Jo and Lucy From Italy

 

There's some Italian writing on the back of the print and after running it through Google Translate, I've come up with a meaning, though there was one word I had trouble working out.  So, after trying dozens of possibilities, I'm going with the only wording that makes sense.  "Jo and Lucy collect the balls and Tesy on the porch takes them."  Bocci ball?  It's like lawn bowling.  I grew up in a small rural town that had an Italian-American Club that was about a hundred or so yards from my back door. The old men who always seemed to have a game going would chase me away when I stopped to watch.   

The Post war European Trip Collection-Florence 3

Only a few more posts to go and this collection will be done.  This one is the last without at least some photograph based image.  Captions top to bottom, "Ponte Vecchio (The old bridge)," "The Pitti Palace and view of the cathedral," "Piazzale Michelangelo," "General view (Panorama)."  Just think, only a few more posts, and it will be possible to click on The Post War European Collection in labels and see everything I've got on Gloria Lee and her cycling trip of Europe.   

The Post War European Trip Collection-Olivetti Typewriters

Leave it to the Italians to make a stylish receipt.  It looks like Gloria Lee bought a typewriter while she was in Italy.  We know she was just out of high school when she took this trip, so maybe she picked up the typewriter for college.  I did before I started my freshman year, and as a matter of fact, it was an Olivetti.  One of the reasons I purchased it was because it wasn't just functional, it was beautiful.  I'd bet that the 1948 Olivetti was also stylish.

For those who don't already know, click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels for more images, and information.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Gloria Lee In Venice

Unlike in the previous post, this card was mailed.  The Message, "July 10, 1948.  Dear Mom & Dad,  Venice is simply heavenly.  There's no other place like it in the world!  It's exactly  like all the pictures you've seen painted-gondolas on the canals-all the beautiful, colorful surroundings and the people so well dressed here & go about with a prosperous air.  Took a trip over to the beach resort LIDO yesterday afternoon and this afternoon and laid in the sand & was just plain lazy-ahhh! It was wonderful-made me feel so darn healthy! and just eager to start out on another 60 mile hike-YEAH!!!  Some day I intend to return to this abode as it's just everything you could want in a city-Love, Gloria Lee."  Needless to say, Gloria Lee had very, very small hand writing.

The card was mailed to "Mr. & Mrs. Frank H. Bigewet, 5118 Vernon Ave., St. Louis 13, Mo. U.S.A." Now, I thought that I was misreading the last name, so I did a quick Google search for Frank Bigewet and was surprised to find his 1940 census information.  Frank was 37 years old in 1940.  Not too old to miss war service, but old enough that he wouldn't have been subject to the draft.  His daughter Gloria Lee was all of 10, born in 1930.  So, depending on which month she was born,  Gloria Lee was either 18 or 19 years old when she sent this card.   Too young to have a boyfriend or husband in the military, at least during World War 2.

As usual, click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels, etc., etc.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Moses

Written on the back, "This is supposed to be the finest work of sculptur ever conceived by man.  It's a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments and was done by Michael Angelo.  It now sits inside St. Peter's church and is part of a memorial to a Pope who died centuries ago."  The card was never mailed.

Our traveler visited a number of places,  I have no idea as to her route, and feel no obligation to group locations,  As usual, click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to see more.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-In Venice

No, not Venice, California.  Literature is full of stories of rich Americans headed off for a life along the canals.  In my last post, I wondered if this collection was the maid's or her employer's.  My mother and her brother were servants.  When her bosses traveled, she stayed at home, but her brother went with the family.  In the last post I promised a clue, and that clue comes from my mother's experience My mother was a parlor maid and wore a uniform like the one in the last post.  Ladies maids and valets, like my uncle, traveled, parlor maids stayed behind.

Click on The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection in labels to see more.

Views of the World, Milan Cathedral, Italy

Milan Cathedral is the fifth largest church in the world and the largest in Italy.  Believe it or not, construction began in 1386, and wasn't completed until January 6 1965.  For those with bad math skills, that's 579 years.  Truthfully, in this image, I prefer the streetcars.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other postcards from this series.

