Posts Tagged ‘1950’s’
Random Images ….
Here are several images that I might or might not have posted before. The first one of the ribbon cutting at the Bay Bridge entrance is new, I believe. The rest I might have posted along time ago, but I had just run across them again and thought that I might post them again. Here we go …
The top photo of the ribbon cutting is new and if anyone recognizes any of the people, please comment. I have no clue who any of the people are, as usual, but I am interested in knowing who they are. The aerial photo was taken before the Municipal Auditorium was constructed, so that must have been around 1954 or so. I think that the auditorium was completed in 1955, but that is just a guess for me. This Dons group was 1959 I believe…how about that Hopkins Boarding Sign on the the back fence wall? If anyone knows anything about any of these photos, please comment. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
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
One More of Doc and Kitty …
This is one more of Doc ( Milburn Stone ) and Kitty ( Amanda Blake ) at the TownHouse Motor Lodge in downtown Pensacola with some young admirers. I have had this one sitting around for thirty or forty years and I kept saying that I was going to do something with it … so I finally did. I really don’t have any comment about the photo other it is a very nice photo of Amanda Blake, the lady in the center of the group. If anyone remembers meeting them when they were here for the Fiesta of Five Flags back in the 1950’s, I would love hearing from you. I have posted other photos and I do not recall anyone ever mentioning every seeing them or meeting them on their trip to Pensacola. I have a photo of them holding me up that I am going to finally post … it is really goofy of me, but what else is new?? Thanks for looking and do not forget that I mentioned that I have been putting a lot of photos up over on my Instagram account – frankphardy . I seem to receive more responses there than I ever had on my blogs, so that is why I have been neglecting my blogs the past few months. I will get back going on these eventually, because I still have a lot images that I plan on posting…Thanks again – Frank
Gull Point Community Center Play …
The negative envelope read ” Gull Point 3/26/56 “. Nothing more. The envelope contained around 40 4×5 black and white negatives. No names. No contact number. I found the envelope around fifteen years ago, along with tens of thousands of other negative envelopes and just set it aside from all of the other envelopes. School plays must have been a big thing thing in the 1940’s and 50’s, however when I came along in the 1960’s, they were a thing of the past. At least for me … I cannot ever remember being in a play or ever watching one at an elementary school, junior high school or high school that I attended. The only time that I ever got dressed in a costume ( besides Halloween ) was to dress as a carrot and walk in in a Fiesta Parade back around 1962 with my first or second grade class from Episcopal Day School. It was in the summer and it was hot. I was miserable, but I walked the whole parade route without passing out or fainting. I wish I could find a photo of us carrots walking up Palafox, I know I have one somewhere or someone has a photo of a pack of carrots trudging up Palafox Street in a parade. Now back to Gull Point … here are a few more photos that I have worked up …
If anyone out there remembers attending a play out at Gull Point Community Center in March of 1956, please let us hear from you. I do not know if this is the community center or if there was an elementary or junior high school back in the 1950’s ( before my time) and I am interested. The more I look at the photos, these look like elementary school kids and not junior high students. I will work on some more of these negatives in the future, so check back. Thanks for looking and as usual are comments are welcomed and appreciated, so knock yourself out. And one more thing – if anyone has any photos of a group of carrots marching up Palafox in the 1960’s, please contact me. Now the more I think of it, maybe we weren’t a bunch of carrots, but a bunch of oranges!! Well, either way, carrots or oranges, think of me…
Community Chest … Part Two …
Here are a few more photos from the Community Chest. I do not know any of the people in front of the tally board … maybe someone will recognize an individual and comment. Some more photos …
If anyone remembers anyone on the boards or in the photos and wants to make a comment, please feel free. Thanks again for looking. This year is just about up and it really has flown by. No idea what 2016 has in store, but I am looking forward to whatever it brings. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you have a safe New Year. Thanks again for stopping by and looking … the comments are also welcomed. Stay safe … Frank
Liberace and Friend … Updated ……
I posted this photo years ago and I did not know who the lady is. Someone had mentioned a name for her when I posted this on the first blog that I had on Blogger six or seven years ago. But I cannot what they said her name was and when I “googled” it nothing came up. So I did not pay that much attention to it. Recently, I have been reading a book by author Steve Fischer entitled ” When The Mob Ran Vegas “. On page 113, there is a photo of Ruth Gillis and it said that she was one of Liberace’s show girls when he played the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. I am not going to bother trying to get permission to see if I can post it here, you are just going to have to take my word for it. On the web there are several photos of her with various other entertainers, one being Ernie Kovacs and here is a link to the photo. I have tried ( not very heard though ) to find some other photos and information on Ms Gillis, but have not turned up much. I do not know a date for the above photo and if I had to guess I would say that it would be 1955 or 1956. In the book it says that she started as a show girl with Liberace on April 20, 1955 at the Riviera. I was hoping that someone might have remembered seeing Liberace in Pensacola when he came here, but I have not received any comments from anyone. I might have to go down to the PNJ and see what it takes to go through there microfilm files. If anyone has any thing to share, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
The Community Chest … Part One …..
