A 19th Century Wedding

I've always had a tendency to collect things, and when I was working in the photo lab, The collection of old photos, with my access to high end lab equipment really accelerated the old photo collection. I picked this image up in an antique mall, and had the people in the digital dept. clean up the image and make a neg for me. The black & white grey scale image is the end result. Printed on the back of the original cardboard mount, "Coules Palace Studio 351 S. Broadway Los Angeles, Cal. Duplicates furnished in Carbon, Platinum, or Platino. CHILDRENS' PORTRAITS A SPECIALTY. DO NOT HAVE THIS PICTURE DUPLICATED. THE NEGATIVE IS ALWAYS PRESERVED FOR FUTURE ORDERS."

Bertha Wood, Vaudeville

Written on the back of the print, "Grandma Wood. Bertha Wood as "silly kid' character in Vaude." I did an Internet search on Bertha Wood, and found one reference to a Bertha Wood on http://www.ibdb.com/, the Broadway version of imdb. If it's the same Bertha Wood, she had one credit as a replacement performer in the play Abraham Lincoln which opened at the Court Theater on December 15, 1919 and closed in May of 1920. She played Susan a maid in Lincoln's home. I would assume that she had a fair career in Vaudeville, and that she didn't make the transition to silent movies.

Tandem Bikes

No dates or labels of any kind on these snapshots. Tucson, Palm Springs? They were shot somewhere in the desert. As a cyclist, I love photos that feature bikes. The tandems aren't too common anymore.

Bicycle Hike

Written on the back of the print, "Scout Bicycle Hike Brookfield Zoo Spring 1937 L. to R.-Marion Stoffel; my bicycle; Ruth Gilmore; Sophie Stephens; Helen Sauer." Not long to World War 2 for these young ladies. When I see something like this, just before the war, I always wonder how the subjects would be changed by the conflict. They're all old enough that they entered adulthood during the fighting. Did they enlist, marry a soldier, go into war work?

The Ladies Costume Party

Maybe the lady in the wedding dress is the guest of honor, and she's about to get married. Then again, it just might be another costume, with no significance whatsoever. Stamped on the back of each photo, "THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T.M. REGIS. U. S. PAT. OFF. Week o Sept 26, 1955 VI PA 1"

Peeping Tom

Written on the back of the print, "A) SEPT 62 SD PEEPING TOM." I purchased this photographer here, in Los Angeles, so the SD very likely stands for San Diego, and this is probably a police photo. If this man was around 25 when this image was taken, then he's probably in his early 70's and maybe still alive.

No Parking, Gene and Clara!

A nice little snapshot from the World war 2 era, or at least that's my guess based on the hair styles of the women. Labeled Gene and Clara, these two ladies are at the seaside. Husbands or boyfriends in the navy?