College Days, Mystery Locations, The Travelers Collection

Too many collections, too little time.

Why do people travel?  Some just for pleasure.  Some move about for a more concrete reason.  Maybe the owners of these photos were in the military, maybe they were diplomats, or in some service organization.  Or maybe they were academics.  Anyone who has gone to college will recognize the quad, that great open space, dead center on campus.  I don't know which institution, but that top photo is the classic university quad.  The last photo is labeled "A university in Genoa."  And the other two have an institutional look that could be a college.  At least that's my guess, and I'm standing by it.  And if I'm wrong on my suppositions, well, that's what the comments section is for.

To recap, awhile back I bought a bunch of photos from a dealer, all from the same source, and there were a lot of travel photos in the envelope.  Click on travelers collection in labels to see them all.  Some are fairly interesting, some not.  Blame my obsession with posting everything for the dull ones.

The Fifth In Florence

I haven't  put up one of these for awhile.  Unlike my other souvenir photo folders, this one isn't for a nightclub, but for "THE FIFTH ARMY OFFICERS' REST HOTEL, HOTEL ANGLO AMERICAN-FLORENCE"  Personally, I would have put the hyphen between Anglo and America, but that's me. .

A rest hotel for army officers is just what it sounds like.  When not on duty, officers of the Fifth Army in Italy could check into the hotel, set aside for their exclusive use, and have fun.  Real beds, clean sheets, plentiful food from the United States, booze, and a liberal policy on female companionship.  And why not.  My mother was a war bride from England, the marriage didn't work out, and she delighted in pointing out how Americans didn't take the war and suffering seriously. "Everything was a lark to you Americans."  My father took a far different attitude to the discussion.  "You're twenty, you might die next week, you'd be a fool not to get in as much pleasure as possible."  I have to say, dad made a lot more sense to me.

Now known as U.S. Army North, the Fifth Army was activated on January 5, 1943 in Oujda, French Morocco, and was part of the allied invasion of Italy.  The Fifth's first commander was Lt. General Mark W. Clark.  The Fifth's overall theater commander, in the Mediterranean,  was British Field Marshall, Harold Alexander.  Clark and Alexander didn't get along.  Alexander thought that Clark was liberal in the way he interpreted orders, especially his liberation of Rome.  Clark, on the other hand, was bitter over what he thought was an unnecessary order to destroy the monastery at Monte Cassino.  Legitimate strategic disputes, or two warring egos?  Who knows.  In the end, over all supreme commander, Dwight Eisenhower, was content to let things be.

The Hotel Anglo American is still there, and still in business.  It's on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi.  Rooms can be had from 74.80 Euros, breakfast and free Wi-Fi included.

Winter Sports In the Dolomites

Written on the back of the second photograph, "Selva  Dolomiten, Dezember 1956"

Selve refers to a small community in the Dolomite Mountains in the  South Tyrol region of northern Italy, Selva di Val Gardena, or as it's known in German, Wolkenstein in Groden.

 So why all the German?  Pretty simple, actually.  The South Tyrol was once part of Austria-Hungary.  At the beginning of World War 1, there were two political blocks in Europe.  The Triple Entente, Great Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  When the war started, Italy dropped out of the alliance.  In 1915, the British promised the Italians the South Tyrol if they'd switch sides and declare war on the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The Italians didn't do all that well in the actual fighting, but after the war, they were able to annex the South Tyrol.  Despite attempts to "Italianize" the area, the majority of people still speak German.  In Selva, 89% speak Ladin, a local dialect.  The remaining 11% are about equally divided between Italian and German.

Burma

At first glance, this isn't much of a postcard.  With it's amazing detail, it's clearly a photograph, most likely a black & white photograph, that has been hand colored.  Labeled "Pension Francaise Maurice" it was probably given out to guests passing through Naples. A nice image, but not all that exciting.

