History – Page 54 – I Don't Get It

When You Give Up Booze For Lent But Then Your High School Sweetheart Comes To Town And You Hope God Can Forgive You

The Wichita Lineman Is Still On The Line

Proud To Be A Coalminer’s Imp

This mischievous little cutie really was a coalminer’s daughter in Yorkshire, England in 1952. Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 2,000 in 2015.

Add that to the list of sooty jobs I’d never want.

Two miners working in their skivvies on the coal face at Tilmanstone Colliery, Kent. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images per http://www.flashbak.com)

Photograph taken using a “Sashalite,” one of the first safe photographic flash guns, invented by Sasha. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images)

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Time Out For A Tire Seat

All images by photojournalist Carl Mydans in the oil boom town of Freer, Texas in 1937.

Groovy, Man, Groovy

Here we see three wasted Indochinese men being unproductive after their opium fix. LIFE magazine didn’t mince words:

This woman took a hard pass on addictive substances and showed up to the warehouse on time to dry some crepe.

“Frontier town of Dong-Dang, south of China border, was entry point for Jap army in September 1940. American isolationists cracked, ‘We’ll die for dear old Dong-Dang.'”

The article presented a violent look at the Indo-China region, with Tran Dang Man (aka “The Pirate”) lifting his sword in allegiance to the French, whom he and his 25 Annamite troops joined as professional bandits.

French Indochina is now today’s Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.

Cambodian soldiers man a guard tower on a highway leading to Saigon, while the bullock carts hauled rice below, hoping that the 8mm Hotchkiss machine gun wasn’t pointed their way.

In down times, men in Saigon perched on fences like birds on a wire.

This toddler seems to be wondering what the future holds.

Now You’ll Never Get Her Off Your Back

(Insert Tasteless Sylvia Plath Joke)

I’ll let you make up your own title on this one. Plath was the clinically depressed poet who stuck her head in an oven and died of carbon monoxide fumes, but had the good sense and forethought to seal up the walls, so that her nearby children should not perish in their rooms. Nice.

Still not a good case for electric, though.

This is such a fun scene, with three generations of folks, prepping dinner. The apron matches the curtains. Everyone is thin, skirted, and cheery. What more could you want? Other than a gas range.

My Kingdom For An LED Bulb

Sadie Hawkins Glory

I have enough 1940s yearbooks to confirm that Sadie Hawkins dances, based on the then-popular L’il Abner strip, were a HUGE DEAL. Nowadays, not so much. In fact, my son’s high school had one scheduled earlier this month, and it was cancelled due to low ticket sales. Eight tickets, to be exact. And keep in mind, all the other dances have been packed.

What does that say about today’s youth? Aren’t women enlightened enough to ask boys to the dance? That’s the whole point of it. Or is it an outdated concept altogether, since boys now ask boys and girls ask girls? Every high school around here has its share of transgender kids who were named Katie in 8th grade and now go by Collin. Or perhaps teens just don’t like donning hillbilly garb–although I think they nixed that part long ago. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen anyone in overalls in a few decades.

In any event, the times sure have changed.

Mad About Milk

The milk isn’t sour, but the looks on these lasses sure are. The middle makes the picture. A bearded geezer and a man hoofing a canister. Love it! AJ Earp took this pic in 1905 at the Cliff Owen dairy farm in Winchester, Kentucky. The milk was probably raw and definitely whole. I don’t trust folks who drink skim.