Up in the Air, circa 1920s
Or at least I assume this result was not exactly what they were trying to achieve. If they were, more power to them. It is sort of a particularly well-composed shot as it stands, and is one of my favorite images at the moment. It makes me at least wonder, though, how many digital photos today may end up being deleted should they at first glance appear something of a mistake.
A sunny day in Detroit's theater district, circa 1920
This photo shows the Madison Theatre – part of what was then Detroit’s theater district, Grand Circus Park – at right. The theater itself no longer exists, but the office building that it was part of is still there. (Apparently many theaters of the 1910s and ’20s were built attached to office structures in case motion pictures turned out to be a passing fad.) Constructed in 1916, the theater sat just over 1800 people and was, as historicdetroit.org says, “a key link between the small Detroit theaters of the turn of the century and the extravagant movie palaces that would rise in the 1920s.” The Madison would go on to be the first theater in Michigan to screen a feature-length talking picture when it showed “The Jazz Singer” at the end of 1927. It closed in 1984. The last movie shown was “The Dead Zone,” and the title remained on the marquee for years.
Here is a shot of the remains of the lobby taken by David Kohrman of the excellent forgottendetroit.com, just before the space was razed in 2000.
The remains of the staircase in the lobby of the Madison Theatre, 2000 (David Kohrman)
It’s a little blurry, but here is a view of the lobby in its heyday.
The Madison in its prime
Lastly, here is a fuller view of the exterior around the time the snapshot would have been taken, although the marquee is slightly different.
Detroit's Madison Theatre, circa 1920s
The building that housed the theater seems to be doing well. According to a story on CBS Detroit from earlier this year, “the 1917-vintage Madison Theatre Building — now rechristened The M@dison by its new owner, Dan Gilbert and his Rock Ventures LLC — has been given a spectacular $12 million makeover into some of the coolest work space anywhere.” Coincidentally, the same year the theater space was demolished, the Detroit Tigers’ new stadium, Comerica Park, opened up nearby, and they say there is a great view of the ballpark from the upper floors. That sounds pretty good, but I can’t help envying the women in the snapshot, who could have gone to see Ty Cobb at the old Tiger Stadium (known as Navin Field in that era) – perhaps that very afternoon.
The girl in the corner, circa 1920s (click to enlarge)
I often find it intriguing when there is a person in the background who is captured (usually) by chance – such as the young girl tucked away near the corner of the house, looking towards the camera (which you can make out more clearly when you enlarge the image).
Crossing a river, c. 1900
Here are three great snapshots in, on and around water.
Speedboat, c. 1920s
Gun Woman, 1966
Doll + animal friends, circa 1920s
Just one of my favorite, oddball shots. Must have had to snap that one pretty quick, I’d guess.
Wing woman, circa 1920s
I have a strange fascination with photos that feature people against background elements that seem as if they could be coming out of their heads. With this one I first thought of some sort of aerial or antenna, but also a biplane (if you ignore that third level around her collarbone area). Call me crazy. As something of a photographer, though, I can attest to how hard it is to always be aware of every last detail when clicking the shutter – probably especially with a camera that may have required a little more attention in terms of setting the exposure, etc. than the more automatic models a person would tend to use today. But still…
Fern Steinbock, 1920s
Old photos often have the name of the subject(s) jotted down on the back or, sometimes – as here – the front, and those names can be just great. I have one somewhere (I’d have to find it or I would have posted it along with this shot) of four people posing, all identified on the rear and all bearing absolutely classic old-fashioned names. Not a single “David” or “Susan” or “Michael” or anything remotely like that among the lot.
“Fern” is definitely one of those names that has a classic ring to it. One site ranking the popularity of baby names says that its last year in the top 1000 names was 1961, but that it peaked in 1916, when it was number 152. I did come across a current Fern, however, and her account was kind of worth passing on, I thought. I like her spirit.
“Hey, my name is Fern, and at 16 years of age, I’ve only met one other Fern in my lifetime, and she was an 80 year old friend of my grandmothers. I’ve actually grown to like the name, but personally, if I was a mother, I’d go with something a little more conventional. Fern automatically singled me out from other kids, and there were some less-than-sweet children who made their opinions of my name known in elementary and middle school. I’ve actually found it easier to go by my middle name…
As you get older though, the teasing seems to die down.
Ugh, Charlotte’s Web comments were among the most resented! I can’t say how many clever boys and girls asked me ‘Hey, Fern, where’s Wilbur?’
But, in all the name has become almost a positive thing.”
Men with guitar, likely 1920s
You can now find tutorials on creating light leaks with Photoshop. Now how can that be anything like a real, honest-to-goodness one that arrived unbidden? This one, I think, adds a certain poetry to the image.
Cat latching on for dear life, likely 1920s
There must be literally millions of snapshots of people with their dogs, but you see far fewer of cats. Felines were still a popular subject, though, and for obvious reasons you see them being held in some fashion by their owners more often than with dogs. Here are a couple (the second being a detail of a larger photo — in the full shot the cat is a little too small to really see well). Personally my cat likes to sit on my shoulder (I have held – and carried – him that way since finding him abandoned in the street at about 3 weeks of age, so he is used to it), but not all take so kindly to such a perch.
Woman holding young cat, likely 1920s
Dog with Shadow (1920s)
Apart from the fact that that might be a French bulldog – I’m not sure – this could be seen as a pretty “American” image, with the car, dog and Coke sign. Interestingly, though, it looks like this photographer was holding the camera to their face, not at waist level as in the previous post’s photos.
Vintage Snapshots 