Killing Baby Seals

Yes, I admit it.  This is kind of an unpleasant image.  It's not, however, a celebration of seal hunting.  While it was never mailed, it is addressed to "Right Honorable Pierre Elliot Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario Canada KIA OA2."  And the caption, "A Canadian sealer, with club poised, prepares to bludgeon the 10-day old baby harp seal at his feet.  This brutal episode was repeated more than 180,000 times last year."  Clearly this postcard was meant to protest the annual harp seal hunt. 

Karsh of Ottawa

It's interesting to see what can be found on EBay.  I was just shuffling through old photographs when this image caught my eye.  It was, of course, a nice studio portrait, but what really drew me in was the printer's mark in the lower right hand corner.  "KARSH OTTAWA" refers to one of the most famous portraitists of the 20th century.

 Yousuf Karsh was born in 1908 in Turkey.  He was a survivor of the Armenian genocide.  In 1923, he arrived in Canada and was taken in by his uncle, a studio photographer who taught his nephew the trade.  In 1932, Karsh opened a studio in Ottawa, the capitol of Canada.  He would eventually land an important client.  Mackenzie King was the Prime Minister of Canada, and he not only sat for portraits of his own, but began arranging for Karsh to take portraits of visiting dignitaries.  In 1941 he took  a picture of Winston Churchill that would become the single most reproduced photographic portrait in history.  In 1945 Life magazine paid Karsh $100 for use of the Churchill portrait  on the cover.  After that, Karsh would receive a number of commissions from Life for other portraits of some of the most prominent people in the world.  Karsh died in 2002.

Take a look at the soldiers uniform and a patch can be seen identifying him as a member of the Dutch army.  The most obvious explanation is that he was in exile from the Nazi occupied Netherlands.  It was almost certainly taken after the Churchill portrait.

Victoria, B.C.

I purchased this card on EBay.  The seller had two versions of this image, this one, and a real photo postcard.  I bid on both in hope that I could post them and show how card publishers used black & white photos to make color postcards.  Unfortunately, I only won this one.  Published by "Barber Bros., Victoria, B.C." 

Momie, Ruth, and Helen

Written on the back of the second photo, "Detroit River, summer 1938.  Momie & Ruth." The third picture, "Detroit River, summer 1938.  Ruth & Helen."

The Detroit River connects the not so great Lake Saint Clair,  Detroit, and Lake Erie.  (The Saint Clair River connects Lake Huron and Lake Saint Clair.) It also separates Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, Canada.  In 1938, it was one of the most polluted waterways in North America, so if these three ladies were actually swimming, they risked at least a few weird  infections.  More likely, they were headed to Lake Erie for a week of sailing.

1938 was near the end of the great depression.  In a few years, World War 2 defense spending would make Detroit one of the wealthiest cities in the world.  After the war, with no real competition from foreign car makers, Detroit continued getting richer and richer.  If this family could afford a sailboat during the depression, they probably were in a position to really cash in during the war and the post war boom.

And yes, who ever wrote the message on the back of the photos did spell it Momie.

Happy Cows

Remember the California Milk Commission commercials about happy cows and happy milk?

Anyway, I know a lot of vegan, animal lovers, animal rights types and they're always telling me about how intelligent animals are, almost always comparing animal intelligence to human intelligence.  Having grown up in a small rural town, having worked on farms, and being an avid hiker backpacker who has seen plenty of animals up close, I always point out that we are all intelligent in the way we need to be to survive, and it's foolish to compare people and, let's say cattle.  Still, I can't help but wonder, is the one cow saying to the other, "I hate being all penned up in a zoo.  Ah, to run free."  While the other replies, "Well, we're not being eaten here, so stop complaining."  

Another contact print with glass negative from Toronto.  Perhaps the Toronto Zoo.

Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Poultry)

Yes it is a birdman and he loves his poultry.  But does he love eggs or meat?  Anyway, this one goes back awhile.  I can remember purchasing the glass negative and this contact print at a flea market in Toronto, Ontario.  I had an Uncle who lived in the city, and from time to time, I'd get dumped on his front step.

One of these days, I'll have to dig out the neg and make a print of my own.

Views of the World, Horseshoe Falls, Niagara, New York

As every Canadian school child knows, Horseshoe Falls are in Ontario, not New York.

Click on Views of the World in labels to bring up the lot.

