You know what I've noticed? People have birthdays. Practically every day is somebody's birthday. I'll pause while you absorb that bit of wisdom.
OK, have you recovered? Well, today is JB's birthday! And Sue B. knew it, don't you worry. Here's a series of vintage birthday pix for this special occasion.
Don't have the kid's party in the former dining room, they'll just make a mess. Cake will be dropped on the floor, sodas will be spilled, ice cream will get knocked over. The solution? Put them in the laundry room! If they don't like it they can lump it (whatever that means).
Those party hats are so stylish that I would wear one in daily life. Why wait for a birthday? The pink dots go with my eyes (yes, I am a white mouse). That kid better not be spitting on the cake - I'd be watching to make sure.
Time has gone backwards, and the candles that had been extinguished have relit themselves. Obviously Superman caused the planet to reverse its rotation by flying around it really fast! Knock it off, Kal El. I just noticed that the little girl's shirt is made out of a "Twister" game mat.
I am not quite sure what to make of the boy's expression. He's feeling the pain of childbirth, but that's impossible. Maybe he can see that the beautifully-wrapped gift is a book of poetry, or some equally-undesirable item. Notice the cupcake wrappers that contain a selection of pills, what a great idea. The girl is interested only in her cake.
Happy Birthday, JB, and thank you to Sue!
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Here are two random slides from Vintage Florida!
First up, two photos from "Horn's Cars of Yesterday". I guess if your name is "Horn", you are bound to collect cars. According the the Interwebs, The Horn’s collection of cars began as a hobby for the brothers (Herbert and Bob Horn). They were based in Fort Dodge, Iowa and were in the farm and school equipment business. They had been collecting old cars and restoring them to showroom condition for years. If they couldn’t find a part for a car, they simply made a new part to fit in its place!
While on the road as salesmen for the equipment company, the brothers often spotted old cars in people’s sheds, back yards or barns. By the early 1950s, their collection of cars was so large that they decided to do something about it.
After visiting Sarasota in the early 1950s, the Horns decided to shift their attention to antique cars exclusively. In March of 1953, “Horn’s Cars of Yesterday” opened for business.
According to a November 3, 1957 article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the Horns had more than 70 cars on display in their museum, ranging from the oldest, a 1897 Duryea Buggyaut to the latest addition, a 1948 Lincoln Continental. The collection also includes the 1914 Rolls Royce Town Car used by John Ringling and the Pierce Arrow owned by Mable Ringling. Also included in their collection was a large array of music boxes, ranging from an organ with 176 pipes to an early version of a juke box that was built in the 1870s. Horns’ Cars of Yesterday was an immediate success.
It's interesting, Florida really was a popular place for antique car collectors to show off their stuff. We've seen the "
James Melton Autorama" (in Hypoluxo!), and the "
Carriage Cavalcade" in Silver Springs. I'll bet there were more. Maybe Bonanza Bill's
Jaunty Jalopies? Or (Milton) Frunkle's
Flivverville? I made those last two up, but don't you wish you could go to them?
Meanwhile, over in St. Augustine, you'd find the exciting and smelly Alligator Farm, full of playful reptiles. It still exists, now called The St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park. It is one of Florida's oldest continuously running attractions. The park began in 1893 on St. Augustine Beach as a minor attraction at the end of a railway running through neighboring Anastasia Island. The alligators were added at first to get visitors to buy souvenirs and see the museum there. Soon, the reptiles themselves became the main point of interest.
Gators are so tame and plentiful in Florida that they are still used to pull wagons and buggies to this day.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Florida!
3 comments:
Happy Birthday JB-!
(I hope you enjoyed celebrating your birthday party at the same 'venue' as I did for mine, just one week ago-!) I think Sue is [secretly] in control of the space time continuum, as your celebration also includes some of the same faces who attended mine, but seem to have aged in reverse-! There must be something in those birthday cakes - or perhaps, judging from the expression of the birthday boy, in that "present" he's ripping open... This is all very troubling-!
Major-
As far as Horn's Cars of Yesterday is concerned, in 1965 the brothers sold the business to Water Bellm, who expanded the venue into Bellm's Cars & Music of Yesterday. I spent a good amount of time in 1977 with a number of Scopitone "music videos" (actually 16mm films), joyfully watching some of the most tacky, silly and provocatively-produced musical numbers aimed at 'adult audiences'... "To stand out in dimly lit bars and lounges, choosing from a selection of 36 films (from a 'library' of about 500-600 titles, produced between 1958 - 1978), each Scopitone utilized vibrant Technicolor and typically featured elaborate stage sets, dancing showgirls, and colorful choreography". Mid-century entertainment, in all of its wonder-!
Regrettably, the current version of the museum closed in June, 2023.
Thanks Sue for birthday trip [even further] back in time. Thanks, Major.
Yay me, I'm 73!
Looks like these kids got wrist watches(?) for party favors. What, were they out of Fabergé eggs? The colors on that cake are reminiscent of the Knott's locomotive, the Red Cliff. Look away, Chuck, look away! Judging from the groovy pink and orange design on the cups and plates, this is probably late '60s or early '70s. And look! The kids are having balloons for their first course! Excellent choice; low in fat and sugar. Kinda chewy though.
Thank you, Sue. Your contributions to GDB are my birthday present!
That roadside sign was done really well! It's a flat cutout but looks like 3D with nice artwork. I think I'd be more interested in hearing that 176 pipe, organ music box (band organ?).
Until I clicked on the full-size image of the gator pulling the wagon, I thought it was real! I was getting all worked up thinking that they have alligators pulling little kids around in wagons... what the?!?!
Nanook, yeah I noticed the similarities between our birthday parties, like that washing machine. I didn't notice that some of the kids were the same though.
Thank you for the road trip, Major.
It looks like Snoopy is on the party plates, cups and napkins! Nanook's party supplies had The Flintstones. And that is quite the upgrade in party favors, if those are real watches. Maybe they're just "pretend" watches. I kept trying to figure out the design on the wrapping paper, in those first three pics. Fortunately, the fourth image shows us a closer view. It looks like "Kids at a Carnival" is the theme. We can see at least one "spinning flat ride" and maybe a roller coaster. And in that last pic, it looks like "mom" has a faded spot on the backside of her pants. Maybe she sat in some bleach while everyone was partying in the laundry room. ;-)
Isn't there a vintage alligator farm postcard out there, showing a little girl in a cart being pulled by a real alligator? It's all fun and games until someone gets dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon.
Happy Birthday, JB! And thanks for the vintage pics, Sue and Major!
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