I started amassing vintage Santa & Me photos several years ago and this is one of my favorites.  Not only does the Santa look pretty good (albeit a tad young if you took those whiskers away) and the little girl is adorable. but it’s hand-tinted, which is quite unusual.  Most Santa & Me photos from the late 1940’s through the mid-1950’s, like this one, are black and white.  The one thing they all have in common is their charming innocence.  It was a time when Christmas decorations were simpler and a visit to see Santa was a highlight of the season.  Enjoy!

And may the upcoming holidays be filled with delightful memories of Christmas Past as well as delightful experiences of Christmas Present!

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We recently acquired this fabulous 8 x 10 photo at a local flea market.  A talented amateur photographer back in the 1940’s was able to combine a shot of a pretty girl with a shot of a typical five and dime pulpy paper mache jack o’lantern.  The result is an image designed to make one do a double take.  If only such a jack o’lantern in that size really existed!  (Alas, in reality, he is probably only about eight inches high.)

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A couple of weeks ago, we went to an antique show in Maryland that is a favorite of ours, and for me the coolest thing there was the metal Disney sign. It was for sale from one of my favorite dealers at the show. He told me that he purchased the sign at a California flea market in about 1970, when he was living there. I suspect that it probably didn’t cost him much at the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if the person he had purchased it from picked it out of the trash. That is how it made it to the East Coast. I did a little research and found that Walt Disney Productions moved to their Burbank studios in 1940, so the sign cannot be older than that – or newer than 1970, the date it was purchased by the dealer. The clue to the actual age of the sign is with the cute little character decals all over it. The decals could have been added later but I doubt it. I think it was Disney’s way of adding a little magic to everything they did, including this mundane sign. There are characters that you don’t see much anymore such as the tortoise from The Tortoise and the Hare (1934) or Hiawatha (1937). The newest characters that I see are Uncle Scrooge and Bongo, the bear who appeared in Fun and Fancy Free. Both date to 1947.

Based on all of this, I think the sign dates to about 1950 – give or take a couple of years. If that is the case, Walt Disney Productions would have been working on such projects as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. This sign may have stood guard when Davy Crockett was being filmed and when Disneyland was in the planning stages. It is also when the great man himself – Walt Disney- was still in charge of his kingdom. There is no shortage of vintage Disney items out there, but I suspect it will be a long time before I see another one of these. Leave it to Disney to find a way to say “Go Away” and make you feel happy about it.

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I don’t know who these people are.  Random family photos like this turn up in my possession all the time.  Clearly this is an important meal, and judging by the gigantic turkey on the table, I’m going to assume it’s Thanksgiving sometime in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s.  I wonder why Norman Rockwell didn’t paint this family scene; it’s Americana at its finest.  Please note as well the stacks of plain white bread prominently displayed on the table.  Where are the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls?  You may laugh, but a buttered piece of white bread was usually an accompaniment to my holiday feasts as a child in the 1950’s, too.  We can only imagine the scintillating conversation going on here based on on the lone man at the table who is about to doze off.  That’s the great fun of collecting old photos.  You try to imagine who these people were and the kind of lives they led.  One thing I can’t figure out, though.  Why was this photo blown up to a gigantic 11 by 14 size?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM ALL OF US AT COLLECTORGENE!

Collecting enriches our lives, and we are very thankful for that.

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Ration books are rather commonplace even after seventy years, but we liked this ration book envelope showing Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves. It was a giveaway from Royal Crown Cola. Likewise, old bottles of ink aren’t hard to find, but it was fun to find Parker Quink ink for V-mail in its original box. The little flannel pennant with the nice patriotic graphics and the patriotic cardboard fan showing a WWII nurse were also little “finds.”

Among our better finds was the “Hi Buddy” ceramic soldier head. He turns up with some frequency on the antique circuit, but this example has nice, bright paint and only a few minor condition issues. He is marked “Hi Buddy” on the back of his shirt collar and is an early type of “Chia Pet.” The striations on his head are meant to grow a grassy form of hair! He was made by the Morton Pottery Company in Morton, Illinois.

