Vintage People
Who's ready for some vintage slide scans featuring some genuine VINTAGE PEOPLE? I know I am.
Let's start with this fun shot of a kid's birthday party. No date, sadly. Two mothers (to the right) look at baby photos and remember just when their lives went wrong. The eldest boy is wearing a tie, maybe it's his birthday? Or maybe not, since there are some toys on the table that seem to be aimed at a much younger kid. Ya got yer balloons, ya got yer cake and ice cream, not to mention party hats and even a top-quality table covering for the occasion.
Now it's 1954, and this little girl is having her own birthday celebration. Six years old, judging by the number of candles on the little cake (is that her own personal cake, while the big one is for everybody else?). The girl is banging away on her tom-tom while wearing a tic-tac-toe skirt. Look at the size of that TV screen! Why would anybody need a television that big?
Now this is more like it! A peroxide-blonde looks like a glamorous movie star on a white sandy beach, in a photo dated "May 1952". Hubba hubba!
26 comments:
Major-
It's the clothes in these images. The happy reveler on the left with the 'pank' shirt, replete with embroidered fleur-de-lis; or is that really some sort of costume jewelry-? Those jeans, with an embroidered cow-?, and those fabulous pearl-topped snaps on the gold-covered piping along the pockets. (I feel so under dressed-!) A shout-out to that trio of sugar-coated fruit jellies just waiting for me to grab them.
'Susie's' dress - with the Tic-Tac-Toe design is a real honey. (I wonder if that partial view of the framed picture above the TV is an image of her-?) You are so right, Major - that giant TV is so intrusive. I'm perfectly happy with my Hallicrafters T-54 TV, with 7-inch round screen-!
Thanks, Major.
I don't think it is Tie Boy's birthday. Another kid, behind Mom, is holding up a card that says something about being 5 years old today. Is that Sniffles on the card? Or just a generic mouse.
What's in that dark box on the table (close to us)? Looks like it says "Cake Crayons"?? (It doesn't look like "Candles"). I'm also not having any luck with the pattern on the curtains or the name on the fridge. I'm hopeless today!
Tom-tom Girl sure looks happy! We had a card table just like that, once upon a time. The cake looks like it hit an iceberg and is listing to the left. And the frosting looks kinda runny; it's starting to puddle onto the cake plate. It looks like the birthday girl may have frosted and decorated the cake herself.
The "hubba hubba" gal looks like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. But I suppose all peroxide blondes from this era looked pretty much like that. She's quite a stunner.
One of these pictures is not like the others. Thanks for the vintage photos, Major.
In the first pic, it looks like the girl behind mom, is possibly holding a "5th" birthday card above her head. Actually, she might be trying to put the card on her mother's head.
Is the TV in the second pic, a Sylvania with "Halolight®"?
In the third photo, there is a forehead, eyebrow, nose, and upper lip, that all just barely made it into the pic, on the far right. Who were these people? Were they in love? Did they spend the rest of their lives together? Were they happy? Are they still with us, today? I guess we will never know.
Tokyo!, looks like we both saw that "5" card above Mom's head. I have no idea, but you might be right about the TV. It has all that extra stuff going on around the picture tube.
Hey, I got the little trashcan back at the bottom of my comment! I signed out of Google, then signed back in... Wallah!
@ JB-
That's a Philco "Advanced Design" (in gold script) refrigerator - probably from around 1946. "PHILCO Advanced Design - has a woman in mind".
@ TM-!
That TV is definitely not a Sylvania Halolight. (If we could only see a wee bit more of the 'gold' door over the control knobs).
Nanook, Ah. Philco. I should have been able to decipher that but, y'know, it's late and I'm not thinking too clearly. Thanks for the I.D.
JB, after publishing my comment, I saw that you noticed the age-specific b-day card, too!
Nanook, thanks for the info on the TV. I knew about the purpose of "TV lamps" on top of the TV, for supposedly helping the viewer's eyes. But I hadn't heard of TVs with "Halolight®" until I started watching "Beat The Clock." It was often one of the prizes won by contestants.
I wonder if that partial view of the framed picture above the TV is an image of her-?
