Drilling Down in a Vintage Photograph. Stories inside a Photo

 Drilling Down in a Vintage Photograph.  Stories inside a Photo. 

Flynn's has The Evening Graphic, the Dispatch, the Tribune, The Observer, the World, the Telegram and the Sun.  Take your pic!  Plus Baseball Magazine for the fellas and Screen Romances for the gals.

Hmm.  Judge Crater is missing on one paper.  That will date the rack.  1930.  Political operatives croaked him.  Two women he was involved with left town quick when he went missing, and a third was murdered.  His safe deposit box was empty.  The third woman, a prominent hooker  (who entertained Crater) had mob ties and was a friend of Jack "Legs" Diamond.  They rubbed her out like bug.  She had been set to testify about graft, and Judge Crater's coat was found in her apartment after she was deep-sixed.  The scandal eventually led to the collapse of crooked mayor Jimmie Walker.

The Judge was never found, but was declared dead in 1937.  For years after, "Judge Crater, call your office" was a gag for comedians.  He is still missing.

HEY!  It's Jeanette MacDonald on the cover of Screen Romances!  October 1930.  It's the first issue!  She was on plenty of magazine covers back then.  She was quite an item, holding a secret torrid love affair with Nelson Eddy for years.  I guess.  I dunno.   A super popular redhead, a good singer and a starch conservative. Of course she had numerous flings, and she ended up married to Gene Raymond, who was arrested three times for having sex with men.  It appears to have been an arranged marriage, but it stuck.  He was once arrested in a vice raid on a "homosexual nightclub" and once after physically abusing the actress, Nelson Eddy rushed over and kicked his ass.  Oh Jeannette…whey didn't you marry Eddy?  I wonder if her complicated life was the motivation for founding of the magazine.

What else do we have in the press.  Car crash, sports shit.  You gotta know your team to place your bets. Then and now betting on your team was an expensive pastime for some.  All in all, 1930 was a cruddy time. The depression, illegal booze, segregated everything…and the mob was growing like Microsoft and Apple did in the 1990s.

Here is the Baseball Magazine.  October 1930 also.  The big article in this issue was the invention of night baseball!  They thought it was a fad.  

Collier's (up on top, but hidden) was a weekly, so it's not clear what was on the cover.

As for Flynn's Stationary, it was apparently founded in 1901.  After having retail operations for decades, is now primarily a web-based business.  If this is the same company, the location here could be 43 East 59th Street, from which they operate now. On the other hand, the way retail space changes in NYC, this cute little shop could have been anywhere.  With all the sunglasses on display (not to mention children's sand toys…) I was guessing this was a shop on the way to the beach… but then voila, it could be a block from Central Park!  One would enter the park on the south east side, near the pond.  I image in plenty of nanny's stopping to pick up some toys for junior and some shades.  Too bad their location is now sullied by being a stones throw from Trump Tower…Shudder.  Still a guess, but possible.  I have no idea if Flynn's operated a chain of stores or where this one was.  This shop could have been one of a dozen for all I know.  Who does a promotional photo without showing the address?  The Topic Sign Company who commissioned it.  They don't care.  It's just another page in their press kit…the photo was printed on linen and has punched holes for a book.

Back then the famous Central Park Sheep Meadow HAD SHEEP. On the other hand, it was also the depression and out of work men lived in shacks (and desperation) in the park. Known as "Hooverville"  I can only hope it never comes back.  Period photos show a pretty sparse and sad place at the time.  I'm not sure it was appropriate for kids except scruffy urchins.  I have walked on the rock here...it's still there.  Hooverville's were all over the country.  When it happens again, Hooverville will be composed of "the middle class" and the city will put up charging stations for your phone.

The Flynn's photo is credited to M. Baer Salov from Montclair, NJ.  It appears most of his work was done in the big city.  A shutterbug working stiff who didn't amount to much.  A similar photo by Salov on ebay now is shown below.

More of Salov's work is shown in the Montclair Public Library site

 

A Lending Library!  I suppose even then the big New York Public Library was a pain. The Mid-Manhattan branch, which opened far later, provides quick access to circulating books now, but then? I'm not sure what the circulation policy of the big library was then.  Let's borrow one from Flynn's.  I imagine pickings were slim at the shop…but it is a good idea to get customers inside.

They developed film…as did everyone before digital.  Drop it off, a day or few later, pick them up. A fine Kodak promotional sign.

The "Erected by The Topic Sign Company"  inscription on the photo is odd.  This hardly looks like an erection.  More like a haphazard window display anyone could do. 

Tradition Cigar was a Philadelphia company.  A striking Tradition Cigar display which shows both cowboys and indians loved the brand.  Those filthy stogies were a big item then, and appropriately the shop gives them an entire window.  Tradition was owned by Bayuk (the parent company name) but they had more luck with Phillies. THEY were so popular other companies kept stealing their brand.  The oval painted signs atop each window were placed by the Garcia Grande cigar company.

