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Vintage Photobooth

Please Help To Settle An Argument – UPDATE

June 8, 2015
Vintage Photobooth
10 Comments

photoboothGermanHatLady?

In my previous post about this photo, I attached an image of the back. I suggested that there may be more clues as to the identity of the sitter, if only I could read German. I was convinced that the photo is of a man. My friends thought it was a woman. Now thanks to a reader, Wolff Postler, we have a translation of the inscription. Wolff writes –

As far as I could decipher it, the notice reads:
Meiner Logismutter
Möll(?) zum Andenken
an den fremden
Freiheitsbruder
Ludwig Rot…(?)

This translates as “To my lodging mother Möll as a memory of the strange (weird) brother of liberty Ludwig Rot…”
The places marked by (?) are not readable.
Hope that helps – at least it confirms your speculation about a boheminan of some sort.

The translation confirms this to be a man who is seen and sees himself as strange. What “brother of liberty” meant in Pre-WW2 Germany, I cannot say. Hearty thanks to Wolff for making this interesting photo even more fascinating!

photoboothGermanHatLady?Back

Please Help To Settle An Argument

June 6, 2015
Vintage Photobooth
25 Comments

photoboothGermanHatLady?

I bought this 1930s photobooth photo thinking it was of a very unusual looking man with an even more unusual fashion sense – a bohemian, arty type. No one to whom I have shown the photo agrees. The argument is that a man of that era wouldn’t have hair styled in that way nor wear a hat, shirt or velvet coat such as these. What do you think?

The photo came from Germany and has this information on the back. I’d say the signature was Ludwig something, definitely a male name, but it may not be a signature at all. I’m sure there will be more clues to the identity of the sitter if I could read more of the inscription.

photoboothGermanHatLady?Back

German Photoweigh – Master Bean – 14 October 1931

August 15, 2014
Photoweigh Photobooth, Vintage Photobooth
9 Comments

photoboothPhotoWeigh

This has to be my favourite Photoweigh image and also one of my all-time-favourite photobooth photos. The reason I particularly love this image is that it reminds me of the wonderful comic character created by Rowan Atkinson, Mr Bean and his best friend Teddy.

Teddy is Mr. Bean’s teddy bear and perhaps Mr. Bean’s best friend. Mr. Bean often pretends Teddy is alive and he is often privy to Mr. Bean’s various schemes. I wonder what relationship the young man in the booth photo had with his bear, and what might have prompted him to take him to the booth for a photo? He looks a bit too old to be playing with a teddy bear, so perhaps it was taken to entertain a young child?

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Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean, with his friend Teddy.

I had assumed that this Photoweigh photo was taken at a railway station in Frankfurt but on Googling the address Kaiserstr 67 (full address Kaiserstraße 67 60329 Frankfurt am Main – see picture of location as it looks today, below) found that it is part of a shopping street. Where the booth once stood is now the Yan Jing Chinese Restaurant.

More Photoweigh photo examples from the UK and Germany can be seen here, along with a detailed history of the booths written by David Simkin of Sussex PhotoHistory.

Another blogger of vintage photographs, Richard Overy, has found some wonderful examples of other Photoweigh photos from the UK from Barry Island. The links to those photos are below. I would also encourage you to explore more of Richard’s found photo blog for more interesting old photographs.

http://lostandfoundphotographs.wordpress.com/?s=barry+island

 

Kaiserstraße 67 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Yan Jing Chinese Restaurant is currently located where the Photoweigh Photobooth stood in the 1930s

Lori and Me – Part 6

August 11, 2014
Lori and Me, Vintage Photobooth
7 Comments

photoboothDonnaSeriesPart61972 - 01 photoboothDonnaSeriesPart61972 - 02

In this sixth instalment of this series, we have Donna looking very beautiful and all grown-up.  These two strips were taken on the same day in 1972 at a beachside town, given the inscription on the back, which says Me at Beach 72.

Donna looks so much older than in the last photos in the series, it is tempting to say this is several years after they were taken. However, I think there would have been no more than 12 months gap between the sittings, judging by the dates on some of the other photos from the album.

For those of you interested to see “Lori” of the title of this series, the big reveal will be in the next post.

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. To see the rest of the posts in this series, please click here.