And if so, I wonder if she is beating a tom-tom in that photo, too? Wouldn't that be funny if her parents had made her do that, in every single picture they ever took of her?
That’s a Western Electric 300-series phone on the desk behind tom-tom girl’s cake. She’s smiling because she knows that 1954 was the last year of production for that model, and the phone company will soon be replacing it with a shiny new Henry Dreyfuss-designed 500-series phone. Her hopes will be dashed when she learns that 300-series phone components were designed for an up to 50-year design life, and the phone company will merely replace the outer shell of her family’s 300-series with a new shell designed to look like a 500-series phone, making it into a 5300-series phone, easily distinguished from a 500-series by its shorter back end. Her snobby phone nerd friends will all turn on her and she’ll be the laughingstock of the neighborhood, forcing her to run away from home, dumping her life savings of nickels and dimes into her little toy purse and hopping a General Motors TDH-3612 “Old Look” bus for parts unknown, clutching her tom-tom tightly to her chest and weeping softly as the bus pulled away from the downtown station. She never used another telephone again. Phone nerds can be a cold, heartless bunch. She should have stuck with buses.
Happy birthday, you poor, unfortunate wretch.
I'm not sure you can buy a Tom Tom today, much less beat on one...but she looks very happy. A private cake...that is a luxury! Pic #1 is a wee disturbing, as some of these vintage people pictures are in general to me...unless they are of blondes like Margarine Marilyn..if I had hair, I would want it that color. I might dye my beard. That Birthday table and the entire tableaux is a bit of a train wreck...I can't look away. Disengaged adults, shiny horrible kitchen paint, screaming kids, squished in the kitchen, forced to put on fancy clothes for photos...and the worst: paper plates....not a fan. I know it's practical and the kids will ruin everything like Chapek, but I can still look at them with disdain...some hotels with breakfast STILL are using paper plates and plastic utensils. I bring my own. I can't bear it, and the little utensils are like eating a childs tea party with Cabbage Patch kid utensils. They are not, nor will they ever be for my giant paws. And yes, let's add random crayons and random plastic toys to the mix of that table. Isn't there enough on that table? I digress..I am salty this am. I like Marilyn, she is a bright spot today. How they all pined to be Marilyn as many in my acting classes did decades later. I'm sure there are still starlets out there emulating her.
@ Chuck-
Let's give Henry Dreyfuss full credit - as his firm is also responsible for the 300-Series "combined telephone". (Presumably that's a No. 302). And if it was an early version, the phone had a die-cast metal housing - weighing-in at 6-¼ pounds - a full 2-pounds heavier than the later, 500-type telephones with plastic covers.
Happy kids, distracted parents, old appliances, what’s not to like here? I had forgotten Philco appliances.
The Tom-Tom girl is certainly happy. Our living room of that era was painted the same pale green. Must have been a thing. Dad gave her a knife later and asked her to look inside the drum. Our Sunday School had a folding table exactly like that.
Looking at photo 3, I thought I stumbled into the wrong blog. A little eye candy never hurts, makes up for the chaos in photo 1. I hope they had a long happy life together.
Thanks Major!
JG
@ JB-
I think those are "Chalk Crayons" - or to put it into modern day vernacular - chalk - in either white, or with colors. Which begs the question: Where is the chalkboard-??
@ TM!-
The 'glowing plastic surround mask' encasing the HaloLight® is much wider than seen on this 'mystery model' TV. I believe I've mentioned this before, but the transformer 'powering' the custom-shaped fluorescent tube 'could' also cause interference in the picture. But who cares - as it looks cool and more-important - it created great ad copy: Hail HaloLight - The Frame of Light That's Kinder to Your Eyes.
@ Bu-
I was so focussed on those jelly candies, I failed to see the Mr. Goodbar and the Chunky candy 'bar' right along side of them. That really IS a busy table-!
Major-
(My thoughts are really coming-in in drips and drabs, today). It appears the two Moms-? rummaging-through those 8x10's are clearly sisters (they share the same nose); but I wonder if they might also be TWINS-??