Several weeks ago the Pensacola News Journal printed an article by John Appleyard about the Community Chest. The Community Chest later turned into the United Way. It was an interesting article by Mr. Appleyard, as they all are. I ran across these images years ago and set them aside … the only thing that interested me were all of the photos of the local ” movers and shakers “, since my father had taken the photos. A lot of the names are very familiar to me and a few mean nothing to me, but that really does not mean anything since these images are sixty years old. I was only two when these were taken. There are a few images, so I am going to break these up into two posts. Since I do not know anything much about the images, I am just going to post the images and leave out any comments to the end. Here we go …
None of the people standing in front of the tally boards are familiar to me … I recognize a lot of the names / faces of the the people on the boards. I am sure some of you out there will be able to identify these of these people. I also apologize for not being able to figure out how to put a link to Mr. Appleyard’s article in the Pensacola News Journal. In fact, I am not sure if I would be allowed to since so many publications do not allow bloggers to link to their sites because of plagiarism laws. Maybe someone out there will let me know how to link and if I am even allowed to. Thanks again for looking and feel free to comment. I will post the other images in a week or so … 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
Ice Machine …
I ran across this image years ago and did not pay attention to it until just the other day. I had not noticed the ” 25 cents bag ” written on the door of the unit. This had to have been taken back in the 1950’s and I do not where the machine was located. You can tell that someone must have backed into it and they are filling an insurance claim on the unit for my father to have taken a photo of the ice machine. It looks like it was located in front of a liquor store because those look like pints and half pints on the shelves on the right side of the frame. I have been busy with other things the last several months ( one being Instagram – frankphardy ) and I have not posted much the last several months, but I am going to renew it for another year in a few weeks. If anyone has any questions or comments, please let me hear them. Thanks again for looking … Frank
Out West Again …
I believe that the above image was taken somewhere in Colorado, but where I have no idea. It was taken in the late 1950’s … I cannot make out the writing on the bottom of the sign so there might be a clue written on it. The town looks remote and isolated. You see no signs for gas and this was obviously a time before convenience stores. Isn’t hard to remember a time when there were no Tom Thumbs or Seven-Elevens or Quik Marts? The kids today sure cannot! This little town does not look to even have a strip mall … now that is hard to believe!! I believe that the idea for strip malls was hatched in Florida. I might need a fact check on my last statement, however with all of the strip malls we have in Florida and so many of them look to have been built in the early 1960’s, I am pretty sure that I am correct. Now, moving on to California …
The drive along the Pacific Ocean looks like this now – for the most part – as it did back in the 1950’s. The only difference is that the road has been repaved and maybe these turn a rounds have been surfaced … how about that old Buick. Could you imagine driving across the United States in a car that was not air conditioned? No, I did not think so. We have all gotten soft and spoiled. Ok, ok , I am not talking about everyone … I am sure that there are a handful of you out there that could, especially you motorcycle riders. I can remember on some of these trips out west when we would wait until the sun went down to drive across the desert for fear of the car over-heating. I used to sit in the back with the window down staring out at the stars for hours. Then I would spot a little disk with a lighted dome on top flying across the sky and think that Eastern has sure come up with weird new planes… Thanks for looking and if you have any comments or questions, I want to hear them.
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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