Lori and Me – Part 5

August 4, 2014
Lori and Me, Vintage Photobooth
13 Comments

photoboothDonnaSeriesPart5Undated01

Read More

Lori and Me – Part 4

July 31, 2014
Lori and Me, Vintage Photobooth
5 Comments
photoboothDonnaSeriesPart4Undated03

Donna (blonde) and unidentified friend

In this fourth instalment of Lori and Me, we have Donna in a photobooth with two friends. None of the photos identify any of the girls but one friend, Mona, is identified in later photos from the series. Comparing these to the previous post, Donna is again looking slightly older and in my opinion, she is becoming more and more beautiful.

All of these photos were taken somewhere in the USA but none of them are dated, unlike others in the series.

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. To see the rest of the posts in this series, please click here.

photoboothDonnaSeriesPart4Undated01

Donna and Mona

photoboothDonnaSeriesPart4Undated02

Donna and unidentified friend (with Mona in third photo)

 

Cheeky Lad of My Heart

July 30, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
15 Comments

photoboothBadLad01
photoboothBadLad02
photoboothBadLad03
This sort of kid has the type of cheeky personality that I love, but having said that, I am secretly glad I don’t have to teach or be a mother to him!

These pics are from the USA and are undated but look to be from around the mid 1970s. They are standard size photobooth photos.

Danger Is My Business

July 28, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
10 Comments
photoboothCoolMcCool

Real Life Cool McCool?

♫♪♬♩”Oh!… Double Oh… Cee Double Oh… Cee Double Oh Ell. Cee Double Oh Ell, Mack…Cool Mc Cool! Danger is his business”𝄫♬♪♪

While this isn’t the greatest of photobooth photos, I love it as the subject reminds me of Cool McCool, one of my favourite cartoon characters as a kid.

Cool McCool was an animated series that ran on NBC from September 10, 1966 to August 30, 1969. It was created by Bob Kane – most famous as one of the creators of Batman. McCool was voiced by Bob McFadden who was also responsible for the voice of  Milton the Monster, another character I loved. The theme music is also a childhood favourite. Have a look at the video, below.

070313coolmccool

Cartoon McCool – my man!

And again! ♭♫♪♬”Oh!… Double Oh… Cee Double Oh… Cee Double Oh Ell. Cee Double Oh Ell, Mack…Cool Mc Cool! Danger is his business”♯𝄞♬♪

Lori and Me – Part 3

July 24, 2014
Lori and Me, Vintage Photobooth
15 Comments

photoboothDonnaSeriesPart3- 01 photoboothDonnaSeriesPart3- 02
photoboothDonnaSeriesPart3- 04 photoboothDonnaSeriesPart3- 03

In this third instalment of Lori and Me, we have blondie Donna in the photobooth with two unidentified people, one of whom could be her mother, or the mother of the other young woman. Donna is looking more mature in this set, as is her friend who was pictured with Donna in the previous post in this series.

I think it is a great group of fun photos. Shame about the older woman who seems to think she is one of the teenage girls. For some reason she REALLY irritates me. I normally refrain from saying anything negative about the people in my photos, mostly because I don’t have anything bad to say about them, but in this case, urgh!

All the photos were taken on the same day somewhere in the USA. Unfortunately, none of them are dated.

To see the rest of the posts in this series, please click here.

 

Lori and Me – Part 2

July 17, 2014
Lori and Me, Vintage Photobooth
9 Comments

photoboothDonnaWithFriendsPt2

In this second instalment of Donna’s photobooth story we see her above, with two unidentified friends in a strip that was over-exposed due to the over-close proximity of the two faces at the front, to the flash.

While the quality of the strip isn’t great, it is part of Donna’s story and charming for the joy these girls exhibit in each other’s company. I love the typical 1970s haircuts on all three of them. Having been a child of the 70s and endured this type of “do” myself, I hope this fashion will never, ever be repeated!

All the photos were taken somewhere in the USA but none of them are dated, however I believe that they are chronologically after the photos in Part 1. The girl at the back of this threesome appears in a long series of booth pics to come soon, but unfortunately is not identified in any of the them.

The photos below, came from the same album in which Donna had mounted photos of herself and her friends. I would assume that at least one of these boys is a younger brother to her. I do love the Sharpie haircut on the boy at the back but then again could it be a girl? Sometimes I feel so clueless on gender identification!

Donna is photographed with many boyfriends and girlfriends over 4 years from 1969 to 1973 in a large series of photobooth photos which I will continue to share with you in the coming weeks.

photoboothDonnaRandomKidsSameAlbumPt2