Men in Vintage Photos

Or at least that's what I thought it looked like!

A teen attitude / teenagers in love photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A photo from a college get-together sometime around 1910. The two pennants at top center are ones for "F. & M." ( Franklin and Marshall College , located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) and "1910." The smaller pennant at top right is difficult to read (even in the original photo), but appears to be "Souvenir 1908." Franklin and Marshall College didn't admit women until 1969, so only the men would have been students. Everyone in the photo seems to be looking in a different direction. The guy and gal in the lower right-hand corner, however, seem to be looking intently at each other, and they appear to be young enough to be teenagers in love.

A souvenir photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . The souvenir photo category is a favorite of mine, and two of my previous theme park submissions happened to be souvenir photos (see Two Woman Posing for a Boardwalk Souvenir, Atlantic City, N.J. and High over Zurich, Sept. 22, 1910 ). This souvenir real photo postcard shows a man wearing a fez and riding an ostrich at the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena, California, sometime in the early part of the twentieth century. The logo on the fez, consisting of a scimitar, crescent, and star, identifies the man as a member of the Shriners . The letters "RAJ" are barely visible above the logo and indicate that he belonged to the Rajah Temple , which was a local Shriners' chapter based in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the time this photo was taken. For another example of a souvenir photo from the Cawston Ostrich Farm, see ricksoloway's f_cawstonostrichfarm photo on Flickr.

A people on rooftops photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A souvenir "Rockefeller Center Roof Studio" photo, taken 850 feet and 70 stories above street level in New York City, probably sometime in the 1940s. The Empire State Building is the tall skyscraper visible behind the man, and 500 Fifth Avenue is the one on the left. Today, this is the south view from what is now the "Top of the Rock" observation deck on the roof of the GE Building (formerly the RCA Building and soon to be renamed the Comcast Building). Also called "30 Rock" because its address is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the building's nickname was the inspiration for the name of Tina Fey's popular 30 Rock sitcom, which aired from 2006 to 2013.

A real photo postcard. Written on the basketball: "Seniors, '19."

A "Guild Color Processing" slide.

Five gents pose with their dog and automobile in this real photo postcard. It looks like they were out for a jaunt in a wooded area, and their destination may have been the house that's barely visible at left in the photo.

Somewhere along the road in New York state. The girl doesn't seem too pleased at having her picture taken. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Short's Studios, Kingston and Rondout, N.Y." The license plate on the car is "46818 NY."

The street sign says, "Market Street," the glistening sidewalk suggests that it was raining, and the people are posing in front of a store that's displaying a bed, chairs, and other furnishings in the window.

A glasses photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . Well, no, this is probably not silent film star Harold Lloyd and his father, but the men's distinctive round glasses and straw hats are certainly reminiscent of the ones Lloyd wore in early comedies like 1923's Safety Last! (see it on YouTube: Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last " - 1923 ).

A Thanksgiving or family gatherings at the dinner table photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . I'm not sure whether this found photo shows a Thanksgiving meal, but I like how the fellow on the right is unfurling his napkin as he sizes up the turkey.

Not to be confused with the Steel Pier Jail in Atlantic City, N.J. 8-)

Trimmed real photo postcard. No date or location information.

A snapshot of "Johnny Gaso" (or "Gasso"), who was the "host of Wonderland," which was located in the Gas Exhibits Building at the New York World's Fair. The Johnny Gaso character was played by actors of short stature. For another photo, see the NYPL Digital Gallery's Gas Industries - Johnny Gasso, "Uncle Don" and man image. As Andrew F. Wood explains in his book New York's 1939-1940 World's Fair (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2004), p. 104, visitors to the Gas Exhibits Building in 1940 saw a "Gas Wonderland" that included "mystery gardens, disappearing dwarfs, flaming cactus plants, and Tiny Town with talking houses."

These six fellows evidently got their picture taken before they headed out hither and yon for a wild night of zithering (or, more specifically, autoharping ).

I'm not sure what to make of this scene. A man and woman are posing with three sculptural pieces in the shapes of a boy, a woman, and a man. The sign above the boy says, "Hey, mom, is that guy Rip Van Winkle?" The mom replies, according to the second sign, "Yeah, and look at his wrinkled wink." Unfortunately, the third sign is only partially visibile, and I can't determine what it says. The guy with the wrinkled wink who turned out to be Rip Van Winkle is reading a book entitled Love Stories , and the cover of the book also says, "For the love of Mike." Inscribed on part of the stump just below Rip is the name "Ben Funk." Does any of this ring a bell with anyone?

"Our entire organization [is] doing their best to extend to you their wishes for the utmost of the season's happiness and good fortune. The Eshelman Supply Co. Bill, Dave, Charley, Hen, Jim, Paul, Ben, Myron, Warren, Bel, Art, Girv."