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." 

More Later

 

I've been putting up a lot of stuff from some of the collections I have, so I decided to go to the oldest unfinished collection I have.  It goes back to 2013, so I'm still working on it 10 years later.  As a rule, I don't bother with the backs of postcards.  I find it easier to just transcribe the written message and spare people from trying to figure out bad to mediocre handwriting.  But in this case, no matter how large I blew up the back of the card, or how much I manipulated the contrast, I just couldn't make out what was written. There's one line that I think says "my girlfriend left yesterday," but other than that, I haven't a clue.  And I thought my handwriting was bad. Anyway, click on "flirtation" in labels to go back to the good old days of 2013.  And I call it that because the guy who sold me the envelope of these postcards said it was his flirtation card collection. Too, if a postcard looks like it was based on a photo it ends up here.  If it looks like it's pure illustration, it ends up on my Fair Use blog. If I'm not sure, it's just a best guess as to which blog. 

The Great Smokey Mountains National Park

  

I've got a fair number of postcards in my collection that started out as photographs, and this is one of them.  It's also one of the few that I can actually date.  The original photo was taken at the dedication of The Great Smokey Mountains National Park on September 2, 1940, though the only credit for the original that I've been able to find is the one on the lower border on the front, "PHOTO BY TENN. STATE DEPT. OF CONSERVATION."  Anyway, creating national parks in the West was fairly easy compared to parks in the East.  In the West, land was already owned by the government, in the East, land had to be acquired from private landowners.  In the Smokies, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, land had to be purchased from both small farmers and large timber companies.  

The caption on the back of the card, "The following inscription appears on the plaque of this memorial: "For the permanent enjoyment of the people, this park was given one half by the peoples and states of North Carolina and Tennessee and the United States of America, and one half in memory of the Laura Spellman Rockefeller Memorial, founded by her husband, John D. Rockefeller."  The card was 'PUBLISHED BY ASHVILLE POST CARD CO., ASHVILLE, N.C." 

Once again, I don't know why, but a bit of the right side of horizontal images gets slightly cropped.  Click on the image and bring it up in a larger window to see it, side to side. 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike

  

I have a high level of confidence that the original source material for this postcard was a photograph, so I'm posting it here rather than on my Fair Use blog that has some of the few bits of non-photographic ephemera that I've picked up over the years as well as all sorts of images I've found online. I'm guessing that this postcard has more interest for me rather than most visitors to the New Found Photography. I grew up in Pennsylvania and spent quite a few hours traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. 

The turnpike was built in 1940 as the great depression was ending. It's a limited-use toll road that connects Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's three largest cities without actually going into those cities.  For those who hate getting stuck on interstate highways while crossing large urban areas, that was the original vision of President Eisenhower when he envisioned the interstate highway system, and the PA Turnpike, with its toll booths and limited entrances and exits, had to have been somewhat of an inspiration for the current highway system we have. The Pike starts on the Pennsylvania, New Jersey border at the Delaware River interchange and crosses into Ohio near the North Beaver Township tool booth. Monroeville, in Allegheny County, was the nearest entrance to where I grew up. Today, the Turnpike is designated I-76. 

This card was published by "C.T.ART COLORTONE." and was "DISTRIBUTED BY J. B. HOFFMAN & SON, HARRISBURG, PA."  The caption, "The Pennsylvania Turnpike, five miles west of Bedford, crosses over the Lincoln Highway.  The two lane road looks antiquated. Some distance past the Bedford "Interchange" the Turnpike crosses the Lincoln Highway again, runs past the ruins of the historic iron works at Everett, then crosses the Lincoln for the last time."  The Lincoln Highway was the first true interstate highway in the U.S. but not limited access or multi-lane. The Narrows mentioned on the front of the card is a gap in Evitts Mountain. The postmark, "CARLISLE PA OCT 24 7 PM 1951." 

There is a message written on the back. "Hi Dad, I am going to the hospital the 1st of the month am taking the whole month off. Hope to see you at Thanksgiving as we're expecting you. John C." It's addressed to John J. Hofaloom, apt. 6B, 442 Main St. Hartford, Conn."  I'm not 100% sure of dad's name. 

Those Spring Chicks

  

It's time to return to my longest ongoing, incomplete collection that dates back to 2013.  Anyway, I bought an envelope of postcards that the seller told me were flirtation cards.  At the time I thought that was just his name for them but as it turned out that's how postcards like these were actually marketed, so click on Flirtation in labels to see what's already up.  Too, I have another blog, Fair Use where I post non-photographic bits of ephemera I've picked up over the years as well as interesting images I've gleaned from the net.  There are a few cards that were clearly based on drawings that were posted there.  If I think something is based on a photograph, but if I'm not 100% sure, I lean towards photos, so they end up on The New Found Photography. 

