Meet Me In Paris

 

 I've long been fascinated by World's Fairs but have never visited one. Many years after it closed, I was in Seattle, went up in the Space Needle, and rode the monorail, but it wasn't the same as being there during the fair. 

This postcard is from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, its motto being "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms." Well, I'm not too fond of the Man Conforms part, but still.  I spent some time doing research and found a few actual photographs that were similar to this card, but not an exact match.  There is a credit, "KAUFMAN-FABRY PHOTO," and while that's not a guarantee that this card started out in life as a photo, it's a strong indication.  The caption on the back of the card, "STREETS OF PARIS, A very worth-while reproduction consisting of typical shops, buildings, and cafes."  Published by "N. SHURE CO., CHICAGO, ILL." Made by "C.T. ART COLORTONE," MADE ONLY BY CURT TEICH & CO., INC., CHICAGO U.S.A." 

A Century of Progress 2

  

I have four of these postcards from the 1933 Chicago World's fair, The Century of Progress. I wasn't going to publish them back-to-back, but I have to confess I also wasn't going to have such a large gap between the first and second from this series. So, the caption on the back of the card, "Official Post Card of A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 225. General Motors Building at Night." The publishers and copyright are the same as the first card which can be found by clicking on The Century of Progress Collection in labels at the bottom of the post. The GM building was designed by architect Albert Kahn and housed an assembly line, not as large as one found in an actual GM plant, but one that made actual Chevrolet cars that would be sold at the fair. Once again, I don't know why, but blogger cuts a minuscule amount of the image on horizontal images, so click on the card to bring it up in a larger window to see it edge to edge. 

A Century of Progress 1

 

I've written before about my fascination with World's Fairs and my disappointment that I've never had the chance to visit one.  This is one of four postcards I own from this series from The Chicago Word's Fair that ran from 1933- 1934.  This one is numbered 223, the lowest number of the four I have in my collection.  The highest, 235.  The caption, "Official post card of A CENTURY OF PROGRESS, 223. Northerly Isle from the Lagoon."  Published by the Ruben H. Donnely Corporation, Chicago.  I won't be posting the four cards I have in a row, so click on The Century of Progress Collection in labels at the bottom of the post.  I don't know why, but it's fairly common for Blogger to slice just a hair off the right side of horizontal images, so just click on the postcard to bring it up into a window. 

Light and Dark

As a former professional photo printer, I'm rather fascinated by how these two photos were made.  Did the lab have some sort of  automatic printing machine that pulled the film through the enlarger,  making all the prints, using the same setting, or did the printer look at the negs, make a quick guess as to the proper exposure length and F-Stop?  Whatever the method, the results left something to be desired.

The labs I worked in were considered custom labs.  I'd put a neg in the enlarger, make an exposure, dodge and burn as necessary, and keep working until I got a good all around print.  Every once in awhile, we'd get a client who asked for a machine print.  We didn't have any printing machines like the ones found at the Photo Hut, so I'd put the whole roll on a light table, make an estimate and then print every frame the same.  In time, I became so practiced that I could get a good custom print on the first couple of tries, and I could get that good middle ground estimate for an entire roll with little more than a quick glance.

Now, there is always some confusion as to why F-8 has a larger opening than F-16.  It's quite simple, F-Stop stand for fractional stop.  F-8 is one eight the focal length of the lens, and F-16 is one sixteenth.

Stamped on the back, "A Madson Print, DEC  31, 1935, CHICAGO."  

Indiana Harbor Postcard

It's not surprising that photos with a Mexican connection end up in Los Angeles, but Indiana?  It doesn't read on the scan, but there is an embossed studio mark on this postcard.  "ATLAS STUDIO 3517 MAIN ST. INDIANA HARBOR, IND."  Indiana Harbor is a man made harbor and ship's canal on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, near East Chicago Indiana.  My bet is that these three men were members of a ship's crew, traveling through the St. Lawrence Seaway, all the way to Lake Michigan and the Chicago area.  When this photo was taken, Chicago and Gary Indiana were both major industrial centers, receiving raw materials from all over the world, and shipping out finished goods.  What better way to show the folks back home the great adventure of world travel.

Just so you know, mere coincidence yesterdays post from Michigan City and today's from Indiana Harbor, just a few dozen  miles apart.   I've owned this card for a couple of years buying it from a local antique mall.  The Michigan City card came from a lot purchased on eBay, just a few months ago.  Actually, that purchase reminded me that this card had been sitting in my files.

The Waterbury Paper Box Co. Wedding Album 9

This one's a real question.   Is this the owner of the album, or did the person who put the album together just like the image?  I've got another explanation, that I concede is almost certainly wrong, but I'm going to throw it out anyway.  Is this a 1920s version of a boudoir photo?  Did the lady in the photo travel to Chicago to have an exotic picture taken of herself?  Probably not.

Click on Waterbury Box Co. Album in labels to see the rest.

Views of the World, The Chicago Stockyards

I've still got a lot of cards from the flirtation collection to go, so I shouldn't, but I'm going to start another, once in awhile, probably take more than a year to post, collection.  I've had the postcards in this lot since I was in high school, and for those unaware, I'm  just a few months away from my sixtieth birthday.  Yes, I've been picking up old photos and postcards that long.  The numbered images top out at 48, but I am missing numbers 6, 7, and 45.  Every so often I go on EBay, specifically, to look for those three missing cards, but I've never found them.  None of these cards have ever been used, and no publisher is listed.  I'll put views of the world in the labels section at the bottom of the post for all cards in the collection.

