Lori and Me – Part 1
On the back – “…over cute in all these pictures”
1969 Donna
On the back -” I love you. Do you love me? No or yes?”
This bubbly young woman is probably named Donna although that piece of information has been deduced from a single dedication on a photo, presumably given to the owner of the album from which all these and many other photobooth photos came. She is identified only as “me” in the rest of the pictures. Given the vagaries of this process of deduction, it may not be the name of the girl who most frequently appeared in the album, but I think it is likely, and thus she will be Donna to us.
Donna is photographed with many boyfriends and girlfriends, over a period of 4 years from 1969 to 1973, in a large series of photobooth photos which I will share with you in coming weeks.
For me, finding a series of photos of the same person over a period of years, is one of the highlights of collecting photobooth photos. It is particularly fascinating to see someone, in the formative years of their life, grow-up before our very eyes.
As with another long series that I posted last year, Becky and Friends, I will be adding highlights of this series to my Photobooth Time Machines category. In the category files, each post is shown in reverse order of date of publication, so to see the photos chronologically, you need to start at the bottom of the page and work upwards.
In this first instalment we have blondie Donna in the photobooth with friends Carlos and Bessie. All the photos were taken on the same day in 1969, somewhere in the USA.
On the back – “Me, Carlos, Bessie. 1969”
On the back – “1969 Me and Carlos (HA HA)”
On the back – “1969 (Yes!)”
Carlos and Donna
Bessie and Carlos
Bessie
Photobooth Journal 
Donna is a cutie. I’ll look forward to watching her grow up.
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She gets more and more sultry and beautiful, Sir Michael!
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Ooooh. wowza…..sultry! Bring it.
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I just knew you’d be pleased!
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So 1969. Wonderful set!
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Thanks Alessandro and so any more to come…
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This will be fun. I remember seeing a huge batch of photo booth pics, in chronological order, of a super cutie recently… kind of a slide show.
Okay, do you know where Donna lived? It is possible, and this is just a guess, that somewhere in the Southwest, since she is with kids that look to be Mexican, and in the 60’s that is most likely. Now of course, there are people of Mexican descent in every part of the USA. On my island, which is almost in Canada, we have a huge Mexican population. When I came here 17 years ago there were only a few families. Carlos and Bessie look like Bro and Sis.
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Hey… where did you come up with the ‘Lori’?
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Hi to my Lovely Friend Ted! I don’t have much energy this morning but was thrilled that at last someone has asked that question. I will reply to this comment only at the moment(Thanks for all the others! I will get to them asap.)
To answer your question, before I looked carefully at all the photos, the only ones I had read the backs of had “Lori and me” written on them, so I always thought of the photos as “The Lori and Me Series”. When I was doing the drafts, that is what I used as a draft title, thinking I would change it to something else eventually. It became such an embedded thing in my mind, that when I went to change it, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked.
Lori doesn’t appear until near the end of the series but is in more photos than any of Donna’s other friends. Thus I decided to leave it the way it was. A combination of affection for the title, lack of inspiration and laziness, I guess is the best way to sum up the “Lori” part! x to you Ted. Kate
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These pictures really are redolent of the period.
Ted, sounds like you are on San Juan Island. No Mexicans there when I went to school at Friday Harbor in the 60s (for 1 month a year). Now I hear there are many. Shows how the USA is changing, Spanish spoken all over. Perhaps it will become bilingual, like here in Canada with French and English on all product labels/packages – that would be something.
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I am surprised that isn’t the case already in the USA. I loved the multi-lingual advertising and signage when I lived in New York . While not universal, it was a great indicator of the number of Spanish speakers in the area and the success of the integration of cultures.
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Ah… that explains it. As Donna is the ‘me’ and Lori we have yet to see.
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You didn’t know I was a poet, did you… neither did I!
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Of course I knew you were a poet Ted! At the least you have exhibited your poet’s heart in all the lovely things you have done for me, but I do see it in your writing, too. x Kate.
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Donna is truly an amazing looking girl. You have found something special in those strips. She makes me want to draw her!
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I love finding photos that represent more than one second of a person’s life. I was thrilled to find pics that show Donna growing into a woman. I agree that she really is exceptional in the looks department!
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I like that too but those are hard to find!
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