Pushed Into That Brave New Future

A badly damaged photograph of my mother pushing me in my oh-so-modern baby carriage in 1957. My parents lived in Stuttgart, Germany, until I was three. While I still have my mom's ca 1920 wicker baby carriage, this one must have sadly remained behind in Germany.

Just a Lovely Summer Day in the 1950s

My dear aunt Hoohoo piloting one of their wooden boats in Long Island Sound. This small black & white photo is only 2 1/2 inches square, but has always captured my imagination. Her smile is so broad and real, it's just pure joy being out on the water with her then-fairly new husband. This photo dates to about 1955 when she would have been thirty years old. Believe it or not, the reason I colored that boat cushion blue is that I still have it. It's packed away in the attic. I really have tried to save as much of my family's history as I can and it hasn't been easy.

Yours Truly, 1959

Approximately 2 years old, U.S. Army base, Stuttgart, Germany. I was born to style, lol.

A cool photo of the family car during our time in Germany, our 1956 Ford Fairlane Sunliner convertible in pink and black. Above, the family German Shepherd, Duke, is sitting in the driver's seat. All sorts of cool European cars are all around, early VW Beetles, Renaults, and what I think is an Austin. The American Army personnel liked their American cars, though. There are two Studebakers on the left, and a Jeepster station wagon in the background. Those early SUVs were all-metal but the early ones were embossed and painted to resemble wood siding. 

Before My Time

My aunt Hoohoo in the early 1950s, with a teeny-tiny puppy named Lady, a dalmatian mix. I colorized this photo in Photoshop in the very pale hues of hand-tinted vintage photos.

"Lady" all grown up, left in the photo above. This is Hoohoo's husband, Bill, also my father's brother. Two brothers married two sisters. He's kneeling behind the fieldstone koi pond and there is also a black spaniel-mix next to him named Ebony. I see pansies in the foreground. This would make a good photograph to colorize and commit to wood, even though I didn't care for my uncle. To put it mildly.

A tasteful portrait of Hoohoo, perhaps her 30th birthday in 1955. She is standing in just about the same spot her husband Bill was kneeling in above. The koi pond is to the lower right in this photo. There's an old blacksmith's shed in the background which was taken down in the late '50s. This photo was probably taken to send to my parents living in Japan at the time.

Hoohoo dressed as "Macabre Santa." She never failed to be creative and fun!

 

Another one of her dogs sitting on their Harley Davidson. This dates to around 1950.

 

Uncle Bill, 1947. This was probably taken during their honeymoon in New Hampshire.

A Night on the Town, Tokyo, 1954

Two Drinks Each—Colorized detail of a photograph taken of my parents in a Tokyo nightclub in 1954. My dad was stationed in Japan in the early 1950s before being transferred to Germany where I was born in 1957. The entire photograph is great, see below, but this detail says a lot. Both of my parents are drinking what they always drank in later life, too, daiquiris for my mom and rum-and-cokes for my dad. I still have the tie he's wearing, so those colors are correct, but I guessed on the rest of the objects.

I was also able to identify my mother's Mikimoto pearl engagement ring, which I have in its original box. Pearls were definitely my mother's choice in jewelry all her life, be they necklaces, rings or brooches. I also recognize the Lucky Strikes cigarettes, their choice back then. I'm just surprised they're not housed in any of my parents many, many decorative cigarette cases. In fact, one of the more interesting "objets" in my collection is an unopened box of Lucky Strikes from the late 1940s, in a beautiful case from the Ivory Mart in New Delhi, India.

Original photo. My parents are on the left, next to a good friend of theirs, also in the Army. I'm guessing that this picture was taken by one of those classic nightclub photographers of that period.

Aloha Mama, ca 1940

 

I recently found this photo (again) in a box of belongings I'm going through. There is no date on the image, but my mother was born in 1918, so I'm guessing she's in her early 20s here, ca 1940. It's a color photo, but which faded and was retouched at some point with watercolors. I also adjusted the colors in Photoshop to match the original as my scanner always adds a bit of cyan to an image. I have no idea the circumstances behind this Hawaiian-themed photo, but it looks like she was having fun! The embossed leather frame is nicely period, too.

December Morning Shadows

 

Stark early morning winter shadows pattern this 19th century portrait of one of my great-great-granduncles. Click on the image to enlarge—it's cool the way the shadows frame his eyes (I think you need to click twice these days to see it full size, or perhaps click on "open in new window." Blogger keeps changing their image formats). The original frame and matting are quite damaged from an almost 100-year stay in my family home's attic. I've restored the frame and matting of the portrait of his father, but I like the originality of this one. I think it's just as important to see an antique in original condition, as it is to see one in perfectly restored condition.

B T W :

Off topic from this family portrait, but still in the area of history, one of casey/artandcolour's readers, and fellow blogger, Steve Prestegard, has written a wonderful blogpost on the historical accomplishments of Cadillac. Besides doing a yeoman's job of research in both text and photos, Steve was kind enough to use several of my "what if" Cadillacs. Please click over to Steve's blog—I guarantee you'll learn something about Cadillac you didn't know. I did, and after a lifetime of studying the history cars, that's not really all that easy if I do say so myself!

• While Riding in my Cadillac, at the Presteblog, click here.
  

Ancient Family Quarry Photos

Quarry workers, dated 1877. Quarry was located at Leete's Island, CT, and was owned and run by my great-great grandfather, John Beattie, my mother's great grandfather on her father's side. I have an obituary of his brother that died a few years after John, saying they trace their lineage back to 12th century Scotland. My friend Nigel that lives in Edinburgh says there is a Beattie Castlle there, lol.

In much worse condition, but about 20 years younger, this is a photo of eagles and other decorative motifs being sculpted at the quarry. My mother's grandfather on her mother's side was a sculptor. He's at the far right, Andrea De Matteo. He came from a long line of artists and opera singers of Italian descent. He carved his own headstone and those of his three wives—he was widowed twice and had a child out of wedlock as well. Such family drama! His daughter, my grandmother, second marriage was to the grandson of the quarry owner, so I'm related to a quarry artisan and the quarry owner. Between all of the marriages and children, legal and illegitimate, there was a 48 YEAR court battle for Beattie's estate, at which time there was virtually nothing left.

These eagles, I believe, ended up in Boston's South Street train station. He also worked on sculptures for Grand Central Station in New York and several other turn-of-the century large-scale constructions.

No date on this photo, but I'm guessing it's the mid 1890s. My great-grandfather the artist is on the lower right, sitting, with the goatee. His last wife, Concetta, was a self-proclaimed clairvoyant and told my then 5-year old mother that a black cloud would hang over her her entire life! Nice woman... My mother believed her too, 'til her dying days. Probably where I get my "waiting for the other shoe to drop" mentality.