Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: socks

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.

A handwritten date of 1955 appears on the back of this Schultüte (school cone) photo.

The humor of this postcard may not be evident to us today, but when it was published in the early twentieth century the poem that it refers to— Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight —was well known. It tells the story of a brave woman who prevents a bell from ringing in order to stop the planned execution of her lover (Wikipedia provides a synopsis and reprints the entire poem in case you're interested in the details). So—as the original recipient of a postcard like this would have realized—it's ludicrous to compare a woman's heroic efforts to spare her lover's life with a boy's attempt to stop the ax from turning his pet turkey into Thanksgiving dinner. To top things off, the kid's wide-eyed expression and wild gesticulations (as if he's reciting a dramatic poem!) makes the situation seem even more absurd.

It must have been windy in the studio to produce such a blurry image of the flags! Although the words "roller bearing" appear on the side of the wagon, I haven't been able to identify what brand it might be.

"Walter S. Welton, dealer in fine boots & shoes, 338 Chapel St., New Haven, Conn. Copyrighted by John Gibson, 1881." A colorful and amusing Victorian-era advertising trade card.

Three out of four men display their patterned footwear in this socks (striped, Argyll, tights, fishnets, men's/women's garters) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For some other pertinent previously posted pictures, see my slides of Yellow Socks Guy (also known as Pipe-Smoking Man ). This is a real photo postcard showing four men posing for a souvenir picture at Devil's Den , which is an outcropping of massive granite boulders located on the Gettysburg Battlefield , a U.S. Civil War site in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The man who's barely visible at bottom left is probably peering down to take a look at a small pool of water produced by a spring underneath the boulder. For additional photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

An upside down photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Trying to" stand on his head, and it looks like he succeeded!

Cousins of Alfred E. Neuman perhaps?

"Solo Match. Made in Austria."

Pipe-Smoking Man (aka Yellow Socks Guy) relaxes in front of a warm and cozy fireplace. Tasteful art-- The Half Way House, Thatcham (1848), a copy of a painting by William Shayer Sr. (1787-1879)--hangs above the mantle, an issue of Seventeen is peeking out of the magazine rack, and the same floral-print curtains that were visible in The Silence in the Room Was Deafening show up here, too. See also Pipe-Smoking Television Man . (Thanks to goenetix for identifying the painting!) For related slides, select the thumbnail images below.

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide (probably late 1950s). This pipe-smoking fellow reminds me of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of Church of the SubGenius fame. In another slide (see The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below), this same man is holding his pipe as he sits in a chair. A third slide (see Birds at Home , below) shows the same room from a different angle (compare the lamp, table, and floral-print chair).

Undated slide.