Cape to Cairo

The Cape to Cairo Railway was the vision of Cecil Rhodes. The last 700 miles from the southern to Sudan into Uganda have never been completed. Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe after the fall of it's white rule government. Printed on the back of the card

"575 (17023) Lat. 17 S., Long. 26 E. CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY, RHODESIA, AFRICA Africa is indeed the Dark Continent if enlightenment comes with railways. It has very few railroads and, outside the Cape to Cairo branches, these are short. Until 1867 the whole continent had only 40 miles of track.

But European countries wished to tap the natural riches of central Africa. To do this railroads were needed to carry the raw materials to the coast. In the hope of striking through the heart of the continent the Cape to Cairo Railway was planned. The Cape means Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope. Locate. Cairo is a large city in Egypt, on the Nile, and not far from the Mediterranean Sea. Locate Cairo.

The railroad as planned would follow the general course of the Nile into the Lake Victoria country. It would then go near Lake Tanganyika into Northeast Rhodesia and so on southwest to Cape Town. From Cape Town to Northeast Rhodesia 2,000 miles of the road is built. From Cairo to 100 miles south of Khartum some 1,500 more miles are built. This leaves a gap of 1600 miles yet to do. On a map of Africa dot the route of the Cape to Cairo Railway.

The view here shows the railway near the Zambesi River, just below the Victoria Falls. The bridge is 650 feet long, and is said to be the highest in the world-420 feet above the water. The building is the home of a guard who takes fares from foot passengers who cross the bridge-a shilling per person. How much is a shilling? Study the picture of the bridge. Observe the depth of the gorge through which the Zambesi flows. Notice the plants.

Copyright by The Keystone View Company.

The bridge shown is still in use and a color, aerial shot of the bridge showing Victoria Falls can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria5.jpg Click on stereoview in the labels section to bring up other stereoview cards as well as more info on The Keystone View Company, the largest stereoview card company in the world.

Patriotic Girl Scouts

Anyone who follows this blog, and there are at least nine of you, knows that I don't like it when dealers break up collections and rip photos out of old albums. Well, these photos were glued in too well to be ripped off the page, so someone cut them out with a pair of scissors. They did a good job, because the photos pasted on the back side weren't damaged. And no, I'm not 100% sure these patriotic young ladies are girl scouts, but they are wearing uniforms, and I've found photos of girl scouts from the 1920s wearing similar looking uniforms.

Saturday, July 24, 1909 7:45 P.M. Newark, New Jersey

I'd love to know the history of this card. Was it a standard, mass produced card sold to the motoring crowd, or did the motorist send off a photo of himself and family in their new car for a customized job? Was it a promotional piece given to new car buyers? Perhaps it was made for early road rallies that automobile manufacturers sponsored to build up interest for the industry. After all, in 1909, cars still weren't thought of as a sure fire replacement for the horse. Newark, N.J. is written in with pen. Did this motorist save this card to mailed at his final destination, or did he have a stack of them, mailed from every small town and city along the way? Written along the top margin of the card, "I hope you had a fine time in Gunnison." On the bottom margin, "Regards from the folks," and a name, "Will" and a last name I can't make out. Addressed to "Mrs. Coner Kinford, 921 Acoma St., Denver, Colorado." In 1909, most of the roads between Denver and New Jersey would have been dirt, and every rain drop, rut, and unsigned road junction would have slowed down Will and his automobile. It might have taken him a week to get to Newark, it might have taken him a month, or maybe even longer. Today, a driver on the interstate, willing to put in long days and pushing the speed limit can make it in two days.

Miscellaneous Ladies

So why do I have so many snapshots of women in my collection? For the obvious reason, of course. We men hog the camera. Every so often I'll find a small envelope of photos that have been grouped by theme, but are otherwise unrelated. I'll buy it for the best image and post that photo here. These are the left overs. There are some nice images, and a few duds, but for what it's worth, 20 miscellaneous ladies. Not a lot written on these. The first one in the column, the young girl staring at the camera, the neck of a bottle in front of her, "March 1952." The three women, two standing, one sitting, "Evelyn Ashe, Eugenia Ashe, Elizabeth Brook (L-R) W. Va., 1952." Very likely a multi-generational portrait. And that's it as far a labeling goes. The woman sitting on the cement steps has what I think of as a kind of severe beauty.The print of the rather evil looking lady on the floral couch, with the strange lighting from below, throwing shadows. Well, for anyone old enough to remember cathode ray, black & white televisions, those sets were like a camp fire with the way they threw flickering light. And the older lady, also on a floral couch, note that she must have been a bowler. There is a skirted bowling trophy on the end table, but far more interesting is the collection of photographs on the couch beside her. I'd love to be able to see what she was looking at. And the one color print, with the bulletin board on the wall with the school pennant, got to be the big dance that night. I'm sure her date was told to have her home by eleven.

