School for Boys Graduating Class By the Numbers

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Someone went to plenty of trouble identifying all the young men here.  A few gaps, but not bad.  There are three boys named Morris, each further indicated by additional numbers on the reverse! (Morris number 2, Morris number 3...but I suspect they went by other nicknames, like "big" Morris and "stinky" Morris or something)  The  fellows in back graduated, and most of them went on to grade A schools.  

Where and When?  Couldn't tell you, but one of the lads was from Cleveland.

Class Portrait, circa 1910?  Original Photograph, 6" x 9" Collection Jim Linderman
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Wyoming Cowboys Roll into Town on a Float

Click to Enlarge Fake Cowboys

The Wyoming Cowboys roll into Cleveland on a float...I will refrain from saying these rough and tough hombres are "floating" into town, but I gotta say they look like tenderfoots to me.   Their dates look a bit surly, ornery and peeved though.

Original Snapshot, no date Collection Jim Linderman

Buyer Beware Folk Art This Little Piggy Went to Market

All sold within the last few weeks on eBay.  These would fall into the "antiques made while you wait" category.

This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy stayed home,

This little piggy had roast beef,

This little piggy had none,

And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

Rhoda Ann Sargent RIP 1886 Hair Folk Art Memorial Tribute Death

Rhoda Ann Sargent's Hair woven into a tribute.  1886 Collection Jim Linderman

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Tintype Dog with Considerable Eyebrows Tintype Photograph collection Jim Linderman

A real pair of eyebrows on this li'l fellow.  Perched on a birch stand, man's best friend.

Tintype Photograph circa 1870 Collection Jim Linderman

Rack of Carnival Knock-Down Punks and the Great Bicycle Ramp Jump Collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE (collection Jim Linderman)

CLICK TO ENLARGE collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE collection Jim Linderman

A big chunk of early carnival history on one photograph.  A rack of knock-down targets sit underneath the giant wooden ramp of death for a bicycle daredevil above.  I suppose one could take the time to squint at the signs and identify the location of this carnival which took over main street for a while, but what I here is already enough for me.  Oh...and a nice ball toss target with a big mouth.

Carnival Real Photo Postcard (AZO Kodak) circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

Madcaps Fingerama Musical Madness (I guess...)

Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for THE MADCAPS and their original FINGERAMA !!!

Original Real Photo Postcard Date Unknown Collection Jim Linderman

Harlem History and Tan Pin Ups Teena, Vera and Dolores

One of the earliest significant ads I can find in a mass market periodical offering nude photographs of African-American women.

(Or even women of color...)

From a 1956 issue of Frolic Magazine.  Scarce today, Frolic was printed on cheap pulp but the covers were bright and vibrant to stand out on the top shelf of shops.  In 1956 the magazine was published every two months with Luke Bailey as editor.  Harlem was about 100 blocks north of the editorial offices.

The photo sets offered here were common in the day, but to cater to a race market was not.  Mar-Mays photos MAY be yet another "branch" of the enormous "Marr" or "Marno" distributor of countless figure study digests documented as well as can be in the book 
PROTO-PORN: The Art Figure Study Scam of the 1950s.

The ad here ran four years after African-American photographer Cass Carr was arrested for organizing nude camera shots which used ethnic models...and Bettie Page.  Carr was a pioneer of sorts and lived in Harlem.  His studio was shut down by police as reported in Jet Magazine in 1952.  It is likely the photographs above came from informal (or even illegal) amateur camera club models such as those used by Carr.

Ads from Frolic Magazine 1956  Text by Jim Linderman

Pet Cemetery ? Real Photo Postcard collection Jim Linderman

Mystery.  Pet Cemetery?  Garden layout?  Any guesses?

Real Photo Postcard circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

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Good Boy (Dog) Toy Kraft Company Pull Toy

Thanks to a friendly follower, what I thought was a craftsman toy project from a kit or hobbyist magazine turns out to be a manufactured product made by the Toy Craft company in Wooster, Ohio. See post on Collector's Weekly HERE.  Great paint and wonderful wear.

Blue Dog Pull Toy   Toy Kraft Company circa 1930  Collection Jim Linderman

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Baby Betty on Highway 61

Baby Betty RPCC Collection Jim Linderman

In a convoluted story which reads like a mid-1960s Bob Dylan song off Highway 61, Fat lady Baby Betty sued sword swallower Patricia Smith for $3000 after being hit on the head with a soda bottle.  See the original story reported HERE by the AP, or use your imagination.

There was little midgets
and a long-haired gal
Great Shackles Charles
at the nasty trial

Dainty Dotty turned
to show some leg
her stockings fell
the judge turned red

Them Hula dancers
witnessed the row
Just keep quiet honey
and you'll get yours

Baby Betty Real Photo Postcard circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

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The Aerial Fire Fiend A.S. Danton the Daredevil of Charleston collection Jim Linderman

I wish I had this brave young man's story to share, but I'm working on something and don't have time to scroll the microfilm in Charleston, West Virginia.  

