Pure and Simple
Homemade Valentine c. 1950 Collection Jim Linderman
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GALS GAMS GARTERS the BOOK
GALS GAMS GARTERS which is a digital record of an enormous scrapbook found in a dumpster by a Virginia student in the late 1960's. Our anonymous artist was a serious aficionado of the leg, ankle and above, but there is no nudity, no sex and nary a nipple. However, the man with the scissors and tape, like the magazine editors who provided him with product, managed to skirt good taste with plenty of inspired photos. His motivation? Who knows? For that matter, who is to judge? Feel free to forward to your fashionista friends.
We start here with one "Dacy Reid" who is in fact the recently departed Bettie Page. If you are a fan of vintage erotica, fashion, vintage clothing and retro culture...or (like the web itself) are saturated and sated with x-rated exploitation, GALS GAMS GARTERS is the place for you.
Newprint photo detail c. 1955 Collection Jim Linderman
Reverend John Ruth Bible Garden
Camel and sign from the lost environment of Reverend John D. Ruth, Athens Georgia
Original 35mm photograph Athens Georgia c. 1994 collection Jim Linderman
Mother Dolly on Roller Skates
Roller skates were being mass produced in the 1880's, which is where I date this tintype. It is not clear if Dolly skated to the studio, or the studio came to Dolly. At the time, skating was done in large rinks and amusement parks, it is possible the photographer took this photo shortly after the announcer shouted "MEN SKATE." Other than the invention of in-line skates, the most notable skate related trivia I find is that Heather Graham's character "Rollergirl" in the film Boogie Nights is always seen wearing her trademark roller skates, even during sex scenes
Mother Dolly on Roller Skates Tintype photograph c. 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
House of Prayer Dixon Mills
Original 35 mm photograph Dixon Mills, Alabama 1994 Collection Jim Linderman
Miniature Toy Cameras from Japan and Hong Kong
Since this blog is ostensibly about photography (among other things), this post fits easily. In fact, it would fit anywhere! Teeny, tiny, wee miniature plastic toy cameras from Hong Kong and Japan. Toy cameras come in a surprising variety of forms. "Squirters" to wet Fido, "surprisers" with a rubber snake, etc. One of these even came with 12 pieces of ACTUAL FILM, each no larger than a postage stamp, one of which is shown here. And yes....there is a fake "digital" camera available. It looks exactly like one of these, but more modern.
Toy Camera Graphics c. 1960 collection Jim Linderman
Prophet Blackmon Revival Center and Shoe Repair Shop
For forty years Rev. William Blackmon preached in the streets of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, often without a home. In 1974 the Lord brought him to Milwaukee where he settled in the combination house/studio/church/shoe repair/car wash and wild greens shop above.
Two original snapshots circa 1991 Collection Jim Linderman
Censored Antique Cheescake Calendar Censorship Erotica
Calendar Girl, Cheescake, Pin-up Girl, Centerfold, Glamour Girl. All names for more or less the same thing. Paper dolls in vibrant color good for a month. Now frowned upon...but frowned upon back then too, note the strategic banners. This is a group of four pages from a Salesman Sample for calendars, circa 1955, which were censored in bold manner, nothing subtle about it. It must have been frustrating for printers to keep getting hauled into court in every city the local mailman happened to peek into the bulk mail. As any man my age will attest, every single gas station had a similar calendar hanging in the grease shop. They always hung askew in the same place. It was an annual ritual for the boss to open one up in January and start a new year. It allowed a few minutes of supervisor/subordinate bonding before another year of oil changes began. It is odd that breasts are so often (even to this day) censored, especially as they are nearly always the first pleasant encounter of every mammal, including both sexes of the two-legged kind. The entire convoluted history of 20th century commercial titillation and censorship is a topic I hope to wrestle with in future posts, but for the time being I am content just to "hang these on the wall" so to speak.
Four Lithograph printed Salesman Sample Calendar Pages c. 1955 Collection Jim Linderman
Good Wood: Burl
Burl. Some of the most beautiful and prized wood carvings produced for use have been made from burl wood. The jumbo redwood burl shown on this postcard is an extreme example and probably netted the 1970's hippies here a considerable sum. A profitable way to spend a summer. You've seen burl wood without knowing it...the funky, fungoid looking growths on elm and maple trunks, out west on redwood. When chopped and formed, those ugly growths make the hardest, tightest and most beautiful woodenware. Both Native American and colonial carvers made bowls, scoops and ladles of the dense and textured material. Folk art dealer and scholar Steven S. Powers, a bright young man with one of the best pair of eyes in the folk art world recently published a beautiful book "North American Burl Treen: Colonial & Native American" and available on his website. Make SURE to download his extraordinary catalog "Good Wood" on the same site, it has many exceptional examples of early American folk art.
The burl above is described as follows: " We believe this to be the world's largest burl, approximately 118 feet around, 30 feet high and weighing just less of 1 million pounds. It was uncovered in fall of 1977 at Big Lagoon in northern California on Louisiana Pacific property"
The card was distributed by Burlwood Industries Inc, a company still in business and making beautiful craft and sculptural objects.
Burlwood Industries "world's largest burl" Advertising Post card 6" x 9" c. 1980 collection Jim Linderman
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