Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two

Here are a few random photos from the 1950’s that I have not posted anywhere yet.  They are from other groups or sets that I have posted somewhere – on my blogs or Instagram – but have never posted these exact ones.  I will try to add what little I do know about each photo, so if anyone has anything to offer or remember being around when the image was taken, please feel free to jump on in and comment.  Here we go …

This photo and the next are from the Fiesta of Five Flags Parade from 1955.  I am sure this that the sponsor of this float was Coca-Cola, but I do not know who any of the people on the float are or what the theme of the float.  Other than that is one huge Coke bottle!  The buildings in the background are what draws my attention … the old San Carlos Hotel, the A&P Grocery Store on the left side of the frame and then the miscellaneous businesses in the buildings on the right.  The photograph / scan is from a 4×5  negative, so you can read all the names of the businesses on the building.  I just can not put that large of a file up on my blog for you read. Next …

This photo shows the Davy Crockett Foods push cart in the same parade.  I guess that ol’ Davy had not sold enough “BearBurgers” or “CoonDogs” to justify springing for a parade float, so they opted for a push-cart that resembles an ocean liner.  Or that is what it looks like to me.  I like the little boys in the background following along with fishing poles trying to snag a bearburger or a coondog.  Also, how about those to urchins that climbed up on the building above the Acme Stores sign for a better look?  I wonder if this Acme Store sells the same Acme anvil that always flattens Willey Coyote in the cartoons?  You have to have grown up in the fifties and watched cartoons on a b&w tv, kiddies, to get that reference.  Next up is a celebrity photo …

This, boys and girls, is Denise Darnell, who stared in the classic 1950’s movie, The Strip Tease Murder Case.  On my favorite app, IMDb, a fan – the only one posted, by the way – claimed that this movie is his nomination for ” Worst Movie Ever Made “.  I won’t boar you with the rest of the revenue, you can go look it up yourself and read what John Howard Reid has to say in his post.  In fact, I do not know why I even bothered to mention his name, since his review is the only one!  One more interesting tidbit … the advertising poster claims that Denise Darnell is ” 6’7″ of Amazon Beauty “.   And to be perfectly honest, this poster might be the best thing about the movie!  But for those interested, you can go search for it yourself.  Ms Darnell shows up in several of the photos that my father made and for some reason, I want to say that she might have been the “chaperone” for this group of celebrities that included Doc and Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke and Michael Ansara who played Cochise in the tv show ” Broken Arrow ” from the 1950’s.  I only use the word chaperone very loosely, because I could not think of a better word / term – tour guide did not really seem appropriate.  I am hoping that someone out there might remember seeing Ms Darnell here in Pensacola and will make a comment.  I am not really holding my breath on any comments for The Strip Tease Murder Case, but who knows, all we can do is wait and see.

That does it for me.  I am sorry that I missed posting something in December and that made the first month that I missed making a monthly post in years.  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season in 2016.  We got to travel to Seattle to spend time with Lauren, Lukas and Travis, whom we had not seen since Christmas before last in Southern California.  I have posted some photos from this years trip over on my personal blog, Frank Hardy Photo Blog .

Thanks for looking and please comment regardless whether you know something or not … I just like hearing from you.  I know that people are looking because I see the stats, it just does not tell me whom, but I do know where.  Also, don’t forget that I post fairly regularly on my Instagram account: @frankphardy .

That’s all Doc …  ( one more feeble reference to 1950’s b&w cartoons that I grew up on ).