Interiors

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

A hold it photo (people holding something) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . Caption: "By durn, Samenthy, this beats the old pump all holler. Push jest a leetle harder and she'll be here." Sign on wall: "Hotel Astorf-Waldoria. Ring once for bell boy, twice [for] ice water, three [times for] hot water." Name on trunk: "Silas Green, Wayback, O." Printed along the sides: "The 'Perfec' Stereograph. (Trade mark.) Patented April 14, 1903. Other patents pending. H. C. White Co., Publishers. General offices and works, North Bennington, Vt., U.S.A. Copyright 1903 by H. C. White Co. 5587 (2)." This comic stereoscopic card (see the full card below) shows two country bumpkins who are visting the city and staying at the highfalutin Hotel Astorf-Waldoria (a thinly veiled reference, of course, to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City). Unfamiliar with big-city ways and new-fangled technology, Samantha (or "Samenthy," as her husband Silas pronounces it) is pushing the call button (normally used to summon hotel staff) while Silas holds a water pitcher below the mouthpiece of the wall-mounted telephone. In their naivety, Samantha and Silas have misunderstood the sign ("Ring twice for ice water") and have mistaken the phone for a pump that will provide water once the button is pushed. In 1903, at a time when indoor plumbing and telephones were less common in rural areas, viewers of this stereographic photo could laugh at the silly antics of this foolish backwoods couple from Wayback, Ohio. Looking at the image a hundred years later, we can catch a glimpse of the different styles of clothing, wallpaper, carpet, and furniture that were popular back then, and we can also consider how the modern technology that we take for granted today--faucets with running water and mobile phones--has made the humor here obsolete.

A comic stereoscopic card. For additional information, see Silas and Samantha at the Astorf-Waldoria, 1903 .

A Bamforth real photo postcard with a punning caption. Another Bamforth card, Ain't Marriage a Cinch! , makes use of the same wallpaper:

Dressed up for "Halloween" in the Vintage Photos Theme Park . I found this photo at an antique co-op in western Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. I was able to determine the month and year--October 1916--from the Mellon National Bank calendar that's hanging on the wall.

A rather dark photo showing a room decorated for Halloween. Handwriting on the back of the photo identifies the scene as a "Halloween party at apartment of Helen and Bert Pour, Cleveland, Ohio," but there's no date. Note, among other decorations, the witch above the lamp on the left, the spider web at the window in the center, and the jack-o'-lanterns above the window and on the fireplace mantle on the right.

Evidently these partygoers have just exchanged gifts. The woman directly in the middle of the photo is holding a copy of How to Make Love , a circa 1930s booklet whose suggestive title promised more than its contents could actually deliver (it was innocuous enough that Archie McPhee sold a reprinted version).

A Christmas photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . Toys in the foreground that I was able to identify include a 1962 Ponytail Barbie Case, a 1962 Margie the Majorette Doll Craft Kit, and a Mickey Mouse Club Counting Jump Rope. Wikipedia reports that silver aluminum Christmas trees like the one in the photo were popular in the U.S. from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, when a silver tree "was used as a symbol of the over-commercialization of Christmas in the 1965 Peanuts holiday special, A Charlie Brown Christmas ."

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide.

A television photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For another interesting television photo, see Don't Give Your Televison the Boot . A Kodachrome slide dated August 1962. If you look closely, you can see the reflections of the photographer and his camera on the TV screen (mouse over the photo above for an enlarged view of the reflected image ). The photographer appears to be kneeling or sitting in front of the television in order to take a photo of what may have been his brand new TV set. The bright flash from the camera stands out at the top of the reflected image, the photographer's illuminated fingers are visible at both sides of the camera, and his disembodied pant legs (from the knees down) eerily appear by themselves at the bottom of the TV screen.

Detail from Reflections on a RCA Victor Super Color Television, 1962 , showing the TV screen with its reflected image of the photographer and his camera. The photographer appears to be kneeling or sitting in front of the television in order to take a photo of what may have been his brand new TV set. The bright flash from the camera stands out at the top of the reflected image, the photographer's illuminated fingers are visible at both sides of the camera, and his disembodied pant legs (from the knees down) eerily appear by themselves at the bottom of the TV screen.

A Kodachrome slide dated December 1968. Although there doesn't seem to be anything playing on the television, I doubt that the kids would be that transfixed by a blank TV screen.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of furniture (one piece or a roomful; extra credit if your photo includes something instead of—or in addition to—a chair or a table, which we featured in previous themes) . Penciled notation on this photo: "Lewis Walker Co., 2/25." I haven't been able to locate any definitive information about the Lewis Walker Company, but I believe that it was located somewhere in Pennsylvania, possibly in Pittsburgh. The photo shows an office full of furniture and equipment. A solitary man sits at a desk , and additional desks, tables, chairs, and bookcases fill up the rest of the room. Interesting items in the middle of the room include a Dalton Adding Machine on its own stand, a Comptometer case on a desk, and a calendar hanging on the wall. See also close-ups of the man seated at the desk and the equipment in the center of the photo .

A number of interesting details are visible in this detail from the center section of this 1925 photo of the Lewis Walker Company Office . First, a Dalton Adding Machine is positioned on its own stand in the foreground. The machine was capable of printing calculations onto the paper from the roll that's positioned on top. Secondly, a case for a Comptometer —"the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator"—is lying on the desk located behind and to the left of the Dalton machine. The label on the outside of the Comptometer box says, "Comptometer (Pronounced like thermometer). Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co., Chicago, U.S.A. Adds. Divides. Multiplies. Subtracts." Finally, an advertising calendar hanging on the wall at the back of the room confirms that the photo was taken in February 1925 and suggests that the location may be Pittsburgh or somewhere else in western Pennsylvania. The advertisement on the calendar says, "Brown & Zortman Machinery Company, machinists supply company, machine shop equipment and supplies, Pittsburgh, Pa. February 1925." See also the full version of this photo and a close-up of the man seated at the desk .

In this detail from a 1925 photo of the Lewis Walker Company Office , a young man is working diligently at his desk as he ignores the photographer who's taking his picture. The man is surrounded by the tools of his job. A clock and a holder with several rubber stamps are among the items I could identify on the desk. There's a pencil sharpener mounted on the windowsill, and a candlestick telephone is visible on another desk that's situated behind the man. See also the full version of this photo and a close-up of the equipment in the center of the room .

The chart on the right-hand side provides details for a "Bible Plan of Salvation."

See also the cropped version of this real photo postcard.