Archive for the ‘California’ Category
Miss Kitty and Gunsmoke …
Recently on EBay, I ran across some publicity photos taken of the actors from the tv show ” Gunsmoke “. My father had taken photos of Amanda Blake ” Miss Kitty ” and Milburn Stone ” Doc ” two characters from Gunsmoke. I have posted those photos in earlier posts, but I have never posted any of them in their show costumes. I saw these photos of them on EBay and decided to purchase them them to post on this blog. They were photographs and not the printed publicity photos that are so commonly used in these mass printings for handouts at tapings, shows, etc. They are nothing really special and they were inexpensive … I guess Doc and Kitty were not the John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara of their day. Here is a photo that my father made of Amanda Blake when she was at the TownHouse Motor Lodge in Pensacola Florida …
I have a photo of Milburn Stone that my father made somewhere, but I could not locate it when I was putting the photos for this post together. When I come across it I will add them to the post later. Here are a few more Gunsmoke publicity photos …
I have been looking on EBay recently for any photos that go along with the photos of my father’s that I think people might be interested in. Since most of the celebrities that he photographed were popular in the 1950′, 60’s and 70’s, a lot of blog readers might not have a clue who any of these people / celebrities were back then. If anyone remembered meeting Amanda Blake or Milburn Stone when they came to Pensacola back in the 1950’s for the Fiesta, we would enjoy hearing your stories. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Bret Harte’s Cabin …
My father made this photo on one of his trips out west to visit his sister in the 1940’s and 50’s. I Googled “Bret Harte” a while back and I think I remember it saying that he was a writer out in California. Here is a link to his Wikipedia site and I was correct about him being a writer. I have seen this old photo for fifty years and never really thought much about it, but I scanned the print and decided to post it just because I had it ready. The only significance to me is that this is my 400th post on this blog. I would guess that I have over 600 photos posted and it could be more since many posts have more than two images and a few have over ten. When I started I had only planned to put up one image per post, then I started finding more and more images that were related. In an effort to streamline my posts, I just thought that it would be easier to include all of the images that were related. My only real goal out of this blog was to just share all of these images that I came across as I sorted through the thousands that I had of my father’s. At some point in time in the future, I am going to try and put together a book of a lot of these image and see what type of response I get. But that is for another time … Thanks for looking and if anyone has been to see Bret Harte’s cabin, let us hear from you. For all I know it might have fallen down or it might have gotten burned up in all of the fires that they are having all over the state of California. And if anyone has read any of Mr. Harte’s books, let us know what you think. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Yogi Begging For Food …
Yes, ladies and gentlemen … that is a bear ( it could be Yogi or maybe BooBoo ) stopping this car and is begging for food. This was back in the 1940’s when bears were nice and friendly and you were not scared of a bear ripping your arm out it’s socket or attacking you for no apparent reason. Why, I bet this bear would even let you rub his head and the worst thing that could happen would be him slobbering on you or giving you a big old bear kiss. I long for the good old days … how about you? I imagine that this was out in Yellowstone National Park or maybe Yosemite Park. Let me hear you bear stories … I know that some of you out there have had to run across a friendly bear or two in your travels. Thanks for looking and that is all for now … Frank
Marineland of the Pacific …
I ran across these transparencies years ago and I always thought that they were made down at the Gulfarium at Fort Walton Beach Florida. But after I started looking at them more closely, I saw ” Marineland ” written on one of the life-saving rings around the pool. After two and two together, I came to the brilliant conclusion that this must be Marine of the Sea or the Pacific. I personally do not remember any of this and my father never mentioned going, but that does not mean anything. Here are some more images …
The first image just shows the crowd and pool mainly. The other three you can see tricks with the porpoises or dolphins, I am not sure which. I have some more images of Marineland that I might clean-up and post later. If anyone wants to share their memories of Marineland from the 1950’s, please be my guest. To think that Seaworld and all of the other parks started from something like this is pretty amazing to me. Now, if all you saw was a dolphin eating fish out of someone’s mouth, you would be very disappointed. Thanks for looking and please check back … I have been busy trying create an inventory of images worked up and ready to post. So I have half a dozen or so posts ready to go, I just have to get around to posting them. Thanks again for looking … Frank
One more thing, I just created a post over on my blog that I would like you to see. You can click on it here . If you find that you have the time and would like to see some interesting photography, just click on the link and it will take you to my personal photo blog. I have included a link there that will take you to the images. Once you find one of my images ( you should not have to go more than a few pages back since today is 18 April. After this date I do not know ). Once you find one of my images, click on it and the same image will open up only larger. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find the other images that I have upload. I have all of this written and more on my blog if you are interested. I do not know if it does any good or not in getting selected by Getty, but as usual, I will take all the help that I can get. As always, I appreciate all of the views and the comments … Frank