We were immediately drawn to the cloth saluting soldier doll with a paper Shackman label on his back. He is eight inches tall and in excellent condition. He has wire arms and legs which make him very posable. He also has a Christmas tree hook through his cap, so he could be hung up. While he looks like a WWII G.I., he couldn’t possibly have been made during the war because the label says that he was made in Japan. This doll either predates the war by a few years or was made in the 1950’s after occupation ended. The Shackman Company started its toy and novelty business in 1898 and continues to this day so either date works. I’d like to think that this little guy was available for young wives and little sisters of soldiers to buy at the local Woolworth’s in 1942, but I don’t know for sure.

Last, but certainly not least, in our WWII acquisitions is Scrappy (Yard Bird), the Lucky Mascot. Thankfully, he has his original tag explaining that he was a “Service man’s pal” who could handle the annoying details like sassing the sergeant back. Without his tag, one would be left pondering the meaning of this painted pinecone with a weird attached head and boots! There is a patent serial number on the tag, but no company name, so who made Scrappy is a mystery. It was likely a very small company with a handful of employees or even a cottage industry that produced him. In the South, a yardbird is a chicken, and Scrappy could be a chicken. During WWII, “yardbird” was a slang term for a basic trainee because much of his time was spent out in the yards. My guess is that some creative entrepreneur who lived near an army post filled with new recruits came up with the idea of Scrappy. Whatever his origins are, I doubt too many Scrappys still exist. We’ve never seen one before, and that’s why he left his temporary home in a case in an antique mall in Missouri and came back with us.

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This trip did not yield as many photos as I wish it had, but I’m sure Jim would say that I found enough.  Here are some of my favorites.

These two snapshots were found in the same bowl and were priced at a quarter each.  I suspect they came from the same family and possibly the same trip.  I love the guy standing next to the giant ox/long horn steer.  We found several giant tourist attraction statues on this trip, particularly in North Dakota, so I could relate to this snapshot.  The second photo shows some sort of cheesy tourist trap.  I wonder what the shrunken body inside the building looked like?  Was it a real deal or some fake thing?  I also love the old Coca-Cola sign.

I like family snapshots if they tell a story.  Both of these fit the bill.  The top photo of the dad and his two sons is dated 1960 and appears to have been taken on Easter.  Everyone is very nattily dressed, especially Dad.  You have to wonder if he was ever seen in public again wearing that coat.  The second photo is a genre that I have several examples of – people holding birthday cakes.  I’m wondering why there are two cakes here.  It must have been a big party.  I like the look of pride on both the boy and the grandmother.

This little boy looks happy enough to be dressed in his sailor suit and Mary Jane shoes, but he sure wouldn’t survive a minute in today’s world.

This is a real photo postcard with no identification whatsoever.  It’s a beautiful family portrait from the early 1900’s.  You can’t help but wonder how life turned out for this family.  The little girl is so sweet and serious about posing nicely for the photographer.

This is a large sepia photo that measures 7 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches.  It was found in a shop in Helena, MT priced at $3.  It was taken by a photographer from North Columbia, California.  North Columbia was a gold rush town in the Sierra Nevadas.  This photo probably dates to the 1880’s.  The house looks sturdy and somewhat prosperous.  I suspect the three people in the center are a married couple and their young son.  I wonder if the young man on the left is their other son.  The other three gentlemen could be relations or workers who board with them.  Clearly, everyone is dressed in his/her finest clothes and there are several pocket watches and/or fobs on display.  If only photos could talk, what stories could they tell?

This wedding photo from Sumner, Iowa was found in a shop in Montana.  Having been to Iowa and knowing that Iowa was settled by immigrants from European countries like Norway and Czechoslovakia, I was intrigued by the bride’s elaborate wedding veil, clearly an indication of her ethnic origin.  Unfortunately, I don’t know what that is.  To me, the photo is a visual reminder of the many people who came to the United States looking for a better life, with marriage being the real starting point for a family.

