Professional or Amateur?

As I've noted in some earlier posts, I spent years working in photo labs, and I don't think I ever had a weak go by without printing some sort of amateur eroticism. Even though I started printing black & white photos well after the invention of the Polaroid camera, and worked well into the digital age, there was still a lot of amateur nudes, pictures of people having sex, and a surprisingly large number of cross dressing photos to print. When I look at this collection, I wonder whether this woman was a professional model or if she was the photographers girlfriend. The three posed pictures look like the sort of thing that could be bought from under the counter at a lot of news stands. The one image where she is getting undressed looks like a girl friend picture.

Novelty Wedding Stereoviews

While many stereoview cards where of current events, landscapes, and city scenes, there were also a number of novelty images as well. These two are wedding themed. The faded image, entitled The Bridegroom is three minutes late, was "Photographed and Published by B.W. Kilburn,-Littleton, N.H." On the front, side borders, "Copyright 1897, B.W. Kilburn." and "JAMES M. DAVIS, New York, St. Louis, Liverpool, Toronto, Sydney." Davis was a major distributor of stereoview cards and equipment. The other image, in much better condition, is from the H.C. White Company. Hawley C. White was a major publisher and manufacturer of stereoview equipment. On the borders, "H.C. WHITE CO., Gen'l Office N. Bennington, Vt., U.S.A. Branch Offices: New York, Chicago, London." And, The PREFEC-STEREOGRAPH. (Trade Mark.) Patented April 14, 1903. Other Patents Pending."

The Photo Show

An interesting little collection of four photos from some sort of photo show. The display case in the background of one of the photos has a late fifties through mid-sixties movie camera. The women's hair styles also look like they are from the sixties.

Post War Japan

Three of these images are conventional portraits. One photo looks like it's from outside a Japanese brothel. The portrait of the lady in the kimono is labeled, "Yokohama, Japan Oct. 1945," only a couple of months after V-J day. American troops would have been looking for both girlfriends and prostitutes in occupied Japan.

Green Bay Business College- The Homefront

It's been awhile since I've put up anything from the Green Bay Business College estate collection. (Go to the label section at the bottom of this post and click on Green Bay to see the others.) This large group of pictures all seem to revolve around a married couple who had some connection to the school. The name Kenneth Bierke shows up on some of the envelopes and prints, and I believe that this lady is Mrs. Bierke, and that when these photos were taken, Kenneth might have been in the military. Stamped on the back of each print, "THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T.M. REGIS. U.S. PAT. OFF. APRIL 23 1945." Taken in the last year of the war.

Ray Bauduc, Drummer

I recognized the logo on the drum as being from the Bob Crosby Orchestra. A little bit of research, and I was able to ID the drummer as Ray Bauduc. Bauduc was born in 1906, in New Orleans, Louisiana, he died in 1988. During the thirties and forties, Bauduc played drums for the Bob Crosby Orchestra, and the band within a band, Bob Crosby and the Bobcats. He also played with The Original Memphis Five, had his own band and worked with people like Jack Teagarden.

Working at Western Union

The clock on the wall is from Western Union, the telegraphy company. Looks like it's from the 1920's, a time when few married women worked.