Back in 2011, I got to borrow this World War II Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC and later WAC) uniform with matching garrison cap from a local historical society.
This was my first shoot for the Carondelet Historical Society, and the first picture from this first shoot is my favorite.
I imagine this 1940s couple getting this car as a gift, or the husband giving it to his wife before he leaves back to fighting overseas. She looks so proud and you can see them posed together, with him in his military uniform. What cute WWII-era Kodachrome slides!
I’m trying to sell this IronRite Model 85 from the late 1940s… but may as well scan the instruction manual and paperwork in the mean time!
Here is the envelop and the front and back cover for the instruction manual. Pages coming soon.
It appears as if bus service to the Muny at Forest Park during World War II was very comprehensive! Bus service extended as far as Gravois and Hampton, Grand and Holly Hills, 3rd and Washington (downtown), Florissant and Kingshighway, and Delmar and DeBalviere… a pretty wide radius!
Also in these last few pages of the 1943 St Louis Municipal Opera program, besides ads, was the list of large donors who gave to the Municipal Theatre Associations guarantee fund. It reads like a long list of old St. Louis society’s who’s-who and includes Adolphus Busch II and his son, August Buch (of the Anheuser-Busch brewery). It’s interesting to see who the early supporters of the Muny were!
These pages of the Municipal Opera Silver Anniversary program contained small ads for local companies that had been in business for 50 years and 75 years or more, as of 1943! This showcased St. Louis businesses that had started before 1869 and 1894. I wonder how many are still in business?
This set of scans of the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater Program includes the seating chart and seat prices in an advertisement for C.L. Finot Inc. Concessionaires. It looks like during WWII, The Muny seated 10,000 people and you could get front section box seats for two dollars, or sit in the back section for 25 cents. This was my favorite page in this set.
Here are more pages of WWII business ads from the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera program. This starts with an advertisement for The Gatesworth (and the Walnut Room), and with the synopsis for The Great Waltz underneath.