Last, but not least, here is the photo that I can most relate to.  I call it “The Barbie Girls.”  These young ladies are probably about two years younger than me because they are posing with their new bubble-cut Barbie dolls.  I never got to that point with my Barbie “collection.”  I had one and only one doll, and she was a ponytail version.  The bubble-cuts came out in 1961, so I believe this photo dates to about that time or possibly 1962.  Note that a couple of the girls even have shirts that match Barbie’s black and white striped bathing suit.  Also note that one poor girl who doesn’t even show in the photo is holding a fake Barbie!  My heart goes out to her.  This little snapshot was one of my favorite finds at the gigantic Gold Rush Days Flea Market in Oronoco, MN.

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Since that time I have added a few more examples to my collection which I would like to share with our readers.  I am still somewhat picky about what enters my collection, and I also remain somewhat cheap as well.  These three examples ranged in price from $25.00 to $40.00 and I think are among the best ones I have found.

I particularly like the one with the shoe painted on the side complete with “shine” lines on the toe included to exemplify the quality of their work.  Who wouldn’t want shoes with shine lines emanating from them?

I also like the one that wants to almost shame you into getting a shine.  I think the phrase, “Your Shoes are Showing” is a take-off on, “Your Slip is Showing,” something husbands would have to tell their wives before leaving the house in the morning in the 1930’s, 40’s or 50’s.  “Hav Ya Shind Em,” however, is the icing on the cake with this one. The bad spelling only adds to its charm.   I purchased this in Florida from a dealer who told me that this box had recently come out of the ghetto of Flint, Michigan.  I have no reason to doubt him.

The last one is painted silver to give it a classy look to go with the classy shine you would have gotten.  This is the box of an upscale establishment.  Either that or they were just using up a can of radiator paint.

I still feel that shoe shine boxes are great Americana and remain underpriced.  They are great folk art for the budget minded.

After each purchase, I still get the same question:  “Are you starting a new business?”

For more examples of shoe shine boxes, please see my first article right here on The Collector Gene.

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Today marks the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, a somber yet triumphant anniversary to be sure. Thousands of American troops became casualties as they stormed the beaches of Normandy in a successful effort to wrest control of Europe from Hitler and the Nazis. Thankfully, less than a year later, the war in Europe was over and democracy prevailed.

However, for nearly five years prior to that moment, all Americans were caught up in World War II. Sacrifices were made not only by the men and women in uniform but by ordinary citizens back home. When confronted with stressful circumstances, many human beings rely on humor to get through. Here, then, are some of the more humorous/fun ways that Americans dealt with the war in general, the European conflict more specifically and Adolf Hitler especially.

The term, “Kilroy Was Here” and the accompanying cartoon/caricature of a bald-headed man with a big nose peering over a wall or fence is well known even today. It became very popular with WWII GI’s. Research turned up no definitive explanation of Kilroy’s origin, so I’ll leave it be. But how can anyone not like this wooden Kilroy gag on its original card?

We found this in an antique shop in California two years ago. Notice that it says, “Kilroy IS Here.” That seems appropriate for the GI’s landing on the continent of Europe on June 6, 1944. Also note where the woman on the left has positioned her Kilroy.

“Put the Yanks in Berlin” is a simple marble game produced by Modern Novelties of Cleveland, Ohio. Though not dated, it is clearly from war time because the inside lid of the box mentions the strategy being pursued to defeat Hitler and the Axis in Europe. Clearly, the colorful graphics both inside and outside the box are what make this game desirable.

It was easy to direct a lot of anger at Adolf Hitler, but that also led to a lot of novelty items that poked fun at him being produced.

We’ve owned the “Let’s Pull Together” button for about 40 years now. It’s a great mechanical pinback that shows Uncle Sam with his sleeves rolled up hanging Hitler from a tree. When you move the little lever on the left side of the button, Hitler goes up and down on his rope.

Last but not least is the “Hotzi Notzi.” This novelty pincushion shows Hitler bending over with a large padded posterior ready to take some pokes.

World War II was no laughing matter, but Americans found ways to inject humor into the serious business of war, and that has made collecting WWII homefront items a lot of fun.

