Category: Vintage

Sepia Smokers

Redskin47-029Yearbook photographers may never receive any accolades (if they even get a mention in the yearbook at all), but boy howdy, have they snapped some fabulous images of day-to-day life.

 

Being With You, Being With You

source: Always Home by Frank Coffey
source: Always Home by Frank Coffey

Sharp-suited Sgt Franklin Williams enjoyed being on leave (and sharing a treat) with his best girl, Ellen Hardin, in Baltimore, 1942.

Johnny Got A Guitar

Comet51-015

You have to pronounce it with emphasis on the first syllable: GUI-tar. That’s how it’s said.

So here’s what confuses me on this (my I Don’t Get It moment). This looks like a 50s rock ‘n’ roll impromptu set in the commons, some ragtag gathering of rebellious devil music. But if this Texas yearbook is a 1951 edition, then the schoolyear was only ’50-’51, and the first legit rock hit wasn’t until 1955 with Bill Haley and the Comets’ (see the Comet connection?) hit “Rock Around The Clock.” It wasn’t even written until 1952.

Elvis was only 16 in 1951. Ritchie Valens a mere 10. So what was this kid doing with his guitar? Surely not playing these top ten hits of 1951.

1 Nat King Cole Too Young
2 Tony Bennett Because Of You
3 Les Paul and Mary Ford How High The Moon
4 Rosemary Clooney Come On-a My House
5 Mario Lanza Be My Love
6 Weavers On Top Of Old Smoky
7 Tony Bennett Cold, Cold Heart
8 Perry Como If
9 Mario Lanza Loveliest Night Of The Year
10 Patti Page Tennessee Waltz

Now the interwebs tell me that classic rock and roll is “usually played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit.” And I’m sure Mark the Music Man will know more about this than I. It just seems a bit early to go taking your first real six-string (if that’s what it is; I am ignorant) to school to serenade your peers, especially to play lame old people music. On top of old smoky…♫ ♫ ♫

Celebrate Good Times, Come On

Hononegah68-007

Can you remember the last time you felt this overjoyed? This elated? I can’t. What on earth at this stage of your life could make you literally jump for joy and raise your hands in the air? Two points in basketball? Gas for $1.65? That’s what I filled up for this morning, peeps. Raise the roof on that one.

ELATION

Trotting At Ollie Trout’s Trailer Park

Miami, FL 1938 "This Fabulous Century" Time Life
Miami, FL 1938

Slow dancing, swaying to the music at a pre-war Sunshine State trailer park sounds Grrrrr-REAT to me right about now. This January weather does not suit me.

Cold + windy = evil

The bystanders look bored to tears, or just plain miffed. Maybe they ran out of rum?

MiamiFlorida1938006

Secrets Of A Parson, Part III

LifeFeb41-059

And the last secret is: Just do it.

Even after “a long and busy Monday,” just do it. Because Emory Harner won’t turn 94 again. In fact, Harner passed away the year after this article was published, in 1942. And everyone needs to feel special.

http://www.findagrave.com/
http://www.findagrave.com/

Secrets Of A Parson, Part II

LifeFeb41Window-058Never catch a sister unawares: the first ministerial lesson to be learned. Perhaps most brothers were at office jobs while Dr. Briggs made his daily round of pastoral visits to (mostly female) parishioners. To prevent a surprise visit, he would park his sweet 1930s ride in front of each home and faux tinker with the car to give housekeepers time to tidy up. That’s a thoughtful, if not exhausted, parson. It’s the little things that make a difference.

And on a purely aesthetic note, isn’t this a gem of a literal window inside the life of a person in 1941? So warm and serene in the home, so placid and white with snow outside. How comforting it must have been to know someone thought enough of you to drive to see you each day. Even a kind word from a milk man or mailman must have made the day of someone confined to his home. I have read that as you age, you begin to feel invisible, and just a gesture of conversation could serve to validate your existence. I raise my coffee mug to each of you today, validating your worth and purpose in existence!