love that car. I totally love that car. Then again, I drive a Mini Cooper.
My first Datsun: 2001What 30 years of cheeseburgers will do to you.
Datsun jingleActually, I feel the title of my post "Shiny Datsun" should be sung to the tune of "Tiny Bubbles" (which has been popping unbidden into my head since submitting it). Incidentally, it's shiny because I had probably washed and waxed it for them earlier in the day. I was always a fan of shiny cars, and this was back when I still enjoyed doing it. Back around 1960, I took a series of shots of our 1956 Rambler, all sparkly, parked in this very spot, freshly Turtle Waxed, chrome polished and with whitewalls scrupulously SOS-ed. A year after this shot, this spot became the roost for my own first car, also a Datsun.
Big Bro's BlingmobileThe DATSUN nameplate is gold. It came that way from the factory?
Mona LisaI'm surprised nobody's compared your sister-in-law to that other inscrutable beauty.
Bemused pain?Check out her Vulcan Death Grip on T-Bro's trapezius that Mr. Spock would envy. Rumor has it that it can turn hair prematurely gray, it's that painful.
All I can say isI am totally digging the funky patterns on those super funky clothes.
Car and DriverWow, she's a hotty. Looks like Minnie Driver!!
Car washingMen do spend a lot of time washing and polishing their cars. I first noticed this when I was a kid in the 1930s. I thought what a waste of time and effort so I now buy white vehicles and wash them every 6 months or so even if they don`t need it.
That 70's LookLet's face facts. Guys from the 1970s come off looking infinitely worse than the ladies. Regardless of how quirky the girl's clothing may look today -- peasant dresses, bellbottoms, granny glasses, overly long untamed hair, funky hats, etc. -- the overall appearance can still come off as, well, sexy.
But the guys -- sheesh!!! The hair, the glasses, the shirt, the belt, the jeans -- yikes!!! Can you say "dork"? I would be very interested to see what these two people -- contemporaries of mine (and yes, my old photos from that period show my wife in sexy miniskirts, black turtlenecks and patched jeans, and me in just hideously awful things) -- look like today.
That GirlShe's gorgeous! How is she doing these days? Did the marriage last?
Texting while driving.What's the book on the dashboard?
Tech TipsWhat do you use to transfer your slides to digital?
Re: Texting while drivingIt looks like a wrapped present, although the present may well be a book.
Reminds meOf the 1969 Toyota Corona, my first car. Bought it used for $100. I treated it so badly, and ultimately totaled it. Now I have to see what they are selling for these days.
The book on the dashLooks like one of those "Reader's Digest Condensed Edition" anthologies.
Inscrutable? In the 70s?Chemically induced, I would say. Not that I have any such experience...
The more things change....Funny thing is that those clothes and hair would fit right in with today's hipster kids.
It's the belt!Check out the Hippy belt slid over to his left.
How cool to be to the "Grove", hair and all.
Design by Pininfarina The Datsun 411 here was styled by the Pininfarina studio in italy. It does have a bit of an Alfa Romeo vibe. A pretty litle car, but was eclipsed by the Datsun 510, a more modern and powerful car, and a real looker as well.
The meaning of archivalKodachrome rocks
Datsun Dash MysteryI'm virtually certain it was a box of Kleenex.
In answer to the slide scanning question, see here.
She's Absolutely GorgeousI would like to see more pics of her.
Dang She is HOT!Dang She is HOT!
It's no Nissan Figarobut the Datsun has a certain homely charm.
B210In 1977 I decided to buy a commuter car. I paid $2700 for a B210 coupe special edition called the Streamliner. It was a great little car and got good mileage. I liked it so much that in 1981 I bought the introductory model of the Maxima. The car cost $11,000. fully loaded with among other things a voice warning system. The only factory extra you could get was a luggage rack. I sold it in 1987, it had 128,000 miles and the only major repair was for a malfunctioning sun roof. Those were the days when an American new car dealer told you to write down any problems with the car when it when you bring it in for the 1,000 mile checkup. The list would have at least 6 items on it and they probably didn't fix them the first time. The Japanese competition caused the U.S factories to start building more reliable cars but they never caught on or caught up.
The DatsunI purchased a new 1970 Datsun 510, bright orange in color, at Annex Motors in San Rafael, near Larkspur. I was stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato, just up the road. It was a great car priced at $1,750 and it's a beautiful area of Northern California.
It's only fair.......to run a present day photo of these two......if possible? ...Please
TrailBlazersYou had to be a major trend setter to buy a Datsun in 1971. I imagine that this car attracted more attention at that time than a Mini Cooper or a Smart Car would today.
I would also guess that if they ever drove this car to within 100 miles of an American auto assembly plant that they received a lot of negative attention and possibly some threats.
I would have been terrified to drive this car around at a time when all the other cars weighed two tons, had 300+ horsepower and four wheel drum brakes.
What goes around...Add either a chunky belt or fun necklace (not both) and I would wear her outfit tomorrow, shoes and all!
Datsun Copy CatI hate to say it, but this little car shows the Japannese pention for ripping off other designs. It is almost an exact copy of a 1967 Alfa Romeo Guilia Sedan which I used own. The styling is so identical that the cars are almost twins on the outside. Unfortunately, the Datsun didn't have the all alluminum dual overhad cam engine that that the Alfa had. Hence about 40% less horsepower.
[Those overhad Japannese pentions were always breaking! - Dave]
American MuscleAm I the only one here who would NOT buy a Datsun/Nissan? Never AGAIN. I had one of the God-awful things back in the '80s. My DH is an automotive technician and he won't have one either!
Give me American muscle ANY day (says the owner of an '06 Chrysler 300C WITH a Hemi)!
Just curious, Tterrace, what is your brother driving today? I see him in any of the following: a Volvo, Lexus SUV, a VW (probably a Jetta), or a BMW. How far off am I?
That Datsun GalWell, my sister-in-law seems to have a fan club here. Here she is in a very 70s mode, smiling enigmatically again, in a shot I took at a crafts fair in Santa Cruz, California in 1974.
You can also see her here, here, and here.
Still asking...Tterrace, did you see my post about your brother's car? (the "American Muscle" post is mine). What's he driving today?
Brother's Other Cars"What's he driving today?"
His most interesting car was a Fiat X-19. His most boring car was a Fiat station wagon. He doesn't have a car anymore.
Not that I'm a stalker....But since I live pretty close to this neighborhood, I drove by to see if the driveway was still gravel. Well, I couldn't quite figure out exactly which house this was, but I didn't see any houses with gravel driveways anyway. Did you live next to that super long and steep set of stairs that run down to Magnolia? I bet those where fun to run up and down. I bet you know exactly how many steps there are too.
To the driveway stalkerrgraham, the gravel in the photo is actually the shoulder of Walnut Ave. Our "driveway" was the wooden ramp, since replaced with a concrete one. The northern tip of it was truncated a couple years ago to make room for a carport for a new house on the other side of the long flight of stairs, which is actually Arch Street, an official city thoroughfare. So today, what was our garage/driveway is now the second one immediately to the south of the top of Arch St.
Below, our garage and Arch Street in 1955 Ektachromes by my brother.
Ok, maybe a bit of a stalker.So here is what it looks like today. The stairs are looking down instead of up, and the basic garage hasn't changed. Cool neighborhood.
Rust rust rustI had two Datsuns in the 1970s, a 1974 610 wagon, and a 1978 510 wagon. Both were reliable cars but they rusted like crazy. Nevertheless they were a good alternative to the Detroit small car offerings of the era, the Pinto and the Vega.
