NEW YEAR'S EVE
Another year has come and gone!. Old Man 2024 is outta here. Don't let the door hit ya where the dog shoulda bit ya! The good news is that 2025 will be perfect and great, so fear not.
As usual, I will be spending New Year's Eve with my Hollywood friends, we will be laughing about how much money we have. It's more fun than you might think! But my understanding is that not everyone has Hollywood Friends. Can this be true?
For instance, I have a series of photos from a New Year's party from December 31st, 1955. I don't see Jimmy Stewart or Marilyn Monroe, but maybe they were behind the camera? The party is in the basement, so everyone can whoop it up as much as they want, and by the looks of this group, they really whooped!
Silly hats! America had perfected the technology, putting us way ahead of the Russkies. On the other hand, they had borscht, which you have to admit is better than hamburgers. JUST KIDDING!
That lady is just visible in the first photo, her top looks suspiciously like a maternity blouse. That upright piano is just itchin' to be played, and that man is ready to bang out "Rock Around the Clock" or "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".
I guess the fellow to the left just graduated, he has his diploma glued to his mortarboard. It's OK to be proud! He married his high school sweetheart, and they make a cute couple.
Somebody call the cops! This thing is way out of control! Seeing these pictures makes me miss a good basement. My dad had his old hi-fi downstairs (the new stereo was upstairs), it was the one that my siblings and I used a lot. There was also his reel-to-reel tape player, and a workroom where he could practice tying flies (you know, for fishing).
My wish is for a year of health and happiness for all Junior Gorillas!
13 comments:
Major-
The 'theme' of this NYE party must have been "funny hats"; although I noticed little 'misty' or 'pickles' has a rather robust collar/harness instead. I still can't figure out what that 'brown container, with an angled top-?' is, that the fella is fooling around with in the 1st image.
Hats off (oh, yuck yuck) to the diploma hat - that's what I should have worn to my graduation-! Bonus points for having a roll of masking tape at-the-ready for any 'chapeau emergencies'.
Happy New Year's Eve to all. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, it looks like the man in the first photo is viewing 35mm slides on a small lighted slide viewer!
1) Good grief! What a wild and crazy bunch! Why, the guy closest to us isn't even wearing a tie! You can tell this is a Hollywood party because even the little dog is wearing jewelry. Miss Jane Hathaway (on the right) is getting ready to snort some coke. Vest guy is looking at risqué photos on that viewer. At first I thought the snacks on that tray were chicken wings, but a closer look reveals that they are Ritz crackers and pretzels (I think); and a bowl of French onion dip. On the left is Rosemary. She looks like she is 'with child' (as Major notes, later on). We all know who Rosemary's baby will be (he will have his father's eyes).
2) I'm wondering why there is a rooster on the lady's silly hat; other than because it's a silly hat. Wow, that's an especially nice upright piano they got there! This cinder block basement probably doubles as a bomb shelter for when the A-bombs start "bursting in air" (very patriotic!)
3) Anybody know what the roll of masking tape is for? Perhaps to hold the silly hats together. Or to tape the sparse decorations onto the walls and ceiling. The purse on top of the piano looks like it could be from this year. I guess purses don't have scale... or expiration dates.
4) That yellow tube with the green poofy things on the table might be a 'cracker', that you and a friend pull apart. Bu will probably know.
5) Yep, the raucousness really is gettin' outta control. Before we call the cops, we should try blasting 'em with a garden hose... That works for cat fights, after all.
Nanook, the dog's name is "Spot"; it says so right on him! Major beat me to it, but yeah, pretty sure it's a 35mm slide pre-viewer.
Fun pictures, Major. And even funner commentary. Thanks. Happy New Year to us all (fingers crossed).
Let's all go down to the bomb shelter to PARTY DOWN! Perhaps this is when "it" was supposed to happen, so they just decided to stay out of the living room (because that is for "company") and party in the basement nee bomb shelter. Like we say, young people looked older back then...and if you zoom in, these look like kids in their early 20's. There's Charles with his slide viewer...Major I'm sure has one of those...not everything needs to be projected onto the wall...and the guy with "Rooster Lady" (very odd hat that belongs in a Stephen King movie) has quite the odd white shirt odd. Margaret, other wise known as Peggy, is sitting by the Ritz buffet because she is PG and is feeding for two. No one is smoking? That is odd...but perhaps they were too young to buy cigs. I remember my mother sending me to the corner store to buy cigarettes and wine as a kid. "It's for my mom", and yep: they would sell it to me. The jug of Chablis was so heavy. I probably was about 10 or 11 at the time. Speaking of wine: don't see any here...actually: I don't see any drinks at all. Wait: last photo...the girls are drinking. The cone hats look a little bit like Rogers and Hammerstein's TV version of Cinderella, that hadn't come out yet. These people are time travelers clearly, and their bomb shelter is the portal. Clearly. I remember that black linoleum tile floor, and the pink blanket on the sofa. I do not understand why we - we meaning 'them', we meaning 'others' (not me) cover their sofas in the most awful of coverings. I think plastic would be better in this case...not exactly "cozy" but practical...in a basement you would think it would be "free range" for the people and dog to spill a few Ritz on the "real" sofa...maybe not. I hope everyone has a safe and sane NYE. As usual, I expect to be asleep by 9. As a side note, the "puffy thing" is not a Christmas Cracker. Unless they made one themselves...it looks like a fanciful "faux bone" for doggie-kins if I was to gander a guess. Bring on 2025! Actually: bring BACK 1955 and let's go to Disneyland! Happy New Year Major and Jr. Go-Go's!