Flynn's photograph by M. Baer Salov 1930.  Collection Jim Linderman

Black Beauty Anonymous African-American slide photographs from West Coast

Anonymous color photographs from the 1950s.  Anonymous as of now...found on ebay
Collection Jim Linderman

Elvis : The Last Tour The Last photos and Why the King NEVER performed outside the US Original Photos Collection Jim Linderman

 Elvis : The Last Tour The last photos and Why the King NEVER performed outside the US.

The king is not looking too well here. A group of never published photographs found in Michigan. Indeed Elvis played Michigan several times during his end times.  Having been pushed to the limit by fame and his crooked, greedy manager Col. Tom Parker.  He was near collapse.  Sure enough, he dropped.  Elvis spent a week in the hospital from April 1 to April 6, 1977, but a few weeks later there he was again.  A night in Detroit.  A night in Ann Arbor.  One in Saginaw.  A show in the hockey rink in Kalamazoo.  BACK to Saginaw a week later for another gig.


Colonel Tom Parker took 50%. 
 
You know the protocol. There were a few shows cancelled due to "intestinal flu" or "toothache" but he rolled on.  He died several months later.

He was performing well enough, some say. Live gigs on the 1977 tour were captured for a concert film and albums.  When Dr. Nick had him jacked-up with as many drugs as Elvis took, he could get through a show.  The concert film was canned, as it showed a man clearly on the brink, but greed caused it to be released not long after his death.  Greed.

Why did Elvis NEVER PLAY OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES?  Other than three or so gigs in Canada (back when a passport was not required to cross the border) Parker never once put the King on display unless he was on American soil.  At least one offer of a million dollars in Australia was turned down.  Can you imagine if he had played Japan?  20 sold out shows in a row in any Japanese venue.  Europe? 

Colonel Tom Parker was an illegal Immigrant who feared he would not be able to return to the US if he left.  That was the reason. Some even speculate he was "on the run" from a murder he committed in Europe as a young man.  He was Dutch born.  He made it to the US and claimed he was born in West Virginia.  He never had a passport.  A manager on the lam.

Original Unpublished Photographs of Elvis 1977 Anonymous.  Collection Jim Linderman  Each signed on the reverse "E  C"

Old Michigan Handmade Ice Fishing Decoy Folk Art

Old Michigan Ice Fishing Decoy Folk Art Circa 1940? Likely Michigan origin.  
Collection Jim Linderman

Large Antique Church Revival Banner Folk Art Teaching Tool Circa 1925 Collection Jim Linderman

Large Antique Church Revival Banner Folk Art Teaching Tool 125 x 53.  Yes, that is a doorknob lower left.  Circa 1925, Midwest.  I will research a bit and post on the sister blog old time religion with detail photos.

Books on Folk Art by the author available for purchase or preview HERE

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway

Outsider Art African American Yard Show Sculpture Alabama c. 1990 Photographs by Jim Linderman Television in the Driveway high atop a pole.  See also the BOOK and EBOOK by Jim Linderman In-Situ: American Folk and Outsider Art in Place available HERE.

Fifteen Reasons The Second Coming is Near Frederick Childe Revelation Chart Teaching Tool 1927

Prophecies of Daniel and revelation compared: Being an outline of chart lectures given by Frederick W. Childe 1927.  Chart Insert Collection Jim Linderman

Vintage Photograph Navajo Rug Seller and Rough n' Tough Tenderfoot

Navajo rug seller shows his wares to what I can only suspect is a tenderfoot. I have written the story of the "Drugstore Cowboy" before on his blog...I am going to guess Jasper here traveled from out east to see the desert, and I am going to also guess his feet hurt from his stiff new boots.  His crisp new Stetson makes the mountain look small.   I don't blame him, it's still a wonderful and magical trip.  A few nights in Santa Fe and environs will change your life.  

Do those chaps even fit in the touring car? "Put the front seat down, dear...my chaps won't bend at the knee"  Jasper seems to be interested in pawn jewelry too.

Navajo rugs are among the most beautiful objects of art ever produced.  While they may have taken a woman months to make, the return was small.  Still, it provided a meager living.