So, as a rule, I don't publish the backs of postcards.  If there is anything written or relevant captions, I just type them up.  However, I'm beginning to think there might be some time travel involved here.  Since I entered the computer age and started typing everything my handwriting has gone from fairly good to barely legible, and A.A.'s penmanship is worse than mine and that's saying a lot.  So, after scanning the back, blowing it up, and after some scrutiny, I came up with this very unlikely interpretation, "Friend Harry.  I got the card & it was slick just the one I was looking for."  Okay, so far so good.  But after that, "I havent got time off an lobster with yes had some. Jane was pretty classy to How did the classes come out.  Yours truely, A.A."  I just don't get the whole stuff about the lobster.  

Anyway, a lot of these cards use the word friend and I've always had the suspicion that they were circulated among Maine Quakers.  Enough of the postmark is gone that I can't be sure where it was mailed from, but it was mailed in December 1912.  

At Home

 

Just started digging in the box of loose photos when I found this old postcard.  Believe it or not, it's part of the longest-running collection on The New Found Photography.  The very first image dates back to 2013.  This will be number 41 in the series.  There are also some images that are based on drawings rather than photographs and are posted on my Fair Use blog.  They're all under Flirtation in labels at the bottom of the post.  The person who sold these postcards to me called them his flirtation collection.  At first, I thought it was just a name he used to help in selling, but there was an episode of The Murdoch Mysteries that was built around flirtation cards, given out as a means to attract the opposite sex, so it looks like flirtation cards were a real thing, if not one hell of a coincidence.  

So, written on the back, "Dear Sister, how are you all and all the friends.  I am here in dreary land and have got a terrible cold write soon Love you all sister Brie.  38 Ervin St."  I've noticed that friends is a word that's often used in these cards, so I've always thought that there were a lot of Quakers sending the cards in this collection.  The card was mailed to "Mrs Arthur G. Brown, 547 West 164 St., New York City."  The postmark, "NORWALK CONN, SEP 21, 5-PM 1908." 

Obviously, click on Flirtation in labels to bring up the other cards in this collection. 

A California Home In Midwinter

Because I don't have a conventional job, and because I'm one of the many  leeches accepting socialist handouts in the guise of social security I was able to hit the road for three weeks at the end of summer.  While in Hurricane, Utah, I found this unused, near mint postcard of a California home, amongst the flowers, in midwinter.  (Yes, I know, all I did was type out the caption on the card.  No imagination.)  The truth is, the only reason I bought it was because I was amazed that I found such a thing in a small town in Utah.   The really weird thing is that the antique store had a stack of these.  Published by "M. Kashower Co., Los Angels, Cal."  M. Kashower was in business from 1914 to 1934, so this card is at least 85 years old.

The Really Steep Part of the Mt. Lowe Railway

Okay, I'm not going to write a lot about Thaddeus Lowe and his bizarre attempt to build a tourist  railroad and resort in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles.  Go to Mt. Lowe in labels at the bottom of the post and go to the only other post about this rail line and you can read a rather long post I've already put up.  As a rule I don't scan the backside of postcards, but I liked the Mt. Lowe logo so I thought I'd share it. 

Holiday In Havana

I've long know that postcard publishers often made stereo-cards as well.  This is the fist time I've seen a postcard that is nothing more than half of a stereo-view.   With both an American and Cuban flag I'm guessing this photo was taken during that brief period of time between the U.S. being allies in the liberation of Cuba from Spain and morphing into an occupying army.  No publishers name listed on the card.

Harvey House, Barstow, California

Think of the Harvey House as the first true chain restaurant.  Fred Harvey opened his first two restaurants along the Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1876 at Wallace, Kansas, and Hugo, Colorado.  Even though they closed within a year, Harvey was convinced that a series of high quality, low priced restaurants next to railroad watering stops would be big money makers.  In 1878 he entered into a non binding agreement to open Harvey House Restaurants along the Acheson, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad right of ways.  By the time of his death in 1901 he had built and was operating a number of restaurants and hotels throughout the western United States along multiple  rail roads.  He left his business to his family who ran it until it was sold in 1968 to Amfac, Inc.  At the time it was the 6th largest food retailer in the United States.

