Windows to the Past: The Smiling Irishman

We couldn't resist posting this particular Window to the Past as we fast approach this week's Saint Patrick's Day Holiday.  The photograph dates from 1946 and showcases a Los Angeles entrepreneur know as the Smiling Irishman.  The image is from the UCLA Library Digital collections.

Windows to the Past: Teddy the Wrestling Bear

A carnival barker takes a moment to quench his thirst in this photograph from September of 1941.  A mere five cents granted admission to any number of wonders, including a 32 feet long, 618 lb. snake and the ever popular Teddy the Wrestling Bear.  This particular attraction was located on the midway of the Vermont State Fair in Rutland.  Photographer Jack Delano snapped the photo and it is part of the FSA-OWI collection at the Library of Congress.

Windows to the Past: The Plaza Theatre

Boom Pop! is dedicated to the memory of my late father-in-law Anthony Mangano, and one of my missions here is to explore the many mementos and ephemera of 20th century popular culture that were found in Tony's attic shortly after his passing in early 2009.  Also relating to Tony is this wonderful Window to the Past that gives us a view of the Pittsburgh neighborhood where he grew up.

This photograph was snapped on August 1, 1937 and showcases the Plaza Theatre that was located on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh's "Little Italy," better known as Bloomfield.  The Plaza Theatre was located less than two blocks from Tony's home, and I have no doubt that he spent many Saturday afternoons there watching cartoons, serials and double features.  Tony would have been eight years old at the time of this photograph and I would love to think that he could be among the children pictured in the image.

The photograph is from the Historic Pittsburgh Images Collection and had the following annotation:

The Plaza Theater at 4765 Liberty Avenue, showing children waiting to attend a performance. Movie posters flank the ticket booth with their notices of films featuring "Charlie Chan at the Olympics," "Emperor's Candlesticks" with Luise Ranier and William Powell and Hal Roach's "Nobody's Baby". The theater, built circa 1905, features a Mansard roof, terra cotta tile, and tin ceilings inside.

Here is an earlier view if the Plaza Theatre, predating Tony's birth by twelve years. The photo was taken on October 29, 1917.

Windows to the Past: Leslie Brooks at the Hollywood Canteen

Columbia Studios starlet and pin-up girl Leslie Brooks gets help from a serviceman outside the soon-to-open Hollywood Canteen in this photograph from fall of 1942.  The gentleman is Yeoman Seymour Rice of the Coast Guard.

The Hollywood Canteen was located on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood.  It operated during the war years from 1942 to 1945 and featured free food and entertainment for servicemen and servicewomen.  The Canteen was the brainchild of stars Bette Davis and John Garfield, and they enlisted the entire entertainment industry to donate labor, materials and services to construct and operate the venue.  By the time it closed on Thanksgiving Day 1945, it had served nearly three million military personnel.  In 1944, Warner Brothers released the film Hollywood Canteen which drew inspiration from the actual nightclub.

Brooks was twenty years old when she signed with Columbia Pictures in 1942.  Her career in Hollywood lasted less than a decade.  She played secondary roles for Columbia before being leaving the studio in 1948.  Her personal life at the time was marred by a troubled marriage to ex-marine and struggling actor Donald Anthony Shay that ended in a divorce and a bitter custody fight over their daughter Leslie Victoria.  She would go on to marry land developer Russ Vincent in 1950 and effectively retire from show business.

Windows to the Past: The Reality of Rosie

Rosie the Riveter has long been the symbolic icon of women working in American industry during World War II.  This stunning color photograph from June 1942 showcases a real life study of that homefront dynamic.  The unidentified woman in the picture is working at a North American Aviation, Inc. plant in California.  The picture was taken by photographer Alfred T. Palmer who was at the time working for the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection.  

Photo from the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph collection.

Windows to the Past: A Visit with Santa

I love this photo.

Taken a few years prior to my arrival into the world, it features my two older brothers on the lap of a department store Santa Claus. A wonderful snapshot of the late 1950s.

Windows to the Past: Fun at the Pier

Four teenage girls enjoy the midway games on the Newport Beach Pier during the spring of 1954. The photo was taken by a photographer from the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper.

Windows to the Past: Celebrating Victory

Here is the Victory they were all gardening for.

Teenagers in Salem, Oregon celebrate the end of World War II during August of 1945. The picture was taken at the intersection of State and High Streets in downtown Salem. Gas rationing also ended the day the photograph was taken, August 15, and likely influenced the celebrants mode of transportation. The picture is from the Oregon State Archives.

Windows to the Past: Hot Rod Reality

Hollywood has often glamorized illicit hot rodding by teenagers, notably in films such as Grease and American Graffiti. The reality of that dynamic is pictured in this photograph from 1954. This teenagers were arrested for racing on Artesia Street in South Compton, California. A photographer from the Los Angles Examiner captured this window to the past.

Windows to the Past: Window Shopping 1936

Newsboys in 1936 window shop at a sporting goods store in Jackson, Ohio. Thoughts of hawking newspapers are lost amidst dreams of fishing reels and other assorted pieces of angling equipment. The scene was captured by photographer Theordor Jung. The photograph is part of the FSA-OSI Collection at the Library of Congress.

Windows to the Past: Ernest Debs' Comic Book Collection

I would say that it is very unlikely that Los Angeles City Councilman Ernest Debs is showing off his personal collection of EC Comics in this photograph. The picture was snapped in 1954 and was likely connected to the outcry over comic book content that was incited by the publication of the book Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wertham. That outcry ultimately led to to Senate Subcommittee hearings during the spring of 1954 that examined closely comic book content, especially within the crime and horror genres. As a result, the comic book industry voluntarily adopted the Comics Code Authority.

Windows to the Past: Get in the Picture

Children gather around an elaborate display promoting the 3D movie The Charge at Feather River at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham during the summer of 1953. Posters nearby also advertise the Robert Mitchum-Susan Hayward thriller White Witch Doctor. The photo is from the archive of the Birmingham Public Library.

Windows to the Past: Star Trek Fans 1968

Trekkies sure looked different in the early days. Identified as students from Caltech, these fans of the original Star Trek television show staged a protest of the program's rumored cancellation in January of 1968 outside of NBC Studios. The photo is part of the UCLA Digital Archives and was originally published by the Los Angeles Times.

Windows to the Past: A Fun Evening in 1949

Eight southern California teenagers gather for a "television party" in March of 1949. The photo is part of the UCLA Digital Archives and was originally published by the Los Angeles Times.

Windows to the Past: Gasoline Prices 1938

Seventy years ago this month, renowned Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange took note of gasoline prices at a service station in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The photograph is part of the FSA-OSI Collection at the Library of Congress.

Windows to the Past: We Are Ready - What About You?

The second world war was very far away from these young men in rural Texas. Yet reminders were always ever close as reflected in the poster on the wall behind them. This moment in time was captured by photographer John Vachon at a school in San Augustine County in 1944. It is part of the FSA-OSI Collection at the Library of Congress.

Special thanks to Viewliner Ltd. for pointing us to the collection.