Original snapshot (detail) circa 1930s Collection Jim Linderman
Thanks to Curley's Antiques 
  

Erotic Folk / Outsider Art by Asa "ACE" Moore circa 1935 Early Visions of Black Sexuality

Asa "Ace" Moore African-American outsider artist who created erotic and sexual works in ink and pencil during the 1930s. Certainly in private. Personal visions of his own, and produced during a time when even African-American's questioned their own beauty.  As such, these are likely among the earliest depictions of sexuality and eroticism by a Black artist in the United States.  It took as long as 1974 for Vogue Magazine to put an African-American model on their cover, and even Hefner resisted until 1971. Racism was so extreme and brutal in the 1930s, images of Black sexuality were virtually unknown. In 1968, when James Brown sang "Say it Loud, I'm Black and Proud" he was literally convincing his own race of their worth...and that was 30 years after these drawings were created.  Some are far too risque to allow here...but Mr. Moore created at least 38 works.  Some appear on the Museum of Uncut Funk site HERE

Drawings by Asa "Ace" Moore circa 1935 Collection Jim Linderman

Mosho Knows....Strange portrait of a boy 1955

Mosho Knows....Strange portrait of a boy 1955

FLASH GORDON GROWS A BEARD and Drawing Outside the Line

FLASH GORDON GROWS A BEARD and Drawing Outside the Line.  Original period crayon embellishment to Flash Gordon coloring book 1968 Collection Jim Linderman

Miniature Clay Hat Celebrating William McKinley inauguration

A Miniature Clay Hat Celebrating the William McKinley Presidential inauguration in 1897.  Stamped around is the inscription, appropriately, "Mckinley's Hat" and with the remnants of a red ribbon. Guess what!  Amazingly, there is a FILM of Mckinley's parade!  Hmm...looks pretty crowded there Trump.  Maybe the attendees were secretly paid by George Soros!

McKinley was not allowed to serve his full term due to an assassination.  In fact, maybe the clay hat was produced then, to mourn the loss? 

As with all presidential terms, McKinley's run as President had ups and downs...but at least the wasn't Donald Trump.  Furthermore, his Vice President was the remarkable Theodore Roosevelt, who was twice the man of Mike Pence AND one with the insight to favor the environment for future generations. 

William McKinley souvenir Miniature Clay Hat Celebrating William McKinley inauguration (or passing?) 1897 - 1901.  Collection Jim Linderman

A Bizarre Minstrel Show in Indiana. Cross-dressing Hoosier State Wing-Ding!

Maybe the Indianapolis, Indiana Photography Studio "National Studio" doesn't seem to appear on the "We Do History" website of the Indiana Historical Society because the photographer was inept?  FOCUS!  A circa 1935 photo stamped on the reverse "National Studio, Indianapolis, Indiana, Illinois Building" but I can find no other documentation.  Still, this 8 x 10 original glossy would indicate the photographer was functioning enough to get photo gigs. 

Sheesh.  A whole stage of dicey and politically questionable folks!  Minstrels, Cross-Dressers, rural Fiddlers and a group of somewhat flamboyant male dancers in mini-skirts.  What the hell is going ON here?

Whatever this is, I reckon Indiana owns it. We can blame one of the participants for moving his head (one of the "end" performers, where they usually stood in minstrel photos) but still one would think a professional photographer would take time to focus.  Would you pay for a school portrait of your kid with this quality?

Now, as for the content? What can I say?  In this case, pictures don't lie and they don't sugarcoat the past.  Whatever wing ding this was, at the least we can suspect the state of our new vice president was a happening place back then. WTF?  Did they all DANCE after the photo was taken?

Now a good portion of the country had minstrel shows, but there does seem to be an inordinate amount of minstrel activity in Indiana.  In fact, the very same Indiana Historical Society which hasn't  yet documented the National Studio has a nice spread for the sheet music "Down at the Old Minstrel Show" which was published in Indiana.  Ahh, yes.  I do love to hear them play the songs of yesterday.

Now, as for all the apparent happy cross-dressers here?  I dunno.  There were lots of men who made a living performing as women in minstrel shows.  HERE are a dozen of them!  One of them is described as the "best genteel wench that ever trod the boards" and his passing with late-stage syphilis is noted!   But these fellows are probably just local yokels having a bizarre laugh.  The ones in pixie costumes on the right?  I just don't know.  Either they are professionals, or they got there very early for make-up.

Seriously, I cannot claim Indiana was more racist (or more dressed in drag) than any other state when it comes to entertainment.

Original photograph circa 1935?  Stamped on reverse "National Studio, Indianapolis, Indiana" Collection Jim Linderman

Hypergraphia

Hypergraphia is a disorder in which a compulsive need to write text takes over a person.  It appears this fellow has filled a cart with his writings, and is on his way to deliver them to Rome.

Collection Jim Linderman

Large Group of 19th Century Folk Art Drawings found in a scrapbook collection Jim Linderman

Large Group of 19th Century Folk Art Drawings discovered underneath clippings in a scrapbook (!) Each original is 11" x 13"  collection Jim Linderman
See ALSO the book Eccentric Folk Art Drawings of the 19th and 20th Centuries available for preview and ordering HERE