Vintage People
People... people who need people... are the luckiest people, blah blah blah. (Sorry, Babs!). It's time for some more vintage people.
Here's a bunch of kids (high school age?) circa 1959 hanging out in somebody's living room. Were they watching TV ("Walt Disney Presents"?) or home movies? Listening to "Dream Lover" by Bobby Darin? Actually, this slide is date-stamped "January 1959", so this might be a crazy, out of control New Year's Eve party. Settle down, you hooligans!
Plaids were in for girl's pants. Two wisenheimers to the left make the classic bunny ears behind those ernest young people, while the girl in red (extreme left) is getting her own set of bunny ears. Hoisted on her own petard! Or something.
Now there's a family that really loves beer. And Iggy Pop, to the right, really REALLY loves it. By my count there are approximately 50 cans (not counting the paint can). Pabst Blue Ribbon and Lucky Lager were the favorites of the day. It's interesting to observe the lads and their strong resemblance to the Old Man. Notice that the one lady on the steps is holding her beer can upside down, indicating that this is from that dark era when a church key was required.
11 comments:
Major-
When we moved into our new house in 1960, it in no way resembled ANYTHING design-wise as pictured in this first image. By comparison, our house would be considered 'space age'; although it was simply up-to-date, bereft of "so-called" modern lamp shades and ugly, patterned curtains.
And based on the noses of "those earnest young people", I suspect they might very well be brother and sister.
And speaking of noses... there's definitely a familial relationship with several folks in the second image. For some reason that 'house of cards stack of beer cans' seems to be missing Hamm's. Too bad. (And is that an Oleander bush framing the picture on the left side-?)
Thanks, Major.
Plenty of Tom Foolery going on in today's pics! That second pic reminds me of some "hippie" neighbors that my aunt and uncle had in the early seventies. They made a "beer tree" by hanging empty beer cans on the branches of a tree in their front yard!
Nanook, it looks like Oleander to me. Hopefully they weren't chewing on the leaves!
What IS that boy on the chair eating? It looks like cake....or ice cream....but he's eating it with his fingers! (eww!) Was this the year of The Great Utensil Shortage?
These images remind me of a big family get-together back in the era when people were reproducing like rabbits. Every couch and chair would be filled with butts and an overflow of cousins would be sitting on the floor. Nowadays it seems if there's a get together the families are very small compared to back then. At least that's how it is in my family in which our generation each sibling had one or two children at most and several had none. And those bunny ears! That was typical in some of our early family photos, as was the beer drinking.
My favorite character has to be the kid eating dry cake or some sort of finger food with a soda bottle between his legs. I had a cousin who looked almost exactly like him. Thanks, Major.
TokyoMagic!,
My "hippie" aunt made curtains out of the beer can pull tabs (back when they came off the can).
Nanook, I think that the dark gray walls look fairly weird for 1959, but perhaps that was in fashion? I agree, the two kids to the left are siblings. I don’t know about Hamm’s… why not Schlitz?!
TokyoMagic!, ah, beer trees. What a Norman Rockwell image! Let’s take our garbage and make it into something festive!
Scott Lane, that boy is eating human flesh. Bare hands is the only way!
K. Martinez, it’s true, back when I was a kid it seemed like most families had 3 or 4 (or more) children. Now, 2 seems to be the maximum, with very rare exceptions. The kid with the food looks younger than everyone else, he seems out of place. Did you ever seen “chain mail” made out of those old beer can pull tabs? I recall a friend (or his mom) made a “vest” out of them for a costume.
Why Major-
It's From the Land of Sky Blue Waters..., after all-! It just hasta' be Hamm's. Who cares if Schlitz was The BEER that made Milwaukee famous.
Ken, Curtains! I would like to see that! You reminded me that my great-aunt made a Christmas tree out of the curled pull tabs by painting them green and sticking them onto a green styrofoam cone. Crafty!
The Vintage People - didn't they sing "In the Navy (You Can Serve Under Naval Secretary Theodore Roosevelt?)"
Second guy from the right in the beer can tower picture looks just like the shadiest of my shady uncles. I guess he was so shady, one porch wasn't enough to fill up with beer cans.
I remember doing crafts with pull tabs in Sunday School. Rethreaded strips of green paper through them, stuck googly eyes on them, I've made snakes. I don't know if there was supposed to be some connection between the serpent in the Garden of Eden and the evils of beer drinking or not, but I do remember Mom just turning us loose in parking lots to pick up as many as we could.
Were they watching TV ("Walt Disney Presents"?)
I recently wrote an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon A Star" for my singing trio. The first time we ran through it, one woman a bit older than I said, "I feel like it's Sunday night and Tinker Bell's going to come out and roll the credits."
The preview window is for suckers. SUCKERS!
Nanook, I guess we’re just going to have to agree to disagree! This all goes back to my childhood - my dad would take us to a delicatessen that had lighted signs for Schlitz and Miller beer - the Miller sign was known as the “bouncing ball” sign, and I still want one!
TokyoMagic!, I’ll bet some creative person made entire dresses (or whatever) out of those pull tabs. But as I pointed out, photo #2 is pre pull tab!
Melissa, yes, and one of them was definitely a Rough Rider. I can almost imagine photos of pull-tab crafts in old McCall’s or Better Homes and Gardens magazines. Don’t forget the glitter. Meanwhile - you know how to arrange music?
Melissa again, is Photobucket making your life miserable? Welcome to the club!
I meant the comment preview window. I keep forgetting it's there to help filter out all the egregious typos and auto corrects that I'm always letting slip through.
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