Cut in Half

  

This is another one of those photos that has been cut down from a larger image.  I always wonder why.  An ex-boyfriend, how about an ex-husband?   Maybe it just needed to fit in a frame.  Written on the back, "Mon. Jan 2, 1939."  An interesting year.  The Great Depression was winding down, and U.S. involvement in World War 2 was only a few years away.  

George Ekblaw and the Bananas

  

When possible, I like to do a little research on the images I post, and this one has a fair amount of info that I was able to run down.  To start with, the card's original photo is credited to "A. HIRSCHWITZ, NEW ORLEANS. LA."  I wasn't able to find any biographical details on the man's life, but I was able to find quite a few postcards credited to him, all published by 'THE CURT TEICH @ CO. CHICAGO."  Whether he was a freelancer who specialized in postcards or an employee of Curt Teich, well, I wasn't able to find any info on that.

There was a message written on the back, "I am seeing the sights at first hand.  Lordy here-azaleas, camelias, oleander in bloom.  I may see you-I will stop off at Mother E's on my way back. KJ has left for Florida to day.  Sunday we made a side trip to Biloxi.  Regards to all. AE."  

The card is addressed to "Dr & Mrs George Ekblaw, 511 W. Main Str, Urbana, Ill."  The postmark, "NEW ORLEANS LA, FEB 6, 11 AM., 1939"  

So, this is where it gets interesting.  I found a memorial page for the life of George Elbert Ekblaw, of Urbana, IL, published by the University of Illinois.  I'm only going to hit the highlights, so for those interested in more detail, it's easy to find online.  George Ekblaw was born in 1895 and died in 1972.  He was a veteran of World War 1, and after returning from Europe, he taught school for a few years, and eventually got degrees in engineering and geology from the University of Illinois.  After getting his degrees, he joined the Illinois State Geological Survey's Engineering and Geology Section.  It looks like it was his job to work on dams, roads, and tunnels.  I assume it was his specific task to survey the underlying geology for state projects.  He also found time to map the glacial moraines of Illinois and write at least one book on the geology of Illinois. He married Emma Josephine Nyberg and fathered at least one son, Andrew Ekblaw II, also a graduate of the University of Illinois, and also an engineer, though he moved to New York State and worked for G.E.  Andrew was born in 1933 and died in 2016.  If Andrew was the person who sent this card, he was all of six years old, so despite the initials, I'm thinking it was another Ekblaw. 

And the caption, "New Orleans, is the world's greatest banana port, more than 700 ships arrive each year loaded with 25,000 to 50,000 bunches of bananas.  Each individual bunch of bananas is carried from the hold of the ship to the door of the refrigerator car on mechanical conveyors."  Also, "NEW ORLEANS-AMERICA'S MOST INTERESTING CITY."  I'm not sure about that one.  I've been to New Orleans, as well as some other very interesting American cities. 

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 16

I've been on a bit of a vacation, and yes I did add a few more photos to the collection, but before I start in on those, it's time to finish The Bulgarian School Boy Album.  (Click on in labels to see more.) 

It looks like this album was put together after the fact, rather than as the pictures were taken.  There are dates ranging from the mid thirties into the mid forties.  1936 and 1939 on this page.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 12

It looks like the Bulgarian school boys are all lined up for inspection.  I'd love to know if this album is from a military school or are we dealing with ordinary kids who had to wear uniforms in school. 

There is some writing on the back of the top photo, but it's so faded that I didn't think it was worth scanning, but I could make out the date, "1941."  The bottom photo shows both boys and girls, all in some sort of uniform.  Both scans are from the back of that print, just separated  into two parts for easier viewing.  The logo is from Leonar Werke, a German photographic supply company that was founded in 1893, in Hamburg.  It started manufacturing printing papers for home use in 1907 and quickly became one of the major suppliers in Europe.  In 1943, their factories and offices were destroyed when Hamburg became a target of allied bombing.  After the war, Lenar rebuilt.   In 1964, they merged with Agfa and the brand name was retired. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

New York (And a bit of the fair) 1939

As I mentioned in the last post, the Czechoslovakian Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair closed after the German invasion of the country in 1939, and didn't reopen for the 1940 season, so dating these photos was easy.

All of these images are captioned in the same neat hand.  Top to bottom, "S.S. Queen Mary, NYC," "Riverside Church, NYC," "Columbia University, NYC," "Lower Manhattan NYC,"  "Lower NYC Skyline from Staten Is. Ferry," "Empire State Building," and "Czecho-Slovak Pavilian-NY World's Fair."

More From the 1939 New York World's Fair

It must have been an interesting time at the fair.  Even though all the countries of Europe were invited to submit a pavilion, Germany declined.  All things considered, not a bad idea.  In 1938, the Munich Agreement was negotiated by England and Germany, giving part of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis.  In 1939, the first year of the fair, Germany would take the rest of the country, and Germany and the Soviet Union would invade and dismember Poland.   The Czech and Polish pavilions would close for the 1940 season.  The Soviets dismantled their building and left a vacant lot in the middle of the fairgrounds.

 Of course, the Polish invasion led to declarations of war by France and Great Britain, with German invasions of Denmark and Norway soon to follow.  And then the big push, Germany moving through Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, pushing what was left of the British military into the channel at Dunkirk.  I can't imagine that smiling German greeters would have been welcome in New York City.  In any case, many of the employees of the European pavilions were stranded in New York for the duration.

I don't know whether these photos are all by the same photographer.  All I do know is that I found them all stuffed in the same envelope.  The picture of the statue and the night shot were both trimmed, so they may, in fact, be the same format as the others, but they were also printed on a different paper, so, different photographer or printed at another time?  Who knows.  Take a close look at the next to last photo in the column.  It's flopped.  For those who wish to print for themselves, camera original film reads right through the base, the shinny side.  That is, unless, someone deliberately loaded the film backwards.  Some people do.  Color film, shot through the base, saturates the red dyes on the film.  Black & white changes the contrast.  

The 1939 New York World's Fair

I just picked up an envelope of photos of New York from 1939.  It reminded me that I already had some photos from the 1939 New York World's Fair, so I've decided to put them up over the next few days.  This one, found in the quarter box at the antique mall, shows the Trylon and Perisphere.

World's fairs are, essentially, massive trade shows, allowing countries and large corporations to sell themselves to the paying public.  The 1939 fair was the first to be built around a theme, The World of Tomorrow.  The Perisphere and Trylon were designed as the theme center.  The buildings were  by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux.  The Perisphere contained a massive diorama, Democracity a depiction of an ideal city of the future, by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.