Summer 1941. “Detroit, Michigan. Girls playing cards and drinking Coca-Cola.”
Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. This was part of a set showing these girls playing ‘Strip Poker’. As it was commissioned by the War Office, I can only presume it was intended to increase the morale of the troops. Even though it was before Pearl Harbour.
This lady is taking no chances. Having seen the sign, she is removing her high-heeled shoes. America, 1950s
A young woman seeing if a dress will fit her. London, 1960s.
An underage boy smoking in the street. Scotland, 1968.
Female drinkers in a Glasgow pub, 1960s.
A very trendy fashion model showing off the famous ‘Egg Chair’. 1960s.
An underground train passenger noticing the photographer. London, 1980s.
Excitable girls on an underground train. London, 1980s.
A man down on his luck, hoping to get money by selling matches. London, 1984.
These were delightful, except for the last one.
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The last one is sad, but the photographer was making a good point with it.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes, he was. Humanity-101.
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The last one is sad and so poignant. The man is hiding his face from the photographer… We are so lucky
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Yes, the poor man didn’t want to be photographed, obviously.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Some of these are very fashionable, the last one is heart-breaking. Thanks, Pete.
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Yes, nothing much has changed. There are still beggars on the streets of London.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Oh man. The egg chair! They had one with speakers in the egg and an 8 track cart in the pedestal down at Mad Man Muntz’s 8 car stereo shop in my home town. There was a blonde, otherwise a clown of this model with, uh, more “qualifications nod nod wink wink and we would trek just to sit in the egg and fantasize..
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Happy to remind you of those ‘qualifications’, Phil. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I love the elaborate underwear in the first photo. It took me back for sure. It is much easier to dress these days.
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Female undergarments were something of a ‘construction’ back then, as I recall. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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It did slow down some of the “suitors.”
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I remember pubs used to have a ‘snug’ for the old girls – well, in the East End they did anyway, lol.
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In my youth it was always men at the bar, women at the tables. I don’t recall my dad or my uncles ever sitting down in a pub. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Some of my youth was sat outside with a glass of lemonade and a packet of crisps, listening to the noise inside.
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Me too. An Orangillo, and a packet of Smiths Crisps. 🙂
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Orangillo… that’s a blast from the past.
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It was my beverage of choice when I was sat outside the pub. 🙂
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Those female drinkers, they look so old in the photo.
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Probably aged by alcohol and a hard life, Arlene.
Best wishes, Pete.
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HI Pete, a lovely and interesting selection of pictures. I hate seeing pictures of people ‘down on their luck’. I am finding all the beggars thronging the streets of Johannesburg lately very depressing. You can help a few but its like a drop in the ocean. Greg told me yesterday that only 50% of the world population earn more than $4800 a year. That is a really depressing piece of information, to be honest.
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Some people in India earn around $1 US a day. I really don’t know how they survive. And in a country full of millionaires , that’s shameful.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Hi Pete, yes, that is correct, and it is the same here in Africa.
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You find the best images, Pete and those escalators were lethal many a heel got snapped in them ..tweeted for you , Pete x
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Thanks, Carol. Glad you enjoyed the photos.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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what a range of emotions here
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I like to post random selections occasionally.
Best wishes, Pete.
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So many terrific photos, Pete bu that last one is gut wrenching!
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Thanks, John. The photographer captured the despair of that man perfectly.
Best wishes, Pete.
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What stories there are in these photographs!
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Glad you enjoyed them, Liz.
Best wishes, Pete.
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The 1950s escalator shot is my fav. Love those heels!
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The lady was sensible to remove them though. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete. x
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(1) Soldiers are wondering what Pearl, the girl from Detroit, might harbor beneath that last layer of clothing.
(2a) By taking off her shoes, the distance to the next floor will be a couple of inches farther up.
(2b) I once ran down an up escalator. I felt like a heel.
(3) Overheard:
London girl: “Do you have a change room?”
London retailer: “No, but there’s room for you to change here in the street.”
(4) “Holy smokes, Batman! That underage boy’s been Robin the store’s cigarettes again!”
(5) Meanwhile, overage women are getting drunk at the pub.
(6) I always enjoy seeing a sexy chick in an Egg Chair!
(7) You have underground trains. We had the Underground Railroad.
(8) Is that lady practicing her ballet battement, or is she preparing to kick the train door open?
(9) “By my safety matches so that I can go shopping at Sainsbury’s.”
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I still find it strange that the strip poker photos were commissioned by the War Office. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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“Excitable girls” or girls showing off for the photographer? Warmest regards, Ed
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Both, I am sure. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Love old photos Pete!
Best from Florida
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Me too. That’s why I post so many like these on my blog. More tomorrow! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, an interesting selection of photos! The last one is so sad while I am impressed with any able to walk on those heels at all!
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I went with a cross-section today, instead of a main theme.
Glad you enjoyed them.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I was saddened by the last photo as well.
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That last photograph is a heart-wrencher. The 60’s were quite a trip…the fashions…they were dizzying. Or maybe that was the drugs…(.not me, I was totally “square” and boring.) Those wretched shoes with spiky heels were a menace. I read a story of a woman who fell on an escalator and it was horrible. Ugg. Not to mention was those shoes did to our feet. Those ladies in Glasgow look happy but so malnourished.
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I am guessing that the ladies in Glasgow were spending more money on booze than on food, Carolyn.
Best wishes, Pete.
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We is it that “girls” of the 30’s and 40’s looked much older than they do at the same age in the 60’s and beyond?
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I think everyone looked older back then, Doug. They had harder lives, much less food to eat, and were also expected to act ‘grown up’ and be responsible adults at an age unheard of today. My mum left school at the age of 14, in 1938. She had to work a 45-hour week in an office job, and was expected to help out at home too. The year she was 15, war was declared, and she was already very ‘grown up’ by then.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Great pictures.
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Thanks, Molly. More tomorrow. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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In the lst picture I think that coke might have had a little rum in it. And those gals in the pub… Glad the camera wasn’t around to catch them playing strip poker. I guess a lot of the things in the 80’s were hold overs from the 60’s.
Nice post, Pete.
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Thanks, Don. Glad you enjoyed the selection.
Best wishes, Pete.
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