3/29/12

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 5


Use a Kodak, earn a badge. I'd have enjoyed getting that badge.


Click on image to see it larger.

This is another ad from the 1960 Boy Scout Handbook.

The camera below belonged to my grandmother.





To see more vintage Kodak ads visit Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography and click on one of the following labels: Kodak advertisement, Kodak.

3/24/12

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 4


As a Boy Scout you never know what type of support you'll need.

Surely you'll need a reliable motor so you aren't left stranded alone in the middle of a lake as the sun goes down and the wolves start howling and you realize all you brought along, other than your fishing gear, was a flashlight which has batteries about to die, no sweater, and you're wishing you hadn't eaten that bologna sandwich at 9:30 in the morning. You're still trying to get a grasp on the whole "be prepared" motto.

Click on image to see it larger.
Johnson Outboards

Johnson Outboards was a US based manufacturer of outboard motors. The original company to make Johnson inboard motors and outboard motors was the Johnson Bros. Motor Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. A few years after the Johnson brothers' factory in Terre Haute was destroyed by a tornado in March 1913, the brothers relocated to South Bend, Indiana and then Waukegan, Illinois. The company was first acquired by Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) and then later by Bombardier Recreational Products.

Today

Bombardier Recreational Products no longer sells outboards under the Johnson brand, as they have moved all sales entirely to Evinrude Outboard Motors. They support existing Johnson outboard motors through servicing and parts. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
To see an old Johnson Sea-Horse neon sign click here.

But at least a particular part of your body will stay warmer through the cold long night.


The jockstrap was invented in 1874 by C. F. Bennett of a Chicago sporting goods company, Sharp & Smith, to provide comfort and support for bicycle jockeys riding the cobblestone streets of Boston. In 1897 Bennett's newly-formed Bike Web Company patented and began mass-producing the Bike Jockey Strap. The Bike Web Company later became known as the Bike Company. Today, Bike is still the market leader in jockstrap sales. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
Click on the "Boy Scout" label below to see previous scouting posts.

3/21/12

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 3


More ads from the 1960 Boy Scout Handbook.

This one seems a little on the odd side. They make a point in the copy of saying that the "forged head just can't fly off" but then they name this thing the "Jet Rocket Scout Axe." Am I missing something here? Was it helpful to have you thinking this thing was going to take off into space and then cover their butts by saying "can't fly off"?

Click on either image to see it larger.



Click on the "Boy Scout" label below to see previous scouting posts.

3/18/12

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 2


The one thing advertised over and over again in the Boy Scout handbook are guns. Lots of rifles. I think a total of 7 ads.

A reader of yesterday's post asked if I knew if the Boy Scouts sold anything like the Girl Scouts selling cookies. I can't think of anything. Anyone ever hear of Boy Scouts going door to door selling something?




Ever hear of the Winchester Mystery house built by Sarah Winchester? If not, you might be interested in reading about how some of the Winchester fortune was spent by clicking here.

Click on the "Boy Scout" label below to see previous scouting posts.

3/17/12

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 1


My last post was about the 1960 Boy Scout Handbook. I mentioned I'd be featuring some ads from the book. There are a total of over 40 ads so sit back and go Scout shopping. One particular item will show up over and over again, but not on the first spread.

Remember, items are for honest and trustworthy Scouts only.




Click on the "Boy Scout" label below to see previous scouting posts. Or click on "Coca-Cola" or "Coca Cola" to see vintage Coke ads.

And visit Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography to see some old scouting photos from Scotland.

3/15/12

1960 BOY SCOUT HANDBOOK


This weeks Sepia Saturday theme is scouting. What better time to show some images from the 1960 Boy Scout Handbook? I bought this book at a used store in Burbank a very long time ago and probably paid no more than a dollar. It's a wonderful book with a Norman Rockwell piece on the cover.

Following are the front and back cover of the book along with some interior spreads. I will be featuring more of the book in the coming weeks, including some of the vintage ads.

And to see some vintage scouting photos visit my Tattered and Lost Photography site.

Click on any image to see it larger.














In 1981 the band Oingo Boingo (who used to put on great live shows) released an album called Only a Lad thats cover parodied the Rockwell handbook cover.

3/14/12

BROWN ANGELS and THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT


I’ve got two books to recommend you might be interested in if you love vernacular photography and ephemera.

The first, Brown Angels, is a small book of original poetry by Walter Dean Myers coupled with really wonderful photos of African-American children from the early 20th century. I found it in a used bookstore after Christmas and fell in love with the images before I'd even read the poems. It’s a really sweet and joyous children’s book, but being a collector of vernacular photography I knew I needed to add it to my collection of photo books, not just my children’s book collection.