The body of my '78 was about 20 percent Bondo when I junked it with 146,000 miles ten years later.
Fark the CarFarked again. (With apologies to your sister-in-law.)
Good Grief...The Farkizations of this photo are hilarious! (Well, except for one certain B&W shot.) A Hot Wheels-style Mustang? Herbie The Love Bug? Spinners? Getouttahere!
What would/does Sis-In-Law think?
Shiny, shiny / bad times behind meThis image inspired the last part of a lengthy and rambling blog post I wrote a couple of days ago:
http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.com/2009/10/last-summer-of-kodachrome-i...
It's part of a longer series about Kodachrome. My thesis is that Kodachrome -- despite being around for ages and being very long-lived -- has had a surprisingly small impact on the collective consciousness, in part because it has always been a formal film aimed at the kind of professionals who do not produce images that are meant to last. News photographers very rarely used it and it wasn't all that popular for family snapshots as far as I know, at least outside California, because it was expensive. I just made that up, although it sounds plausible. I would need to have solid figures that detail Kodachrome's sales figures globally compared to other slide films and films in general. Was Kodachrome unusually expensive in California in 1971? Was there an alternative, or was it the default choice? Was it hip?
[If I may interject a few words: For many years, Kodachrome was the most popular slide film in America. It accounts for billions of 35mm transparencies (by one estimate, 35 billion) of birthdays, vacations and weddings. Just my parents and grandparents alone have dozens of carousel trays holding thousands of Kodachrome vacation and holiday slides. Multiply that times a few million other families. - Dave]
My sub-thesis is that Kodachrome was thus used mainly for posed formal family portraits rather than snapshots, and that the subjects tend to look uncomfortable because of this, although in this case the people nonetheless exhibit character and appear to be real human beings with lives and a sense of fashion that would be perfectly natural in a world where The Flaming Lips were the dominant cultural force. Not our world, not yet. Posed formal portraits date badly and do not grab a mass audience; they grab the people who read Shorpy, but we are not a mass audience.
On a tangent, my Theory of Woman: The 1970s includes a timeline that begins with Marilyn Lange - Miss May 1974 - and ends with Farrah Fawcett. The lady in this picture is clearly at the earlier end of the scale. Was it that this kind of look was popular at the time, or were women different then? Where did they go in the 1980s?
Kodachrome assumptions in "Shiny Shiny..."Wow, talk about way-off assumptions - of which there are many more in the person's blog. Just briefly, and as I'm sure many here are aware, it wouldn't be even remotely reasonable to expect that my brother and sister-in-law, or anyone else in these circumstances, would be giving the slightest thought to the kind of film in my camera. 15-20 years earlier people might wonder "is it color or black-and-white," or maybe they'd be interested to know it was going to be a color slide rather than a print, but being concerned over whether it was Kodachrome? Come on. Another head-shaking contention is that color slides in general were always merely a niche product. I'd like to send this individual back in time and make them sit through some random person's slide show of their vacation last year.
It is the wig I love!It is especially the wig terrace's brother wears that I like.
My car -- almostImagine my surprise when I clicked on this page and saw my old high school ride -- almost! My Datsun 411 was a maroon colored wagon. It served me well through two years of high school and two years of commuting to college in the late '70s and early '80s. I'm so glad to see this shinier sedan version a decade earlier. I'm sure these folks enjoyed this baby like I enjoyed mine!
SighYour sister-in-law appeared to be living the life we all aspired to in 1971. Cool, confident, stylish, beautiful and such a handsome husband. Brother-in-law sold separately.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Farked, tterrapix)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/shinydatsun.thumbnail.jpg "Shiny Datsun: 1971")
- Miss Tomlin's School: 1926
- Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Miss Tomlin's School." Our second look at this establishment, run by Miss Queenie Ada-Maye Tomlin. Who can tell us about the Panama Canal Zone? ... did you learn today?" Mother replied.
"We reviewed America's part in carrying the white man's burden. We talked about the Canal ... Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 10:10pm -
![Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Miss Tomlin's School." Our second look at this establishment, run by Miss Queenie Ada-Maye Tomlin. Who can tell us about the Panama Canal Zone? National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Rough WriterIs that supposed to be a blackboard? Never have I seen a knobbily one.
Not so bad...I'm a career teacher in an urban school. What I wouldn't give to step into this classroom and pick up the chalk!
Ectoplasm 101Girl in the middle seems to be dematerializing!
All over the mapLet's see, the teacher is at the blackboard working on the Canal Zone. The girl in the corner is pointing out something in Peru. Girl on the right has her book open to Australia. Poor Teacher.
To bob or notThese girls appear to be the same age as my mother was in 1926. That was the year she decided to bob her waist-length hair. She told me when her father came into the house, he burst into tears when he saw her with her new look. All but two of the girls in this picture have cut their hair. I wonder if there was any drama at home when they did it?
Bobbed hairI remember my mother telling me what happened when she and her sister cut off their long hair. Grandma and grandpa were furious, they looked like loose women! Then great-grandma came down the stairs, took one look and exclaimed, "It's about time!"
One of the best things about short hair, according to mom, was not having to pull swallowed strands of it out of their mouths after visiting a drinking fountain.
Statistically speakingIt would seem that only one young lady in eight actually enjoyed being in Miss Tomlin's School.
Diamonds in the RoughThe learning environment is awful! How was it possible that the pupils schooled in these surroundings could have put man on the moon? Oh! I know! They had quality teachers and parents who cared about their children's grades.
Alright, everybody look busy for the photographer!What exactly was the teacher/student trying to draw on the Extremely Bumpy Chalk Board (aka the EBCB)? Whatever it was supposed to be, I fear she may have had some sort of seizure in the middle of it.
Also, If the student at the map is trying to find the Panama Canal, someone should have told her she was just a tad too far south.
Young teacher?I respectfully beg to differ with the comment in "All over the map" that it's the teacher at the blackboard: I'm pretty sure that is another student as she looks to be of the same age group as the others in the photograph.
Bob repercussionsThe "Lucille Brooks bob" reportedly caused at least one divorce.
Asleep in class.Girl on the far right by the window seems to be asleep, her book is turned totally the wrong way and part of her head seems to be behind the curtain. Also, the teacher doesn't seem that much older than her pupils.
Poor Teacher??What an idiotic comment titled "All over the map"! The ability to multi-task and engage students at their own pace in different parts of a lesson, in this case geography, is the sign of an accomplished teacher.
Bubbles and bumpsWhat is that blackboard made from, roofing tar and gravel?
Ouch!Bet the students love those shin-smashing shelves on the desks
"But Mom all of the other girls have bobbed their hair!"cried the long haired girl in the back desk when she got home.
"But what did you learn today?" Mother replied.
"We reviewed America's part in carrying the white man's burden. We talked about the Canal Zone. Silly Hannah couldn't find the Philippines, though. She kept thinking it was Peru!"
Holy Mackerel. Back row, apparently rocking back and forth making faces. Book sideways on the desk. Deskmate pretending not to notice. It's little slices o' life like this that make Shorpy crunchy with nutritional goodness.
Dematerializing girlHer facial expression suggests a sneeze, or at least a yawn.
Switches?Over the doorway, those look like they could be used as switches! But on GIRLS?
