The A B C Book of Birds
This turn of the century children’s alphabet book contains illustrations and descriptions of 27 birds from all over the world including parrots, poultry and songbirds.
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Lucille Ball and Marie Wilson were Successful Pinups on TV
This next article includes plenty of scantily clad pictures of Lucille Ball and Marie Wilson (as Irma, the dumbest blonde on TV). Irma in the “My Friend Irma” show, especially, is mentioned as stretching television’s strict Code with risque outfits and comedic innuendos. Lucille Ball is mentioned as being the pretty woman with brains and wit behind the top ten rated show “I Love Lucy”.
Pictures of the Gateway Arch under construction
These photos show the Arch under various stages of construction, from just two legs, to the final keystone about to be placed into the nearly complete monument… fascinating historic slide scans of the Gateway Arch under construction in 1965.
History of Beauty Contests and the Ideal Female Measurements of the 1950s
Did you know that the first Miss America was 5 foot 1, weighed 108lbs, had a 30 inch bust, 25 inch waist, 32 inch hips and brown hair with blue eyes? In comparison, Evelyn Ay, the 1954 winner, measured: 5’8, 132lbs, 37-24-36. Here is a chart and a picture to demonstrate the perfect female form of the 1950s, as decided by Vincent Trotta, a Miss Universe judge. He claimed that it was proportion, so a woman could be taller or shorter, just proportional.
Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935
Ginger Rogers graced the front cover of the October 1935 edition of Popular Songs Magazine. It advertised the lyrics to over 30 popular songs of the mid-1930s!
On the inner cover was a full page illustrated advertisement for diamond engagement rings, wedding rings, watches, and other jewelry for men and women wanting great values by Royal Diamond and Watch of 170 Broadway, NYC. You could could get a diamond engagement and wedding ring set for only $29.75 (approximately $525.12 in 2016 dollars).
The Perfolastic shapewear had a money back guarantee if it did not reduce your waist and hips by 3 inches, and an offer to send a free sample of the perforated elastic material that the girdles were made from. This illustrates the ideal 1930s silhouette of narrow waist and hips, with a small to medium bust.
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A Brief History of the Muny – St. Louis Municipal Theater Association History (as written in 1943)
These pages from the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera program include the Municipal Opera Productions Directory (from 1919-1942), and a brief history and facts about the Muny Association.
1940s St. Louis Municipal Opera Seating Chart and Ads
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.
Silver Anniversary of the St. Louis Municipal Opera – 1943 Season Program
Illustrated 1960s baby shower cards with rhymes inside
I am just posting the rest of these 1960s baby shower cards all at once! These are vertical new baby welcome cards from that 1962 baby shower. I absolutely love the illustrations on the fronts of these cards, and the cute happy rhymes that are inside!
The mother-to-be wrote what gifts she received on the backs of these cards, which I’ve scanned also.
Here are a few of the baby shower rhymes….
Pinups in Action Can Draw Clients As Well As Patrons
Pinups thru out history have been used to sell everything from cosmetics to real estate. Sometimes, they had their origins in the scandalous worlds of peepshows and erotica. The scandalous Gilda Grey, famous for popularizing The Shimmy with her signature song The Shimmy Shewabble, helped sell a reducing cream in 1923. In 1925 she did the shimmy after a meeting to interest buyers in buying Coral Gables properties in Florida. The Shimmy, for which Gilda Grey was famous for, reportedly could be danced properly only with great difficulty and was considered primarily an exhibition dance. Similarly, the Cat Dance by Lilly Christine, had its origins in the realms of peepshows, but she crossed over into mainstream pinup model popularity and helped sell products.
History of the influence of burlesque on pinup
Burlesque has provided men with a variety of entertaining pinups. Notably, Ida Bayton’s white violin act in “The Taxi Girls” in 1914, and Lili St. Cyr’s bubble bath striptease that helped land her in 3D movies.
How World War I and World War II influenced womens fashions
Pictures of women in World War I and World War II. How early feminism and wars influenced women’s fashions.
1958 Hilda Calendar – an Illustrated curvy BBW Cheesecake Pinup
I was doing product photography for a friend, and couldn’t help but take a few extra pictures of this pinup calendar from 1958. “Hilda” is a “generously endowed nymph who casts propriety and modesty aside and comfortably romps her way through the year”. Each month has a drawing of Hilda, and advertising for Munger Linen (“‘Coverage where coverage counts’ When Hilda Rents Uniforms she calls Munger Linen”).
Converts: The Love Story of a Primitive Man and a Suffragette by Joan Paul
You can see how the issues of womens’ suffrage had made it into the mainstream by 1913! This story about a love triangle between a suffragette, a gold digger, and an eligible bachelor was found in the July 1913 issue of The Modern Priscilla and I’ve included the text (extruded from the image- so excuse typos). I think it’s a fascinating document of womens history, and the social history of voting rights in the USA.
Turn of the century wedding, couples, and portraiture
WWII WAC Uniform on Zizi
Zizi V. totally owned the WWII WAC uniform. She was my third and last model to wear it. My first retro shoot with Anita had all the awkwardness of a first-time (everything), which made for very authentic emotions. With this third shoot in the WAC uniform, I was more confident and explored beyond the studio to the front room and outdoors (where the natural light was perfect). We played more with the set, even in the studio, and the pictures just turned out different. I think that the outdoor and natural light photos turned out looking like 1940s era snapshots and candids.
1950s Hearst Castle Pictures
1920s Wedding Dress
WWII WAC Uniform
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.
A new car in 1944
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!
