Favorite '30s and '40s photos?

[Swing Girl]

View attachment 334345

I love the coca-cola bottles. Reminds me of this one I found:

 

[GHT]

WW2 GI's in Britain, engaging with the locals.

 

[Edward Reed]

 

[Edward Reed]

 

[Bushman]

An eclectic choosing of no particular order:

 

[Zombie_61]

An eclectic choosing of no particular order:

On the one hand, this just looks miserably cold. On the other hand, I like the way the semi-light dusting of snow highlights the hat and coat of the man on the right walking towards the camera.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Joe and Sally take in a ball game, 1946.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 335505

Joe and Sally take in a ball game, 1946.

Who's watching the kid (or kids)?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Grandma's got 'em down below buying a hot dog.

 

[Swing Girl]

 

[Fading Fast]

The gentleman in the top pic has good tastes in cars as that looks like a '53 or there about Corvette. Ooooh, that is a good looking car.

 

[p51]

 

[GHT]

What an evocative photo from the days of steam travel. How my wife and I enjoyed our steam hauled journey on The Orient Express. We were dressed the part that day, and we went onto, a recreation of a society ball, 1930's style.


These two are the forerunners of Harry & Meghan.


These two wouln't have looked out of place on The Orient Express.


How to have fun and survive The Great Depression.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

[Edward]

View attachment 334636
WW2 GI's in Britain, engaging with the locals.

I remember reading about somewhere in the North of England where there was an issue because some of the white GIs objected to sharing the local boozer with "coloured" troops. The locals responded by barring the white GIs. There's lots of fascinating stories about it all.

The war's impact in my native Northern Ireland was mostly to do with rationing. As during the Great War, conscription wasn't extended to the by-then Northern Ireland; indeed, a few thousand more men from the Irish Free State signed up to join the British army in WW2 than those who signed up from NI. (That said, the Free State as was had a population of three million, at the time around twice that of NI.) NI's big contribution, aside from shipbuilding, was hospitality: NI was an accommodation post for troops from all over the Allied nations and Empire. My maternal grandmother's cousin, now long deceased, met and married a Canadian soldier. After the war, they lived in Canada where he was, I'm told, a huge hockey star. Unfortunately that's all of the story I know; I'm hoping to be able to find out more in due course.

This is a photo of my paternal grandfather. The original - which I own - is quite tiny - 2"x 1" - and appears in his 1934/35 "Certificate of Motor Vehicle Insurance", a forerunner of the driving licence. (As he started driving before 1 April 1934 as memory serves he never had to do a driving test). He rode a motorcycle in those days, which I sadly never saw. Still hoping I'll find at least photos of it eventually...

I believe this photo was taken circa spring 1934, when he'd have been in his middle twenties. I hope one day to fully replicate the outfit. Sadly, he died in June 1980 when I was five, so I never did get to talk to him about clothes in that era... I wish I had a colour version of this shot.

 

[EngProf]

I remember reading about somewhere in the North of England where there was an issue because some of the white GIs objected to sharing the local boozer with "coloured" troops. The locals responded by barring the white GIs. There's lots of fascinating stories about it all.

The war's impact in my native Northern Ireland was mostly to do with rationing. As during the Great War, conscription wasn't extended to the by-then Northern Ireland; indeed, a few thousand more men from the Irish Free State signed up to join the British army in WW2 than those who signed up from NI. (That said, the Free State as was had a population of three million, at the time around twice that of NI.) NI's big contribution, aside from shipbuilding, was hospitality: NI was an accommodation post for troops from all over the Allied nations and Empire. My maternal grandmother's cousin, now long deceased, met and married a Canadian soldier. After the war, they lived in Canada where he was, I'm told, a huge hockey star. Unfortunately that's all of the story I know; I'm hoping to be able to find out more in due course.

This is a photo of my paternal grandfather. The original - which I own - is quite tiny - 2"x 1" - and appears in his 1934/35 "Certificate of Motor Vehicle Insurance", a forerunner of the driving licence. (As he started driving before 1 April 1934 as memory serves he never had to do a driving test). He rode a motorcycle in those days, which I sadly never saw. Still hoping I'll find at least photos of it eventually...
View attachment 336351

I believe this photo was taken circa spring 1934, when he'd have been in his middle twenties. I hope one day to fully replicate the outfit. Sadly, he died in June 1980 when I was five, so I never did get to talk to him about clothes in that era... I wish I had a colour version of this shot.

If you haven't seen the movie "The Dambusters", you need to do that. Your grandfather looks a lot like the actor who played Guy Gibson, the squadron leader of 617 Squadron.
(Also, it's an excellent movie.)

 

[Edward Reed]

Sidewalk street scene in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, May 1940.
Photo by John Vachon.

 

[Edward]

If you haven't seen the movie "The Dambusters", you need to do that. Your grandfather looks a lot like the actor who played Guy Gibson, the squadron leader of 617 Squadron.
(Also, it's an excellent movie.)

I've seen the film a few times and never quite noticed that, but googling the photos now, you're right - there's quite a bit of a resemblance there!

 

[Edward Reed]

 

[Edward Reed]