Road Trip!

I hate driving in cities, but I love road trips, and this picture looks to have been from a great one.  I put my best magnifying glass on the cars license plate and it's from Pennsylvania in 1928.  And where did she go; Watkins Glen in New York, on Seneca lake in the finger lakes district.  Au Sable, New York on the Au Sable River, near Lake Champlain.  And on Lake Champlain, Rouses Point, a mile south of the Canadian border and during prohibition a great place to meet alcohol smugglers from Canada.  And of course, everyone should know about Montreal and Toronto.  I imagine this lady and her travelling companion(s) circled Lake Ontario, returning through Niagara Falls.  So, Watkins Glen State Park, the Adirondacks, beautiful lakes, smuggled Canadian whiskey,  French speakers, and shredded wheat.  (Shredded wheat is made in Niagara Falls, New York.)  And with no four lane highways, and probably more than a few miles on dirt routes, it must have taken at least a month.  Now that's a trip.

I Like Trains

I love rail travel. I love trains, streetcars, and subways. I love steam, diesel and electric. I hope the state of California builds the high speed route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. This photo is by train enthusiast Elwin K. Heath. Written on the back, "Canadian National 6019, Class U-1b 4-82, Montreal 1933." For a brief mention of Heath and lots of other great train photographs go to www.railarchive.net/randomsteam/cnr3367.htm

Niagara Falls

Slowly we turn. Step by step. Inch by inch. Just a quick one for fans of The Three Stooges. Niagara Falls became the go to place for honeymooners in the second half of the 19th century. A nascent middle class with disposable income, easy rail connections from eastern cities, cheap hotels, and a tourist industry was born. Niagara Falls was also the home of Shredded Wheat, a much dreaded breakfast from my childhood. I thought I'd just mention that since I've put up a Shredded Wheat advertising card on my other blog, www.fairuse-wjy.blogspot.com

Opening Day

As I've noted before, I've had a life long tendency to collect things. My first really systematic collections were baseball cards and comic books. Sadly, my mother listened to the child psychologists of the day who believed that a refusal to give up childhood interests was a sign of an arrested development. So every Topps baseball card from 1959 through 1970, organized by team and league went into the fire. Also, my Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Avengers numbers 1. Just think, I could have paid all my debts and taken the next couple of years off if I still had them. And no, I'm not going back to baseball card collecting. Not enough space, time or money. This is the only one I own.

Emma Alexander

No, I don't know the name of the woman in these snapshots. When I found this small group of photos of the same lady over the years, I was most interested in the image of her in the blue jeans and bikini top, and the earliest of the collection, the photo of her leaning on a ship's rail. The ship picture is labeled "S.S. Emma Alexander" and that gave me a starting point to do some research. The S.S. Emma Alexander was built by the New York Ship Building Corporation for The Pacific Coast Steamship Company. The ship's keel was laid down on August 31, 1912 and was launched on May 17, 1913. Originally named the Congress, the ship was damaged in a fire off the Oregon coast in 1916, and then repaired and sold in 1918 to the China Mail Company for use on the San Francisco to Hong Kong route. The Congress was renamed The Nanking. In 1923, the ship was sold to The Admiral Line, renamed the Emma Alexander, and 1n 1924, was returned to service on the Pacific coast routes from San Diego, California, to the bay area, to Victoria, British Columbia, Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The ship went out of service in 1936, and in 1941 was sold to the British Ministry of War Transport Service, survived World war 2, only to be scuttled in the mid-Atlantic in 1946 with a load of gas bombs in her hold. So, we can date the first photo from no earlier than 1924, and no later than 1936. Based on the clothing, closer to 1924. Researching old photos can lead into some interesting directions. When I entered S.S. Emma Alexander into the search engine, all I was hoping for was a date range on the photo, but I also found some history on the coastal liners. The Admiral Line employed white crews, but like the Pullman Railroad Car Company, they employed black stewards. Go to www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/thomasfleming.htm for an article about Thomas Fleming, the future founder of the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, an important black newspaper, who, as an 18 year old, fresh out of Chico High School, was a steward on the Emma Alexander. It's possible that Mr. Flemming served breakfast to this lady. The only other photo with any written information is the photo of her standing in front of the large house, labeled "Monterey, Calif." The date range on these photos look to be from the mid-twenties to the late forties, early fifties.