I'm Mad About The Boy

I know it's stupid...


...to be mad about the boy.


I'm so ashamed of it...


...but must admit...


...the sleepless nights I've had...


...about the boy.

[Don't forget, click the pic to enbiggen it.]

Maths Is Hard

Upon The Deep Blue Briny Sea

OK, the 2 boys in lederhosen are kind of ring-ins, but who can pass up a pic that cute? Plus, lederhosen.

The Golden Age of Travel Design

While web surfing recently I discovered David Levine's amazing collection of 1920s and 30s travel ephemera (luggage labels, advertising, timetables etc). Interested in graphic design and the romance of the travel of the era, Levine has amassed a huge collection of travel ephemera on paper. These pics are largely scans of his collection, rather than ones Levine found on the internet. The design of the website itself is quite simplistic but whoa, it's quiet some collection.

Travel brochure Ook Uverwacht men in...Sportpark en Natuurbad Biltsche Duinen, 1933.

Crociera-Aerea Transatlantica Italia - Brasile, 1930.

Sabena Airlines, 1938.

Timetable Adriatic Service, 1938. Yugoslavia.

August Sander

In between hacking up a lung or two (see my previous post) I've been watching DVDs, knitting,and making nice with the internet. In my travels on the information superhighway (remember that?) I stumbled across some photographs by the German portrait and documentary photographer August Sander (b 1876 - d 1964). It has to be said that his subjects are a pretty dour lot, but there's something about that direct and fearless gaze into the lens that has always intrigued me.








C'mon, say "cheese".

Pleasure/Payne

Meet one of my new obsessions, handsome vintage actor John Payne.

Born in 1912, Payne started life as a wrestler and Vaudeville singer before starting out in B-grade movies for Sam Goldwyn. His early career included quite a few musicals, before he moved into dramas and westerns. His best known film is "Miracle on 34th Street" with Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood. Payne's career ground to a halt after a serious car accident in 1959, and he passed away in 1989, aged 77.

1930s promo shot.


With Betty Furness in "Fair Warning", 1937.


Payne in "Kid Nightingale", 1939.


1930s beefcake shot, check out that swimsuit!


On the beach, 1930s.

I haven't seen many of his films, I'm not to proud to admit that my interest in Payne is largely physical. So handsome!

You can read more about Payne at Brian's Drive-in Theatre.

The Not Very Good Superhero Delivery Company

...has a package, just for you!



[Click to make it, ahem, bigger.]

Currently Loving

a) Lisa Reagan's track "Al'infini (Project Runway Re-Mix)". So called because her track "Al'infini" was remixed and used as the music for Wendy Pepper's runway show in the finale of the first season of the U.S. "Project Runway" tv show. [You can listen to an mp3 here.]

b) Cowboys!


c) And Indians!


d) Dill pickles. (Unrelated to the above.)

e) Glam rock!

f) Elizabeth Knox's new novel The Angel's Cut, the very enjoyable sequel to The Vintner's Luck. Even though the novel has a cool, sometimes almost detached, emotional tone much of the time I think the format of the novel escapes some of the issues I felt with the first book (the abbreviated chapter format, where each chapter was a one day visit on the same annual anniversary). Plus what's not to love about gay angels, the Roaring 20's, airplane stuntmen and the early golden days of cinema?

Yellow, Red, Black Or White...

...add a little bit of moonlight!

1976. We were 12 and already knew we weren't particularly interested in those pretty girls, girls, girls. Some realisations come early and easily. Probably years earlier when I showed Jamie mine, and he showed me his. (With a bit of coaxing.) What we did have an interest in though was the mid 70s obsession with retro. Biba clothes. Manhattan Transfer. Art Deco. And the oom-pah ragtime sound of Sailor's "Girls, Girls, Girls".

I mentioned this song to a friend over dinner last night. Someone who I have a newfound respect for when it comes to all things obscure and vintage. (Someone who 'gets' Sparks, just for starters.) His response? "I've got their albums. On vinyl, of course."

Le sigh. I love my friends.

Buns On Parade

There's some junk in those trunks, honey.

[Photo via Shorpy. As always, give it a loving little click to enbiggen.]

Ducks & Chicks & Geese Better Scurry

When I take you out with the hussy...



...with the fringe on top.

Give Me Your Hand My Love, And I Will Give You Mine

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
~Benjamin Disraeli

At Some Point In Every Parent's Life...

...this thought has crossed their mind.



It just takes one too many arewethereyet?s

Good Clean Fun For Boys

July 3, 1913. "Fun at camp." Boy Scouts in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.


Washington, D.C. "Boy Scout training demonstration, 1912."


"Boy Scout training demonstration, Washington, 1912."




"Boy Scout training demonstration, 1912."


"Boy Scout Training demonstration, 1912."


"At Camp Tobin - July 19, 1914"


June 16, 1937. "Walk 800 miles to attend Boy Scout Jamboree. Two Venezuelan Boy Scouts, Rafael Angel Petit, left, and Juan Carmona, examining their boots after tramping 25 miles a day for two years in order to attend the Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington. They left Caracas Jan. 11, 1935, arriving in Washington today."

[All b&w pics courtesy of Shorpy.]