Clik here to view.
Chinese Cigarette Ads
At the Nanjing Art Museum they had an exhibit of cigarette ads from the 1920s and earlier. I wanted to take photos, but the guard stopped me. So I’ve found a few online. I was struck by how innocent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sepia Saturday
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt featured Dinah Shore and Burt Bacharach playing tennis, my favorite summer sport. It’s inspired me to search the archives of Flickr where I found the photo below of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Downton Abbey, Season 4 Begins
Mary with a rare smile in episode 1 I’ve seen the first two episodes of Downton Abbey and thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts and opinions. First it’s just so nice to see these characters again after...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Downton Abbey, Season 4 Week 3
Highclere Castle (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I see Julian Fellows as still finding the story. I suppose it’s harder because history in 1922 isn’t providing a definite event to build a plot on. I still...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harold Lloyd in the News
After watching Harold Lloyd in Safety Last, I became curious about what the newspapers of the day said about him. So I went to my library’s website and searched for him and the years 1922 – 1923 (when...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sepia Saturday
I loved the boy dressed up as a cowboy having roped the man (his father? an uncle? a neighbor?). So I decided to search for children dressed up in some way and I found the photo below of a group of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Downton Abbey, Season 5 Premiere
After months and months of hype and waiting, Downton Abbey’s fifth season began in the U.S. It’s a favorite show of mine, but I’ve never seen so much promotion. For crying out loud I saw three ads for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sepia Saturday
Order Coal? Hmm. I’ll go with posters, 1920s posters for this week’s Sepia Saturday. Whenever I teach The Great Gatsby, I touch upon the culture of self-improvement and how Gatsby tapped into that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Steamboat Bob Jr.
Finally I found time to watch a movie, albeit a short one that I watched in short stints as I ate lunch this past week. Steamboat Bill, Jr. starred Buster Keaton as a long lost, disappointing son of a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dressing Downton
The Dressing Downton exhibit has opened in Chicago at the Driehaus Museum. I’d never been to the Driehaus, but the exhibit drew me. In this restored mansion once owned by the Nickerson Family, there’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sepia Saturday
When I saw these boys playing marbles, I figured I could find some photos of the Easter Egg Roll at the White House and I’d be close enough to the theme and the holiday spirit. Source: Flickr Commons,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sepia Saturday
Source: National Library of Ireland I found a group portrait on the National Library of Ireland’s Flickr Commons’ page. The photo was taken in December, 1924. What do you think of their costumes? You...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Speedy
Harold Lloyd’s 1927 film Speedy is a comic delight. Speedy is hero’s name. Lloyd’s Harold “Speedy” Swift is in love but can’t hold a job for more than a few days so his sweetheart’s grandfather, her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Freshmen
The more I see Harold Lloyd, the more I love him and his films. In The Freshman (1925) Lloyd plays an young man also named Harold who saves up enough money to go to college. Once on campus, Harold’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Saphead
Buster Keaton’s first starring role in a feature film was playing Bertie Van Alstyne in The Saphead. Saphead sure is a disparaging way to refer to someone. It refers to a weak-minded stupid person. Is...
View Article