The Casa del Desierto in Barstow, California was built in 1911.  The building is still there.  It's the home of two museums, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce, and city government offices.  I've been there, it's well maintained and well worth a stop for anyone driving the I-15 between L.A. and Vegas.

The caption on the back, "Casa del Desierto (House of the Desert), the Fred Harvey Hotel at Barstow, is built after the style of the Spanish renaissance, with walls of tapestry brick and gray stone trimmings, red tile roof and arcade balconies on both stories."   The card, unused, was published by "Fred Harvey HOTELS-SHOPS-RESTAURANTS." 

Fun fact, for anyone old enough to remember the blue plate special.  The phrase comes form The Harvey House restaurants, which served dinners on blue china.

The Singer Building

Perhaps it's my age.  Perhaps it's my mother making clothes for the family on her sewing machine.  For whatever reason, say Singer and I think of the sewing machine company.

The Singer Building in New York City was designed by architect Ernest Flagg.  It was completed in 1908 and for two years at, 47 stories and 612 feet high, was the tallest building in the world.  The Singer Building has another interesting distinction.  In 1967 it became the tallest building to be torn down.  It seems it's extraordinarily difficult to raze really tall building, which might explain why there are so many old, ugly skyscrapers in cities all over the planet.  (Perhaps, they'll be our version of the great pyramids.)  Before the destruction of the  twin towers of The World Trade Center, the Singer Building remained  the tallest building razed and is still the tallest to be razed voluntarily.

Printed on the back, "SINGER BUILDING and part of the financial district, New York City.  Singer Building located on the corner of Broadway and Liberty Streets is 47 stories high rising to a total height of 612 feet.  In it are 5,000 tenants who are carried to their offices by 16 Otis traction elevators.  The foundations consist of 36 caissons sunk to bedrock 92 feet below the surface.  Built by the Singer Mfg. Co."  This card was published by The Manhattan Post Card Company and credits Irving Underhill as the photographer.  Irving Underhill was a prominent commercial photographer in New York City specializing in urban and marine landscapes.  He was born in 1872 and died in 1960.  Underhill provided photographs for postcards and book and magazine illustrations.

The S.S. Dorothy Bradford

I live in Los Angeles and I've always wondered why ships aren't a regular part of local transit.  We've got ferries to Catalina Island, but why not commuter service between Santa Monica and south bay with stops in places like Long Beach and Redondo.   Oh well, just another suggestion to be ignored.

So, the S.S. Dorothy Bradford was built by Neafie & Levy of Philadelphia, PA.  She was built in 1889 for the Cape Cod Steamship Company and was originally named the S.S. Charlotte.  I couldn't find anything on when the name change occurred.   The Cape Cod Steamship Co. went out of business in 1937, and The Dorothy Bradford was sold for scrap after years of servicing the Provincetown route on Cape Cod.  I couldn't find what the other ports on the route were but Boston seems like a good bet as well as the off shore islands. 

This card was published by H.A. Dickerman and Son of Taunton, Massachusetts.  There are a lot of postcard publishers out there and it's not always possible to find out any information about individual  companies, but I did find a bit about H.A. Dickerman.  They were in business from 1907 to 1936.  They specialized in scenics and dominated the Cape Cod market.  There's a postmark on the back, "PROVINCETOWN MASS SEP 5 2 PM 1922"  It was mailed to "James Morris 23 something or other street," (The writer makes their M's, N's, W's and U's all alike.)  "Framingham, Mass."  No message.

Dorothy Bradford was the wife of Puritan William Bradford the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  She fell off the Mayflower and was the first European to drown in New England.   As accomplishments go, not a very notable one.

And He Rolls In

As the caption reads, "2 A. M. And He Rolls In Quite Early."

When I was in college, I had a history professor who liked to speak of CK,  common knowledge, thinks that everyone thought of as true, but were in fact not true.  A perfect example of CK is the widely held belief that the prohibition movement began with conservative Christians who wanted to impose their own sense of morality on everyone else.  Other than the fact that prohibition had broad support, if it had any single point of origin, it was in the early women's movement for a very simple reason, women who had drunk husbands had a tendency to get beaten and killed.  Women who had sober husbands didn't. 

Anyway, I found a bit of information about T.W. Ingersoll.  Truman Ward Ingersoll (1862-1922) was an American photographer and publisher of stereo cards.  I was unable to determine if he was the only photographer or if his company had  a staff of cameramen.  He was noted for his views of Yosemite.

Things Travel

I've just got back from my first real vacation in far too many years.  I found this postcard in Panguitch, Utah.  It was never mailed, so someone from the area must have taken a trip to L.A. and brought this card back as a souvenir.

