Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "1950s"

Dandy with His Easter Candy (Cropped)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 05:38:02 +0000

A table and console radio covered in all sorts of Easter candy. See also the original photo.

Dandy with His Easter Candy

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 05:38:04 +0000

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of lollypop, lollypop -- featuring a lollypop, candy cane, or other confection.

This is a 1959 snapshot of a dandy young fellow who is dressed in a suit and holding an Easter bunny toy. The table next to him is covered with Easter baskets and a variety of candy confections. There's even more candy on top of the console radio that's on the other side of the table. See also a close-up of the candy.

RCA Victor TV—First Set We Had

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 May 2023 03:10:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of screens - indoor, outdoor, any kind.

Handwritten note on the other side of this snapshot: "First set we had."

A photo of an early RCA Victor television set, possibly a 9-T-246 model with a ten-inch screen from the late 1940s or early 1950s. Compare this with the RCA 9T246 on the Early Television Museum's site.

For another early TV, see Philco Television Set, 1948.

Flower Paintings with Lamp and Stereo

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 03:48:02 +0000

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A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of lamps, chandeliers, candlesticks, and other types of lighting.

This is a color slide, circa 1959, that shows two flower paintings hanging on a wall. Below them is a Motorola "Stereophonic High Fidelity" console. Based on the online documentation for a similar model, the top of the stereo lifts up on the right for access to a record player inside. The six knobs on the left are labeled Function, Compensator, Loudness, Treble, Bass, and Balance. On top of the left side of the stereo are a decorative porcelain table lamp and a framed photo.

This is another slide from the collection of the Pipe-Smoking Man's family. I only recently realized that two other photos from the collection show different parts of this same room. A photo taken to the left of this one also captures part of the stereo console (see Flowering Plants and Groovy Curtains). The door, wall thermostat, and chair in this photo are visible in a photo taken to the right of this one (see Still Life with Television). The flower paintings may be the work of "Ethel", a relative of the Pipe-Smoking Man (see Ethel's Oil Painting, 1967).

Still Life with Television

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 00:35:22 +0000

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An slide, circa 1959, from Pipe-Smoking Man's family.

Midway Diner, July 13, 1950

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 03:06:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of this was the [you name the decade] (please explain why the photo represents the period).

"Midway Diner, where we ate our dinner. On our trip to Atlantic City. Thursday, July 13, 1950."

This was the 1950s -- just barely -- but diners like this have played a significant role in fifties nostalgia. As Wikipedia observes, "In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob, Happy Days, Grease, and Diner), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date."

Based on other photos I purchased along with this one, I believe that the family members who ate their dinner here on July 13 were traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, from their home in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania. This suggests that the Midway Diner was located somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to determine exactly where.

As I was getting ready to post this picture, I discovered that I used a different diner photo for a previous 1950s theme for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See Good Food Federal Diner, Brookline Avenue, Boston, Mass., 1956.

A Giant among Santas

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 02:45:02 +0000

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A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of with Santa.

"Merry Christmas."

Two girls and a man pose for a photo next to a remarkably tall Santa Claus. This real photo postcard has a "Devolite Peerless" stamp box on the other side, and it's likely that it dates to the 1950s.

Wall of Stone Heads, Tiwanaku Semi-Subterranean Temple Replica, La Paz, Bolivia

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 16:51:10 +0000

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A photo of fences, walls, or other boundary markers for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

This slide, taken in La Paz, Bolivia, in the 1950s by an unknown photographer, shows some of the stone heads on one of the walls surrounding a replica of the Semi-Subterranean Temple, which is located at the Pre-Columbian Tiwanaku archeological site near Lake Titicaca in western Bolivia.

The walls of the original temple at Tiwanaku are decorated with 175 carved stone heads, which apparently reflect "an earlier practice of exposing the severed heads of defeated enemies in the temple" (see UNESCO's description of Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture).

The replica of the Semi-Subterranean Temple was constructed in La Paz to hold the Bennett Monolith (see Monolito Bennett for a Spanish-language Wikipedia article), which was removed from Tiwanaku in 1933. See below for a second slide from the 1950s or 1960s that captures a view of the temple that includes the back of the Bennett Monolith.

For other images of the Semi-Subterranean Temple replica in La Paz, check out the Wikimedia Commons photos of Monolitos Miraflores La Paz Bolivia, which presents a close-up of the layout of the temple replica, and Estadio Hernando Siles, Barrio Miraflores, which shows an overview of the temple with the nearby soccer stadium looming in the background.

Sailboat Carrying a Truck on Lake Titicaca

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:21:48 +0000

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A ships/boats photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

This slide, taken in the 1950s by an unknown photographer who was visiting Bolivia and other South American countries, shows a sailboat transporting a pickup truck across Lake Titicaca, which is located high in the Andes mountains on the border between Bolivia and Peru.

