Saturday, September 03, 2016

Random Oldies

I found a folder of scans of slides that I got rid of long ago - looking at the images, I kind of regret it now, but at the time I probably just wanted to reduce some of the clutter.  Anyway, it seemed like it might be fun to share some of those old scans here... I wonder if somebody will see these and say to themselves, "Hey! I own that slide!". The odds are slim but not impossible.

If this slide was dated, I didn't make a record of it, unfortunately. But it's great image of a very pretty woman aboard an airplane. She looks like she walked right out of a vintage advertisement!  Her husband probably looked just like Don Draper. Either she was an actress or model, or this was from the good old days when people dressed up to fly. Any guesses as to what kind of plane this was? There's not much to go by, but the rectangular windows might help. 


This one was dated "1963"; I can assume that the mustachioed gentleman is Evan Charles himself. Music for listening till 10, then dancing! God help you if you want to dance before 10, you reprobate. I love this picture.


I somehow doubt that 1964's election season was quite as nuts as ours has been. This young fellow was showing his support for Barry Goldwater. I know that my grandparents supported Barry as well (I found a stack of pinback buttons in a desk drawer), but Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson by a landslide.


I hope you've enjoyed today's Random Oldies!

11 comments:

  1. Major-

    The Even Charles Trio sounds like the name of a group which would appear in a lounge somewhere, and have a small-run of custom-pressed records featuring their music - as recorded live. But I've yet to run across them.

    As for our young Goldwater fan, he's standing behind what appears to be a 1956 Plymouth, but something oddly is incorrect regarding the rear trunk emblem and the bumper. There should also be chrome (or more-likely back then - stainless steel trim) around the taillights and backup lights. Hmmm.... (Perhaps the vehicle is The Goldwater Special-!)

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. Okay-

    I've updated my car commentary. It IS a 1956 Plymouth, but it's most-likely the 'Plaza' model - Plymouth's "entry level" car - which explains the lack of chrome trim, the different trunk emblem and the alternate-style bumper. Perhaps that's "junior's" car, which he paid for by working at an after school job.

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  3. So they play until 10 o'clock, and then they dance? I've never seen a trio dance before. I wonder who leads.

    “Evan? Say, Evan, this is Pat. Pat who? Who do you think, Pat who, Pat O’Butter? It's Pat who plays in the Evan Charles Trio. Well, my plane was delayed and I'm afraid I'm still stuck 30,000 feet in the air over New Mexico. Looks like I'm not going to make the Music for Listening tonight, but I should be there in time for dancing. Nobody listens to me, anyway. Ciao ciao. By the way, there's a simply adorable little creature on the wing.”

    “Hi, Evan? Can you hear me, Evan? It's me, Ray. Ray who? Who do you think, Ray O’Sunshine? Yeah, I can't hear you too good, either. It's long distance. Sorry I had to reverse the charges; I just paid every cent I got for a tow truck and a mechanic. My car is broken down here in Tulsa; I guess I was hauling more boxes of Goldwater campaign posters then the old girl could carry and she finally just gave out. Don't worry, I won't let the Evan Charles Trio down, but I might not be in time for Music for Listening. Heck, though, you and I both know nobody listens to me when Pat's on stage, haha! Listen, have you decided who your going to vote for next year? You and me should sit down and have a talk about it. See you later, buddy!”

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  4. I spent five wonderful years in Oklahoma in the '80s (and I mean that sincerely), and I found it fascinating that while a significant majority of voters who were members of political parties were registered Democrats (which often resulted in unopposed races at the local level) the state had voted for the Republican Presidential candidate in every election since 1952 with one exception - 1964.

    I've been trying to determine what kind of airplane that woman is in in that first photo, and I have come up short. Airplanes with square or rectangular windows became rarer as the '50s progressed due to a series of fatal accidents involving three de Havilland Comet 1s, the first jet airliner, that came apart due to airframe metal fatigue. Accident investigation boards eventually determined that rectangular windows put an increased amount of stress on the airframe at the window corners, and subsequent airliners (including later Comet models) were designed with oval windows or windows with rounded corners.