[That's a window, not a door, and the stuff is most likely rattan or similar material for caning or weaving projects. -tterrace]
(The Gallery, D.C., Education, Schools, Kids, Natl Photo)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/31978u.thumbnail.jpg "Miss Tomlin's School: 1926")
- Baby Picture: 1908
- ... Pacific
Engagement of Representative Sherley and Miss Critten Announced
Announcement is made by Mr. and Mrs. De Frees ... member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. She also served on the Women's Board of the Episcopal Church Home and ... Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 7:10pm -
- Shulman's Market: 1942
- ... window. Along the bottom of each it says What do YOU say America?
The smiling window Look closely at the window and you'll see ... lived near an old deli (Snyder's?) on the corner. I recall Miss Minnie's candy and variety store I think on the same block. I was able to ... Posted by Dave - 04/27/2017 - 4:25pm -
![ This large-format Kodachrome by Louise Rosskam from 1942 first appeared on Shorpy some 20,000 posts ago, back in 2007.
1942. "Shulman's Market at N and Union Street S.W., Washington." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Louise Rosskam. Alternate view. In one of the many comments for this post, an alert FOS (Friend of Shorpy) points out the posters of Axis leaders Mussolini, Hitler and Admiral Yamamoto in the window. Along the bottom of each it says What do YOU say America?
The smiling windowLook closely at the window and you'll see two swirls at the top that appear to be eyes and grinning mouth at the bottom. It's a happy store.
WowI am really loving these pictures, especially the color ones... Its amazing how dirty things were back then. Do you think it was just the subjects the photographer was capturing, or was there less focus on public works back then?
Same Store?I was hoping I had a newer photo of that same store, but it appears the one I took--though similar and also on N St--is not the same one. Here they are compared.
Same Store?Thanks for the detective work! Here is another view of the store. One thing that puzzles me (I live just outside of Washington, and work downtown) is there is not, as far as I can tell, a Union Street in the District. The street sign clearly says N and Union (the S or N in SW or NW is broken off). The street number behind the bars above the door is 485½. I notice that the windows on both the store and car have been soaped.
Harry ShulmanThere seem to have been several Shulman's Markets in D.C. An archive search shows there was one at 1349 Sixth St. NW in 1958, in addition to the one in the picture, and one on O Street NW. Harry Shulman died in 1984. From his obituary in the Washington Post: "Harry Shulman, 85, a grocer in the Washington area from the time he moved here in 1928 until he retired in 1971, died of a liver ailment May 15 at the Washington Hospital Center. He lived in Rockville. Mr. Shulman moved to Boston from his native Lithuania in the early 1900s. When he moved here, he opened Shulman's Market, which he operated at O Street NW for 39 years before closing it in 1967. He worked for several other grocers until he retired four years later."
There are about 250 mentions of addresses on Union Street SW in the Washington Post, with the last one in 1959. The ones I found are in the 1200 block: houses at 1255 and 1271 Union St. SW, the Lincoln Market at 1212, etc. Either it got renamed or disappeared in some kind of redevelopment. (There are 51 hits for Union Street NW, with the last mention in 1990. Those may be mistaken references to Union Court NW.)
In 1908 there are a couple of ads listing merchants who would redeem Sweetheart Soap coupons. One was E. Cockrill, whose store was at 485½ N Street SW at Union.
Re: all the dirt. A coupleRe: all the dirt. A couple ideas: 1) these are pretty rough, poor places. 2) The country was at the end of a very long and difficult depression that made many people poor. Routine maintenance is one of the first things you cut back on when money's tight, and money was very tight.
I sent this site to my grandma, and she told me how they used to love playing with mud during the depression. :)
wonderful siteI am enjoying this site VERY much.
I, too, particularly like the color photographs because they provide a certain immediacy and timelessness. I don't THINK of 1941 as being "in color" (having been born 13 years later).
Anyway, keep up the great work. It's a pleasure to visit here.
More like this one, please!Street scenes like this one are just fascinating to me because the level of detail enables me to imagine that I'm actually walking down the street in 1942. At first glance it doesn't appear all that much different than today, but then you notice all the little details, such as the posters in the window of what I presume to be Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini!
this siteI've only just found this site and am loving it. thank you for doing this...lisavc (from australia)
Window postersYikes. I figured they were baseball players, but you are right. They are Mussolini, Hitler and Admiral Yamamoto (see comment with poster links below). I added your observation to the caption along with a blowup of the posters. Thanks! And thank you, too, lisavc in Australia!
dirt or soot?Did US homes use coal for heating in the 40s? Britain used to be black with soot.
CoalYes, lots of buildings and homes had coal furnaces in the 1940s. I would say the balance tipped in favor of oil (kerosene) heating sometime after World War II. Although I am not sure where people are seeing dirt here. The yellow paint is soiled from where people have been leaning against or touching the wall. You can see the same thing on either side of the doors in this picture.
Window Posters... where Hitler Says:
"We shall soon have our Storm Troopers in America!"
And Yamamoto:
"I am looking forward to dictating peace to the United States in the White House at Washington."
And Mussolini:
"We consider peace a catastrophe for human civilization."
Great site!
Poster LinksAmazing. I am shocked and awed! Thank you, Anonymous Tipster!
AmazingI love the site, especially pictures like this. The colors are so vivid, the image so clear, that it almost takes away the time barriers. I could imagine myself walking right up to those people as if they were still alive today, looking now as they did then.
As for this comment...
"Its amazing how dirty things were back then."
Come take a trip to Philadelphia; the level of filth is exactly the same in 2007.
Re: "Amazing How Dirty Things Were Back Then"Really? That is a very funny statement. When I first saw the photo, I thought it could be from anyhere on the Hill or in Georgetown today. Aside from a few neighborhoods, The city really isn't much cleaner. In fact, the brick sidewalks are actually flat. Now there are so many roots pushing them up that it's difficult to walk at night without tripping.
This 1897 map of DC showsThis 1897 map of DC shows that Union St SW ran from M to O in between 4 1/2 St. (which seems to have been where 4th St. is now) and 6th St. If you look at a current map of DC, there's no trace of the former Union St. in the midst of a bunch of large buildings. If you plug in 485 Union St. SW Washington into Google Maps, though, it does show it being about where Union St. was.
1897 MapThank you so much! Click here for a closeup of the map (which is quite beautiful). Union Street is toward the bottom. Another mystery solved thanks to Anonymous Tipster.
Southwest WashingtonSouthwest D.C. was probably the most destitute parts of town at the time this photo was taken. Union Street SW no longer exists because this part of town was almost completely leveled by eminent domain in the 1950s, in one of the country's first urban renewal projects.
Prince AlbertLooks like Shulman's has Prince Albert in a can... ;-) Seriously, though, it is absolutely amazing how well these Kodachrome images have held up for all these decades. Kodak's scientists came up with a magic emulsion which has never been bettered...
Ninth StreetMy grandparents lived on 9th Street S.E. There was a corner store with the same yellow paint job just down the street (300 or 400 block.) I'm guessing it was also owned by Shulman. As for the soot I'm sure it was from coal, their house was heated with coal until my grandmother sold the house in 1960.
Bernard ShulmanAccording to the 1942 Polk Directory, 485½ N Street S.W. was Schulman's Grocery. That's how it was spelled in the directory. Bernard was listed as the owner. He lived at 1412 K Street S.E. His wife's name was Clara.
Across from Shulman'sI lived directly across the street from Shulman's Market from 1946 to 1949. We shopped there all the time, and not only were the houses all heated with coal (we had a large shed in the back yard to hold it), but most all of us had ice delivered in huge blocks for our iceboxes. Hardly anyone around there had a refrigerator. My mother, who is now 90, remembers discussing the Old Testament with the owner often. They were both very religious.