I assume a stunt performer with a terrifying act of fire and height.  It looks like he may have singed his moustache.  

A.S. Danton The Aerial Fire Fiend of Charleston West Virginia  Cabinet Photograph c. 1900  Collection Jim Linderman

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Old Folk Art Doll House of Cardboard Collection Jim Linderman

CLICK TO ENLARGE TEENY TINY TOILET

Featuring a complete bathroom with a toilet paper roll, two tiny soap holders with soap, comfortable miniature beds with ticking and enough seating for the whole neighborhood!  Corrugated life is seldom as comfortable.  The heavily painted miniature craftsman is twenty inches long and a foot high, and features actual screen windows,  two porches, numerous rooms and a Christmas wreath on the front door!  Dated 1951…if you slather cardboard with house paint, it will last a long time.

The toilet seat is less than an inch wide.  Better practice your aim.  The soap is tweezer size.     

Delineated bricks,  well-worn front steps, and the entire living space slides out like a drawer…unlike most dollhouses the roof is stable. 

Yes, there is a light, yes it plugs in and yes it works…after 60 years.  I am not sure some of the houses being built today will last as long.

Handmade Cardboard House Model, 1951 Collection Jim Linderman

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Ghelyoon Okka Nargile Chillim One Hitter Bong

Ever since Mughal Emperor Akbar invented the hubble-bubble (aka Hookah) mankind has been cooling the smoke he puts into his lungs.  Provided here, (in addition to the early "super-relaxed" stoner shown) is a group of names for what smoke gobblers today call a bong.  Whatever you call it, hold the smoke in a long time.  Just like a roach hotel…draw it in, but don't let it out.

Nargile
Chillim
Huqqa
Gudugudaa
Marra Pipe
ghalyan (or ghelyoon)
Okka Pipe
One Hitter
Water Pipe

According to Wiki according to a study according to students surveyed 40.3 percent of college students had smoked from a hookah.  I suspect that is inflated, as some of the stoners likely hit the "yes" button several times expecting a candy bar to drop.

Someone I know, I am not going to say who,  used to pack shaved ice from the freezer compartment into a clay pipe for a nice cool smoke.  It still wrecked his lungs.  

Stoner Dude Snapshot circa 1960?  Collection Jim Linderman

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Slingshot as Weapon Utilitarian Folk Art Which Puts Food on the Table

Does this look like a toy?  I used to collect handmade slingshots as pieces of utilitarian folk art…but thought of them as mere pea-shooters for boys until I met the king of slingshot collectors in the mountains of North Carolina.  He had a striking collection of slingshots.  As in big rocks striking a rabbit.  His name was Howard and he told me the toys I was lining up on my mantle weren't toys, they were weapons and a good one used with skill was a serious earner.  It put food on the table.  Up in the hills, during tough times or easy, young boys would hunt with them and more often than not bring something home.  Squirrel, possum, rabbit…God's creatures brought down by a piece of inner tube stretched out from a handheld device. 


Hand Welded Slingshot, circa 1940  Collection Jim Linderman

Mishawaka Ball Band Rubber Boots Trade Sign Overshoes Galoshes Collection Jim Linderman Folk Art

Ball Band Rubber Boots were first manufactured in 1898, and the wonderful boot trademark with a red ball on the boot was registered as the official logo in 1901.  The company was Mishawaka Rubbers, and a pair ofcirca 1935 rubber boots manufactured just like the one of the sign belong to the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they were added to the collection in 2004.  Mishawaka Rubber & Woolen Company, in Mishawaka Indiana, operated from 1874 to 1969.  The link to the Met with illustrations of the boot shown is HERE

The Resseguie General Store which displayed this sign was located in Middleton, Michigan.

Tin Sign circa 1900  24" x 9" Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb

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Elmer the Optician Optical Goods Eyeglasses Folk Art Trade Sign RPPC Collection Jim Linderman

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I suppose most know the folk art trade signs of figural form from days gone by were intended to identify the store for those who could not read. The technique was obviously particularly important in the case of eyeglass makers, as their clients couldn't read OR see!  Consequently, the giant pair of glasses is one of the most common and recognizable early trade signs.

The sign here, mounted on Elmer the Optician's place in Muskegon Michigan dates to 1920.  Elmer was Elmer P. Heimer, who had the top floor.  It appears a  shoe sale was going on below.


Elmer the Optician Perfect Fitting Glasses Optical Goods Trade Sign Real Photo PC circa 1920 Collection Jim Linderman

Hottest Women Musicians? The Hour of Charm Girls of COURSE (With short Phil Spitalny)

Phil Spitalny runs his girls through the paces! The card above allows loyal listeners to pick their favorites, and you can tune in and see if the women play your pick on the radio JUST FOR YOU! 