The Copacabana

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These are the final two souvenir photo folders, both from the Copacabana Nightclub, that were part of a group that I purchased, all from the same source, all from New York City. The others were posted on 2/8/11. 2/14/11, and 2/21/11.

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The Copa opened on November 10, 1940, just in time for the war time boom in entertainment. The original owner of record was Monte Proser, but the real, behind the scenes owner was mobster Frank Costello. The club was noted for it's fine dining, top flight headliners, and tropical/Brazilian decor. The original policy of the Copa was whites only. In the mid-forties, GI Harry Belafonte was denied admission. In latter decades, Belafonte would be a star attraction for the club. It wasn't until the late 1950s that the restricted policies changed. In the 1970s the Copa became a discotheque. It closed for three years in the late 70s. In 1992, owner Peter Dorn moved the club to a new location. There was nothing written in the folder that contained the first picture in this post. In the folder with the one man standing in the background, "To my best Chicago friend, McMahon." "Dear Evelyn, We will never forget this! Hope we can many of them together, Andrew." To my favorite gal! Lew Whitelaw." Let everyone know! No matter what, we all love you more & more-Audrey." Printed on the back, "Souvenir Photo $1.50 Match Photos-50 cents each. For extra copies write to: PLANETARY PHOTO 311 West 34th Street New York 1, N.Y. Use number on back of Print Stating date taken and name of Club along with description of Photo." I have a number of these old souvenir photo folders in the collection, and as usual, click on nightclub, souvenir photo, or souvenir photo folder in the labels section to bring them up.

Palm Springs

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I've long known that hand colored black & white photographs were the most common source material for linen postcards, and with this one, I have some proof. Credited on the back, "PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN H. WILLARD, PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA." Willard was born in Illinois in 1894 and as a young man moved to the Palm Springs area where he built a career as photographer and artist. He was especially know for his hand painted black & white photographs. I found an example of one, the original photo painted over with oils, on sale for $600 at a gallery in Santa Monica, California. Willard died in 1966, and his daughter donated over 16,000 pieces of his work to The Palm Springs Desert Museum as The Stephen H. Willard Photography Collection and Archive. The card's caption reads, "The many and colorful costumes of the desert lend pleasure to outdoor living in this delightful spot." Postmark, "PALM SPRINGS CALIF., NOV 28, 3 PM 1942." The card was addressed to "Mr. J H. Rutland c/o Kirtland's St. Petersburg, Florida." The message, "Dear Jeff, 11/28 You certainly would disappointed if you came here. We are having a nice trip. Regards from Mrs. Lord. Myself to Ma Rutland, (name obscured), and yourself. Irving" I can only imagine that Irving was in a hurry and left out not be between would and disappointed in his note to Jeff Rutland.

Good Times In The Great Depression, The Town & Country Album 2

This is part two of two. Navigate back one post to see the entire album in order. Part two expands things from guests to staff. When I purchased this small album, some of the photos were missing. The seller told me that he hadn't removed any of the photos, and since some of the photos were loose and falling out, that's very possible. Of the loose images, only a few had any information written on the back. The staff photo of the women standing on the steps, written on the back, "Marty Wilson" Could be the same Martha Wilson, the presumed owner of the album. The interesting question is why the owner would have to label her own picture. The final two pictures in the album, the woman holding her folding Kodak camera is dated, "Sun. Sept. 2, 34." I think that it's likely that the young woman is Martha Wilson. The Johnston's ad on the inside of the back cover was under the last photo. I was hoping that I could get a location after a little research into company, but was unable to find any information on the actual business, but I did find a Johnston's ad on an online auction sight that listed locations in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Oakland.