Category: Vintage

Different Old White Guy In A Red Baseball Cap

Natl Geo 6/68
Natl Geo 6/68

2PM: New Harbor, Maine menfolk swap stories and play checkers on a winter afternoon at Lester Russell’s barbershop. The horn-rimmed glasses, calendar, radio, and cans of Barbasol all make for an authentic portrait. But what’s the young man wearing? Shin guards? Rubber waders? I don’t get it.

Speaking of barber shops, today is Howard McNear’s birthday. Born in 1905, he played barber Floyd Lawson on The Andy Griffith Show. After a stroke paralyzed the left side of his body, he left the series for over a year to recover. Andy encouraged him to return to his role, but he could not walk or stand. Audiences noticed his speech was slower, as well as his movements. If you click on any post-stroke youtube videos, it’s obvious. The show’s crew accommodated his disability, filming McNear seated or standing with support. Many scenes were shot with him sitting on a bench outside the barber shop, as opposed to actively trimming hair as before. In most of his post-stroke scenes, McNear’s left hand would hold a newspaper or rest in his lap, while he moved his right arm and hand as he spoke his lines.* Well, I’ll be.

floydandy

 

*(per wikipedia)

Skillet Lickers Bilin’ Cabbage Down

America's Music by Oermann
America’s Music by Oermann

These here fellas were known as The Skillet Lickers way back in the 1920s. Now before you go thinking one of them licked too much skillet, the one with the hair like a dead man’s curve was legally blind, but Riley Puckett was quite the vocalist. Haven’t heard of of this hillbilly band from Georgia? Well, that’s probably because they were selling singles before you were born. “Down Yonder” was their biggest hit on RCA Victor, but others included “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane” and “Bile Them Cabbage Down.” They disbanded in 1931. Andy Griffith performed his more grammatically-correct version of “Boil Them Cabbbage Down” on his hit show. As an added bonus, a verse is sung by Bob Denver, aka Maynard G. Krebs and Gilligan.

Dust In Her Train

Natl Go 12/49
Natl Go 12/49

Bride Maria and groom Jerry Duran march behind hat-donning musicians as 1/10 of the poorly-populated village of Talpa, NM celebrates their nuptials. The destination is the home of an uncle, where the reception will begin (and the young girl can set this baby down).

No, No, Toto

http://www.thisisnotporn.net/
http://www.thisisnotporn.net/

While visiting fellow teen actor and friend Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney seems to be warning Terry (who played Toto) to back off. Note the blonde hairstyle worn in the early filming of 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.

Fun fact: Terry, who lived to be 11 years old, earned $125 per week on the film, more than that of many human actors in the film, and most Americans at the time.

Yes, We Have Huge Bananas

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.51088
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.51088

Banana Burt and Lil pose in snazzy white trousers (who knows? maybe they were yellow…) at the Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Dairy Queen in 1950. Forget the dilly bar; I’d rather drink a banana. 16 oz for a quarter? Sign me up!

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.51088
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.51088

Sad that you can’t spend the day with a huge banana these days? Well, check out this car made in Michigan.

http://themutantbrothers.com/
http://themutantbrothers.com/

Now you don’t need a BMW or Mercedes to get attention that you lacked in childhood; roll up in this tube of yellow and make others green with envy! And it never goes rotten.

His Heart Is Made Of Knotty Pine

Natl Geo Dec '49
Natl Geo Dec ’49

Wooden Indian White Horse sits on the lap of his carver creator, Andy Anderson, wearing a horse-tail wig and entertaining visitors to Tesuque, New Mexico in 1949.

During his work as a cowpoke, Andy wrote, “One day a cowboy rode in from Wyoming, who was the homeliest man I had ever laid eyes on. All the rest of that day I could see him in my mind and thought, ‘What a good character he would make for a wood carving!’ He was my first model, and this was my first attempt at carving a likeness of anyone. The figure of this old weather-beaten cowpoke turned out real good (much to my surprise) and from then on I started carving characters.”

Shotgun Wedding from iCollector.com
Shotgun Wedding from iCollector.com