For a time, the centerpiece of the all-woman band was Evelyn and her magic violin…she actually chose the musicians, but other than playing hot fiddle solos stayed behind her man…that being Mr. Spitalny, she stayed quiet.   The radio show around ten years apparently, which is a miracle when you think of it. Why? Because female musicians sound just like any musician on the radio! I guess Phil didn't think of that. But then, you couldn't see Edgar Bergen not move his mouth on the radio while Charlie the dummy spoke either, and he made a bundle! Oh well…the yokels bought it. 

According to the "Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio" Phil made the women weigh under 122 pounds when they auditioned and there was a committee to approve dates. I don't find any record of Phil doing any "couch" auditions, but he did eventually marry Evelyn! Her last name was reported in the New York Times with her obit. Thank you, paper of record. Nearly every mention of Evelyn omits her last name. 

Phil also forced the group to rehearse six hours a day, and if any of the women had the gall to get married, they had to give 6 months notice! Like ALL musicians, Phil was short. I know, a stereotype. But he was 5 foot 3 inches tall. I am more than sure a good handful of the workers were taller…and I am also sure a good many of them could kick his ass. 

Fortunately there is a hot rag filmed record! Check out a few lifts of the action! I think this is from an Abbot and Costello film. 

The stars of the show, all women, and shown here on the Radio of Yesterday site. Most of them are real knock-outs, and the drummer Viola is leaning into her kit like a churning train. 

Request Postcard for the Hour of Charm Radio Show Collection Jim Linderman

Rich Lesser Sons Who Fell Far From The Tree Romney Bush and Their Offspring

 

Since President Obama's handlers won't say it, I will.  The Republicans are running yet another rich, far lesser son of a more impressive father.  It astounds me how anyone could possibly think another privileged seed which fell so far from the tree could help this country.

I grew up in Michigan when George Romney, young Willard "Mitt" Romney's father,  was active, Governor and much admired.  He was a man and a good American.  He was smart, fair, a working man who respected other working men and labor.  When he became chairman of American Motors, he saved the company by deciding they should make small cars rather than, I quote, "gas-guzzling dinosaurs" way back before any else would say it.  A smart man.  He also ran for president, but was smart enough to know the pentagon was selling him a line of goods about Vietnam, and when he said so out loud, his own party abandoned him.  We went on to kill near one million innocent people and some 50,000 of our own.  You don't hear many folks today saying the Vietnam war was a good thing.  It wasn't.  It was the most horrendous thing which happened in my lifetime, it shouldn't have happened and I was right to protest against it when I was young.  It wouldn't have happened that way if George Romney was elected, a man I respect and still do.

I also lived under the presidency of George Bush number one, the father of poor student and privileged  son young George.  Father Bush was smart enough to run the Central Intelligence Agency, and believe me, that takes a smart man even if you don't agree with what they do.  He was a war hero and still is.  He is a good American.  He was smart enough to rebuild the Republican party as chairman after another Republican beacon, Richard Nixon,  resigned in well-earned disgrace.  He was a moderate and knew how to work with the other party to advance the country.  He favored banning the import of semiautomatic rifles (for which the NRA abandoned him) and he raised taxes because he was smart enough to recognize there was a need for it.  So of course, the rich men who ran his party abandoned him too.   I did not like him, but I respected him and still do.  Unlike the Republicans today, he knew the future of the country depended on compromise and intelligent reason…which he had in considerable quantity.


George's son "W" went on to trash the American economy by spending a trillion dollars on a war which killed some hundred thousand innocent people who had nothing to do with 9/11 or the WTC ( which I also lived through) and a good many or our own.  You don't hear many folks today say the Iraq war was a good thing.  It wasn't.  It was the second most horrendous thing which happened in my lifetime.  They still haven't counted the dead, and can't.  There were far too many…and we will be paying for it with our ruined economy for a long, long time.

I love my country, but sometimes I wonder how stupid some of the voters are.  Do we really want yet ANOTHER less than adequate rich son of a respected father as president?

By the way, I am smart enough to recognize I am not the man MY father was either.  

Life, Love and Folk Art During Wartime Pistol Packing Mama of Wood collection Jim Linderman

A lonely soldier writes his mother from the front.  As noted on the reverse, "Pistel Packing Mama" was carved by Bill Nicewater from company L.  Now some speculation.  The young soldier writes "Remember Righting me about this Mom?"  I think Mom warned him about those woman available to soldiers.  More information on Pistol Packing Mama and dames with guns is HERE (my article on the origins of the armed pin up.)  Will there ever come a time when boys who aren't even old enough to spell won't have to leave home to kill their brothers?

Note rudimentary bars constructed on the window of home.  This was most likely not to keep out animals...but the enemy.  I hate every single thing about war except the humor young men are able to retain under the most horrible circumstances

World War Two Snapshot of a folk art carving by Bill Nicewater.  Circa 1943.  Collection Jim Linderman.

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