I recently used this beautiful photobooth photo for a calling card to promote my blog. I was so enamoured of her face, I failed to notice the brown stain at the top right hand corner. Funnily enough, no one else has noticed it either!
In the above photos, the sitter looks as glamorous as a silent movie star. As her headdress doesn’t fit with her outfit, I am guessing she is trying out a bridal accessory, possibly to see how it worked in a photograph? Below, without the intricate head-piece, she looks less of a star but very much an elegant woman of the twenties.
These photos were taken on 25 November 1929 at a Photomaton studio in Paris. They came in their original folder which shows the prices you would’ve paid if you had chosen to make enlargements. There is only one photo missing from the strip of six, which would have been cut at the studio, in order that one would stand upright to fit the paper frame.
I cannot work out what the numbers beside the listed countries represent, as they cannot be the price in local currency. Taking Les États-Unis (USA) as an example, the equivalent set of photos in the 1920s would have cost ten cents, not $2.25 or 225 cents. France is listed on the back with 72 beside it, while the price on the front is marked as 6 francs.
The name of the shop or department store that is stamped in purple at the bottom front of the folder, I am unable to make out. I can find no record of anything other than a, now defunct, café at 26, Boulevard des Italiens.
Outside of folder.
Inside of open folder.
Here is yet another sweet gift from my friend Ted Stutz of TedBook’s DAILY PICS. As with all of Ted’s gifts, it arrived in the post unexpectedly. I love surprises, but most of all surprise photobooth photos!
Perhaps it is just my fancy, but I do think this lovely lady is the divine actress Meryl Streep. She jumped into a time machine and travelled back to the 1930s. Always a stickler for authenticity, she went there to aid her research into role the of Kate Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa. Whilst there she couldn’t resist the allure of a local photobooth to appraise her era-appropriate costume and hairstyle.
This photo was taken in the USA on 8 August, 1938. All this beautiful woman needs is a blond dye-job to be Meryl’s spitting image. Do you agree or disagree?
This post is inspired by a series on the blog Tattered and Lost – Vernacular Photography. Search for Time Traveling Celebrity to see all of the posts in this fun category.
I bought this and two other original photobooth display panels from the USA. They date to the late 1960s. These would have been placed on the sides of the booth to show off the quality of the images you could make of yourself. None of the strips are true booth photos, having been copied from the originals for use in multiple locations. As there is some overlap in the models and photographs used, I have chosen this, the best one, to share with you.
I wonder where the booth was located, as none of the models were male? I guess it could have been in an area dominated by hairdressing salons or another type of business with a predominantly female clientele. I love the variety of classic 60s hair and make-up styles.
Sign Detail
Sign Detail
This photo came from the USA and from an album of images that were mostly dated 1938.
I am guessing this man was on his way to a costume party when he spotted a photobooth and gave it a run. Having said that, it is possible the event was held at a venue with its own booth. The crudely drawn, faux lead-light window background is more typical of private machines than public ones. Looking slightly ecclesiastical, it would be more suitable to someone in a nun’s habit or priest’s robes. I just long to Photoshop in some rolling hills, a barn and some cows to make it more suitable to his costume. That is if I knew how to use Photoshop!
With his fake, glued-on beard and twisted smile, he looks to me as if he is imitating the country hick stereotype that was popular in movies of the era. This picture gave me a laugh when I first saw it for sale. Hope it makes you laugh, too.
The only thing I can say about this is “Why?”. Why do these exist? Why take it into a photobooth? Why do I find this so amusing?
This is not my first dog but this pup is his spitting image. His name was Dino and he, unbeknownst to me at the time, was named after Dean Martin for his dark and lustrous hair. Being only 6 or 7 at the time, I assumed he was named after Dino the dinosaur, the family pet from the Flintstones.
Dino was my first love and I was totally bereft when he died whilst we were on holiday one year. We left him with my grandparents, he got out of their back garden and had an unfortunate altercation with a car.
This standard sized photobooth photo is not entirely in focus, but given my current dog’s performance in photobooths, it isn’t too off the mark for a subject generally so wriggly and squirmy.
Update – 4 September 2015. My friend Mike thinks this dog is wearing a toupee. I agree. It is made from Dean Martin’s quiff. Below is a pic of a human wearing a toupee made from dog hair.
I adore the fact that this young lady thought to take her tennis racket into a photobooth! I’ve never seen another booth photo that memorialises a sport in this way. The background is interesting for its Egyptian theme of palm trees and pyramids. This is also something I haven’t seen before.
In faded handwriting on the back are these words. . .
My Spanish is good enough to make out some of the script on the back of this pic, but I am hoping someone out there might confirm that I have it right, or tell me where I have gone wrong!
A mi querida mama con todos el cariño, Julita – To my dear mother with all my love, Julita
The information on the bottom is too faded for me to make sense of. I am assuming it is a place-name and a date, 1945 being part of it?
This subtly hand-coloured photobooth image is so full of history it is hard to know where to begin. The beautiful serene face of the sitter is what attracted me to this picture but the story behind it is what makes it come alive. If I were able to travel through time to any old photobooth location, this one would be my first choice.
The Savoy Ballroom was a famous music venue in New York. It was owned by gangster Moe Paddon who, it is said, was working as a front for Chicago’s Al Capone. It opened its doors on December 14th, 1926 and closed in 1958. It spanned the whole block of 140th Street to 141st Street on Lenox Avenue in Uptown Harlem.
There were different types of entertainment at the Savoy such as dancing professionals, dancing competitions and the famous “Battle Of The Bands” which pitted one band against the other. Usually Chick Webb‘s band would compete against another famous band, while the professional dancers would pick the winners. This usually brought the biggest crowds.
Many famous musicians and singers started out or performed regularly at the Savoy, amongst them, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. Ella Fitzgerald won a singing contest at another venue in Harlem. When she got a job at the Savoy as a dancer, someone told Chick Webb about her wonderful voice. He auditioned her and signed her as his premier singer. After his death, Fitzgerald continued Webb’s band.
The Horace Henderson, mentioned at the top of the image, was an American jazz pianist, organist, arranger and bandleader. His band was known as the Horace Henderson Orchestra and then as the Dixie Stompers. He was a regular at The Savoy. I wonder if it was a tradition to put the bandleader of the night’s name on the backdrop of the in-house photobooth? The image in it is hard to figure out. Could it be radio towers, cranes from a building site or oil well rigs? Please let me know if you have any ideas what it might be.
Two of these photos turned up in the post as a surprise gift from my blogging friend in the USA, Ted. A few weeks later another unexpected envelope arrived but this time from one of my favourite Ebay sellers. I was thrilled to find a note and two more of the same series of photos, which had been sent directly from her, but once again were a gift from Ted.
These charming photos of this smartly dressed young lady would look great as an animated GIF. I did try, but without any success. One day if my concentration improves, I will attempt it again.
These American photos are undated. The sitter is identified as Gail.
Photobooth Journal 