The North Texas State Normal College Album 5

The end of World War 1 put a lot of planes on the market, and many of those planes were bought by out of work vets who made a living putting on air shows and giving rides to anyone with a few dollars in their pocket.  I like the ladies weird hairdo.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section to bring up the whole collection.

Poor Fisherman's Luck

The last of my super cheap, cheesy stereo cards.  I'm not quite sure what to make of this one.  I'm sure it must be a battle of the sexes thing.  But did they catch their man, or are they throwing him back?  Of course there's a third interpretation.  They're dumping the body.

Aerial Photography

Yet another poorly made, no name stereo card.  This one commemorating aerial photography in World War 1.  Aviation in what was once called the Great war didn't begin with life and death dogfights.  The first military aviators were spotters, gathering information on troop movements.  They were successful enough that shooting them down became a military necessity.  And so was born the dogfight, the synchronized machine gun and eventually the bombing raid.  I always knew that photography could be dangerous.

A Girl From the Golden West

This one is a bit interesting.  The card isn't well made and there are no company names or logos on the back.  It also looks to be a movie tie in.  In 1915, Cecil B. DeMille directed a movie called The Girl of the Golden West.  Close to the title of this card, but just a bit off.  The star of the film was Mabel Van Buren, and the woman on this card looks a lot like her.  Most people think that the movies ended up in Los Angeles because of all the sunny weather.  I'm sure that helped, but the reality is a bit more shady.  Inventor Thomas Edison, the patent holder for early motion picture equipment insisted on being paid for every foot of movie film shot, processed or projected.  To enforce those patents, he hired a goon squad who busted up the film productions that weren't in compliance.  The movies ended up in Hollywood because it was far away form Edison's strong hold in New Jersey.  I like the idea that some low end stereoview company was ripping off Cecil B. DeMille; that they left their company name off the back of the card to make it difficult for DeMille's agents to find them.

Army Ball

The playoffs have started, and once again my Pittsburgh Pirates are on the outside looking in.  In the American League I'm rooting for the Oakland A's.  I like the idea of a World Series champ that's also the team with the second lowest payroll in the game.  In the National League, I'm sort of pulling for the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Pirates may never be a contender because of free agency.  The Cards lost their best player, Albert Pujols, to the far richer Los Angeles Angel, and  it would give me hope if the Cards could get another championship.  I'm torn about the Washington Nationals.  On one hand, I wouldn't mind seeing them win it all because the team has never won anything.  On the other hand, I liked them when they were the Montreal Expos and I hated to see them leave Canada.

No date, names, or location on the photograph, but the third baseman looks to be in a military uniform, so it's another bored soldiers having  fun picture.

War Is Dull

Watch a war movie and you'd think World War 2 was non stop hell.  The reality was that most members of the military were support personnel and for them the conflict was more boredom than terror.   My father was a ninth grade drop out who could do complex mathematical computations in his head.  That skill got him four years in a darkened room breaking codes.  He was stationed in England so he was able to get out and about, but he still spent  most of his time on base.  In the Pacific, the island campaigns were about capturing islands with airfields.  The marines would land, fight for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months.  After  the island was taken, the air corp would move in.  For the air crews, there were missions over Japan.  For the ground crew, it was servicing the planes and waiting for the war to end.  If they were lucky a USO show might come through.  If not, they had to amuse themselves.  It looks like these guys decided to put on a show, and in the all male environment of a Pacific island air base, someone had to play the girl.

Another Brewer Postcard

On September 6,  I published a postcard written by Frank Brewer while he was at Camp Gordon, probably during World War 1.  Like the earlier postcard, this card isn't stamped or  addressed but does  have a  written message. So, each may have been sent in an envelope.   Signed "Brewer" the hand writing on this card seems similar but has enough differences that it might have been written by a different Brewer family member.  Too, the earlier card was full of misspellings, and this one isn't.

The message,

"Dear Friend,

 I am going to make a move in a day or so.  Over to the gulf coast somewhere.  Will let you know my new address when I get there.

This place is fine but I want to look around some.

As ever,

Brewer"

If nothing else, the Brewers get around.  Click on Brewer in the labels section to see both postcards.