What a gloriously sexy couple! At top is my favourite photo of the woman. The third photo is my favourite of the man. I think the final photo is the best of them as a couple.
I am guessing this was taken in the 1980s. It is a found-photo from the USA.
The whole file card, with arty background.
This is Leon Roger in one of a series of file cards from a Parisian acting agency. The photos in the series are all from the 1960s. Each card shows a young actor in their best Hollywood pose, along with their address. The back of this card shows Leon’s height in metres (1.75) and the year of his birth (1936). None of the actors, in the cards I procured, ever made it in the acting profession. The ones that did, were too expensive for me to buy!
There are some great photos in this series, so stay tuned to Photobooth Journal for more updates!
Close-up of the photo of Leon. The imperfection on the surface is caused by glue residue.
Jolly hockey sticks is a humorous British expression used to describe a woman or girl of a high social class who is enthusiastic in a way that annoys most people.
Some further explanations –
Used as an exclamation
(In imitations of speech associated with a type of upper-class English schoolgirl) used to express boisterous enthusiasm or excitement.
“Hurrah and jolly hockey sticks! The Royals are once again out in force for another season of one-day events”Used as an adjective
Denoting or relating to a woman or girl having a boisterous or hearty manner regarded as characteristic of a type of upper-class English schoolgirl
“I know she’s dreadfully jolly hockey sticks, but she does mean well”
Isn’t she just the epitome of this expression? Can’t you just imagine her off for the hunt with a pip-pip, toodle-ooh, or toodle-pip? She looks to be a terribly, terribly British upper-crust old gel, don’t you know? But by George, by golly and by gosh, it is beastly that this good egg isn’t a Brit at all. Poppycock, I hear you exclaim! And alas it is true. This photo and the sitter come from France.
This type of photobooth vignette was more often reserved for big events such as the Chicago or New York World’s Fairs. Here we have a humble holiday snap turned into an epic day out, courtesy of this screen printed addition to the booth.
I love the sailor, bathing beauty, both in a very 1930s cartoon style, the yacht and beach umbrella, but is that a fuming, smelly oil rig at left? Not quite what I would hope to see at a summer holiday resort. Our sitter, who is identified as Alan, isn’t exactly dressed for a holiday souvenir pic, either.
Can you see the fingerprint on the bottom right of the photo? It excites me to think that after all this time, we may be able to find the full name and details of Alan’s life through this partial print. Except that that would make him a criminal, I guess. Or a spy? Yes, a gentleman spy, most definitely.
The picture is date August 11, 1932 and is of course from the great state of California, USA
To see Mr Topsy Right way up, please scroll down.
When I was a child, we used to go to visit my Grandparents in the Victorian country town of Ballarat. They still lived in the same house in which my father had grown-up . Even after twenty years away from home, his bedroom still contained numerous childhood items, including an early edition of the Australian children’s publication Cole’s Funny Picture Book. Both my elder brother and I adored its quirky pictures, poems, puzzles and funny facts. With lands such as Naughtiness Land, Game Land, Santa Claus Land, Bunny Land, Doggy Land, Boy Land and Girl Land amongst many others, we would be amused for hours.
If you search through the World you will not get a book that will so please a child, if you pay £100 or even £1000 for it. To parents, Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, and Friends—Every Good Child should be given one of these Books for being Good. Every Bad Child should be given one to try to make it Good.
First published in 1879 Cole’s Funny Picture Book, was launched with great publicity on Christmas Eve, and was subsequently, a big success . It was still popular with children in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and has had many revival reprints since then.
The above photo, of a man I have named Mr Topsy, so reminded me of one of my favourite parts of one of the three books in the series, that I had to buy it. In Game Land there was a section of picture puzzles that included skillful illustrations in which were hidden various people or objects for which one had to search. There were also topsy-turvy pictures like the one below, which showed a different person when viewed upside down.
Mr Topsy is the image of one of the illustrations I remember and loved so well. Despite searching long and hard to find an online copy of the drawing, (the books have long since disappeared), I was unsuccessful. Even without the picture, maybe you can see in his lined forehead, large eyes, jowly cheeks and rounded face how he could be transformed into one of these ingenious upside down characters?
