1940s – Page 54 – I Don't Get It

The Pieman, Johnny Blackeye, The Brylcreem Boy, & The Banker

What’s the story, morning glory? This pic could spin a thousand tales!

Campus Fashion: Then And Now, Part I

This was how campus gentlemen dressed in 1941.
This is how they dress now:

You set yourself up for this, Andy; you didn’t just fall out of your dorm bed into this outfit. I give you that it’s creative: a buffalo shirt, a Nirvana-throwback cardigan, striped “statement” socks, moccasins…But it’s certainly no herringbone topcoat.

And what about this male?

Aside from the “supermodel, work” stride, these pieces might work separately. I can see that he spent some time putting this together, matching wrist bracelet to ankle bracelet. It is casual, but it’s forced; the scrunched-up sleeves are affected. Perhaps it’s clean and current, but it’s just no match for a corduroy trouser.

In fact, pretty much any trouser looks better than an overdone jean.

Horseshoe pockets? Good luck with that.

So That’s What Happened To Baby Jane

Smug As A Bug In A Rug

Being beautiful in 1942 had more to do with how daintily you held your fingers to your chin than with the symmetry of your features. If, by chance, you had man hands, you could look off to the side wistfully. But it wasn’t nearly as effective.

Why They Called Him Penholder

Like Hardened Alaskans

Lincoln: Living Large As Zombie With Lovely Baritone

She Blinded Me With Science

Kathleen Doering, Assoc Professor of Entomology 1942

Fun entomology-related fact of the day: The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic (no, not like Winona Ryder) behavior of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of cuckoo birds. Female cuckoo bees can be easily recognized, as they lack pollen-collecting structures and do not construct their own nests (you mean the males do chores?). They often have reduced body hair, an abnormally thick or heavily-sculptured exoskeleton, and saber-like mandibles (wikipedia).

Try using that in a sentence today: saber-like mandibles.

Faith Under Fire

Early morning service on a coast guard ship in WWII

www.harmoniumhire.codotuk — http://harmoniumhire.co.uk/archive-photo-gallery/

Major William F. Reiss, Chaplain, First Airborne Task Force (FABTF) leads G-2 Staff in prayers before departing for Southern France; picture taken at Voltone Airfield, Italy, 15 August 1944

The Chaplain of the 6th General Hospital (MTO 26 Dec 42 – 15 Sep 45) conducts a Baptism service, French Morocco, September 1943

“On 20th April, 1941, the morning after 150 incendiary bombs had gutted St. Bartholomew’s, East Ham a bride and groom arrived at the wrecked church. They found charred timbers and ravaged walls were all that was left of the church where they were to be married that day.

But Helen Fowler, aged 20 of Caledon Road, East Ham and her Canadian soldier sweetheart, Cpl. Christopher Morrison, aged 21 of the 48th Highlanders stood proudly amid the ruins of the bombed-out church and made their wedding vows, while fireman played their hoses on the wooden beams which were still smouldering.”