Union Street SI live at Union and N Streets, SW. Technically. After the redevelopment of Southwest DC, Union Street was replaced by apartment/coop buildings. The streets that still remain off M Street are 4th and 6th. I bought the print with the old car in front of the market for nostalgic sake.
Great PhotosThis series of photos was what first got me looking at Shorpy. Been hooked ever since.
Sad Little GirlThe Commentators so far seem to have skipped over the sad looking little girl sitting under the window. Beautiful child.
The Washington CanalI compared the two maps and managed to trace the route of the Washington Canal. Looks like the canal came down Independence Ave along the Mall, veered a slight right Down Washington/Canal street, Right on South Capitol, another slight right at the RR tracks onto Canal again perpendicular to Delaware Ave, slight left down Third Street to the river. The Fort Meyer complex absorbed and changed Third Street to 5th Avenue. If you go down M Street from South Capitol SW (west), take a left on 4th Street SW, go to N Street, the right on N would go to Union and N Street. Of course the canal was filled in due to outbreaks of disease attributed to the terrible things dumped into it, the likes of which you aint never seen.
[Take a right on what again? -tterrace]
I recall the area vaguelyI was 6 years old, and lived near an old deli (Snyder's?) on the corner. I recall Miss Minnie's candy and variety store I think on the same block. I was able to walk to Bowen school from the "Jefferson Gardens" white 2 story deco building courtyard we lived in. I believe I lived near K and I streets. There were super-old abandoned red brick buildings across from me. Windows removed, and facing the demolitions to come like a tempest. 1953 or so, and then we moved. Later we went back and saw the barrel roofed buildings that emerged. I recall the vegetable man taking his horse cart through the alley.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, D.C., Louise Rosskam, Stores & Markets)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34421u_1_0.thumbnail.jpg "Shulman's Market: 1942")
- Print My Finger: 1918
- ... of the prettiest girls on Shorpy! That neck!
Mrs. (or Miss) Boswell In the February 24, 1918 edition of the NY Times: "Miss Marie ... as guys like me would have said considerably later in America's history, is a really classy dame!
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, ... Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 2:51pm -
- Golden Girl: 1926
- "Miss Marjorie Joesting, August 2, 1926." Our third look at Marjorie, a Miss Washington, D.C., who was runner-up at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. National Photo Company Collection glass ... Posted by Dave - 05/12/2009 - 8:46am -
!["Miss Marjorie Joesting, August 2, 1926." Our third look at Marjorie, a Miss Washington, D.C., who was runner-up at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Bless her heart!Sweet figure, but face like a Moon Pie. So ran the tastes of the day.
Thanks!Thanks Dave, for answering the request of the poster on the last thread, for more bathing beauties. And yes, I too look forward to the day when I can say, "Remember when women *used to* get tattooed and pierced?"
Psyche'dIf Miss Joesting had put her hair up for this photo shoot, she'd have looked like Psyche, the White Rock sprite. And for the purposes of the great debate - I LOVE the look!
Amen!I much prefer Marjorie's kind of beauty. Lovely!
Marjorie had her dayThough I generally dislike this business of debating the appearance of any woman point by point as though she were a show horse, it doesn't seem so wrong in the context of a pageant contestant, who voluntarily presents herself as a show horse.
So: I'd say Marjorie's got a great little figure and a sweet, pleasant face. Sadly, she'd have to have that face gone at with scalpels and belt sanders to make it into a pageant today.
Indeed, as movies from around and not long after this era show, the definition of "pretty girl" used to be much more varied and flexible than it is in our picky day. Young and healthy seemed to pretty much cover the requirements.
With the -- fairly enormous -- caveat that, in mainstream entertainment in Marjorie's prime and beyond a "pretty girl" was a white girl, it's perhaps a healthier, and certainly a more cheerful, attitude.
Reaching full beauty potentialI'm going to recommend a hot oil treatment wrap followed by a gentle
warm-water rinse and a vitamin-enriched conditioner.
Face like a moon pie??Adore the sweet innocent look, MUCH more than the emo, goth piercings, and all the other stupidity young women do today.
[The debate begins! (Lincoln and Douglas, you might want to take notes.) - Dave]
1926?You could easily have convinced me that somebody took their CoolPix, set the mode to sepia, and snapped that this morning. Wow.
Piercing insightsWow. You lot are awfully polite. I'm one of those goth girls you mention. Two piercings on each ear, my earlobes are stretched to a small degree and I have an eyebrow piercing. I like who I am and would never say my personal appearance is stupid. So, unless you want people saying "I hate what those men do today, with those combovers and narrow minds -- "
Try to be nice. We all have different tastes, respect that unless you don't want the same in return.
That all aside, this girl looks lovely. I really, really want a bathing suit like that now. The irony is that if I just take a few of my piercings out, I look pretty similar to her.
Cheers!Here's to you, Miss White Rock. Nice....wings!
My original "Moon Pie" comment was uncalled for. Today's tyrannical and completely unrealistic standards of beauty have succeeded in making millions of nice-looking women and men feel bad about themselves.
Ms. Joesting is lovely. I like Shorpy's previous photos of her even more:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/4772
https://www.shorpy.com/node/4282
I want one right now....Ummmmmmm! Moon Pies. The Original Marshmallow Sandwich.
Woolly, BulliedThis girl is ever so lovely. but man, that swimsuit.
I can't believe the people that post on here criticizing her face.
Yeah, thanks Dave.I'm the poster who requested more bathing beauties. You did not disappoint. A beautiful, sweet, innocent looking young lady. When they invent a time machine....
Timeless beautyMiss Joesting is a true beauty in any time. She has a wonderful figure, a beautiful face and real naturally curly hair. I absolutely loved the other two photographs of her, so I'm quite thankful for this one.
Speaking of hair, it's very unusual to see a beauty queen of this era with such long, flowing locks. Besides being extremely gorgeous, she was also quite the rule breaker.
TimelessMiss Joesting was beautiful then, and would win my heart today as well. I understand beauty being in the eye of the beholder but... Wow... how can anyone not see her as lovely?
Re: Piercing insights
I'm holding out for the time when women like Marjorie find short, overweight and balding men (preferably from Australia) attractive.
I'm so tired of looking like Brad Pitt
Piece of my HeartCome on, she has nice Janis Joplin hair.
ContrastThis beautiful image sure is in stark contrast to the bleak shots of the industrial parts of Pennsylvania.
{And now I have new wallpaper!}
Drop her in the......days of Woodstock, flower children, and natural beauty. Quite a few young women had a very similar style to them. She has also a resemblance to a singer named Nicolette Larson who did pretty well in the 1970's. Some of the ladies I dance with these days have hair just like that. Well, maybe a little more tamed, but close enough.
She looks like a princessExcept she has peasant feet.
Beautiful lighting/hair!Until I checked out the hi-def image, I missed out on the beautiful natural lighting. It really highlights her slightly-unmanaged curls, giving her a natural and water-nymph-like look.
TressedWith all of the other 1920s cheesecake showing bobbed hair, it's a real rarity to see post-Great War long locks. She and the photographer were obviously proud of the look. To have resisted getting a flapper look her hair must have been considered beautiful at the time.
Put me in the camp that considers that she would be judged a beauty today.
The Sprite in youShe looks like a little pixie!
She was robbed.Shoulda won.
Foy
Las Vegas
The word "beauty"is so subjective. You know what they say about opinions -- everybody's got one.
In the case of Marjorie, it is refreshing to see a young woman with such natural, unaffected beauty.
It is all too easy to pick away at the parts. But I feel that the whole is very pleasing, in any time.
