FOUND PHOTO: 1923 CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP TO LAKE TAHOE

It's been a while since I've shared a snapshot from my found photo collection. With everyone planning vacations and road trips, I thought this one from 1923 might give some of you road trippers some inspiration.

The inscription on the back - "This was the day we crossed Calif. line Aug. 19. It constitutes one of the most educational & prettiest drives of all. We rose 11,500 ft in 25 min. When we got to the top of the Mt. we came to a beautiful mountain lake, called Lake Tahoe. It is about 1/2 mi. square & the water has the color of the emerald birth stone. This days drive took us thru Americas Greatest forrest, Pine-Cedar & Spruce. Beautiful & Dense? Mamma comments on it most every day. Geography is now an interesting subject to me."

Isn't that great? Between the photograph and the inscription, it really transports you back to when taking a road trip truly was an adventure. I'm sure this unidentified gent and "Momma" had to deal with some rough terrain and maybe a flat tire or two along the way.  

BLUE MOON PENCIL TABLET

FLEA MARKET FRIDAYS #81

It has been awhile since I've been snooping in any flea markets or antique stores. Today, I finally had a chance to get out there.  I found some cool stuff, but probably the most unique item is this very cool Blue Moon Pencil Tablet. I love the Man in the Moon graphics! He looks like he could star in a George Melies silent film. My guess this tablet is from the 1920s. 

Here's looking at you! For fun, I made a Man in the Moon gif to go along with today's post.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT....1929 THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ARTICLE ABOUT ROBERT RIPLEY

The other day I was digging through some of my stuff and ran across a 1929 issue of The American Magazine. Inside is a nifty article about the amazing Robert Ripley! Click on the pages for a closer look. 

FOUND PHOTO: LITTLE GIRL WITH BEISTLE SKELETON

Um...excuse me little girl in the quilt dress. Do you know there's a skeleton standing behind you? Don't be frightened, 'cause he's just a classic Beistle cardboard skeleton and most of 'em are friendly.

1929 WRIGLEY'S SPEARMINT GUM AD

I’m sure most of you know why the girl is looking into her hand mirror, but for the ones who might not know, she is practicing an old Halloween superstition that was popular in the Victorian era and in the early 20th Century. If an unmarried woman looked into a mirror on Halloween night, she just might see the image of her future husband. Of course if she saw a skull in the mirror then she would die unmarried.

The Wrigley girl has a surprised look on her face. Whom does she see in the reflection? We’re supposed to think that she’s startled because the clever boy popped up behind her placing his face in the mirror’s reflection. Hmm... is that really the case or is she startled because of the shaggy dog that’s behind them. Does she see the dog’s reflection instead of the boys? At least the Wrigley boy wasn’t a prankster because he could have worn a skeleton mask!

THREE ANGELS FROM THE 1920'S

CHICAGO'S GRANADA THEATER 1929 SNAPSHOT PHOTO

This tinted snapshot of the Granada Theater is dated August 25, 1929. The theater was designed by Edward Eichenbaum and was built in 1926. Sadly, it was demolished in 1990. Lots of wonderful info and memories at Cinema Treasures.

1924 BAKERSFIELD THEATRE NEWS PROGRAM

Info links to the California Theatre, Pastime Theatre and The New Hippodrome.

CAPT. BILLY'S WHIZ BANG OCT. 1922 MAGAZINE COVER

Hey, I think that gal is stealing a pumpkin out of that field. She better watch out or the Great Pumpkin might get her.

With a fun cover like this you would think Capt. Billy would have added some Halloween tomfoolery inside the magazine, but alas he must've forgot that his issue would be the October issue. I can't believe the good captain didn't think that some guy 86 years into the future might want to blog about his magazine during a Halloween countdown on a computer!

As you've been reading this ramble, you might be thinking to yourself that the title of this magazine has a familiar ring to it. The big hint is that Capt. Billy was really W.H. Fawcett a war veteran and a magazine publisher. Does Captain Marvel and Billy Batson from Whiz Comics ring any bells?


Whiz Comics started in 1940 and was published by Fawcett. It is obvious that this magazine title inspired the comic book title and the character of Billy Batson.

LON CHANEY LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT MAGAZINE CLIPPING

From the October 8, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World is this photo and caption of the great Lon Chaney and it mentions his upcoming film The Hypnotist by Tod Browning. The Hypnotist (original title and UK title) is better known as London After Midnight. Too bad this magazine didn't add an article with the photo, but I thought all you zombies out there would enjoy seeing it.


