S.S. Drottningholm

 

The S.S. Drottningholm was built in 1904 by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Scotland.   Her first owner was the Allan Line and was named the Virginian.  During World War 1, she was chartered by the British as a troop transport.  Sold to the Canadian Pacific Line in 1917 and then sold to the Swedish American Line in 1920, renamed the Drottningholm, and operated by the line until 1951, then sold to the Home Lines, an Italian company that renamed the ship Brazil.  The ship's final owner was the Hamburg American Line, which renamed the ship the Homeland.  She was scrapped in Italy in 1955.

It's partially obscured, but I'm fairly certain that this postcard is postmarked, "NEW YORK N.Y. SEP 10 5 P.M. 1947."  The message, "The time is getting closer but just to say "Hello" Feeling fine and all looks interesting-Don't forget to write.  Love Ingrid."  The card was mailed to "Mrs. Imogene Abzug, 1342 Sunland Ave. Jamestown, N.Y." 

And the captions, BREKVORT CARTE POSTALE, S.S. DROTTNINGHOLM, SVENSKA AMERIKA LINIEN, SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN.   Printed in Sweden, 45.1 55,000 11.6.47, 645." 

Lost Feet

 

Written on the back, "28th Dec 1947, Doris June, Emily, Vida, Dicy.  Our feet got lost somewhere in the camera.  Ha."  What kind of name is Dicy?  It has to be short for something.  There's also a processing lab stamp, "JAN 1948  STUDER  S. A.  TEX."  I assume that S.A. stands for San Antonio. 

Nicky Blair's Carnival

 

It's been a while since I've posted one of these souvenir photo folders.  

So, I was able to find out a few things about Nicky Blair's Carnival. It was located in the Hotel Capitol in New York City, a hotel that doesn't seem to still be in business.  I wasn't able to find out when the hotel opened and when it shut down.  The same with the nightclub. Did Carnival die with the hotel, or did it close before the Hotel Capitol closed its doors for good? I have no idea. 

I found an advertisement for the hotel with a rather long caption, "Nicky Blair's Carnival, 51st and 8th Avenue, New York. NEW YORK'S MOST BEAUTIFUL NIGHT CLUB.  Presenting Olsen & Johnson, Beatrice Kay, and America's Loveliest Girls in a spectacular revue staged by John Murray Anderson, two shows nightly at 8:30 and 12 (Sats 8, 10, and 12:30). New York's biggest evening of Dinner, Show, and Dancing...All for the price of your dinner alone! NEVER A COVER CHARGE!" Well, I hope I transcribed that correctly. 

On the back of the folder, "Souvenir Photo $1.50. For extra copies write to: PLANETARY PHOTO, 311 West 34th Street, New York 1, N.Y. Use Number on back of Print Stating date taken and name of Club along with description of the photo." The number, handwritten, "146" and the date stamped, "JUN 6 1947."  I wasn't able to find anything about Planetary Photo, but I've found the name on some of the other souvenir photo folders I own.  

There's an inscription on the inside of the folder. "To Sam my samba partner Jackie Goldete. At least that's what I think it says. Her handwriting isn't the best in the world. And before I forget, the folder was too big for my scanner so all I've got is a somewhat marginal cell phone photo. 

Two Women, One Man

Dated "1947," around two years after the war.   Another from the throw-in file.

The Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo

The Hoo-Hoos were founded in 1892 by a small group of men associated with the wood products industry.  They wanted to form a fraternal organization that was both unconventional and unregimented.  Unlike other lodges they were a lot more interested in having fun and tended to avoid the good works of other groups, though they did plant trees.  Their original membership requirements, apart from some association with wood products, was white males over 21.  Now, the racial standard is gone and the age requirement has been lowered to 18.  I'm always surprised that fraternal organizations are still hanging on, though I suspect most will be gone within the next 50 years or so.

There's a photographers stamp on the back.  "PHOTO BY Robertson and Fresh, TAMPA'S COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS, 504 E. Lafayette st., Tampa, Fla."  William Vernon "Red" Robertson was the photographer while Harry Fresh was the lab man who processed the film and made the prints.  They were in business from 1932 to 1960.  The University of South Florida has a large collection of their negatives.  Sadly, many of those negs have disintegrated because of high levels of acetic acid coupled with high humidity.  The yellow tinge of these two photographs shows that Mr. Fresh showed little interest in an archival wash for either their negatives or their prints.  To see the images in the USF collection, go to digital.lib.usf.edu/robertsonandfresh/all. Quite frankly, it's a lot easier just to go to Google and type in Robertson and Fresh photographers Tampa.

English Theater, Sincerely Hazel Bray

There's a lot of information on the back of this print.  A stamp, "KEMSLEY NEWSPAPERS LTD., MANCHESTER, COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH."  And hand written, "Puss in Boots.  Panto: Scene 3-Courtyard of the Inn.  Hazel Bray and Jean Adrienne. [Principal girl and Boy]" 

A panto is a form of musical comedy aimed at family audiences, preformed mostly in England.  Hazel Bray has an IMDB listing.  She had four film credits from 1944 to 1947.  Not very extensive, as far as film work, but clearly she worked on the stage.  Jean Adrienne did a bit better with her film career, but not by much.  She appeared in seven films from 1932 to 1938.  She was born in India in 1905 and died in London in 1994. 

Beat Me With a Stick

I can't remember where I heard it, but beat me with a stick is something I've heard at one time or another.

Anyway, written on the back, "Rebeal 1947, Malcolm Salinger, Jan Castsanien."  Now, I guess that makes some sort of sense, two names, two people.  But then, "Peggy Schull, Jan Castanien, Salinger, Denison, N W Ines."  Okay, I've got two names and since Malcolm and Jan get named twice, I guess that's Jan and Malcolm fooling around in the photo, but why did Peggy, Denison, and Ines all get mentioned?  And Rebeal?  I did a search, and Rebeal is an actual surname, so is that yet another unseen person, or the name of the beach?  As usual, more questions than answers.