Was She a (Second Tier) Movie Star?

This small (2.5x4) photo was taken by a professional photographer or an advanced amateur with a home studio. Or...This woman looks very familiar. I went to the IMDB website and looked up pictures of a number of the second tier movie stars from the forties and fifties and didn't find a match. This could be a photo distributed by one of the fan clubs run by the movie studios to publicize the career of their contract players.

Not More Crossdressers !

According to the man who sold me these images, they were all torn from the same photo album (I hate when dealers do that!) and he grouped these four photos together because they were all pictures of people in costumes. Other than that, he couldn't really remember anything about them. Any names, dates, or locations were probably lost when the album was taken apart. Looking over these four photographs, my first guess is that they weren't taken at the same time. None of the people in the three individual portraits appear in the group shot. Too, some of the people in the group shot are not in costume, the hair-dos on the women and the ties on the men seem to be thirties or possibly the forties, the woman dressed as a male navel officer looks to be sporting a World War 2 era uniform, while the solo shot of the woman in the clown costume is wearing a very old type of lace-up, heeled boots that date back to an earlier age. Maybe the teens or before. But why the costumes? Were these pictures taken from the photo album of an actor? Was it a family partial to costume parties? Amateur theatricals? Because the album was dismembered, we'll never know.

Women on the Trail

I'd love to know where this picture was taken. It looks like these four women, all in their long dresses, are on a well maintained hiking trail. The sort of thing that can be found near parking areas and picnic grounds in state and national parks. Labeled, "Hester Rheveusou, Elsie Tapley, Bessie Moore, & E. Harbon. 8/18/10"

Shadows

Two strangely beautiful snapshots. These are home developed and printed photos by an unknown photographer who had a great sense of composition and a feel for shadow and light. Both are dated, "2/13/38." What is she wearing at her neck?

Los Angeles Border

I've got a lot of photos with decorative borders. By and large they have simple geometric patterns and since my primary interest is the photograph, I almost always crop them out when scanning. But, as an Angeleno, I had to include the border on this print. The top and bottom shows the peristyle, the ceremonial end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, commissioned in 1921, opened in 1923, and used for the 1932 Olympics. The bears are for the California grizzly, the extinct symbol of the state. And I think some of those flowers are orange blossoms, and perhaps the California poppy, the state flower. And for those who still don't get the L.A. connection, there is the "LA" in the bear. Click on the image to blow it up and get a better look at the border detail. Got to love the short wave antenna.

Maids

The reason so many old homes are so large is because room had to be made for staff quarters. From the late 19th to the early 20th century. People who think of those times as more civilized never think that they might have been the ones getting up at six in the morning to scrub the floors.

Affectionate Women Or?

This is a really interesting photograph. On one hand, it seems to show two affectionate women, but it also looks very staged, almost theatrical.