I wish someone would hurry up and find this film as I’ve been wanting to see it since I was a kid. The Turner Classic Movies recreation was nice, but I want to see the real thing. Maybe I’ll find it in a flea market someday!

Read more about the history of this film and about how this film has been lost since 1967 with these links.
IMDB
Wikipedia
Article about the missing film

THE "BOO-GEE MEN"

1920's Halloween snapshot photo of two Boo-gee Men!

The sinister mustaches that are drawn on the photo are a nice touch!

Ah, these were clever folks as I love how they changed boogie men into boo-gee men!

DISNEY'S OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT 1927 AD

I just unearthed this September 3, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World from a tub of magazines that I forgot I had. This tub hasn’t been opened for almost ten years. So I was especially happy to find this issue that has a great advertisement for Walt Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit!

This ad does have me baffled as I've read that Oswald first premiered in 1927 and according to Don Markstein's Toonpedia Oswald's first officially released cartoon Trolley Troubles was released September 5, 1927. As you can see, the date on the ad is September 3. Maybe this ad was before the official release and it was used to hype the character. I wonder if Oswald premiered at the Criterion?

Also, 26 shorts were produced between 1927 and 1928, but in the fine print we see that it says "26 of them -one reel each.” I guess they're talking about other non-Oswald shorts.

The last thing is that Oswald doesn't look like himself as he's all white instead of black and he's missing his shorts. Maybe this is how he looked in his first cartoon Poor Papa that wasn't released until the next year because Universal thought he needed to be jazzed up. I haven't seen Poor Papa and I can only assume the cartoon was retooled to look like the past year’s cartoons when it was finally released in 1928.

I'm looking forward to the Disney Treasures Oswald DVD coming out this December!

Excellent article at Disney.go.com with a photo of a German poster with this version of Oswald.

Oswald at Wikipedia
Trolley Troubles on YouTube

THE GORILLA HUNT

This is the beginning of a gorilla countdown to help everyone get in the spirit of National Gorilla Suit Day on the Jan. 31.

I rummaged thru the Neato Coolville archives to find this little gem, a movie herald advertising The Gorilla Hunt.

There’s not much info out there on this movie and I’m not sure if a print still exists. It was released in 1928 by FBO (Film Booking Offices), owned by Joseph Kennedy the father of JFK. FBO would later merge and become RKO Studios, who gave us the ultimate gorilla picture in King Kong!

This movie starring Ben Burbridges was probably a predecessor to Frank Buck’s Bring ‘Em Back Alive that was released in 1932. Besides wearing his pith helmet, Burbridges wore many other hats for this movie and is credited with actor, writer, director, editor and cinematographer.

I got a chuckle out of one of the tag lines, “SEE The Most Gigantic Thrills Ever flung Upon the Screen!” Funny that they used the word flung, if you know what I mean!

This herald was handed out at the Bennett Theater and it must have played on August 13 as someone penciled the date under the theater stamp on the back. The Bennett might have been located in Hermann, Missouri.

Maybe there’s a copy of this movie out there somewhere and hopefully it will have men in gorilla suits being hunted instead of real ones. One can only dream!

THE DOO FUNNY FAMILY

For today’s post we’re going way back with this 1920's snapshot of a family dressed in their Halloween best. Someone added the caption, “The Doo Funny Family”in the top boarder. I think that’s appropriate since they do look funny!

Check out the creative costume of the person dressed as a little baby sitting on a corn flakes box. I think that witch must’ve zapped that person into a little baby!


Notice the corn flakes box is Armour’s brand, which I thought looked familiar to me. I finally realized I had an Armour’s Oats Box for sale in my booth at an antique store. I’ve included a photo of this oats box, so you’ll have a better idea of what the corn flakes box looks like.

JUST IMAGINE

Just imagine a sci-fi movie that has spectacular special effects, futuristic sets, scantily clad women and a few song and dance numbers.

In 1930 a movie with all of those elements hit movie theaters. The film was called Just Imagine and it is considered the first sci-fi talkie. Really it should have been called Metropolis the Musical since it has a similar look of Metropolis.


The 1930 hero is blasted by lightning into the far-flung future of 1980 where people drive flying cars, take pills for food and purchase their babies from a machine. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Art Direction and Frankenstein’s Kenneth Strickfaden, designed the laboratory.



You can read and excellent write up about the film over at moviediva


I’m fortunate to have this rare piece of movie ephemera in my collection and thought others might enjoy seeing it. Love that snazzy art deco space cover!