Sweet Miss Killarney

It's time to return to another collection.  This time, the flirtation postcards, an envelope of early twentieth century cards I purchased, all with a somewhat romantic theme.

I'm always a bit torn when I put up images like this one.  I look at them, and have to make a decision.  Are they based on photographs, or are they pure illustration.  This one was an easy call.  Take a look at the right hand side of the card, and there's a copyright notice, "Photo only copyright 1907.  De Witt C. Wheeler."

There's not a lot on line about Wheeler.  All I was able to find out was that he was American, he specialized in sentimental images for the postcard and magic lantern market, most with added color.  There are a few examples of his work on the George Eastman House website, www.geh.org.  Click on photographers and have a browse.  You'll find his stuff sooner or latter, and while looking, who knows what treasures you'll find.  The main website for Eastman House, a museum endowed by George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, is www.eastmanhouse.org.  It's in Rochester, New York, for those with the time to visit.

As for the rest of it, printed on the back, "Theodor Eisman, Leipzig and New York, Illustrated Song Serie No. 1813/1 By permission of the publishers, Francis, Day & Hunter, New York."  I was able to dig up a bit of info from that.  Theodor Eisman was a card publisher in business from 1908 to 1914.  I wasn't able to confirm my supposition, but I think it's a pretty good bet that a trans-Atlantic postcard company would have been driven out of business by World War 1.  Francis, Day & Hunter, Ltd. was a British publisher of sheet music, with offices in London and New York.  In 1909, they merged with Tin Pan Alley publisher, T. B. Harms, Inc, to become T. B. Harms, Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.  In 1929 the company was taken over by Warner Bros.  I had hoped to find the lyrics for Sweet Miss Killarney, but, believe it or not, they're not on line.   At least I couldn't find them.

And finally, the card was mailed.  Postmark, "LAKE VIEW, MAINE  JUN 19 2 PM 1908."  It was mailed to "C. W. Ingalls, #5 Cor Main & May Sts., Bangor, Maine"  And the rather short message, "I have not forgot you will write soon. C."

Click on flirtation in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up other cards from the collection.

S.F., Marin, the Golden Gate

I believe in being a tourist.  Yes, go to New York and hang out in the East Village.  I did when I was in college, and it was well worth it.  But, eventually, I also visited the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, the museums, but missed The Statue of Liberty, something I still regret.

My first couple of visits to San Francisco were all about City Lights Book Shop, (Jack and Neal were already dead and the prices were pretty high for a store that sold paperbacks.), The Condor Club, (I don't know how old Carol Doda was in the early eighties, but she wasn't aging well.), and I even managed to find a live sex show.  (More sad and depressing than out there.)

It took awhile, and half a dozen visits, before I did what tourists do in San Francisco.  Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  I stood where the people in this picture stood, Marin County, the bridge towers partly obscured by fog.  Looking back, I wished I had started with the tourist things and worked my way around to the hipster hang-outs.  I think I would have had more appreciation for the city.  There's a reason why iconic things are iconic.

For the record, my favorite view of the bridge is from Fort Point.  My recommendation,  go when it's raining.

What Kind Of Name Is Sydon?

There's usually a certain amount of guess work in dating a photo.  Not this time, though.  Written on the back, "April 17, 1938  Sydon, Mary-Jane & John."  It's hard to get better than that.  But I still want to know, what kind of name is Sydon?  Love those shadows.

California Rooms

As a rule, I wouldn't buy photographs of unoccupied rooms, but I think these two pictures go with an ongoing collection of images that I've tagged SGV family in the labels section at the bottom of the post.  To recap, every so often I go through a tray of old snapshots at a local antique mall.  Constantly replenished, from time to time, I've found photos, all the same format, same weight paper, same era, and the outdoor ones, the same type landscape, and while I can't be sure, probably the same family.

From the first photos I found, it's been clear that there was some prosperity to this family.  Going by these two pictures, I would say that they were in a moneyed way.  Not wealthy.  But well off enough, that comfort wasn't an issue.  Nice furniture, carpets, plenty of bric-a-brac, and electric lights.  Yes, when these pictures were taken, lots of people were still lighting with oil lamps and gas jets.  Of course, there's still an oil lamp too.  After all, in the first decade of the twentieth century, electricity didn't always work.

100,000 +

I had a lousy weekend.  Everything didn't go wrong, but pretty damn close.  Anyway, sometime yesterday afternoon I went over 100,000 page views.  I don't know how impressive that is, but it was the best thing that happened to me on a bad day.  This is a re-post from the early days of The New Found Photography.  It isn't the first old photo that I bought, but it's one of the first.  I think it's pretty self explanatory.  This young lady was hired to promote clove gum.  Some costume.

Is There No End To Bad Tinting?

Let's be fair.  Maybe it's just sun faded.  From the forties or fifties would be my guess, so perhaps, there are a couple of elderly folks in blog world who will recognize their younger selves.

Frontier Day, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the Bunch

I almost forgot I had this one.  It's been sitting in my files for at least six months, probably longer.  The fact is I put up lots of postcards, printed in ink and clearly not photographs, on this blog.  But, I do try and limit them to ones that I have a reasonable belief were originally photographs.  To make a long story short, I've gone  back and forth on this one.  Did this image start life as a photograph, or is it pure illustration.  In the end, the detail in the viewing stands, the clear separation of people in the crowd, an unnecessary bit of work that most commercial illustrators wouldn't have bothered with, tipped me towards photograph.

This card was mailed.  It was addressed to "Frank A. Brewer, 165 Nebraska St., Painesville, O."  The message, "3-22-13  Bro. Frank, We are having a fine trip.  Spent about 2 hrs in Cheyenne yesterday and went to the state capitol.  Saw a cowboy.  Will be in Ogden in a few minutes.  The Bunch"  The postmark is too faded to read.

Printed by The H. H. Tammen and Curio Company of Denver, Colorado.  They were in business from 1896 to 1953.

For more postcards from the well traveled Brewer family, click Brewer in the labels section.