Clifton Webb and Friends

The man on the right is actor Clifton Webb.  Curiously what's written on the back, "Dave McIntyre Don Larson June 59"  doesn't mention Webb.  Perhaps the writer assumed that  identifying Webb wasn't necessary.  I couldn't find any info on McIntyre and Larson, but for those of you too young and don't watch old movies.....

Webb was born Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck in 1889 in the less than cosmopolitan Indianapolis, Indiana.  As a child he studied voice and dance and was a professional ballroom dancer by his late teens.  His early career was mostly in the theater.  He had the occasional film role, including in silent movies, but didn't become a star until 1944 when he played villain Waldo Lydecker in Otto Preminger's Laura.  In 1948 he starred in Sitting Pretty as Lynn Belvedere an eccentric genius who takes a job as a babysitter.  The movie was so successful that Webb ended up making a series of Mr. Belvedere films.  He was in Titanic opposite Barbara Stanwyck, still my favorite film version of the sinking of the ship.  (Sorry James Cameron.)  Some of his more memorable films,  The Razor's Edge,  The Man Who Wasn't There, Three Coins in a Fountain, Cheaper By the Dozen,  and as Victor Parmalee, in Boy on a Dolphin.  I wonder if he chose the name of the character.  He lived with his overbearing mother Maybelle  until she died in 1960.  He died six years latter in 1966. 

Going by the backdrop, I'm thinking this photo was taken in a television studio. Perhaps he was being interviewed.

Shadows and Light

Flee, flee for your life.  They are coming to get you.

Song Writers

These guys look like Brill Building types before rock and roll completely took over.  I can see these guys writing Dungaree Doll, a hit for Eddie Fisher, but not the type of song that Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote.  On the other hand, maybe they're just tow guys entertaining at a party who work in sales.

On the Phone

She's wearing a name tag, so this had to be taken at some sort of event.  Fund raising for the local school band? 

Playtime

Two older children, disguised as Mexican banditos, capture privileged younger son.  The end is near my dear! 

Woman on Horseback

I got tired of having my desk covered in loose photographs and old postcards, so I bought a plastic box and shoved everything in and was finally able to see wood grain.  True, it's fake wood grain, but small victories.  On the other hand, out of sight, out of mind, so I now find myself having to make time for The New Found Photography.  Just in case anyone was wondering about the slower pace of my efforts.

So, despite the card stock this was printed on, lacking a publishers name and address, this is not a real photo postcard.  Blow it up and take a closer look and the very tiny dots found in mass commercial printing are quite visible.  I can remember, when I worked in photo labs, if we wanted to make a copy negative of something from a magazine we had to use a special filter on the process camera to descreen those images. 

While this postcard was never mailed there is something written on the back.  "Hazel Jester 595 St. Ams Av N. Y. City  Lovingly Nanna 1921"  Anyway, I was pretty sure that there wouldn't be a St. Ams Avenue in New York City, or for that matter anywhere  else.  I figured it must be a hastily written corruption of St. James Ave.  I looked it up, it's in the Elmhurst section of Queens at the corner of St. James and Broadway.  Not the Broadway in Manhattan.

Holiday In Havana

I've long know that postcard publishers often made stereo-cards as well.  This is the fist time I've seen a postcard that is nothing more than half of a stereo-view.   With both an American and Cuban flag I'm guessing this photo was taken during that brief period of time between the U.S. being allies in the liberation of Cuba from Spain and morphing into an occupying army.  No publishers name listed on the card.