SmittenI am such a sucker for a girl with chubby cheeks and laugh lines. She could have wrapped me around her little finger.
More on MarjorieI looked her up, trying to find out more about her, and I found this, along with the caption
"The girls are, left to right, Marjorie Joesting, Dorothy Proudlock, Emerita Monsch, and Anita Foy. "
Anyone know what she did for the talent portion of the pageant?
(The Gallery, Natl Photo, Pretty Girls)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/16113u.thumbnail.jpg "Golden Girl: 1926")
- Motown Noir: 1910
- ... on me: they alternately won't skid and don't slide!
America's Heyday Beautiful.
Amazing signage.
Chop Suey ... like the 19th Century still.
Margaret Illington Miss Illington, here starring at the Detroit Opera House, had recently been ... Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 5:00pm -
![Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "Campus Martius at night." A nocturnal view of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Chop Suey was popularI have noticed that in almost all of the street scenes from various cities around the U.S. shown on Shorpy, there are always large, neon "Chop Suey" signs, sometimes several in the same picture. I see two in this photo, there may be more. One has to wonder what made early 20th century chop suey taste so good that it merited full size, expensive, lighted advertising signs. There are multitudes of recipes for it, all different, but there must have been a "type" that had strong appeal to the masses. This is a particularly beautiful picture with outstanding plays of light that could have been photographed the night my mom was born and I would love to be able to be visit this very locale at that very time. This is a picture than can inspire a million stories as one walks along the intriguing boulevard (of broken dreams?) Thank you Shorpy for once again setting my imagination on high speed.
"Chop Suey" (Edward Hopper, 1929)
Where's the Moon (Light Towers)?Were the moonlight towers all gone by 1910? I looked back at the past Detroit photos that had them and they all seemed to be 1905 or earlier. Looks like they installed normal streetlights by this time.
[While they weren't on every street corner, there were several nearby [one, two, three). But they may have been removed by the time this photo was made. - Dave]
Diamond TiresTHEY WON'T SKID
THEY WON'T SLIDE
THEY GRIP
Diamond Tires won'tI was puzzled for a moment by what Diamond Tires won't do. "Skibe"? Then it dawned on me: they alternately won't skid and don't slide!
America's Heyday Beautiful.
Amazing signage.
Chop Sueybecame a generic term for Chinese food. At least in black areas of town, such as Harlem, a Chinese restaurant was a "Chop Suey joint." Similarly, "gin" was a generic term for hard liquor. Writers often wrote of Bessie Smith's fondness for gin, based largely upon her use of the term in songs, but they were making assumptions. I asked Ruby Smith, her niece and touring companion, if Bessie really preferred gin. "no, no," she replied, "Bessie didn't like nothing but bad liquor, she said that anything sealed made her sick."
Neither Will They SlipI wondered why the "D" in SLIDE and SKID would need an extra lighted segment in the middle. Then I found an ad for Diamond tires in a 1913 Popular Mechanics that says,
"The Diamond Safety Tread Tire is the famous Diamond Automobile Tire adapted for motorcyle - it won't slip, won't slide, won't skip - it grips and bites the pavement - it gives you sure control in every emergency and a heaping measure of mileage."
History of Chop SueyOTY, you got me thinking...
A quick Google yielded this:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Eat-Drink-And-Be-Merry
Aside from the misspellings, the short article is very interesting. Thank you for prompting me to learn something new today!
In oppositionIn both senses of the word - Diamond and Goodrich, though Goodrich seems to have the edge here in the amount of light it sheds. A fascinating composition with lots to see. I like all the light trails wiggling in and out from the cars, I wonder how long they had to keep the shutter open?
More modern than todayAt a glance, I’d have guessed this to be 1930 or 1940, not 1910. I’m amazed by the number of vehicle lights and neon signs present in a year I’d have supposed to be much more like the 19th Century still.
Margaret IllingtonMiss Illington, here starring at the Detroit Opera House, had recently been divorced from theatrical manager David Frohman. This year -- I don't know whether before or after this photo -- she married Edward Bowes, later to host "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour" (ancestral to the Gong Show, and indirectly to such programs as "America's Got Talent").
Another thing those Diamond Tires won't doWON'T SKID
WON'T SLIDE
and also
WON'T SLIP
Look closely at the lighted character second from right on that line.
SerendipityJust tonight my seven year old, who's crazy for "Fred and Ginger" movies, was watching "Swing Time." Fred Astaire sings "Never Gonna Dance," a song with a lovely, catchy tune paired with these ridiculously unsingable lyrics, maybe the worst love lyrics ever, including this gem:
Have I two eyes to see your two eyes,
or see myself on my toes,
Dancing on radios
for Major Edward Bowes?
"And who the heck," I asked myself, "is Major Edward Bowes?" Then I visit Shorpy, and here he is, mentioned in the comments! Where else on the web could I get that kind of service?
(The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a26760a.thumbnail.jpg "Motown Noir: 1910")
- Stuff It: 1937
- ... following set of pictures, made under the supervision of Miss Lucy Alexander, Chief Cooking Specialist. Miss Alexander, a graduate of ... Butterball hotline for one's turkey help in 21st century America?
Thanksgiving Our Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago, of ... Posted by Dave - 11/13/2018 - 12:20am -
![December 4, 1937. Washington, D.C. "Note to housewives: your turkey-baking troubles will be over and the bird you serve for dinner this yuletide will be tender, juicy and flavorsome if you follow the method used by the expert cooks at the Bureau of Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Continual testing and experimenting with various recipes has taught Uncle Sam's cooks that many a prize bird has become a 'ham' when improperly prepared. The best recipe so far discovered by the Bureau of Economics is demonstrated in the following set of pictures, made under the supervision of Miss Lucy Alexander, Chief Cooking Specialist. Miss Alexander, a graduate of Vassar and the University of Illinois, has been on her present job for 11 years. Mrs. Jessie Lamb, Assistant Cook, is stuffing the turkey under her watchful eye. The turkeys on the table will go into the ovens at regular intervals, and be tasted and judged by a group of experts who are determining which diet and feeding program will produce the best flavored meat." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Don't leave us hangingBut what is the best way to prepare a turkey?
And is roasting them on their sides part of the best way?
Too CleanStuffing a turkey is a messy job but you wouldn't know it from looking at this photo. You could perform major surgery in this room just by pushing the turkeys off to one side.
"Flavorsome"Is that a real word?
re: FlavorsomeI suppose that's a few notches below 'flavorful.'
Tiny TurkeysThese turkeys are tiny compared to birds today. These would be in the range of only 8-10 pounds, whereas most commercial turkeys today are 14-20 pounds. Look at the pronounced breast bone without nearly as much muscle mass as modern turkeys. This means these birds were almost certainly free-range rather than caged. Personally, I like wild turkey best, but a free-range bird is pretty darn good. The cooking for one of these is completely different than modern birds, too. These need a lot more basting, more moisture to start with, and are best served brined. Modern birds are almost all previously brined or injected with some salty soupy solution that pumps up the weight and keeps the bird moister.
No wonder turkey had such a dismal reputation with housewives for so long - dry dull meat was the norm!
And how about those spiffy "nurse in the kitchen" outfits?
[Below, the turkeys in (or on) their cages in Beltsville, Maryland. - Dave]
Miss AlexanderAny more backstory on her? She seems supremely over-qualified to be a single lady cooking turkeys for 11 years.
Turkey Tasters
Washington Post, Oct 5, 1938
The Federal Diary
By Scott Hart.
