Halloween 1949

It’s Halloween of 1949 at the University of Texas at Austin, and Nautical Nellie is excited to see the ghoulish costumes of her peers. 

Just a girl and her horse. That seems normal, right?

Winner Of Atlantic City’s First Bathing Beauty Contest

“I Remember Distinctly”

Miss Washington, above, won the title in September of 1921 with knees “daringly bare.”

By 1923, hemlines had shifted to show yet more thigh. Can you even imagine wearing stockings to go swimming?

By 1935, the winner received a crown, robe, scepter, and a moment on the throne.

No wonder Atlantic City has been immortalized in art.

https://society6.com

How’s About Cookin’ Something Up With Me?

by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration

This rollerskate-clad lady doesn’t seem too shy with the slick-haired fellow at a rink in Southside, Chicago, Illinois in April 1941.  Looks like there’s a good chance they’ll “find us a new recipe,” in the words of Ol’ Hank. Not sure what to do with that onlooking third wheel, though…

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c00686

Fall’s New Fence-Hopping Fabrics

Autochromes Lumiere by G. Heurlin, 1928

Today we pay homage to the costumes of Old Sweden. The ladies above were from Rättvik, a Swedish lakeside locality adjacent to a bunch of words that sound like the Swedish Chef said them. They were waiting for a “conveyance” to take them back home. Who says that anymore? Probably not even the people of Sweden at this point.

Next, we see another three dolls, Dals to be precise, in Boda, a locality situated in Rättvik Municipality. Already, you can notice the Swedes liked red horizontal stripes, which flatter almost none of us.

They were also fans of hats, as you can see in this next pic of a native of Södermanland, the duchy of then-Prince William. No, not that William. And no, not douchey, but duchy, which is a territory of a duke or duchess, or a dukedom. But not a dumb duke.

Speaking of fetching hats, this next trio sported three different variations. Mora’s hat, on the left, was “staidly Puritan.” Mora is a place, not her name. The middle girl, from Rättvik, wore a peaked cap with red stitching, perched atop the back of her head. The Leksand girl on the right wore a white cap only if she was married, and red if not.

Not to be outdone, men also sported old costumes and winter sleeping caps.

This bloke from Hälsingland is wearing something that reminds me of Rip Van Winkle. The quote below him says,

Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
Frosty, but kindly.

– William Shakespeare

Children were not immune from donning gay apparel as well, while the women of Lake Siljan held tools.

by Wilhelm Tobien

As you can see, they could not get enough red stripes.

Rare were the outfits that strayed from the norm. But always, the head was covered.

Two maids stood in the doorway of an old farmhouse at Leksand, one hopeful and one bitter.

In modern-day Leksand, natives still sport traditional folk costumes as a nod to their past. Way to keep the history alive, ladies!

http://dosfamily.com

Sinners In The Mouth Of An Angry God

John Patric

The stuff of nightmares. A workman wearing a newspaper hat and his pal chill at the steps of the Palazzo Zuccari, a 16th century building in Rome. It houses the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, a German research institute that isn’t even in Germany.

Evidently, newspaper hats were a thing. They would be great in central Texas because we have no wind and no rain, so they would never blow away. And if your phone ran out of juice, you could just grab your hat and read Garfield.

flickr

As you can see, the ghastly ghoul door remains nearly unchanged after 82 years, right down to the steps. With no visible door handle, I wonder how one enters.

Pinterest, Door #30