Sunday in the Park (With George?)

I looked for picnic baskets, but didn't see any.  So, why else would all these people be sitting on blankets in a park?  I do hope one of those guys is named George.  From the 50's I would think.

Air Vietnam

When I first saw this postcard I immediately thought CIA, but quickly realized, no that was Air America.  Anyway, I'm kind of a transportation buff, and I like old airplanes, so what the hell, I bought it.  Air Viet Nam, as it's spelled on the back of the card, was founded in 1951 with a fleet of Cessna 170's.  Not an ambitious start, but then the original purpose of the airline was to connect small, rural villages with cities.  With the beginning of the Vietnam war, the airline had a major expansion.  Lot's of soldiers needed to be moved.  For flights in country, they mostly used prop planes, like the Douglas DC-3, 4, 5, and 6.  For overseas flights, jets. 

So, the captions, "AIR VIET NAM,  Douglass  DC-6, XV-NUD,  MSN 42876, Saigon 1970."  "Photo Courtesy: David C. Goss" 

Sunshin

I've noticed my spelling has gotten a lot worse in our digital age, so who am I to criticize others?  Written on the back, "Gian, June, Nick Sept. 1941.  Just a sunshin day in September. Every body feeling good."  There's also a lab stamp, "McCLELLAN BROS. STUDIO PHOTO FINISHING DEPT PHONE 546, 405 Magnolia St.  Laurel, Miss."  I wonder how long it's been since phone numbers were three digits long? 

The Key Note

I have no idea what The Key Note is, but whatever it is, it's written on the print, so it's not a sign on the building.  It could be a nightclub, a restaurant, or some sort of social club.  I even thought it might be the name of a play or musical group, but, while I tried, it's too generic to get a match.  There is a date written on the bottom border, "10/29/33" 

Party In the Rain

Well, they are holding umbrellas, so it must be raining.  Looks like the sixties to me. 

Bertha Bradish at the Piano

Well, I thought I might be able to find out something about Bertha Bradish, and about all I could find was that there was a Bertha Bradish who was a resident of Huron, Ohio recorded in the 1900 census.  The Norwalk, Ohio exposition (?) and piano contest is a mere 11 miles from Huron, so I'm going out on a limb and saying that the Bertha from Huron, who played in the piano contest are one in the same.  Too, Norwalk is the county seat of Huron County, so yet another link.  This postcard was mailed.  It has an undivided back from the era when people weren't supposed to write messages on the back.  It was mailed to "Jno. Bellamy, Norwalk, O"  It has both a postmark for where it was mailed from and where it was sent.  ""WAKEMAN, OHIO JAN 7, 10-AM"  The other postmark, "NORWALK, OHIO JAN 7, 5-PM  1907"  Wakeman is also in Huron County.  Any guesses on what the full name for Jno. is?

Rosie

Labeled "Rose between 2 Thorns?"  There is also a processors stamp on the back, "WILLARD'S BOX 3535 CLEVELAND, OHIO June 1940."

 I'm always fascinated by photos from just before the American entry into World War 2.  These three must have been aware that the world was spiraling into chaos and it was only a matter of time before the U.S. was pulled in.  Were they accepting that they'd end up in a war and may get killed, or were they in denial and just assumed that some how or another the United States would stay out of the war? 

Black Shriners

There's a stamp on the back of this print, "ALEXANDER L. ADAMS, PHOTOGRAPHER, 1036 WESTMOOR DR.  N. W. AM 0934, ATLANTA, GA."  I couldn't find any biographical information about Adams.  Some of his photos are in the archives of Emory University in Atlanta.  The only other photo I could find of his was from the 1950s, it was taken in a beauty parlor and showed a young lady having her makeup applied.  Near as I can tell, Adams was one of the many commercial photographers who took pictures of what ever his clients paid him to take.  His prime importance is that he recorded black life in Atlanta.

I'm not going to go into the history of the Shriners.  For those who care, there's plenty of info on-line.  They are affiliated with the Masons, and they do have black affiliates, that date back at least to the early twentieth century.  I suspect they might go back towards the end of the Civil War based on some of the pictures I've seen, but I couldn't find any actual dates.

Drunken Party

It looks like this bunch have been hitting the sauce.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 10

I only have the word of the seller that these are school uniforms, though these two photos seem to confirm that.  The younger people, both the male and female are all wearing very similar clothing, but there are a few older men who have very different looks.  There is one who is wearing a grey uniform and has been seen before, three older man who look to be wearing suits, and one who looks like he's wearing work clothes.   So, students, faculty, and the janitor?  In any case, we've moved back a bit in time.  A few posts back  had dates of 1941 and 1944.  This one, 1938.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boys Album in labels at the bottom of the post to see more.  I finally got around to actually counting the pages, and I think two more runs will do it, for a grand total of twenty posts, so I'll be moving on to other things for awhile.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 9

Nothing written on the backs of these photos but I did notice that the young woman on the bottom right of the top photo has the same arm badge as the single woman in the last post.  Click on The Bulgarian School Boys Album in labels at the bottom of the post to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 8

When I start one of these albums, I don't take the whole thing apart before I start posting images.  I disassemble the collection as I go along and discover things as they come.  The top photo has something written on the back,  Three letters, possibly the initials of the young lady and a date, 1941. As can be seen, the second photo in the column has far more information on the back, including a 1944 date.  Rather than thinking of this album as being about students, perhaps I should have thought of it as a memory album of those who either survived or died in World War 2, Bulgaria.  In any case, The Bulgarian School Boy Album remains the common tag for this collection.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 7

I haven't forgotten the Bulgarian school boys, I've just been busy the last couple of days.  In any case, it's Bulgarian school girls today, though the 1944 date on the back of the first print is far enough from the first few pages of this album that these ladies might be Bulgarian school girl graduates.  In any case, I'm not going to try and translate the back.  I can, to a certain extent, read Cyrillic lettering, but it's a bit too much for me to piece everything together.  I think, however, we can conclude that the line above the date is the name of the two girls, and, of course, it's easy to translate Zagora, referring to the city, Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

And, of course, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.