In the early ‘80s my parents met and became friends with a group of my dad’s fraternity brothers who had all graduated in the early ‘50s, about 10 years before my parents. They were subsequently invited to their annual NYE gathering and returned every year until they stopped meeting a few years ago as most of the group passed away. When I first met them they were in their early ‘50s, but I imagine this is what their NYE gatherings would have looked like in 1955 when they were young college grads in their 20s. They were fun people.
The slide viewer appears to be a Logan No. 210 Electric Slide Viewer.
Happy New Year to you all!
It's Alfred Hitchcock on the left in the first photo, projecting his shadow which kicked off each episode of "AH Presents", debuting that year. Things are getting macabre, the dog's eye is burning with fiendish redness.
I wonder if this is a basement, those look like curtains at upper left in the last pic. This could be the ground floor common room of a post-war Krushchevka; if the Russkies aren't besting us with borscht, it's with the buildings.
S Novym Godom to all Comrade Gorillas, and many more!
@ Bu-
"No one is smoking? That is odd...but perhaps they were too young to buy cigs".
I thought the same thing, but if you look carefully in the last image, the gal with the pointy black hat, sitting on the couch with the pinkish "slip cover" has lit up. On the extreme far left, sitting on that blonde cabinet is a pack of smokes - perhaps a pack of L&M's
Major-
In the 3rd image, the fella's hat seems to be fashioned from 'vintage' 50's wrapping paper that looks like THIS. (I guess the 'Seagrams V.O. Canadian Whisky' "V.O. logos" featured, was his personalization of the cap. What a guy-! (Who says there's no drinking going on here-??!!)
Nanook… I was baffled by your description of “somebody” wearing a collar or harness. It’s not that kind of party! But then I saw the little dog, obscured by my watermark. I used to date an exotic dancer named Misty Pickles.
JB, I am just grateful that these people are wearing clothing. I do like the idea of that guy looking at naughty slides on the viewer… back when I used to buy boxes and boxes of old slides, I’d sometimes find the occasional “dirty” picture, usually a store-bought (catalog-bought?) spicy pic. I’m sure the rooster was just a thing to put on a hat, unless there is some sort of New Year significance. In China, anyway! The tape was almost certainly there to put the hats together, I wonder if they were purchased flat and assembled that evening? Not a bad idea. My parents tended to go to other people’s NYE parties, so I don’t remember anything like this in our house. But it’s sort of fun to see these people from so long ago, enjoying each other’s company and having fun. Low-key fun!
Bu, I guess 1955 must have been from around the “Duck and Cover” era. I’d say it’s hard to imagine, but it isn’t really, especially in today’s world. I’m guessing that these partygoers were a mix of ages, but maybe not. There’s some thinning hair on the men, but that one woman really does appear to be expecting. How does “Margaret” become “Peggy”, anyway? It makes zero sense. Good point about no cigarettes, very unusual for the time. It seemed that *everybody* smoked back then. Funny that the stores would sell you cigarettes and wine, that would never fly today. I remember long after I turned 21, stores wouldn’t sell alcohol to me because they were convinced that my ID was fake. Plastic on sofas, yuck. When I was in grade school, my best friend’s mom had all of her furniture with plastic slip covers. I thought it was kind of funny at the time, but it was gross. I doubt I’ll be out and about very late tonight, but I’ll be up super early tomorrow morning (long story).
Chuck, my dad stayed in touch with some of his fraternity brothers for most of his life, they (and their wives) would all go on trips to places like Hawaii or Mexico, somehow I feel like I would not have held on to friends for that long! Nobody appreciates my “insult humor”. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the make and model of that slide viewer would be a challenge that somebody could not resist!
Stefano, I’m happy to see Alfred at this party, he needed to loosen up after a very busy 1954 and 1955. I still think of his voice when I think of the Universal Studios Tour, amazing that he actually did commercials for them. This is definitely a basement room, though it might be somebody’s “downstairs apartment”. My guess is that it was just the place where people could make noise and spill stuff without consequence.
Nanook, oh you’re right, there’s at least one cig. But overall, you’d expect there to be a lot more smoking going on!
Nanook, wow, how in the world did you find that specific wrapping paper??
These folks were having fun, hope all the Junior Gorillas do too!
Be safe and have a Happy New Year!
Thanks Major.
JG
And I'm surprised that none of you realized that they were warming up for watching Guy Lombardo and his band on TV playing Auld Lang Syne. "It was 'Must See TV!" And see it I did long ago. Happy New Year to all...and to all a...oh... wrong holiday! KS
If you look at the 3rd, 4th and 5th pictures, it's obvious that's THE Photo Spot. Picked for the perfect background. In those same pictures, the ceiling decorations do a little 'evolving,' as something appears to be dropping down out of the ceiling. Not sure what it is, though....
"The purse on top of the piano looks like it could be from this year."
JB, speaking of purses, for some reason they were the topic of conversation a couple days ago, and I discovered that Hermés Birkin make a $2,000,000 purse (google 'Sac Bijou Birkin'). Perfect for Hollywood parties.
Thanks, Major and everyone, for making this NYE party fun!
Happy New Year to you and your families!
^ oops, "look at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th" pictures. My goof.
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