Flower Power

There's something poetic about this slide.  Something about the beauty of peacetime after the horrors of war.  Anyway, we've gone from squatting in the latrine to squatting in some flowers.

Occupied

This slide was simply titled "Latrine".  Talk about closeness.  I'm not sure that canvas wrap is really providing much privacy.  I have nightmares about this (not this particular slide, mind you, just this situation).  This is from the same set of slides as the previous post.  Talk about occupied in Japan. I presume our subject is taking the photo, which is a whole other level of weird.  I guess he wanted to let someone at home know about the arrangements.

Bounty

I acquired a collection of family slides at an estate sale this past weekend.  Many are "red border" Kodachrome 35mm slides which puts them at pre-1960.  As it turns out, many were from the late 1940's when the original owner was stationed in Occupied Japan at Camp McNair around 1947.  I'll be posting some select picks (and pics) in the following weeks.

First up is this photo of a bountiful feast.  The color and composition of this was striking to me. The original owner of the slides, Milton Gast,  is center.

Nuns in the Sun

I'm still going through my accumulation of 35mm slides so you get to continue to suffer through enjoy them.

I'm not sure if the photographer knew these sisters or just found the scene amusing.

Big Eyes

It's time once again to reach into my pile of 35mm slides and choose a random image.  Okay, it wasn't really random.  I just liked this one because of her funky sunglasses. They remind me of those paintings of the same era.

Taken at the Trans World Airlines counter in St. Louis Lambert International Airport in the mid to late '60's.  Are the two other girls wearing matching dresses?

New Moon

The 1953 MGM movie "The Long, Long Trailer" starring Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball has always been one of my favorites. It's the story of  newlyweds Nicky and Tacy Collini who strike out cross country pulling "forty feet of train" in the form of a New Moon Travel Trailer pulled by their 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible through busy city streets and up steep, winding mountain roads. The characters aren't a far stretch from their Ricky and Lucy roles, so it might well have been an "I Love Lucy" movie.  It's filled with plenty of Lucy zaniness and Ricky frustration.  At the time, the movie was the highest grossing MGM comedy to date and had a great economic impact on the Redman Homes, manufacturer of the New Moon, resulting in an increase in production from one or two trailers a day to hundreds.

This weekend, I was at a sale and found another stash of 35mm slides (I can't help it, I'm addicted).  A handful of the slides featured an older couple sitting in front of their own New Moon.

All Set for the Weekend?

Cake and booze. Party on.

Oh, Yes, They Called Him The Streak

What Time Is It?

Your first thought might be, "About 6:16", but you'd be wrong. The correct answer is "Time for new wallpaper."

What exactly are those indiscriminate blobs? Fruits? Vegetables? Something the cat hacked up? And matching curtains to boot! Anyway, extra points for anyone that can identify the brand name on that box of potato chips.

***UPDATE***

We have a winner! Illpropaganda identified the potato chip box as the A&P housebrand "Jane Parker". You can see what the box looked like in this ad.

Got a Light?

Is it me, or does that cigarette seem unusually large? Either that, or her head is unusually small.

***UPDATE***
Okay, focus has moved from the cigarette size to the wall sculpture. I zoomed in and cropped it, but I still can't tell what it's supposed to be.  I'm seeing a clown wearing a yellow derby waving a folding fan . That can't be right. Any ideas?

You're right, this magazine IS great!

Looks like the joke is on the Party Pooper.  She has the magazine now AND a new man.

Adds to my suspicion that these slides were staged.

Fashion Fail

I refuse to believe any of this was ever in style.

Party Pooper

Another slide from the cache I found last summer.

"Didn't you notice when you started talking, eventually I started reading Life magazine?!"

Stopforbud

Despite being outside of a bar, it probably doesn't mean what it sounds like.

Being from St. Louis, I'm sure that was the connection the photographer intended.

Øresund is the strait that separates Denmark and Sweden. I couldnt' find anything on the Alligator Bar.

Between a Rock and a Hard Right

I've been going through the 35mm slides I've accumulated over the years and will be posting some of the ones I find interesting.

Hart's Buffeteria 1970

This 35mm slide was among a group of vacation slides from Estes Park, Colorado. It may be the only internet evidence of  Hart's Buffeteria (Parking in the Rear) and Cottage Inn.

The slide dates from around 1970 and looks down the road in dowtown Estes Park. The only other readable business is Log [something] Waffle Kitchen.

I'm trying to visualize what a mashup of a buffet (where you serve yourself) and cafeteria (where you are served from behind a counter) would look like. Maybe it was an early version of "all-you-can-eat" with service.  I'm also wondering how the photographer got this picture from above. It doesn't look like there are any buildings that tall in the area.  Possibly, he climbed up one of the hills that surrounds the town.

Sliding into Halloween Once Again

Here are a couple Halloween-themed 35mm slides found among the many I picked up this past year. What's spooky about this one is the kid is completely unfazed.

Baby Endangerment

We did a lot of things in the past that when looked upon with today's viewpoint seem negligent or even outright dangerous: riding in the back of pickup trucks, jumping off of rooftops (speaking from experience here), or, Heaven forbid, walking to the park alone.  You know, the kind of things you always find on those lists that begin with, "You were a child of the (50's, 60's, 70's, 80's) if..."

I bought a box of slides at a sale a couple weekends ago and was struck by a few images.  50 years ago, there wouldn't have been a second thought about these.  They say ignorance is bliss.  Sometimes, it sure seems that way.

Baby in proximity to alcohol.

Sliding Through Summer

You know you have a problem when you find slides you don't recall buying.  I either picked these up in a huge lot of banking-related slides I bought at an estate sale about a 2 months ago, or these are two sets of slides I picked up at an estate sale off of Becker Road about a month ago.  Does it really matter?  Either way, it's time for slides once again.  These slides date from 1968 through 1972.

Slides anyone?

Windows to the Past or Time for Slides Again

I was going through my garage sale folders and came across the collection of slides I bought last summer.  I haven't posted these yet, so, here they are, in no particular order and absent of witty comments.  Oh, I'll make comments, they just won't be particularly witty.  I'm no Charles Phoenix, but I think there are some great scenes here.  Think of me as that annoying relative that invites your over to look at their slides.