Nanook, I had forgotten that Dreyfuss’ team had designed the 300s as well. Those phones had some heft; not sure why Agnes Moorhead didn’t just clobber her assailant over the head with it. Thanks for the additional info.
Funny thing - the 300s always looked dated to me, but the 500s are such a classic masterpiece of mid-century minimalist design that I have never felt the same way about them. I’m sure there’s a bit of “that’s what they had when I was a kid” going on in the back of my mind, but the fact that a late-‘40s design managed to look contemporary into the ‘70s and beyond says something about its appeal. Change out the rotary dial for either a 10-,12-, or, if you were working in certain U.S. military offices with a direct AUTOVON connection, 16-digit touch-tone pad and you’ve got a 1500, 2500, or 3500 series phone. The timelessness of the design is such that I remember issuing Cortelco-made 2500 clones for military office use as late as 2009, and you can still buy new ones today (although the innards are different from the original Western Electric models).
Nanook, “pank”, one of the rarest colors in the spectrum! I’m assuming that the decorations are embroidered, they remind me of some neckties of the era. I didn’t pick up on the “cow” motif, though it could be something else?? But what? Fruit jellies, my grandma loved to buy those at Gelson’s. I sort of liked them, but never loved them. I hope that we someday go back to TVs with the little round screens!
JB, you are probably right about the 5-year old’s birthday; I think that the card has generic cartoon mice, though I have always liked Sniffles. I assume that those are “color crayons” and not “cake crayons”, though I would eat them either way. Mmmm, waxy. It’s hard to not smile while looking at tom-tom girl. The frosting does look a bit runny but I’ll bet it still tastes good. Maybe it was hot weather? I thought that the hot blonde looked a bit like Mamie Van Doren!
TokyoMagic!, it is traditional (in some places) to put your birthday cards on your mother’s head. It brings good luck and the crops will be bountiful. I don’t know anything about the TV except that it is too big and will hurt your eyes. All of these people now live together in one big house, and they cook delicious meals for each other all day!
JB, I have never heard of “Halolight®”, but somehow it sounds like something I don’t want on my TV. I paid Google $100,000 to get your little trashcan back, I’m glad you are happy.
Nanook, I wonder what made the Philco fridge “advanced”? Did was it “frost-free”? Did it speak to you with the voice of Ethel Merman? “You’ve already had a piece of cake today!”. I considered trying to ID that TV when I posted the photo, but knew from past experience that it might take more time than I cared to devote.
JB, Philco also made Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
TokyoMagic!, see? I knew “Halolight®” had something to do with eye strain! As a child, eye strain was one of the biggest fears. Don’t read a book in a room with low light. Don’t sit too close to the TV. Don’t put olive brine in your eyes. So many rules! Do they show “Beat the Clock” on TV still?? I only watch game shows hosted by Gene Rayburn.
Chuck, that is a pretty sweet telephone, I have to admit, and the design is a bit more old-fashioned than the ones that I remember growing up. For some reason I remember the phones at my grandparent’s house more than the ones at our house (not counting our first push-button wall phone in harvest gold). Grandma and grandpa had some sort of extremely heavy phones, one in a wall nook by the back bedrooms, and one in the “breakfast nook”. Phones belonged in nooks, I suppose. “She should have stuck with buses”… shouldn’t we all? (Looks heavenward) SHOULDN’T WE ALL?
Bu, I’m sure that plenty of roadside souvenir stands still sell tom toms, though they are probably smaller, and made in Taiwan. Somehow I don’t find photo #1 disturbing, maybe because I grew up in a Navy family and sometimes lived in less-than-wonderful “temporary housing”. How about a nice Quonset hut? Or an apartment in Virginia that was 200 degrees inside, and the park outside had dead pigeons everywhere? Like you said, paper plates and plastic utensils are practical, but it is astonishing to see early Disneyland eateries using actual china plates and metal flatware, with water served in actual glass tumblers.
Nanook, it’s almost unbelievable that there was a time when companies made their products to LAST.