I already knew a fair amount about the Chicago Stockyards before posting this image.  I new that the stockyards weren't owned by the big packing companies, but by railroads looking to create a single, central location to ship animals, ready for slaughter.  Chicago had become the main rail center for the United States because the Illinois congressional delegation had pushed Chicago as the terminus for the major American railroads, and congress had that power because the federal government had subsidized early railroad construction.  What surprised me was that the Chicago Stockyards also were a major tourist destination, with viewing platforms built so that people could look over the thousands of animals waiting for death.  I'm always amazed what people are willing to gawk at.  I'd criticize, but if the stockyards were still in business, I'd take a look if I were in the area.

Now, about The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.  I read it in high school, and reread it just a few years ago.  Every American should read this book, and any school that doesn't assign it as mandatory reading, isn't doing it's job.  Do public schools still buy into the great books theory of education?  I hope so, though I doubt it.

Three Guys Lurking In Garfield Park

I'm abandoning my usual practice of cropping out borders, even decorative ones, because someone was unable to write small enough to keep the labeling out of the image.  Thoughtless!  Well, what do you expect from these three lurkers, who are, very likely, up to no good.  Personally, I suspect they're mashers.

Garfield Park, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, first opened as Central Park in 1874.  Then it was 40 acres, today it's grown to 184.  It's original design was by landscape architect, William LeBaron Jenney.  In 1881, the name of the park was changed in honor of the recently assassinated president, James A. Garfield.  Garfield Park is also the home of Garfield Park Conservatory.  (No, not a music school, but one of the largest municipal greenhouses in the United States)  In 1905, parks superintendent Jens Jensen, had demolished three small conservatories in the parks system.  With the collaboration of several architects and engineers, he designed the 4.5 acre replacement.  It was built in Garfield Park, with construction lasting from 1906 to 1907.  It's design was meant to mimic the shape of a prairie haystack.  Jensen also designed the building with separate rooms, each meant to invoke a particular landscape.  Some of the oldest plants at the conservatory are a collection of 300 year old giant ferns.  Hmm, isn't that where our three lurkers are lurking?

Time to delve into the world of archaic language.  Today, mashing is known as inappropriate touching if the judge is feeling generous, sexual assault if he(or she) isn't.  Basically, men, mostly young men, would position themselves in some semi hidden place, like a secluded walkway in the Garfield Park Conservatory, where young women would likely pass, and as those women passed, they would reach out and, well, cop a feel.  And yes, mashing was a crime.  Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso, was arrested for mashing in San Francisco a few days before the 1906 earthquake.  I have no idea whether he ever stood trial or not.

A quick confession on the Caruso story.  About two decades ago I read a book on the quake, so I'm going on memory on this one.  I'm just too tired to go online and research details.  To use a favorite term of former Pres, George W., I might be misremembering, so don't quote me without looking it up.

More From the Brewers

More from the Brewers of Ohio.  This is the third postcard I've found from this traveling family.  This one is addressed to "F.A. Brewer, 623 N. St. Clair, Painsville, Ohio"  I've managed to confirm that F.A. Brewer is Frank A. Brewer, born in Painsville, Ohio on May 30, 1891.  There were quite a few Brewers born at about the same time.  But who sent this postcard?  The message, "Feeling fine.  Had good milk. Children good, not tired, getting in Chicago.  Will write soon.  C.B."  And added latter, "10 P.M. getting on train in Chicago."  Not exactly florid prose.  C.B. could be Frank's sister Carrie  or perhaps Frank's wife.  Impossible to tell.  The card was postmarked "CHICAGO ILL OCT 9 1928"  If C.B. and the kids were on their way to Painsville, did they beat the postcard?

Click on Brewer in the labels section to bring up the other cards.

A Chicago Society Lady

I'm always hoping that someone will leave a comment that reads, "Hey, that's me when I was young, or that's my mother or grandfather." Stamped on the back of this 20's/30's era photo, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTO." If she's not the grandmother of someone, she might be a Chicago society lady or debutante and recognizable by the blogosphere.

Two More From Maurice Seymour

I'd love to know who this woman is. Taken by Chicago based Maurice Seymour, this is another post of theatrical portraits from one of the most talented commercial photographers I've run across. To pull up some more Seymour portraits, go to the labels section at the bottom of this post and click on Seymour's name. Stamped on the back of both prints, "Chicago Herald-World S. BJURSTROM", and "THANKS FOR CREDIT MAURICE SEYMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS."

Old Heidelberg, Chicago, Illinois

I have a number of these old souvenir photo folders in my collection. It was once fairly common for people to go out to night clubs or restaurants, where a photographer, usually a pretty young woman, would take peoples pictures for a small fee. The perfect remembrance of a night out.

I've done a little web surfing and have found plenty of references to an Old Heidelberg restaurant at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. This could be the same place, but there is a Sept. 20, 1949 stamp behind the photo. Printed on the back cover, "IMPORTANT WASH this photograph in running cold water for 30 minutes as soon as possible. This will make it permanent." What's really interesting about this particular photo is that there seems to be an African-American lady standing just behind the seated gentleman.