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As an artist it is always my goal to own original art work from people I admire.  Of course, original art tends to get very expensive.  The two pieces I am showcasing today were relatively inexpensive, probably because they are unsigned, but their provenance is what I liked most.  They are a fascinating snippet of Disney history that a lot of people don’t know about, and kind of go against the family friendly, squeaky clean, Disney image.  This post is a little bit NSFW (Not Safe For Work since we don’t tend to post this kind of stuff on The Collector Gene).  You have been warned.  Don’t blame me if your boss catches you reading this nerdy article (Bet you never thought you would read Disney and NSFW in the same sentence!).

Disney animators worked long hours every day tirelessly animating those classic films of your childhood.  Sometimes those guys needed a break, and what did they do?  They drew pictures for fun.  It’s what working artists do.  They create art for someone else all day, and then in their time off they create art for themselves.  The Disney animators were known to draw caricatures of each other fairly regularly.  They would slip them under each other’s office doors to egg each other on, or comment on the events of a day.  These caricatures are highly sought after by Disney collectors, especially if they come from Disney’s Nine Old Men, his top group of animators from the 30’s- the 60’s.

I do not own one of these caricatures (though I happily would), but what I own is another fun tradition from the studios in the 40’s and 50’s.  Pinup drawings.  We all know the classic pinup girl paintings from the 40’s and 50’s.  Varga girls and Bette Page are well known today.  Well, the young men working at Disney Studios were just as fascinated by these paintings as any other red blooded heterosexual male of the time, but when they just drew them it happened to be with a Disney twist.

This one ain’t too naughty.  Well, on today’s standards it ain’t so bad.

Here’s the NSFW picture.  Again, not too bad on today’s standards but pretty racy for the time.

Okay okay.  Insert cartoon wolf howling and stomping his foot on the floor with his tongue hanging out.  Firstly, you might notice the holes in the edge of the paper.  These lovely ladies were drawn on perforated animation paper.  That’s the paper the guys at Disney had laying around.  These are beautiful quick sketches by a Disney artist who was happy enough with his work to add a little water color as well which makes them that much more beautiful and dynamic.  They have a ton of energy and life to them, where you can almost see their movement as they strike their permanent pose.  Clearly this artist was well versed in pinup imagery.

Unfortunately my Disney pinups are unsigned.  There is reference in the book “Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life” by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (two of Disney’s Nine Old Men) that references artist Fred Moore drawing pinups in studio, but looking at his work I don’t think these are his.

I have seen a signed Ollie Johnston pinup on eBay once before, so we know more than one artist was drawing these pictures.  In fact the eyes on both of my drawings remind me of the eyes on the Centaurettes in Fantasia, which were animated by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, so it is possible one of them could have done these.  This is probably wishful thinking on my part, but I’ll tell myself it’s a possibility.  I can only attribute the works at this point, but it is fun to think an important animator could have worked on them.

I find these fictional portraits to be very beautiful and well executed.  Frankly, I see most pin up drawings and paintings that way.  I also love that they represent a seedier side to the Disney animator.  Yes, Disney animation is family friendly and made for “children of all ages”, but I don’t think the goal of the artists was ever to make things perfect and squeaky clean.  I think they were artists trying to create the best possible quality of work that was possible at the time they were working.  The family friendly nature of things was more for marketing to make the money to create such elaborate and beautiful animation.  I think just like most young men of their day, they enjoyed thinking about naked women as much as the next guy.  Remember, Playboy didn’t come out until the 50’s, and these drawing seem to predate dirty magazines.  What’s an artistic lad to do but to draw naked women for himself?  It was a simpler time.  No one associates Disney with gratuitous sex, which makes these pieces of Disney history all the more interesting to me.  They are proof that these guys were human and had normal human flaws and needs just like you and me.  I guess when you stare at pictures of cutesy animals all day, you gotta do something to bring yourself back to reality.

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This tenth anniversary issue of Life magazine shows the first issue with the famous Margaret Bourke White cover.

I’m sure my love affair with Life began when I was about ten years old. Unlike just about every middle class family in America in the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, my family never had a subscription to Life magazine. However, my aunts and uncles did, and they would pass along their outdated copies to us when we came to visit. Indeed, I really looked forward to riding home with several stacks of magazines piled up around me in the back of the car. Life, McCall’s, Ladies Home Journal, and National Geographic were eagerly read by me even when I was still in elementary school. Sometimes I would cut the magazines up and put photos and articles in my scrap book. When I was about 13 or 14, I started making a gigantic collage of famous people’s faces, and most of the clippings came from Life.

