Leader Board Ad

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Rural Connecticut - Lover's Leap and more!

 If you have never been...the actual "leap" is the rocky out-cropping on the right. If you click on the image you can see a tiny piece of the iron truss bridge.

There are still more images of rural Connecticut. In one of my earlier posts (way back in '09!) I shared a rare View Master disk a great mid-century image of Lovers Leap. (Click HERE to see that image.)

  While there may be a better history of Lover's Leap and the water's around it, I am still looking for the year the Shepaug Dam was built (which would have created the water the postcard holder would be standing in.) Since this card is from 1909, I am guessing that it was built at this point...or was it?  Here is another history of this wonderful Park

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The '51 is Ford Tough!

A nice piece of Automotive ephemera. I would have posted this sooner but it literally folds out from this larger business-sized envelope:
FRONT

BACK
 Aside for the brilliant colors I really liked this mailer because the stamp and tiny post mark show it has come directly from Detroit. Hey! It's their truck - the local dealer is just selling it. I'd say that ideology of pride in manufacturing cars has all but gone. Too bad because this Ford was awesome!
I am mystified by the "New Economy" and the engine that provides "More Power from the Least Gas!" What was a gallon of gas in '51? I know. I know. It is unfair to compare 2012 dollars with 1951 dollars, but it still makes you wonder if were possible to have the technology lead the trend in gas prices - meaning - instead of oil prices dictating better mpg, what if a better engine suddenly made oil all but obsolete? Would they cap the wells and still run the price up? Discuss!
 This fold out is so large, I didn't have the time on my standard scanner to grab it piece by piece and stitch it all together
CLICK FOR A MUCH LARGER SIZE

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Rubber Garments and Hair nets! Constricting accessories of the early 20th Century

I admit I find some pretty strange stuff when looking through old papers I've found. I also may have developed a twisted understanding of fashion and fashion appliances of the era. Or maybe my assertions are correct - we were all into bondage in the post-Victorian era.
Is it me or does she look very uncomfortable in rubber? Read the center text: I wonder what the model looks like who is supposed to display the "whole-body" suit? I'll bet she's hot!  But it wasn't just rubber we were trying to use to capture women, it was also apparently okay to use a net.

I was at a Ridgefield tag sale this weekend and noticed a collection hair nets. I have seen these ads before but never expected there would be some still out there. I have no intention of collecting hair nets - if I ever start I am afraid that I will be hunted down by 2 guys in white coats carrying a much larger net. No disrespect to collectors out there - in fact, this is proof that anything is collectable. The owner of the home allowed me to photograph her selection of hair nets, so I now present to you the net total of my collection:








Worn mainly in the days before hairspray, women, who had spent so much time and money on their "do's" needed something to foil the elements and a restless night from undoing what had just been done. I found a great history of one captain of the hair net industry which is here. None of these, however include the name of the great hair net king Harry Glemby.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Ad Quiz #16 Mom hates your duck-face..Stoppit! (SOLVED)

Another example in my long-standing testimony that they will say anything to sell you anything. Try and guess  - not the product, but the ailment.
 I thought the ailment was "Duck-face."  Clearly the daughter is riddled with it and Mom is disgusted because it came from Dad's side of the family. 

Well, this is not one of my prouder moments, but the ad is about, what the ad is about. I don't recommend reading the text of the ad unless you are really curious...if you would rather take a hint than read the solution, let me end by suggesting that we put this post behind us. "Nuff said!
By the way, how hemorrhoids could separate you from your children is beyond me...unless they are so big...Ugh! TMI.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Guess The Gadget - SOLUTION!

 Around 1880, Codman & Shurtleff, of Boston manufactured the improved design you see (above and below) of the binaural stethoscope. There seems to have been several inventors, doctors, etc. working on all sorts of tweaks in design to the basic single tube that had preceded this style. The modification is the screw assembly that allows the spring tension to be adjusted so that the dang thing would stay in the doctor's ear and not fall off. For more on the history of Stethoscopes, go here ( the fourth row of images contains the one that resembles mine.)


The horn is actually made of wood and in a full kit with case (which I do not have), a second horn could be screwed on for possibly a closer listen. 


 This was part of a box of medical equipment I picked up that was hiding under a table smelling pretty musty, I wrote about it Here if you want to see more from the box.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Guess The Gadget!

This was a random find that I have been waiting to post. Looking at the images I shot for it - I now realize you can't really tell what it is....or can you?

The answer is coming soon!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

You always hurt the ones you want to love....

This ad comes from a 1937 "Pictorial Review."  It isn't terribly remarkable as ads go until you see the title.
Click for a larger version
 I like how the woman agrees to talk to "Helen" to help her with her problem, but was also fine leaving her "left out" with no explanation. This seems to end with the typical fairness code. Helen was left without and in the end "Tom"  is snubbed in return. Sort of an "eye for eye" or should it be "Horse-tooth for a Horse's ass?"