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  5. Hey! My aviation geekiness may pay off after all. I think the plane in the first photo is a DC-3. No, really. Even the faulty Comet's windows weren't that square. Compare this shot of a DC-3's interior for comparison.

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  6. Nanook, you're not wrong. They recorded at least two sides.

    http://kay-bank-custom-pressings.blogspot.com/2016/06/harold-lynch-149.html

    (Melissa, I'm afraid you are wrong, though just about their first names. Dick and Milt totally said all that stuff.)

    Oh, and there's even a copy for sale! If it's gone by the time you click, that means one of us from this-here peanut gallery got it. And if any of you buy it, I'd honestly, legitimately, love to hear it.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVAN-CHARLES-TRIO-Sister-Kate-Ebb-Tide-UNKNOWN-MINNESOTA-Organ-Jazz-Lounge-78rpm-/152208084213?hash=item23704f0cf5:g:z0EAAOSwSzdXCoff

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  7. Nanook, this is a wild tangent, but I miss some of those old makes - Plymouth, DeSoto, Nash, Studebaker, Mercury… great history, and some nice cars too.

    Nanook #2, I am always amazed that anyone would deface their car/paint with a sticker that will be impossible to remove in a few months or years.

    Melissa, it’s like reading a Bob Newhart sketch! Meanwhile, “Pat O’Blutter”, ha ha. Is the creature on the wing a Pokemon?

    Chuck, I wonder what the Sooners had against Barry? Or was it just that Lyndon had those emotional ties to JFK? I knew about the Comet’s metal fatigue issues, which is why I pointed out the square windows… I figured that would help to narrow down likely candidates.

    Patrick Devlin, those are some square windows! Wonder why the DC-3 was (by all accounts) wildly successful and reliable, with no mid-air blow outs? Or maybe there were fatalities.

    Mark H. Besotted, I would be mildly interested to hear the Evan Charles Trio, but… who has a record player (I still have my old one at my mom and dad’s house)? And even if you have one, how many can play 78’s (not me)?

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  8. @ Mark H. Besotted-

    Why am I not surprised-? I have a rather nice collection of record albums, bought merely for their cover art. And we're not talking Rhode Island School of Design-quality, here, but for the campiness value. Of course-!!

    I'd be a bit more circumspect when it comes to "... honestly, legitimately, love to hear it". Trust me, sometimes the music wrapped inside a cover of great campiness is best left unheard. Although I will admit a certain curiosity to hear the 'full-throated results' of an "organ, piano and percussion" belting-out a version of "Sister Kate". On the other hand, one need look no further than The Crystal Set's 'interpretation' of "Aquarius" to quench one's musical appetite for as yet to-be-discovered musical "treasures". Let's just say Randy Jackson would have a field day declaring their sound to be 'pitchy', in addition to a serious case of forced vibrato, that would make even a pipe organ jealous-!

    And, yes Major, I have two turntables (no waiting), one also capable of spinning at 78rpm. So bring by all those "classic" shellac records for a grand 'ol musical adventure.

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  9. The DC-3 was never pressurized, and thus never flew at altitudes much over eight or ten thousand feet. It's the routine of flying with a pressurized interior at much higher altitude (with low outside pressure) and the return to ground level (with normal pressure) that causes the cycle of fatigue on the airframe and subsequent failure. I'm really a big aeronautics geek and will go on all day, if allowed.

    And Oklahoma? You North Texas? ;)

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  10. Sunday Night5:58 PM

    I dunno. The party really STARTS at 10? "Sorry, but I have to work tomorrow".

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  11. Patrick, well done! The windows, the upper fuselage contours, even the air vents match. I eventually thought about possibly the DC-3, but it took a while because my brain automatically goes full-C-47 when I think of that airframe. I didn't find any good interior photos of 1950s configurations in my initial research, and by the time I'd started down that thread, a busy Saturday schedule intervened and I never got back to it.

    I claim Oklahoma as one of several home states. My father was stationed there when I was in high school, and I stayed there to finish junior college when he and my family were transferred overseas. A key formative time and lots of great memories and great friends I still keep in contact with.

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