The second, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures, is simply a lot of fun. Author Caroline Preston has taken ephemera from her collection and created a “novel” telling the story of young Frankie Pratt from her teen years to early 20s. Page after page of what appears to be her scrapbook, a story unfolds of young Frankie’s life as she longs to be a writer. Love, college, Paris, and again love provide the storyline. I really can’t say enough about it. Wonderful images throughout and a real treasure trove for artists looking for inspiration.

To see more about either book you can click on the links in the left column to read reviews at Amazon.

3/12/12

The little people at the ALOHA PHOENIX RESORT


Do you ever click on the “Next Blog” label at the top of Blogger blogs? Google seems to think that by analyzing where you’ve come from they’ll be able to recommend where you’d like to go next. I can say with 100% certainty that not once have they guided me to something I would remotely be interested in. In fact, they send me to sites that are always far removed from who I am and what my interests are. In short, I’m not someone who can be easily compartmentalized using data mining. I know they’d like to believe we are all anxiously awaiting their guidance, but we’re not. That said…

Do you ever visit Google’s Blogs of Note? Again, rarely is their choice something which interests me, but at least I know that the choice that shows up on the screen has more to do with the person(s) choosing the blogs than it does with any data they’ve collected from my net searches. Occasionally they do come up with something that I find interesting that might hold my attention for longer than 30 seconds. They got my attention with the February 29th choice, Little People. It’s a site I’ll be back to visit to see what new photos have been posted of the little people underfoot we never notice. Well, my best friend and I did have little people living outside her apartment in Waikiki that we were fond of, but the story is way too long and odd.

This pointless ramble is to say that the little people at the Little People site made me think about all the little people you see in commercial post cards for hotels/motels, etc. Models stuck in some position in which they hopefully add human dimension to what would otherwise be a cold sterile shot of generic architecture. And so…I give you the little people at the Aloha Phoenix Resort in 1976.

From what I'm finding online this resort no longer exists. At one time it was apparently known as Samoan Village Motor Hotel back in the day when Tiki was all the rage. Tiki gods run very deep in my childhood so I do miss the days of Tiki.




Click on either image to see it larger.

This card was produced by Petley. To see a few other Petley cards click "Petley" below in the labels.

If I had not seen the Little People site I’d have never done this post. Don’t hold it against them.

3/3/12

HARVEST HOUSE CAFETERIA and Woolworths


Welcome to the Harvest House Cafeteria in Cerritos, California.



Ummm...no wait. I mean Flint, Michigan...Niles, Ohio...Toledo, Ohio...Cleveland, Ohio...Carlsbad, California...Indianapolis, Indiana...okay, I have no idea.

A generic card for a chain restaurant that was apparently owned by Woolworth's. I never went to a Harvest House, though I do have very fond memories of going to the counter at Woolworth's in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with my grandmother.

The real question here is where was this photo actually taken? Were there several restaurants that looked exactly like this or did they just take a shot and slap different cities on the back?

I have found other vintage post cards for Harvest House online with different images. It appears there were two other images used for their cards seen here and here.

To see a Harvest House cheesecake recipe click here. To see an old matchbook cover click here.

So that's today's mystery. Where did this room actually exist? Did it exist?

I can't guarantee any of these links will work in the future because many of them are for cards currently for sale.
________________________

New book available on Amazon.
Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

This one is for those who love dolls!

Snapshots from the last 100+ years of children and adults with dolls. Okay, there are a couple of dogs too.

Perfect stocking stuffer!









3/1/12

FLYING FISH RECORDS founder BRUCE KAPLAN


This vintage post card came in a birthday package along with many more cards and a few dozen vernacular photographs. Each little piece of paper has its own history, but most not as interesting as this.



The fellow on the front of this card is Bruce Kaplan, founder of Flying Fish Records. He started Flying Fish in 1974. He died of viral meningitis at age 47 in 1992.

Never heard of Flying Fish Records? Hopefully you'll be familiar with some of the artists he recorded:
John Hartford, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Bonnie Koloc, Stephane Grappelli and New Grass Revival
From Wikipedia:
Flying Fish played a major role in bringing traditionally oriented American music to a wider audience in the 1970s. At the time Kaplan started the label, most similarly oriented companies produced albums with decidedly "homemade" packaging (e.g. cover art, etc.) and marketed the albums to a relatively narrow audience of aficionados. Kaplan realized that music of this sort had the potential to reach a wider audience, but needed to be packaged in a professional manner; people not already devotees were unlikely to take a chance on something that did not look like it came from a "real" record company. Kaplan also invested in broader promotion of the music (wide provision of albums to radio; targeted advertising to back up tours). Essentially, he located a niche between the hit-based promotion model of the major labels and the faith of the small independents that the music would find its own audience. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
To read more about Bruce Kaplan click here and on the Wikipedia link above.

Anyone out there ever order one of the posters or shirts?