Bill Hall & Jim Pollen. Tiajuana Jail RPPC. Private Collection.
World War II era sailors Bill and Jim and three bottles of liquor…what could go wrong? They don’t look too inebriated on this arcade picture taken in Tijuana, Mexico. Looks to me this was a “Before” picture they named “After”, as if we’re fooled. :)
Pretty boy Bill looks like he hit something hard with his right hand.
Detail close-up.
RPPC: EKC 1939-1950
1907 Bamforth & Co. ‘Dearie’ postcard. Private Collection.
A nice love poem on a beautiful postcard from 1907. The backdrop is worth mentioning too. It looks like a swamp with the tree roots in the water and the far off wood cabin, but it feels surreal too with the mountains in the background.
A close up to better appreciate this wonderful picture in all its details:
Close up of Dearie postcard.
Publisher: Bamforth & Co. West Yorkshire. England.
Bamforth & Co. not only published postcards but were filmmakers too. Their silent films were so successful they created a whole industry in West Yorkshire that surpassed the Hollywood of the time.
The backdrop of this postcard is so detailed I have difficulties believing it was only used for this postcard. It would be interesting to find out if it was used in an early silent.
In 2001 a businessman named Ian Wallace bought the name and rights to all 50,000+ pictures of the then defunct company’s catalog. In 2011 he relaunched the reprints of their postcards through licensing.
Source: Bamforth & Co. wiki
The model pose. RPPC. Private Collection.
This RPPC has some silvering to it, but this dandy’s pose and layered look with the dress shirt made it too good to pass.
RPPC: AZO 1904-1918
Peekaboo bust. RPPC. Private Collection.
Oh, yes, I know…this RPPC is in terrible condition! Yet there’s more to it than what first appears! Of course we see the three posing buddies to the right, and then there’s this man in the store behind the front windowpane. Why is he posing from the inside? Was he curious and thought he wouldn’t appear on the picture?
And then, and then…wait! Isn’t this a white bust peeking on the side. It looks as if it slid from behind the corner to take a look at what’s going on. :)
“Yoohoo! I want in, I want in!”
And looking closely, there’s a fifth creepy looking guy in the shadow of the store entryway. And a third grinning face by the guy in the window -pareidolia or something else? ;)
On the back is written “Tripo-Center”.
RPPC: AZO 1904-1918
Happy Halloween!
You know ‘Freckles’ had to be his nickname, that or ‘Ginger’ ;). This is a cute trio of portraits from the 1920s of young Cecil Brown from Topeka, Kansas. Cecil is not the usual type you’ll find in my collection but I could not resist his portraits. There’s something so loveable about him! He makes me want to smile, and my followers know just how much I love people smiling and laughing on pictures! These portraits taken at different times give off the feeling Cecil was generally of nice temperament.
The first is Cecil in his cap and bowtie, with his signature on the side. On the second he’s laughing, and on the last one he looks a tad older but this could just be my impression. He still has a smile on his face. The town and state are written down on the back of the first one.
These are photobooth size studio portraits. I believe them to be late 20s, early 30s.
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Bowlers And High Collars 