Category: Vintage

Talking Shop On Rug Beatin’ Day

Russell Lee, Bureau of Mines
Russell Lee, Bureau of Mines

You may have seen some of Russell Lee‘s fantastic images before. This is one of my favorites. Lee passed away in 1986 here in Austin, Texas, and this year, the former Lee Elementary was renamed Russell Lee Elementary in honor of the photographer, replacing the original namesake, Robert E Lee. I don’t have to ask why they are phasing out anything named in honor of Confederate generals; I imagine it is all part of the collective disappearance of anything related to the politically-incorrect South. I understand that folks don’t like what the Confederacy stood for (including the flag); but that doesn’t mean all of its soldiers should be erased from history. I guess the offensive ideology of The Antebellum South (which can’t be boiled down to just one issue) trumps honoring any of their leaders’ military strengths. In any event, I’m not in charge, and Texas isn’t even part of The South. I got no dog in this hunt; I just love chunky-faced kiddos, and the mutual expression those two boys are sharing.

Civil War Bridge On The Pamunkey

US Signal Corps Photo (Brady Collection) in National Archives
US Signal Corps Photo (Brady Collection) in National Archives

In The American Heritage History of American Railroads by Jensen, this 1862 image shows a bridge under construction. Major General George McClellan of the Union Army brought locomotives and cars by ship from Baltimore and ran trains as close to four miles to the Confederate capital. The workmen are seated, and to the left is a photographer’s field darkroom. At that time, photographs had to be developed immediately and while wet.

To their left , a locomotive was arriving on a ship in White House Landing on the Pamunkey River.

railroadsinamerica016

Here is another image of the field darkroom, invented by Matthew Brady.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/

The wagon would carry the chemicals, glass plates, and finished negatives. Can you imagine what would have happened if the horses got startled or took off at a gallop?

How To Wear An Aztec Sun Properly

1953 Comet
1953 Comet

Even from this side view, you can imagine what a target the sun makes on his back. It says, “Check out Mr. Snazzy.” No bully would dare shove him in a locker.

Today’s designers could never compete with Wally’s smooth graphic Spirograph shirt of yore. So they resort to comedy.

www.designtrends.com
http://www.designtrends.com

Look! It’s a cat inside an Aztec sun, shooting lasers out of its eyes, which makes it Caturday. What? Maybe you have to be stoned to get it.

Or they abandon the Aztec sun to reflect something vaguely spiritual and Native American, like this sun/moon/horn/dreamcatcher tee on a trendily-tatted twentysomething. Now we know where she stores her rubberbands.

www.aliexpress.com
http://www.aliexpress.com

Wait, those are bracelets.

Now these boxers are pretty cute. I have to hand it to them. Cartoon suns keep it light.

http://paulandpaula.bigcartel.com/
http://paulandpaula.bigcartel.com/

Just remember–boxers are temporary: tattoos are forever. Even the tattoo seems steamed about it.

http://tattoocollection.in/
http://tattoocollection.in/

 

Coffee Schmoffee

Good Housekeeping March 1925
Good Housekeeping March 1925

Well, that sounds fine and dandy, but as a person who only puts God-awful stevia into her coffee to prevent sugarbeetes, I can testify that the thought of twice-daily cocoa invites fear.

giphy.com
giphy.com
giphy.com
giphy.com

Although, somehow I can rationalize dark chocolate and Coke and ice cream…

Basking In The Sun

LIFE 11/11/46
LIFE 11/11/46

life11-11-46035

Just over a year after Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces, signifying the end of WWII, much of Germany lay devastated. Potsdam Square, the Times Square of Berlin, was ashes. One of the few places left undestroyed was the Cafe Wien, jammed with Germans of all ages, drinking what LIFE described as “weak drinks, which are all the cafe can offer.” This fashionable lady, sitting on the once-fashionable avenue of Kurfürstendamm, doesn’t seem to mind.

On The Lookout For Autumn

This Fabulous Century 1930-1940
This Fabulous Century 1930-1940

These two ladies keep their eyes peeled for cooler weather (while wearing fabulous hats and dresses) on the kind of day that warrants nickel ice cream. I know it will arrive later this month, the glorious season of fall. But I also know it won’t feel like fall until Halloween. Still, I can see it on the horizon, and what joy that brings!

Politics Is Hilarious

This Fabulous Century 1930-1940
This Fabulous Century 1930-1940

Why is FDR howling with laughter? He and son James, along with William McAdoo and advisor James Farley, are responding to the quips of Will Rogers as he introduces the new president in 1933.

thisfabcent30-40003

“Mr. Roosevelt is a plain-spoken man. Remember that speech last night about the banks? Long adjectives and nouns–he didn’t mess with ’em at all. He knows what the country wants is relief and not rhetoric. He is the first Harvard man to know enough to drop three syllables when he has something to say. Why, compared to me, he is almost illiterate.” — May 7, 1933

 

 

Seconds On Pork Sausages, Please

 

LIFE 11-11-46
LIFE 11-11-46: American Meat Institute

As I read that aloud, I can hear the man’s voice saying it. I wonder if you hear it, too? That typical 50s voice. “Why, Dick and Jane even give their dog, Spot, sausage and eggs every day, and he’s never felt better!”