. . . the pleasant odor of roasting turkey comes to the upper corridors of Agriculture South Building later this month, as the Bureau of Home Economics begins experimental cookery work. And the last thing heard of the champion turkey carver (he carves the scientifically-cooked birds) was that he was on vacation. The professional turkey tasters: (they taste the cooked birds to test seasoning and flavors) are expectantly waiting.
...
Washington Post, Nov 18, 1938
The Federal Diary
By Scott Hart.
... NOTES: Again on the subject of the turkey carving experiments in Home Economics, Agriculture. we suspect that those bored looks on the faces of the seven tasters are stage faces. The conclusion ls based on this: Six of the seven who sit about the tables three or four times a week were the tasters of last year - and there is nothing in the Civil Service rules and regulations that say they have to volunteer a second time. Anybody who ever saw Miss Lucy Alexander pull one of those golden brown birds from the experimental ovens on the sixth floor knows how much persuasion would be required to get somebody to taste of that chunk of juicy meat
...
Thanksgiving memoriesI grew up in New York City. Thanksgiving Day, Mom would make my Dad, me and my little sister leave the apartment to go see the Macy's parade while she cooked. We'd return 5 hour later to awesome smells and even better tastes. No science there.
Another Federal WasteMs. Alexander is now eleven years at the federal teat putting dressing inside turkeys where they can quickly turn into a mass of salmonella. Why on earth are the taxpayers paying for research that is done so much better by the private sector? Dressing should never be cooked inside the turkey!
The federal government's benevolence apparently does, indeed, go back a long time. Imagine paying to set up all that kitchen gear, paying all those people, and getting such meager results.
[Do a little research I think you'll find you are quite mistaken. Class? - Dave]
Small turkeysI walked into the kitchen and there were eight wild turkeys on my deck totally ignoring my cats at the sliding door. But these guys are still young and have to be at least 20 pounds! Hmmm, maybe I won't have to buy a bird.
re: Miss AlexanderThe Washington Post, Times Herald, Jan. 30, 1969
Lucy M. Alexander, Agriculture Specialist
Lucy Maclay Alexander, 80, an Agriculture Department home economist for 38 years, died Jan. 22 in Belleville, Ill., after a long illness.
Miss Alexander retired in 1953 from the Agriculture Department, where she conducted meat and poultry research and wrote several home economics publications. She moved to Belleville to join her family in 1964.
Born in Pennsylvania, she held bachelor's degrees from Vassar College and the University of Illinois. She received the Department's Distinguished Service Award in 1950.
She is survived by a brother, R. P. Alexander, of Belleville, and a sister, Mrs. F. A. Ingalls, Palo Alto, Calif.
Bureau of EconomicsDoes this department still exist? Or does one go to the the Butterball hotline for one's turkey help in 21st century America?
ThanksgivingOur Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago, of course.
My mother loves to describe the first American Thanksgiving she celebrated (Americans like to think they "invented" Thanksgiving but in England the end of harvest was long celebrated with a Thanksgiving feast). My father was an artist living in Greenwich Village and Mom invited all his friends for a dinner in their cold-water walk-down flat on Charles Street.
She recalls it as a wonderful, succulent dinner.
Several years ago, I talked to one of the friends who attended that dinner and he told me the "real" story.
Apparently, my mother had never cooked a turkey before (this being just after the War with the attendant rationing and shortages). Apparently, what came to the table was a none-too-well-cooked bird which everyone politely nibbled at. Knowing my mother's cooking, I believe his version of the dinner.
They look so forlornCreating a flavorsome turkey is a loneful job, I suppose.
L. M. Alexander, Food Scientist extraordinaire Apparently Lucy was a Food Scientist and had numerous publications of her research. Here's two of my favorites:
Alexander, L.M., Schopmeyer, G.E., and Anderson, R.B.: "A Standardized Method for French Frying Potatoes."
Nicholas G. Barbella, O. G. Hankins and Lucy M. Alexander: "The Influence of Retarded Growth in Lambs on Flavor and Other Characteristics of the Meat"
The old girl was interested in much more than turkeys.
(The Gallery, Christmas, D.C., Kitchens etc., Thanksgiving)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/23725a.thumbnail.jpg "Stuff It: 1937")
- Old Man River: 1906
- ... Bridge, and the Casino Boats. On second thought I don't miss those at all, this is a better image.
Vicksburg & Greenville ... that it would not be safe. There are to many bad people in America.
[Smart move. So many kayakers these days getting waylaid by ... Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:19pm -
!["Mississippi River Landing." Circa 1906, an exceptionally detailed view of the sternwheeler "Belle of Calhoun" and sidewheeler "Belle of the Bends" taking on cargo. Detroit Publishing Company 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
I really like this photo!I can feel the motion, almost hear the sounds, smell the aromas....quite amazing. Gives me a strong hint of the era just over 100 years ago.
WoodworkThe amount of woodwork that must have gone into making one of these vessels is amazing. The detail work on the railings comes to mind. Wonder what it would cost today to build one to spec?
Lifting BalesI see people lifting that bale, but I don't see anyone toting that barge.
Not that I'd know barge-toting when I saw it, though...
Belle of CalhounAt 451 gross tons, with 27 staterooms and 60 berths, the Belle could carry 119 passengers including 30 in deck and steerage. She also was certified to carry freight.
Old Glory......is looking awfully tired and threadbare on Belle of the Bends.
VicksburgThis could be anywhere along the length of the Mississippi River, but something reminds me of Vicksburg. All that's missing from the scene is the I-20/US80 Bridge, the Old Vicksburg Bridge, and the Casino Boats. On second thought I don't miss those at all, this is a better image.
Vicksburg & GreenvilleVicksburg & Greenville Packet Co., it says on Belle of the Bends wheel cover. I wonder if that tattered flag held some historical significance, it seems stark in contrast with the shiny bell. There's so much interesting detail in the open fronted wheelhouses alone with their strange shutters and whistles.
The Gingerbread BoatThe railings and detail work you see was generally factory made and could be ordered through mail-order catalogs. What made it go out of style was not the hand work needed to make it, it was the hand work needed to keep it painted. That's why you saw a lot of Victorian houses painted one color in later years when originally the trim was painted in a contrasting color (or colors) to the main body of the house.
Travel on the riverAt one time I thought it would be nice to take a well equipped pontoon boat down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans stopping at small towns, having lunch, talking to people, fishing etc. What stopped me is that it would not be safe. There are to many bad people in America.
[Smart move. So many kayakers these days getting waylaid by highwaymen and barge pirates. - Dave]
Falstaff BeerNote Falstaff wagon at far right. According to falstaffbrewing.com, it's been made under that brand label since 1899. Fascinating shot, Dave, I feel like I'm right there.
*Sigh*Shopped
[*Sigh.* Dumb. - Dave]
Shopped?The only thing worse than reading someone complain that a particular picture at this site has been Photoshopped is someone complaining that a picture has been Photoshopped without providing an explanation of why they think this is the case. Not that the explanations are true but it's amusing to read their theories. Sort of like the explanations of why the Moon Landing photos are fakes.
[We use Photoshop on all of these. These photos don't appear on your screen via magic or telepathy -- you have to have some kind of image editor to get them sized, cropped, adjusted for contrast and changed from tiffs into jpegs. Plus the negatives have to be inverted to get positives. The "Shopped" commenters seem to have vague notions that something fishy is afoot. - Dave]
Nimitz Was There ... Where's Halsey?In 1900 an A F Nimitz was Captain.
Any genealogists out there who might be able to connect any family lines to Admiral Nimitz of WWII fame?