A later version of a Victorian type Topsy Turvy illustration by Rex Whistler (1905-1944)
I present to you a very rare thing! This is a mid-1920s photobooth photo from Sydney. It is now sadly faded. It depicts an elegant young woman of reasonable means. Her hat is not elaborate and her necklace is costume jewellery at best, but her coat’s large fur collar (it is difficult to tell if the whole coat is of fur) suggests she had access to more than an average amount of income for an Australian in the 20s.
So why is this photo rare? We are definitely a wealthy nation, but relative to the USA of this period, we had less disposable income to spend on luxuries such as photobooth photos, as cheap as they were. Not being blessed with a large population even now, photobooths did not proliferate as they did in North America, so the opportunity to use them was limited. Neither did we use the booths for photo identification, as so many other countries did. We also have a tendency to keep old photos within families or if they are no longer wanted, dispose of them via the public rubbish collection, (oh, horror of horrors!) rather than selling them online or to collectables shops.
This is the first of only two vintage Australian Photomaton images that I have in my collection. It was a gift from Andrew Fildes of Andrew’s Antipodean Photographic Emporium, who kept it especially for me. Thanks Andrew!
This is a much brighter and more vibrant image, with greater depth to it in real life. Scanning has not captured the essence of the photo and having lost that, it has almost lost the reason I called this post Disco Cowboy.
When looking at the original picture in natural light, the back-lit curtain positively vibrates like a thumping disco beat. The sitter is wearing a shirt that is obviously silk but in the scan it looks more like dull workaday cotton.
With his stylish, clean, white cowboy hat and luxurious mo, he is the very image of The Village People‘s cow-dude, Randy Jones. Only the sideboards and chin stubble break with Randy’s well manicured image. So was he dressed for a night of boogying? I think so.
To me he is definitely an urban cowboy with one foot inching towards the dance floor, one eye on his image and the other on a potential mate.
The photo originated in the USA and came from a bulk lot of undated pics.
Randy Jones – Macho Man
The Belle of the Ballroom
Above is another beautiful woman who stopped by the in-house photobooth at the Savoy Ballroom to make a souvenir of her evening out. She is glowing with joy, probably having been dancing up a storm to the big band sounds of Andy Kirk’s orchestra.
Andy Kirk
Andrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tuba player, best known as a bandleader of the Twelve Clouds of Joy. His music was popular during the swing era, and he and his band performed regularly at the Savoy. He died aged 94 in 1992, having given up his musical career in the 1950s to concentrate on other pursuits.
How the band might have looked on the night in 1940 when the top photobooth photo was taken.
Copyright Steve Bannos of Gargantua (With thanks to Steve)
Also from the Savoy Ballroom photobooth, are the above two images, also dated 1940. Again two lovely women who, no doubt, had a passion for music and dancing.
This is not one of my more spectacular photos, however there needs to be a place here for the images for which I have a special feeling. There is a lot of writing on the back of this pic but it has faded so much that all I can make out is To Frances and the possible name of Cecilia, as the sender. She could even be named Cecilie, or even Clara or maybe Cordelia.
I added this photo to my collection as I loved the warmth in this woman’s eyes. Also catching my attention was the none too professional hand-colouring, which makes her hat look more like a washer woman’s head scarf.
I only noticed her jewellery when I scanned the image for this post. Her lapel pin looks like it coud be a coat of arms or crest of some sort. Perhaps it is a membership badge? Her attention-getting neck brooch, with what appear to be dangling pendant-ornaments across the base, is very unusual. It leads me to believe she was a woman of more style than this single photo with its dull colouring might suggest.
25 November 2000, Luna Park, Melbourne
Me and an old school friend, Lisa in a favourite photobooth at Luna Park.
I still love the old black and white booth photos more than any other type. Unfortunately I am afraid that, like this booth and friendship, they will be gone soon.
Below and from the same year, I kept a travelcard celebrating the facade of Luna Park.
This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here. I am still adding to this project using mostly digital booths to create the images. I am growing more and more fond of these newer booths, despite their lower quality output.
Photobooth Journal 