Now you know what a weird kid I was and how my addiction to printed matter, especially magazines, began.

Early on, when Jim and I first started going to flea markets and into antique shops over forty years ago, I would be drawn to any old magazines that I saw, and if they were affordable (i.e. cheap), I would usually buy them. With thousands upon thousands of each copy sold during its heyday, old Life magazines were not hard to find. I could usually pick up nice examples from the 1940’s and 50’s, my favorite era because the magazines were bulging with fabulous advertisements and interesting articles, for fifty cents or a dollar. Once, about thirty years ago, I came upon a table at a flea market piled high with the old Life’s for a quarter each, and I bought a couple dozen.

However, that was nothing compared to what happened about ten years ago. Our county library holds a book sale a few times a year. When I first discovered this, I went crazy and was coming home with two or three boxes full of printed matter after each sale. This is not a good thing when we already have many, many boxes full of books and magazines in the basement. On this particular occasion, I was trying to behave by avoiding the sale, but Ben ended up checking it out. At lunchtime, he reported that they had “tons” of vintage Life magazines for ten cents apiece. Ten cents! Heck, that was the original cover price in the 1930’s and 40’s! The sale closed at 3 pm, so I hopped in the car and headed to the library. My willpower had crumbled.

Ben was right. Almost as soon as I walked in, I saw several piles of Life from the 1940’s and 50’s. Why they hadn’t all sold at that ridiculously low price was beyond my comprehension. Within minutes, my stack was an impressive size – and I’d only spent about $2.00. Then one of the volunteers at the book sale said the fateful words, “We have more magazines in the back if you’re interested.” Of course, I was. So I accompanied her to a large employee office/workroom, and there were about three or four eight-foot long tables just piled with Life magazines. I was stunned. It turned out that it was the entire archive that the library owned, and they had decided to get rid of it. There literally were hundreds of Life magazines from about 1937 to 1999. Obviously, it was not a complete collection. Certain issues had probably been lifted forty or fifty years ago. Others had probably been sold that morning at the book sale. Still and all, there were many, many issues from just about every year of publication.

Again, I dove in and started making a hand-selected pile, probably another $2.00’s worth. Then I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. “Would you be willing to sell all of them to me for one price?” I asked, knowing full well that if I bought them, Jim was surely going to kill me. In my mind, I thought that any price of $50 or less would be an absolute steal that I couldn’t turn down. Any figure above $50 would have caused me to hesitate and perhaps regain my sanity. Naturally, the woman said, “You can have them all for $50.”

And that’s how I came into possession of our county library’s Life magazine archive.

There was no way I could fit them all into the car on one trip. I took several boxes with me, and over the course of the next month or two, I would make a trip every week or so and pick up another five or ten boxes. Into the basement they went, and in the basement most of them still are.

Quite honestly, I have sold a few. I’ve certainly gotten my money back and then some. I’ve even given a few away as gifts. Life magazines are the perfect birthday or anniversary gift. It’s always fun to see what products were being advertised, what big stories were in the news, what the fashions looked like and what famous person might have been interviewed.

Whenever I go through the “archive” and try to choose a few magazines to get rid of, here’s what happens: First, I’ll see a great cover photo and be attracted to it.

Then I’ll see some ads that are colorful, nostalgic, or fun.

Then, invariably, there’s an interesting article to skim or scan or even read in depth. I swear to you that it’s a rare Life magazine that doesn’t have at least three or four different things going for it. And sometimes that’s what makes it difficult for me to part with some of them. They are like little weekly time capsules. Sometimes they capture an era with which I’m familiar – like the 1960’s or 70’s. More often, though, they bespeak a time that I either never lived through or was too young to remember.

It doesn’t matter. I love Life, and that’s that. I have promised that I will begin parting with them more seriously, and I will keep my promise. But will I always have some Life magazines in my possession? Yes, without a doubt.

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