Men & Women, Women & Men

I run across photos like this from time to time; pictures where the male becomes female and the female becomes male.  Usually they're more casual.  They've swapped clothes and it has the feel of a drunken dare.  Sometimes, however, they're far more elaborate.  The man and woman in this image have opposite sex clothing that fits.  Perhaps it's from a play, but it was mounted on card stock, is fairly small, and not very good for a publicity still.  I'm thinking these two cross-dressed as part of their sex lives.  Or, in the nineteenth century, long before anyone had ever heard the word transgender, a man who wanted to be a woman and a woman who wanted to be a man, found each other and this is how they lived behind closed doors.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-Eating Outside

I tried to match up faces from my last post, but I just couldn't do it.  Click on The Here There and Everywhere Collection in labels, etc., etc., etc.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-By The Water

Is it a lake, a river, a bay?  Some of the early posts from this collection were from The Adirondacks,  so maybe it's upstate New York.  Then again, maybe it's not.

Again, click on The Here There and Everywhere Collection in labels to see more photos and get more info.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-The One With the Hole In the Print

Also, damaged emulsion.  What looks like a paper hat on the lady is actually part of the print literally pealing away from the paper.  So, no info on the print, guessing from the twenties.  Just think, in three years I'll have to be more specific.

Click on The Here There and Everywhere collection in labels to see more photographs and to find the meaning of the title.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-Snow Clouds Around the Heads

I've gone through this before, but what the hell, let's repeat.  Awhile back, I bought an envelope of photos from an eBay dealer who assured me everything was from a Wisconsin estate sale.  Anyway, I'm always aware that dealers are as likely to tell you what they think you want to hear, as they are the truth, so with a big grain of salt....another from The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection. (Clickable in labels for more pictures and info.)

This photo is mounted on a fragment of an album page.  Written on the back of the page, "Bedford 1944."  Bedford, Massachusetts is my best guess.  New England, snow, it's a fit.  Although, I also found a Bedford in New Hampshire, another snowy, New England locale, and a Bedford from my own home state, Pennsylvania.

And for those wondering, if it's white on the print, it's black on the negative.  The snow is easy to explain, but the white out around the parent's heads: the film may have been exposed to direct light while the film was being loaded or unloaded from the camera, or that area might not have been developed.

The Party

Written on the back, "Dec-1961 Miller Co."  To put it mildly, there are a lot of Miller Companies in the United States.  At first I thought it was a company with an all black work force, albeit with a white boss.  (See the guy on the far left.)  But, after I blew things up, I noticed that there were a number of white people in the background.  I'd love to know if the employees self segregated, or if the party organizer purposely seated all the black workers at the same table.

Grannies in the Garden

It seems to me that we live in a culture that's terrified of aging and death.  Fact is, the only way we can avoid getting old is to die young, and  we all end up dying.  So, two grannies, dated "July 4, 1957," from back in a less self obsessed age.

More Depression on the Beach

The flip side of yesterday's post, dated "August 1930."  It looks like the beach trip required a boat ride.

Depression on the Beach

I've made this point before, and with this album page, I'm able to make it again.  While the Great Depression was devastating to the lives of many, others survived, and even thrived during the era.  It looks like these two kids were never hungry or homeless.  My father, born in 1919, was both.

For those who can't make out the writing: Above the kid with the toy airplane, "July 1930."  Below the beach photo, "August 1930  3yrs 10 mos."

Little Brown Jug

Dated "6-22-24."  I'm going to be kind and write that the man is playing the jug rather than drinking from the jug.  After all, prohibition was from 1920 to 1933 and I'm sure he wasn't setting a bad example for the children.  Now that guy in the car who looks to be swigging from a can is a whole other story.

At the Mexican Joint

Written on the back, "Feb 1, 58 Coffee & Beer break Mexican joint in desert."

Well, I bought this picture in California, so I'm guessing the Palm Springs area or along Route 66.  Of course it could be a lot of other places, but that's my guess.

Russland 4

I've saved my favorite for last.  Literally, the second photo in the column is my favorite.  That second photo is dated "16 VI 18," a date well within the revolution.  When the pictures in this series  were taken, it was still possible to get out.  It was also possible to get shot for being in the wrong party, or the wrong class.  Since these photos  made it to the United States, I'm guessing that most, if not all of the people in these pictures headed west and avoided the worst of the Stalinist terror.  Take a close look at the top picture.  The man on the right is holding a pair of binoculars.  Was he watching birds, or was he watching for Bolsheviks?

There is a movie, directed by Joseph Von Sternberg, that's supposedly based on a real person.  In The Last Command, Emil Jannigs played a Russian general who works as a movie extra in Hollywood.  I've never seen it, but as a silent movie fan, I hope to.

Anyway, click on Russland in labels to see the rest.

Russland 3

A few more faded prints.  The top one looks like people gathering food.  That makes sense.  With a date of "19 X 19" that puts things at a time when there was a lot of hunger in Russia.  It's impossible to tell, but I'm thinking apples and people from the land owning class at their country dacha.  The military uniform in the second picture makes one wonder.  I haven't seen any indication of these people's political leaning.  No pictures of the Tsar, Kerensky, or Lenin in the background of any of these images.  I would, however, be surprised if the people in this collection turned out to be leftists of any kind.

Click on Russland, etc.