Ciro's on the Sunset Strip

Two folders, two prints, but only one negative. Most of these old, classic nightclubs would have photographers, usually a pretty girl in a skimpy costume, at least by the standards of the day, who would wander the room offering to take pictures of the guests. The photographer caught and interesting group. She probably instructed these four people to look into the lens and smile. The couple on the left followed directions, but the couple on the right, not so much. The woman only had eyes for her date, while he barely acknowledged her presence.

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Ciro's was opened in January of 1940 by William Wilkerson. With gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons dropping in on a regular basis, Ciro's became the place to see and be seen. Average Angelenos and star struck tourists could rub elbows with such regulars as Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. In the 1960s Ciro's made the transition to rock club featuring acts from Dick Dale and the Surftones to The Byrds. In 1972 Ciro's became The Comedy Store, which is still going strong. I couldn't find anything on when ownership of Ciro's went from Wilkerson to H. D. Hover, but I did find out that serial killer Rodney Alcala killed 23 year old Ciro's heiress Ellen Jane Hover in 1977. An interesting mix of acts are listed on the back of the folder. I wonder what guests made of folk singers Libby Holman and Josh White. Two of my favorites. Click on nightclub in the labels section to bring up a number of other old souvenir photos.

Labor Day

Why is it so difficult to find photographs of people at work? Dated 1956, women assembling radios (I think), an industry that can no longer be found in the United States.

A Bit of History

No, it's not a great photograph, but it is a bit of tech history. This image is a very early Polaroid. Introduced in 1948 as the Model 95, the first instant system (40 series) used a roll film mounted on two spools, one with the negative that processed in the camera and the other spool, the positive strip and reagent chemical pack. I'm not competent to describe in detail how it worked, so I'll just write that as the two strips were pulled out of the camera, they went through a roller and after a minute of processing time, the instant image was produced. The 40 series format produced a print that was 3.25 x 4.25 inches, a handy way to tell the early roll system from latter ones. Too, look at the clothing worn, and we get another clue that this image is closer to 1948 than to 1964 when the last 40 series camera was made. Interesting aside, when I was working at the photo lab, one of our customers brought in a huge box of the Polaroid backing, the stuff from the roll system that most people threw away after they got the instant print. I took it into a darkroom and let it soak for a few hours in a photo-flo bath. The paper slid off leaving a conventional negative behind that we put in enlargers and printed. I do wish that Polaroid would keep it's promise to license production of film for their cameras. I still have a couple of them that worked last time I used them.

A Nineteenth Century Wedding

EBay can be an expensive way to collect old photos. Believe me, I've found that out the hard way. But, if you're willing to spend time scrolling through page after page of old photos, from time to time something interesting and affordable will come up. I hadn't really been looking for cabinet cards, but there they were. Nine, starting price of 99 cents, two bucks for shipping and not a single bid. Anyway, this was one of the ones I liked for a rather perverse reason. I'm a big believer that as photographic technique improved over the years, so did the subject's relationship to the camera. Stiff and formal was the standard, lively with a sense of movement a rarity. It took decades for the people being photographed to learn to relax and show some humanity. I'm fascinated that these people looked so stark on the big day. There is a studio mark embossed on the card, "D. A. Frommeyer -HANOVER, PA-" All I could dig up on Mr. Frommeyer is that he had a studio in Hanover from 1886 to 1911.

Moo

The J1 visa program was started in the 1960s as a cultural exchange program that allowed foreign students to enter the United States. It also allowed those students to accept jobs. Since their stays were supposed to be of a limited duration those jobs were exempt from social security and medicare payroll taxes and not subject to prevailing wage requirements of other guest worker programs. It seems that Hershey, America's favorite chocolate manufacturer, has been sponsoring J1 visas, paying low wages, and no payroll taxes as a cost cutting measure. So much cheaper than hiring American workers. I promised myself that I'd keep my socialistic politics out of the photo blog, but I did own this old postcard and I needed some text to go with it. Oh well. At least the cows seem to be well paid.

Danger

So what's dangerous about this woman? Well, nothing actually. When I logged onto Blogger this morning I made the mistake of clicking on the tab to try the new interface. Got a notice that my current browser didn't support the new interface. I followed their advice and downloaded Google Chrome, and still got the same notice. Had to go to the library, wait for a computer to open up, go to blogger to hit the tab to go back to the old interface. Oh how I hate computers!

A Girl and Her Trike

Did you know....The tricycle was originally designed and built for women. It was thought to be both immoral and undignified for women to ride bicycles, but the trike would allow a woman to join the cycling craze while keeping her legs covered. Women preferred bicycles.