Study In Knees

No, not those knees. "STUDY IN KNEES AT CYPRESS GARDENS Cypress knees come up from the roots of the trees in fantastic and gnarled shapes but never grow to be trees, only acting as breathers, the same as leaves do on other trees." Addressed to "Ralph Lerch, Granite City, Illinois. U.S.A." And the written message, "Here's a little still study in art that you might like. Beautiful scenery & stuff on the beach. Boy they sure give you some service in Miami. A fellow comes out every few minutes and gives you the run down on the horse races and takes your bets while you're lying in the sand. See you all latter. Kindest regards to Fran, Frankie and yourself. Al Lehman" The funny thing is that this postcard has Cuban stamps and no post mark, so it looks like Al took the boat to Havana and did some more drinking, gambling, and maybe hit a brothel or two, then never mailed the card.

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I've always thought of Las Vegas as the place that nice middle class Americans go to sin in safety. Miami and Havana, both mob cities in the forties and fifties, could have been a little more dicey for Al Lehman. He might have been one of the many low level gangsters who made some cash during prohibition who then went semi-legit with a night club, illegal gambling in the back room, and a couple of girls who sat at the bar and cut in the house for a percentage of their earnings. Miami and Havana would have represented the big time to him. Then again, he might have been a nice respectable guy who wanted a bit of fun that would impress Ralph Lerch. What a great name.

Strange Girls Get Strange Borders

What's up with Blogger? I'm redoing this post because the service was down for a couple of days and when it came back up, my last effort had been deleted. Too, I've only got 16 of 'em, but the followers section has vanished into the ether. Anyway, as I wrote a couple of days ago, these three girls probably appeared quite ordinary when this photo was taken, but to my eye, they remind me of three young stars of a slasher movie. The girl on the left is the dupe, the one on the right is the psycho killer and the center girl is the manipulator who gets the other two to do her evil bidding. And those weird borders make it even more spooky. When I worked in the photo lab, I had cut out a number of masks from black construction paper to give prints uneven borders, something that a couple of our clients liked. Printed on postcard stock. Early twentieth century, I'd bet.

Dead Animals On My Neck

Those who know that I'm an avid hiker, backpacker, and all around lover of the great outdoors find it difficult to believe that I have nothing against hunting or the wearing of fur. When I was a child some of the older ladies in my home town still wore the old style fox wraps with the fox biting it own tail, somewhat like the one in this photo. Were they designed to to unbite? Stamped on the back, "From WHITING'S STUDIO JUNCTION CITY, KANSAS." Thinking of Frank Zappa?

Miss Rathburn

Written on the back, "Miss Rathburn. Pacific School, Seattle, Wash." When this picture was taken, teaching was about the only profession a woman could enter. For some odd reason, being a married woman was considered a bad example for the children. My first grade teacher (1960), Miss Snyder was born in the nineteenth century and never married. I wonder if she thought it was a good deal.

Thank You Very Much

A couple of photos of a lady who takes her camera everywhere taken by someone who takes his camera everywhere. And that's why I have so many old photos in my collection. Thank you to all the camera bugs out there. I own a number of old box cameras and most of them will work with 120 film. They don't take very good pictures, though.

Einstein In Reno

When I first picked up this card, I thought I saw the profile of Albert Einstein. (On the right side of the card next to the lady with the red hat.) But as we all know, Albert Einstein dismissed the possibility of time travel, and since the gentleman in question looks like portraits I've seen of Al circa 1910, it can't be him. Printed on the back, "This is the largest gaming establishment in Nevada." And, "PUB. BY SIERRA NEWS CO., RENO, NEVADA. NATURAL COLOR POST CARD MADE IN U.S.A. BY E. C. KROPP CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS.-(DBL)" Of course Albert Einstein could have been wrong about time travel.

On Leave

Every time I see a picture of a man in uniform, especially if it's from the World War 2 era, I wonder if it was the last time he was photographed. The odds are this sailor returned from the war, got a job, got married, and fathered a couple of kids. But with over 400,000 American war dead, this photograph might have been the final keepsake of a gold star mother.