JG, that particular shade of green is familiar, the bedroom at my grandparent’s that I usually slept in during visits was “the green bedroom” (as opposed to “the blue bedroom” next to it). I loved that room, with its built-in bookcases and desk, and goose-neck lamps that swung out from the wall so that you could read at night. The bookcases were full of my mom’s old sci-fi paperbacks from the 1950s. And be warned: from now on, GDB is going to a “cheesecake” blog!
Nanook, hmmm, maybe it does say “chalk”. In art classes we used “conte crayons”, which were made from clay. Nothing like life drawings done in authentic Michelangelo burnt umber! The HaloLight idea sounds very much like the Philips backlight idea that may or may not still be a thing.
Nanook, I used to see commercials for Chunky candy bars, and all these years later have still never had one. I assume you can still get them at places that sell retro candy (“Rocket Fizz”).
Nanook (going for a record today), yes, there is definitely a family resemblance between those two women. As for twins, it’s impossible to say. I’ve seen many non-twins who looked remarkably similar.
Chuck, I don’t think Agnes Moorhead should have hit Darren with a heavy phone, that would have been pretty extreme. Entertaining, sure, but extreme.
In reference to the Philco refrigerator, there is a very similar one on eBay-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324744188581
It does need a little work...;)
-DW
Major-
(Well - as long as I'm going for a record...) Undoubtedly the "advanced" nature of the Philco refrigerator referred to its degree in higher education: Doctoral. Although, I really like the idea of a 'Talking Refrigerator' that speaks in the voice of Ethel Merman, as she 'barks-out directives' to all those wishing retrieval of any foodstuffs contained within the refrigerator - even more-so if the refrigerator is of Advanced Design-!
I found plenty of examples on-line for 'chalk crayons' - which, evidently could be used on both paper and chalk boards - and one also assumes - asphalt and concrete-! At the end of the day I think that's just a box containing sticks of chalk.
@ DW-
Thanks for providing the link to the featured refrigerator; I've been far too busy 'mouthing-off' today.
Chuck, I chortled all the way through your sad story of tom-tom girl's life. (I was going to say "chuckled all the way through..." but, with your name being Chuck, it sounds odd to say chuckled and Chuck in the same sentence... You need to change your name to Siegfried or something.
Nanook, I suppose you must be right about "Chalk Crayons". But it still looks a lot like "Cake". Although, I have to admit that drawing on a cake with crayons would be a losing battle.
Major, now that I look at the box again, it looks like "Choklit Crayons". That's better than Nanook's "Chalk Crayons"!
Your "Mmmm, waxy" comment got me thinking about those red, wax lips (and, I think, goofy teeth) that one could/can buy, mostly around Halloween time. I tried them once or twice, but I never understood the appeal. Are you supposed to eat them? I tried that once... didn't get very far. So you 'wear' them on your face to give yourself big red lips or goofy teeth. The 'fun' wears off after about 5 seconds.... then what?
Thanks for getting my little trashcan back, Major. But... next time just send me the $100,000. I promise to use it to "build the wall"; just like Steve Bannon. (third rail?)
"Philco also made Philadelphia Cream Cheese". Which is stored in a Philco fridge. Serendipitous synchronicity!
@ JB-
"Philco also made Philadelphia Cream Cheese". Which is stored in a Philco fridge. Serendipitous synchronicity! As Disney would say: It's merely synergy.
Major, the "Buzzr" channel was showing "Beat The Clock" for a while. They go through periods of showing old black and white game shows. Earlier this week, they had a marathon of black and white "The Price Is Right" shows, with Bill Cullen as the host. One of the prizes was "a home in Florida." Bob Barker never gave anything like that away, the cheapskate! ;-)
Could the labeling on that box read, "Cake Candles"? Sorry, if someone had suggested that already.
Tokyo!, that was the first thing I thought of. But no matter how hard I try, I can't get that last word to look like "Candles".
JB, sorry! Now I see that you mentioned that in your very first comment!
How about "Chalk Candies"? ;-) There actually was candy that tasted like chalk. Candy Cigarettes was one of them. Necco Wafers was another one!
They do make chalk candies. They’re called “Tums.”
I LOVED candy cigarettes!
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