But turn it over and it gets far more interesting.  There are two postmarks, one from Naples, and one from Burma.  The Italian stamp is mostly obscured, but the Burmese, "MANDALAY  11 OCT 28  2:30 P.M."   is easily read.  It's addressed to "Miss H. M. Price, A.B.M. Girls School, Mandalay, Burma, Brit. India"  And the message, "We are coming along toward Burma at a pretty rapid clip.  Sail tonight for Bombay, ought to reach R by Oct. 10th.  Hope to see you soon after that.  Our journey has been so rapid I haven't had time to write any letters.  Shall have lots to tell you.  I have a pkg. for you I think you'll like.  Yrs, B."

I punched A.B.M. girls school into the search engine, not expecting much.  My initial thought was that it had to be a school for the daughters of British, colonial administrators.  I was wrong.  A.B.M. stands for American Baptist Missionary, and it wasn't a school for white children, but a church school that taught Christianity along with useful skills to Burmese girls.  The earliest reference to a Baptist missionary school in Burma that I could find was from 1895, a boy's school in Mandalay.  For girls, 1906, also in Mandalay.  So that means that Miss Price must have been a teacher.  I couldn't find anything about her on the web, but I did find mention of an L. W. Price, a Baptist missionary in Burma,  from 1900.  Possibly a relative of some kind, although 1928 is quite a gap.  So maybe not.

Mandalay was the last royal capital of Burma, now Myanmar.  In 1885, the British conquered the country, exiled the king and queen, and added it to their colonial empire.  The palace was looted.  The art, and symbols of state are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, some of which are on display.  I suspect that "R" refers to Rangoon, now Yangon.  After the British conquest, they moved the capital from Mandalay to Rangoon.  While Rangoon, a seaport, would become a major commercial hub for the British, Mandalay would remain the center of Buddhist and Burmese culture.  Burma became independent in 1948.  In 2002, the military junta running the country began construction of a brand new city, Naypydaw. In 2006, it became the new capital of Myanmar.  Several years ago the military was forced to cede power to an elected, civilian government.  Only time will tell how stable it will be.

An uncle of mine was in the British military in World War 2.  He served in the CBI theater.  That's China, Burma, India.  He told me stories of taking Japanese prisoners up in DC-3 transports and throwing them out over the jungles and mountains of Burma. An interrogation technique that rarely worked.  He told me how the soldiers would beat and imprison any Burmese thought to be disloyal to the British Empire.  It always amazed me that he didn't understand why the British were so despised by their colonial subjects.

Italian Army

When World War 1 began in November of 1914, Italy was member of the Triple Alliance along with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Italian Parliament declared, that since the alliance was for defensive proposes, and since Germany and the Austrians had been the aggressors, their treaty obligations were not enforceable. In May of 1915, Italy joined the Entente and allied themselves with Great Britain, France and Russia. From 1915 to 1917 the Italian army attacked Austrian forces along their border but were unable to make any significant advances. In 1917, with German help, the Austrian army made a significant counter attack that resulted in the rout of the Italian army at the battle of Caporetto. See A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway for a written description of the retreat. The Italians were able to halt the offensive, but until October of 1918, with Austria on the verge of civil war, they were not able to regain significant territory from the Austrians. In the last few months of the war, the Italian army was finally able to penetrate deep into Austrian territory. Fighting ended between the Italians and the Austrians on November 3, 1918, a week before the signing of a final armistice, ending the war.

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All of these images are printed on postcard stock. The first image is the newest. I'm usually pretty good at deciphering hand writing, but not having any Italian, I'm unable to infer things from context. Normally I wouldn't post the back of a card, but I can only figure out so much, so if anyone out there can give me an accurate translation.... "Col." I'm guessing is an abbreviation for Colonello, Italian for Colonel. That last name may be Rafall, but I can't be sure. I've got "Gioia" figured out, with "Calle" so I'm putting the Colonel on Joy Street in August of 1927. The Colonel and the civilian postcard has an address that I can't make out, and a name, "Giovanni" a last name I can't decipher and "+ moglie" wife. I've put up a number of hand tinted images on this blog, but the last two images are the first before and after pictures that I've been able to post. Written on the back of the tinted version, "Ottobre 6. 1918 Austria" October 6, 1918 Austria. Less than a month to the cease fire.