Written  on the back, "Los Angeles, Cal., 1910, Harrold Connoly, Gran ma King."  There's also a rubber stamp, "Cawston Ostrich Farm, California."  I've already posted another card from Cawston's, and it can be seen by clicking on Cawston Ostrich Farm in labels at the bottom of the post.  Hollenbeck park is in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles.  The park was named for John Edward Hollenbeck, it opened in 1892, and the land for the park was donated by his widow.

No ICE in Sight

Yes, I know.  The world is very different now from when the original photograph, the basis of this card, was taken.  Still, it's nice to remember that there was once a trolley that connected El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.  People used it to shop, eat, work, and visit family.  Not a bad way for two neighboring countries to get along.

A Bit Of Sweden

Hey, I like a good smorgasbord.  A Bit of Sweden isn't there anymore.  It was at the corner of Sunset and Doheny on the Sunset Strip.  I wasn't able to find out when it went out of business, but I like the idea of Jim Morrison dropping in for some meatballs after playing  the Whiskey. 

So, information from the back, "Bit of Sweden  9051 Sunset Blvd.  HOLLYWOOD, CAL  Phone. BRadshaw 2-2800  The Unique Restaurant featuring the world's largest Smorgasbord, find foods and liqueurs."  "A Shini Color by Colourpicture, Boston 15, Mass., U.S.A. 2143 So. Alsace Ave., L.A."  Colourpicture was in business from 1938-1969. 

I found the original black and white photo on line.   The colorist at the publisher removed a poll and a lot of cars. 

Dolores Del Rio and Her Hollywood Home

What can I say?  I love Dolores Del Rio.  She was born in Mexico, moved to Hollywood during the silent era and started working in the movies almost immediately.  She made a couple  of really good silents, especially What Price Glory and Ramona, and then, despite the accent, made an easy transition to sound films, making a few classics along the way.  Right of the top of my head, Madame Du Barry, Flying Down to Rio, In Caliente, and Journey Into Fear.  As the Hollywood parts became harder to get, she returned to Mexico and became a big star all over again, and when she was working, Mexican cinema was in a golden era.  As she aged out of lead actress territory, she came back to the United States and finished up her career with TV and smaller movie parts.  She died in 1983, aged 78. 

Next time I get to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with all the cheesy tourist shops I'll have to check if someone is still making postcards of star's homes.  I doubt it, but you never can tell.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Swiss Mountains

All postcards, all published in Switzerland.  I wrote in an earlier  post that Gloria Lee was on an American Youth Hostel cycling trip of Europe.  My source for that information was ABE Books.  It's a website that allows book dealers to join together to sell their wares, and if you're a book lover like me, an indispensable resource.  Anyway, I found a rare book dealer in St. Louis who was selling the Gloria Lee Bigewet European trip archive.  Scrapbooks, diaries, photographs, postcards, letters and other ephemera.  Sadly there was an asking price of over $2,000, so it doesn't look like I'm going to reunite my few scrapes with the greater collection.  At that price, one would  think that Gloria Lee must have been someone with at least a level of fame in Missouri.  That would be wrong.

So yes, it is necessary to click on The Post war European Trip Collection in labels to see more and wet your appetite for parts yet to be posted, which won't happen for awhile. 

The Post War European Trip Collection-Missouri

It's time to start another collection.  As a rule if I buy an envelope full of material related by theme, and if it's a mixture of photographs, postcards, and non photo ephemera, I'll post anything that started life in a camera here, and the non photos on my Fair Use blog.  This collection is related not just by theme, but it all originates from the same source, so it will all end up on The New Found Photography.  I've got postcards, some photographic, some pure illustration; I've got guide books, a passport pamphlet, a letter, and even a sketch.  So, why is the record of a European trip starting off in Missouri?  Well, our traveler had to start form somewhere.

Lake Tanycomo, short for Lake Tanny County, Missouri, is actually a reservoir on the White River in the Ozark Mountains.  It's near Branson, the country music and kitsch capitol of south central Missouri.  St. Louis, of course, needs no explanation.

Because there is a lot of material in this collection, it will get posted with more than a few interruptions, so, when things progress, The Post War European Trip Collection in labels will be helpful.

Victoria, B.C.

I purchased this card on EBay.  The seller had two versions of this image, this one, and a real photo postcard.  I bid on both in hope that I could post them and show how card publishers used black & white photos to make color postcards.  Unfortunately, I only won this one.  Published by "Barber Bros., Victoria, B.C."