Category: Featured

Pictures of the Gateway Arch under construction

by Jessica Murray | Nov 27, 2021 | Featured, Slide Scans | 0 |

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.

Early 1900s band photos street photography

by Jessica Murray | Nov 19, 2021 | Featured, Old Photo Scans | 0 |

Here are 2 pictures of Seymour’s Regiment Band, from the early 1900s. Charles Seymour was a famed conductor and soloist in St. Louis at the time, and I wonder if this was the band he led.

History of Beauty Contests and the Ideal Female Measurements of the 1950s

by Jessica Murray | Sep 30, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 4 of 28 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

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

by Jessica Murray | Aug 21, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series 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.
…

A Brief History of the St. Louis Municipal Theater Association (as written in 1943)

by Jessica Murray | Jul 20, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 2 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

1940s St. Louis Municipal Opera Seating Chart and Ads

by Jessica Murray | Jul 12, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 4 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

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

by Jessica Murray | Jun 6, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Illustrated 1960s baby shower cards with rhymes inside

by Jessica Murray | Jun 2, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part [0] of 10 in the series 1960s New Baby and Baby Shower Cards

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

by Jessica Murray | Apr 15, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 21 of 28 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

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

by Jessica Murray | Mar 28, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 20 of 28 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

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

by Jessica Murray | Mar 25, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 29 of 28 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Pictures of women in World War I and World War II. How early feminism and wars influenced women’s fashions.

1958 Hilda Calendar

by Jessica Murray | Feb 21, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

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”).