Belle Of The Woods
Type: Sidewheel wooden hull packet Size: 210' X 32.6' X 7.4'
Power: 18's-8 ft., 3 boilers, each 44" X 28'
Launched: 1898, Jeffersonvile, Ind. by the Howard Yard
Destroyed; 1919, Oct. dismantled by John F. Klein
Area: Ohio R. Greenville-Vicksburg
1910-11, winter, New Orleans, excursions
1918-19, Cairo, Ill., excursions
Owners: 1898- Vicksburg And Greenville Packet Company
1910-or so, purchased by Capt Morrissy
Captains: 1900, Master, A. F. Nimtz
1901, Pilots, Billy Newbill and Joe Delahunt
1910, Morrissy
At one time, Joe Ballard, Vicksburg to Greenville, Miss.
Comments: 1909, Sept., 40 mi. below Viskburg, sank and was raised.
1910, Fitler's Landing, 20 mi. below Lake Providence, sank. Raised.
1910, or between 1918-19, renamed LIBERTY
1940, her bell was at Altheimer Plantation near Pine Bluff Ark.
1910, Fitler's Landing, 20 mi. below Lake Providence, sank. Raised.
1910, or between 1918-19, renamed LIBERTY
1940, her bell was at Altheimer Plantation near Pine Bluff Ark.
Nimtz, not NimitzIt's listed as Nimtz down in the text. Not Nimitz.
"Mark" my words...Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain
8x10 glass neg!Wow, the resolution on a century old glass neg is as good as anything today it appears. Amazing technical expertise.
True DaysThis is before my time by 45 years, but my father was old when he had me and saw all of this on the Mississippi. Mark Twain's stories tell much about it. I've been on the Ol' Miss a few times, but now live near the Mekong in SE Asia. I would have liked to have seen it here at that time too.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a13373a.thumbnail.jpg "Old Man River: 1906")
- On the Edge of the 60s
- ... correlation with the decade of the 1960s.
In most of America, the Sixties (drugs, sex, rock-n-roll, decadence) began in late 1968 ... president! Your photos make my day, Daddy-o!
Bye, Bye Miss American Pie! I’ve been wrestling with what I could ad to these ... Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:37pm -
![Even though it's 1960, it's obvious that the 60s haven't started yet. My eighth grade class photo in Larkspur - or as Dave would say, idyllic Larkspur. I must say, though, that we're looking somewhat less idyllic than when some of us were gathered at the same spot eight years earlier. I'm in the front row, second from left.
So, when did the 60s begin? A case could be made for 1963, 1964 or 1965, but I'm going for 1965. View full size.
60s != sixtiesThe problem here is that the Sixties as a cultural phenomenon has very little correlation with the decade of the 1960s.
In most of America, the Sixties (drugs, sex, rock-n-roll, decadence) began in late 1968 with the large demonstrations against the war, and faded out around 1975.
By contrast the 1960s, as seen in this picture, were a time of prosperity and optimism, a time when boys looked like rocket scientists and girls looked like rockets.
Did any of these boysserve in Vietnam?
Great photo BTW
When the 60s beganThe 60's began on Sunday night, Feb. 9, 1964!
I'm from a later generationbut I think Buddy Holly (among others) had a influence on kids back then. (Or was he just that way?)
The 60sI'm in the group who think the '60s started at the end of 1963 with JFK's assassination, followed by the Beatles in '64. And the end of the decade came in 1973 with the U.S. pullout from Vietnam and Nixon's resignation in 1974.
No moreAn innocence that no longer exists in our children.
So tell us, tterrace, just how innocent *were* you kids? Starting from top right, moving counterclockwise. On a scale of 1 to 10. -Dave]
I was six in 1960This shows life as portrayed in "Leave It To Beaver." Then came the Beatles and life changed. That's how I remember it anyway.
Girls ARE more matureIf you enlarge this photo, and carefully scrutinize all the faces, it is apparent that all of the girls seem to be certain of who they are and comfortable in their own skin. Many can also pass for high school students. The boys on the other hand show various characteristics of rebelliouness, moodiness, sadness, some seem troubled and pensive, some look like cut-ups and wise guys, just a lot less certain of the image they wish to portray and many can pass as fifth graders, looking at least three years younger. I'm thinking perhaps some parents were much harder on their sons than on their daughters as the girls seem relatively content while the boys show signs of personal conflict. I hope they all found happiness. Thank you for this very nostalgic picture.
O.K. RomeoWhich girl (?!!) did you have the hots for?
I was in 2nd grade in 1960 ... and you're right, we were all still blissfully living in the fifties then. I think the sixties began with the assassination of JFK and arrival of the Beatles in 1964. The era was in full swing by the time of the Summer of Love and the murders of RFK and MLK.
And, btw, if anyone ever perfects a time machine, I'm going back to live with your family, tterrace. "Idyllic" is the right word for most of your pics.
Nothing screams 1960... like a Hawaiian t-shirt! Such a lively group of kids, and to think, in just under a decade this same group of youngsters will introduce the world to pot, LSD, and the Grateful Dead!
When did the 60s begin?I too was an eighth grader in 1959-60. It's hard to say just when the culture of the "60s" first emerged in the national consciousness. I guess I would say 1964-1965, with the beginning of the Vietnam buildup, the civil rights movement in full swing, campus protests, inner city riots, and the emergence of an entirely different style of popular music. Anyone who leapt from 1963 to 1968 would have been completely lost.
I Want to Drivemy '50 Ford to the drive in with that little gal next to the teacher, whew, what a doll she must have become in high school, "Apache" (1960) on the AM car radio.
How many?Point of curiosity -- if you know -- how many of your classmates are still alive? It seems like every class starts losing members about a year after graduation so I suspect you've lost your share as well.
Innocence of youthWell, our names were innocent-sounding enough anyway: Albert, Bob (2), Bucky (really Harold, but who knew?), Carla, Christine, Cynthia, David (2), Dennis, Earl, Frances, Hilliard, Jack, Jean, John (3), Johnny, Ken, Laurie, Lenore, Lonna, Marcia, Margaret, Paul, Peggy (2), Richard, Roberta, Roger, Russ, Sam, Sharon, Sheila, Tom.
Ashley, Brittany, Brandon, Justin and Dakota were absent that day.
Could be my classI believe the 60's started around 1962, but in a small way. The folk music scene, and coffee houses contributed to it. Early Dylan, Baez helped nudge us into a new decade. But the really visible 60's didn't occur until around 1964/65 with the British invasion of music, and fashion. The guys in the photo defiantly exhibit a late '50s sensibility in their clothing choice, and hairstyles.
[Definitely. - Dave]
Decades vs. ErasOne of tterrace's contemporaries takes on the '50s-'60s thing.
Let's go back to the '40s. '40-'45: the Depression jarringly became the WWII Era--privation and sacrifice.
'46-'51: the Post War Era--baby boom, consumer goods and housing in short supply.
'52-'63: "The Fifties", the "Fab-u-luxe Age"--tail fins, massive consumption, rock and roll, shadow of nuclear destruction, JFK. Started to peter out with Cuban missile crisis. Ended November 22, 1963
'63-'72: "The Sixties", civil rights, the British Invasion, Women's Lib., Viet Nam, student riots, Stonewall Riot, M.L. King and RFK assassinations, Chicago convention, Nixon, war winds down.
'73-?: Beyond here lies Disco, gay rights, bad presidents, trickle down, AIDS, Iran, energy crisis, limited wars, cell phones, the Internet and Shorpy.
