The Epworth League Album 17, Back Home

I have to wonder if the two faded prints are from back home in the mid-west. There's a lot of old growth, far more than there would be around a new home in a new neighborhood. Remember, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up everything to date. Start with the first post and see the album in order.

The Epworth League Album 16, Another River

Pay attention to the photo with the ragged borders. More to come. On the second, the far ridge line is the San Gabriel Mountains and the closer ridge line looks like the Verdugo Mountians. If I'm right, then these three people are next to the Los Angeles River, very likely near where I live.

The Epworth League Album 15, Contrasts

In the novel Mildred Peirce by James M. Cain, much is made of the differences between Pasadena and Glendale, California. Pasadena is the city of old money and social position. Glendale is the city of a nascent middle class and social ambition. I do a lot of cycling in the L.A. area and I've ridden by the intersection shown in the first picture and while I'm not sure, I think it's in San Marino, a wealthy city on the southern edge of Pasadena. Some of the other photos show the type of house that was built for the new residents moving to southern California. Quickly built, smallish and moderately priced, just the type of home that once could be found lining every street in Glendale.

The Epworth League Album 14, A New Reality

In my last couple of Epworth League posts, I mentioned that things were changing for the people in this album. Look closely at the second photo on the page. Palm trees. The mid-west has been left behind and now it's life in California. In the first decades of the twentieth century Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and son-in-law of Harrison Grey Otis, the Times owner put out special national editions of the paper, publicizing the advantages of L.A. Snow covered mountains but a snow free city. Sunny days and beautiful beaches. Wide open spaces, orange groves and low cost homes. (Many built by real estate developer Harry Chandler.)

The Epworth League Album 13, Still Transitioning

Take my word for it, this is going somewhere. Hint, the clue is in the second photo. And remember, click on Epworth League in the labels section to review all of the posts to date.

The Epworth League Album 12, Transitioning

In this post we're transitioning from the dead of winter to spring and summer. The more I look through this album, the happier the subjects seem.

The Epworth League Album 11, The Dead of Winter

Only one picture on today's page. Imagine having to get around in the dead of winter in an open sleigh. No heater, exposed to the elements, it would be possible to die of hypothermia just going to town. A broken runner or a lame horse, and no public transit and one could be snowed in for weeks or even months.

The Epworth League Album 10, Life on the River

I wrote in an earlier Epworth League post that the pictures in the first part of the album had a mid-western feel to them. Well, here's a bit more of that feel. A river this wide, in the United States, is probably the Mississippi, the lower Missouri or the lower Ohio. There might be some other candidates out there, but those three are the most likely. I spent some time, on line, searching for images of old bridges along those rivers and couldn't find a match. But someone out there must be able to recognize these locations. As always, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.

The Epworth League Album 9, What's In Those Baskets?

So what's in the baskets that's so heavy that it takes three people to support? Probably nothing. I've got lots of old photos where one or a group of people just stand there and stare into the camera, and that's fine. The old clothing, the expressions can be be quite interesting. But it's also nice when the subjects are doing something. The silent child star wanna be, the smiling ladies and the two older men to the rear, nice composition. One can imagine that they're all headed off to the local general store in an era before paper or plastic. And maybe, they had to take the horse and buggy on the ferry to get there. As far as the two photos of the large, generic, institutional style building...too boring for a separate post.

The Epworth League Album 8, Wooing

Well, the break is over and it's time to return to the Epworth League album. (Just a suggestion, but it might be time to click on Epworth League in the labels section and review.) I like to think that the young man in the poorly exposed picture has taken his young lady out to the river bank for a bit of wooing. Oh for the good old days when all it took was a picnic on a river bank and a few well thought out words. Of course women didn't have a lot of choices in life back then, so standards were low. But which of the two young ladies pictured was the intended? And what were the old folks thinking? Perhaps they were worried that their daughter might hook up with the bum in the funny hat.

The Epworth League Album 7, Old Folks (And Young) At Home

The picture of the little girl and her cats seems somewhat out of place on this page. A grand daughter, perhaps, of one of the older seated men, she looks like a model for silent movie star Mary Pickford from Rebbecca of Sunnybrook Farm or Mary Miles Mitner from Anne of Green Gables. Looking at those old silent films, I've always assumed that the look of those actresses was an idealized notion of a rural America that the film makers thought would sell tickets to an urban audience living in tenements. It's surprising to find an actual child who has that care free and innocent image.

Most people have at least heard of Mary Pickford, but Mary Miles Mitner's name may not be familiar to non silent movie fans. During the silent era, Mitner was a very successful child actress who rivaled Pickford in box office appeal. Her career ended in 1923 when she was implicated in the murder of director William Desmond Taylor. Born in 1902, the 21 year old Mitner was involved with the much older and married Taylor. Though never charged, Mitner never made another film. Mitner's mother and Mabel Normand were also said to be involved with Taylor.

The Epworth League Album 6, Ethnic Dress or Strange Fashion?

Are the ladies in the second image wearing some sort of ethnic dress or did they have similar tastes in fashion? I've been looking through Google images searching for a match, and so far no luck. Click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.

The Epworth League Album 5, Two More Pages

Anyone who has ever tried to scan in a mis-exposed print will share my frustration. There is a side of me that wants things to look pretty much they way the originals do. There is a side of me that wants them to look better. The problem is that, after the programing has tried to correct exposures, I often get neither.