Guys with Their Dolls

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 04:55:02 +0000

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A photo of dolls for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Handwritten note on the other side of this small snapshot (circa 1950, possibly from Columbia County, Pa.): "Charlie Coates (left). Ed Sharretts (right). Madge dressed Charlie & I dressed Ed. Ed got [a] prize for being the cutest."

Not to be confused with Guys and Dolls.

Easter Seals Space Ranger Pin

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 21 May 2014 21:25:11 +0000

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"Easter Seals. Space Ranger."

A tin-lithograph tab button pin issued by the Easter Seals charity in the late 1950s. The satellite depicted on the pin looks similar to Vanguard 1, which was launched by the United States in 1958. It's still orbiiting the earth today even though its solar-powered radio transmitter stopped working in 1964.

Gondola Ride, Venice, Italy, 1952

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 04:58:02 +0000

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A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of ship out! (taking a trip by any conveyance but extra credit by ship or boat).

A souvenir real photo postcard of tourists riding in a gondola on the Venetian Lagoon in Venice, Italy. It's dated 1952 on the other side.

The dome of St Mark's Basilica and its tall campanile (bell tower) are visible in the background.

German Girl with School Cone, 1951

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 04:57:50 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of beginnings and endings (houses being built or torn down, stores opening or closing, an old year ending or a new one starting, etc.).

Date and initials at lower right: "4.9.51. F.S." Printed on the back of this photo: "Photogr. F. Schumann, Pirna."

A snapshot of a young German girl who's holding a Schultüte, or school cone, which she received as a gift on her first day of school as a way to commemorate the beginning of her formal education.

For a similar photo taken a few years later, see Girl with Schultüte, 1955. For more photos, see my Schultüten (School Cones) album.

Calling to Wish You a Merry Christmas

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 04:57:02 +0000

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A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of telephones.

"Merry Christmas. Sophie, Grant, and Kurt Stetzler."

A photographic Christmas card dating to the late 1950s.

Season's Greetings, 1950

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 16:56:02 +0000

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"Seasons Greetings, 1950." Handwritten signature on the other side of this photographic greeting card: "The Weidman's."

For the Weidman family Christmas card from 1949, this young girl posed with Santa outside on the porch instead of inside on the stairs. See Season's Greetings, 1949—From Our House to Your House.

Don't Take My Picture

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 01:10:02 +0000

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A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of someone is not happy (pouting, scowling, etc.).

A snapshot of a woman who was understandably annoyed at having her picture taken while she was eating. The typewritten date on the back of the photo is "Aug. 27, 1952."

Notice, too, that there's another women who's barely visible in the background, She's walking past a couple of small structures, which may be outhouses or storage buildings.

Quirky Costumed Couple

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 01:15:10 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park monthly topic of costumes and uniforms—Halloween, theatrical, and other kinds of costumes, or uniforms from medical, military, and other settings (submit a photo on this topic each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic).

Is it a ghostly apparition or just some out-of-focus Halloweeners? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

A red-border "Kodachrome Transparency," circa 1955.

Memphis—World's Largest Hardwood Center

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 23:12:10 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A postcard postmarked in Houston, Texas, on July 15, 1959.

Description on the other side: "The hardwood panel display in the Memphis Municipal Airport lobby, prepared by the Memphis Lumberman's Club, is one of the major points of interest to visitors in the 'World's Hardwood Capital.'"

I haven't been able to determine whether the hardware panel still exists as a major attraction in Memphis, Texas.

Cutting the Cake in '58

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 06 May 2019 00:06:02 +0000

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A weddings photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

This is a Kodachrome slide processed by Kodak in Jan 1959, so I'm guessing that the wedding actually took place in 1958

Notice how no one seems particularly excited as the bride and groom pose for photos while cutting their cake. Perhaps they would have been more impressed had they turned around and taken a look at the elaborate design of that wallpaper.

P.S. I didn't realize how many wedding-related pics I had already used for various themes in the VPTP until I started searching for this week's photo. Check out two of my six previous matrimonial postings:

The Instrumental Aires at the Sapphire Room, Hotel Floridan, Tampa, Florida

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 18:16:03 +0000

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"The Instrumental Aires, featured at the Sapphire Room, Hotel Floridan, Tampa, Florida."

A real photo postcard showing the three suave fellows who performed as the Instrumental Aires at the Hotel Floridan (now the Floridan Palace Hotel). An ad from 1955 identified the musicians as "Bill Horn, direct from 2 years in Las Vegas, Bill Byers, Tampa's favorite vocalist, [and] Rickey Powell, wizard of the strings" (I'm not sure who's who in the photo, however).