Positive IDI graduated a few years later at LCM and recognize about 14 of the people, all boys by the way, as some of those were the ones you had to look out for. Do you remember all the names to go with the faces here?
Too Cool for SchoolPlease let us know (if you know) what happened to the dude sitting next to you on the right. I bet he wound up in juvy.
Front row guyI wonder what happened to the James Dean guy in the front row. He had an obvious magnetism and confidence that the other boys seem to be lacking.
More than 10 years to the SixtiesHaving graduated from 8th grade in the same year, I would say that the 60s began in 1955 with Rosa Parks in the front of the bus and with the trial and ended with the sentencing of Patty Hearst in 1976. For me, just starting to open my eyes to the world, the Sixties began with the Civil Rights movement, JFK, and the Space Race. In between there was Vietnam, the draft and the anti-war movement; the assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcom X); the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the rest of the drugs, sex, and rock & roll scene; and all the societal and personal changes, large and small, that we remember in different ways. It ended with Altamont, Kent State, Manson, Nixon and the Symbionese Liberation Army. A long, strange trip indeed. I'm glad I was on the ride.
The girl by the teacherShe is not only seriously cute, but that direct gaze, as if she's looking right at ME, indicates she really knows who she is (as someone else pointed out). That, and she's quite a flirt.
Alpha Male spottedBack row, between Buddy Holly and Susan Boyle. An ath-uh-lete. Those are some seriously huge looking trees in back. Redwoods?
Casual Friday?I was in public school 8th grade in 1964, my first experience with "real clothes" after parochial school. I am amazed at the attire in this photo. In the front row alone I spy sneakers, rolled-up pants, and dungarees. All would have been verboten in our school. There's also the glaring absence of shoe polish.
The gals, though, all appear demurely and appropriately dressed.
Could this have been "class day" or some other occasion calling for "dress-down" attire?
BTW, the gal at the top right is hottimus maximus!
My wife posed in front of these redwood trees.And she did it many times through her school years. She also remembers Mr. G, the teacher in this photo. Seemingly fondly.
Some of these guys look familiar to me. My sister was this age, and ended up going to Redwood High School with most of this crowd. I think she even went out with the guy in the second row from the top, two over from the teacher. I'm pretty sure he was kind of a baseball hero in high school.
Some of these lads look like the kind of guys you'd have to avoid if you were younger like I was. There was a pretty good pecking order that went on back then between age groups. And if you were from out of town, then you were in real trouble. I was from the next town over, but would head to Larkspur to run amok in the abandoned houses along the Corte Madera Creek. Dangerous and fun.
No real teasing quite yet... of the girls' hair, that is. In a couple of years those natural looking bobs would be teased and sprayed into larger than life beehives and bouffants. By 1962 I am doing just that and seeking great heights of unnatural hair that looked just like the styles in Hairspray. Although my sixth grade year of 63-64 was certainly pivotal between Dallas and the Beatles, the 60s started for me in 1962, when hair was hard to the touch, shoes were very pointy, and boys that looked like the Danny Zuko lookalike in the front row would have been the object of my desire.
That day in Dealey PlazaDefinitely the 60s started that Dallas afternoon on November 22nd 1963
Fan ClubOh tterrace....you need to have a fan club! And I want to be your president! Your photos make my day, Daddy-o!
Bye, Bye Miss American Pie!I’ve been wrestling with what I could ad to these observations. I’ve decided that Don McLean knew what he was talking about when he sang about “The Day The Music died.” That did seem like the day of transition to me. Before, it was the optimistically innocent time of early rock ‘n roll, Davy Crockett and Annette Funicello. Afterwards came the threat of nuclear war, the Beatles & Stones and the threat of being drafted. The onset of darkness seemed overwhelming as our high school years commenced. Most of us got through it.
People from The Edge of the 60sI met up with a number of them at the 40th reunion of the Redwood High class of 1964 and learned that the gal next to our teacher Mr. G. is, I'm afraid, one of the ones no longer with us. The fellow in the second row from the top, second from left was indeed an athletic-type guy, but it was his older brother who became a tennis pro of some note.
This wasn't a "casual Friday" or any other kind of special-clothing day. This is pretty much how we all looked day-in, day-out.
CreepyThat is how I feel whenever the adult male visitors on Shorpy make comments about the physical appearance of underage girls in the pictures....even if the pics are decades old ... it is just creepy.
[There is definitely one creepy comment here -- yours. Ick! - Dave]
Why so few girls?Was there a Catholic girls school nearby and thus the out of whack boy-girl ratio?
I am about this age and this looks a lot like one of my Indiana school pictures of the time. Socks that always fell down. Checked shirts. Buzz (butch), flat top cut or Brylcreem. Jeans with a cuff. Always a white T-shirt under your shirt. Girls more mature so they were always going out with guys 2 years older.
Thin and NowOne notable difference between your class picture and one of a current 8th grade class is the lack of fat kids!
Everywhere schoolYou guys are youngsters. That year, 1959-60, was my first as a teacher. Every kid in the photo reminds me of one I taught. When in a group, mob psychology seems to rule, and these kids, especially the boys, could give any teacher problems. But in one-on-one situations, you would probably enjoy getting to know any of them. One of the best things about kids is that most of them eventually grow up!
If you replaced all the girls in the photo... with iPods, this would look like a pack of present-day Brooklyn hipsters.
Creepy?Hardly -- I look at this photo, and I feel part heartbreak, part bittersweet nostalgia. I see tterrace and his friends, and I see myself and MY classmates*, now scattered to the winds. This is a reminder of lost opportunities, a reminder of the futures we saw for ourselves -- mayhap, realized, more likely not -- and above all, a reminder of the fleet passing of our lives.
Still, it's nice to remember what we were, and not try to force ourselves into the shorthand of decade-sized boxes.
*Admittedly, some of us were smitten with other classmates. Remembering those early crushes -- and that's what has been commented on -- is part of who we were and are.
Something in the WaterI distinctly remember my eighth grade class & none of the girls looked like this. 3/4 of these girls here look like 25-year-old women. It's a strange phenomenon. The beautiful girl sitting on the far right has a timeless look but definitely exemplifies wholesome fifties beauty to me; the dark girl with the sweater sitting in the middle looks four years ahead of her time, like she should be dancing to Spector records.
Biology is strangeCan't help but notice - with this photo as well as my own grade eight class photo, taken 17 years later - the disparity between the girls and boys. Some of the boys look like seniors in high school already, while some - the line sitting in the front - could be in grade 5 or 6. The girls, on the other hand, look around the same age, and far more mature than kids just a summer away from high school. They do, as someone said earlier, seem like 25-year-old women.
The same strange phenomenon is present in my own grade school grad class photo, shot in 1977. The stretch between 10 and 14 really is a biological roller coaster for boys in a way that girls seem to have been spared. I would love an explanation for that.
The 60s started, for me, in the early spring of 1965, when I was 10 years old. My dad, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, came home from work and said that he had to get on board ship in a few days. He said he didn't know where he was going or when he would be back. We went down to the dock and waved goodbye and he said, "I'll see you by Christmas." I am sure he really knew where he was going, but couldn't say. He did come back, thankfully, 13 months later. I don't think I had a single waking moment, over the rest of the decade, that I was not conscious of the Vietnam War.
I guess when the 60s started depends on what about the 60s you are thinking of. If it is civil rights, then I agree that it started even before 1960. If you are thinking of the hippie culture, campus demonstrations, etc., then I say it started in 1965. There were certainly all ready things, like the JFK assassination and the arrival of the Beatles, that had kind of paved the way, though.
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