California Bungalow …
I have found some more negatives recently from one of my father’s trips out to California in the 1940’s and 50’s to visit his sister, Lucille. I have no idea about the history behind these two images, other than the fact that they were made somewhere in California … could be Los Angeles, maybe Modesto … who knows. But it looks like the type of place that you would find Humphrey Bogart walking out of after received a call in the middle of the night from an unknown stranger that said he would find a blond hair starlet lying dead across the bed if he went to this bungalow off of Sunset Boulevard. I guess that I have read too many detective novels or have seen too many black and white films form the 1950’s. Here is one more view …
Maybe someone out there might recognize where this is … I have really been surprised of all of the people from Modesto California that have viewed this site and commented about certain areas in the past. This place just looks like a generic photo of a California motel / apartment from the 1950’s, so I do know really expect much. I is just fun to speculate and imagine some story behind these old photographs. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Disneyland …
This is ” Matterhorn Mountain ” in Disneyland and this photo was taken sometime around 1962 or so. Disneyland in California is the only park that has this ride. According to the Disneyland web site, it started out as a hill, but Walt Disney turned it into a 147 foot tall mountain thrill ride, after seeing the original Matterhorn while making a movie there in 1957. The site says that this ride contains the first tubular steel roller coaster ride in the world. There are photos of the mountain on the web site and it still looks today as it did when this photo was made. I have been scanning a good number of negatives and slides that I have run across cleaning up recently, so I will have a lot to post in the next few months. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
California Inspection Station …
Back in the 1950’s, it was illegal to bring fruit into the state of California. During this time the state was having problems with insects / pests coming into the state and destroying their fruit crops. So they built these inspection stations at all of the main entrances and you had to stop your car, get out and go in and declare whatever fruits or vegetables that you had in your possession. I do not know whatever became of this or when it was stopped, but I know that someone out there knows something about this and can share what they know about this. I just thought that this was an interesting image … just another of my father’s ” through my front windshield ” type photos. There have been several well-known “art ” photographers have had whole careers doing only this type of photography … go figure. Thanks for looking and let me hear back from somebody about these California Inspection Stations … Frank
Modesto City Limits …
Here is another photo that my father made in Modesto California, this time at the city limits sign. The road intersecting this is named ” Griswold “. I am sure that this intersection now has a couple of convenience stores and maybe even a couple of fast-food restaurants, but back in the 1950’s it was out in the country. If anyone knows what is here now, let us know … I am sure that I can go to Google Earth and find out if I do not here from anyone. Thanks for looking …
More Modesto …
Here is another photograph in downtown Modesto California … this one is looking from the opposite direction as the photo in the previous post. I cannot get over all of the hits that I have had to this site from the previous photo that I posted of downtown Modesto in the 1950’s. I even had a nice comment from a girl explaining what was in the previous photograph. I have run across several images from this trip that my dad made in California from this trip that I will work up and post later. As usual, thanks for looking and all comments are welcome …
Los Angeles in the 1950’s …
Here are several photos my father made out in Los Angeles back in the 1950’s … the first two are of the Hollywood Bowl. The image above is pretty much a straight image, except with the Photoshop work to clean it up. The one below has been run through several filters to add contrast and to give it a distressed look, along with the Photoshop work.
I personally like the second one better. It is hard to imagine all the people that have played here from Elton John to the Beach Boys to Frank Sinatra. I am sure that it looks a lot different today than when these were made, some fifty years ago. The photo below is some building in LA, I am thinking maybe a hospital, since that is where my father’s sister worked as a nurse. If you know, please share it with us …
It is pretty obvious that I did some work on this image – the brown tone, a little texture screen was added and I burned in the corners in Photoshop. Like I said earlier, I do not know what this building is, but I think that it could be a hospital in LA, maybe Cedars of Lebanon ( not sure of the exact name, but it is something along that line ). I am waiting for Humphrey Bogart or some other screen star to walk into the frame. As usual, all comments are welcomed … thanks again for looking. I am going to make a better effort to post more often, since I have so many images that I have worked up. One more thing – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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