Sepia Saturday #132 - Love, Set, Match - Two Little German Boys

This week's Sepia Saturday theme centers around tennis, in fact the photograph on their blog site is from 1971 taken in Fort Lauderdale, FL of Dinah Shore and Burt Bacharach most likely at a celebrity tournament.  This is most interesting to me because I was a teenager growing up in Fort Lauderdale at that very time.  I spent many hours hanging out with my friends at Holiday Park where the famous Chris Evert practiced tennis on a daily basis with her father before she became a world class champion.  I myself could never hit a tennis ball worth a darn - I spent more time chasing the ball all over the court than actually hitting it!  Holiday Park is a large, very popular park with tennis courts, ball diamonds, basketball courts, playgrounds, a theater, etc.  My father coached Little League baseball for my brothers' teams and our family spent many nights at that park.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this time, but it brought back a lot of fond memories. 

However, I do have this CDV photograph of two very cute Hamburg, Germany boys in "matching" suits that I thought I would share.    It comes with an interesting story about the photographer.  In this photo the boys are holding toy tennis rackets and standing next to a toy rocking horse. They are wearing the most adorable outfits; I'm not sure how to describe them, they almost resemble sailor suits.  The photographer is Waarenhaus Hermann Tietz (department store).  On the back of the card it says, "Waarenhaus" which means "a site where mass products are sold" or "department store". According to Wikipedia, Herman Tietz was a German merchant of Jewish origin who was born on 29 Apr 1837 in Birnbaum an der Warthe  near Posen (today Miedzychód, Poland) and died in Berlin 3 May 1907.

He was the first to create the idea of a department store in Germany and founded the chain store which would become known as "Hertie".  His first store was opened in 1882 in Gera (Thuringia, Germany) by his nephew Oskar Tietz.  After successful stores were established in smaller towns like Bamberg, Erfurt, Rostock, Stralsund and Wismar, Tietz opened his department store in Berlin.  In 1900 he opened a store in Leipziger StraBe, in 1904 Alexanderplatz, Hamburg in 1912.  By 1927 the Tietz chain had ten stores and 13,000 employees.

In the Third Reich, all businesses of the Tietz family were "Aryanized" (seized and given to new owners) and the family members emigrated.  In 1933, Georg Karg, the new owner, changed the company's name to the less Jewish-sounding "Hertie Department Stores" as an abbreviation of Hermann Tietz.

I'm not entirely sure how to date this Cartes de Visite.  The card is slightly larger than most CDVs and is quite thick which would usually lead one to think it dated between 1880 and 1890.  CDV's were rarely seen after 1890.  Since it has been reported that Tietz did not open his Hamburg store until 1912 I am at a loss to explain or give a good date for this photo.  Perhaps one of my readers can offer some insight.

Sources:   

1.  Wikipedia

2.  Shoah Resource Center, 

http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205622.pdf

Please drop by Sepia Saturday to check out the other "love"ly entries for this week's tennis theme.

Fashionable Friday - 1860's Trenton, NJ Woman

Another CDV photo from my Trenton, NJ photo album - this one shows a lovely 1860's woman posing with her hand on a chair.  She is wearing a lovely dress that appears to possibly be made of satin or a similar material.  Once again there is no identification or exact date on this subject.   It's hard to tell from this view, but her cheeks are tinted red in this photograph.

Her dress is quite lovely, simple yet the small details make it exquisite.  Note the dark trim that defines her small waist.  This trim is continued on her upper sleeves.  The lower sleeves are quite interesting and are pulled back with some type of decoration and showcase elaborate lace underneath.  Her hair is dressed in the very typical 1860's style, parted in the middle and pulled back in what I would guess is a snood.  she is not wearing any jewelry that I can see.  As I stated before, simple but lovely as is the lady.

The photographer is C. Duval, Photographic Chemist, 29 1/2 East State Street.  According to Gary Saretzky at http://gary.saretzky.com/photohistory/njphotographers.html Duval had his studio in Trenton around 1863.  Due to the border around the photo I suspect this to have been taken around 1863- 1864.

The hand-colored steel fashion plate below is from the 1862 April issue of Peterson's Magazine and although not an exact match to our subject's dress, gives you a sense of the style of her dress.

Mystery Monday - Civil War Era Trenton, NJ Man 1864-66

Some time ago I purchased an old album of photographs I bought of an  Trenton, NJ family - most were taken in the 1850 - 1900 time frame.  There are about eighty photographs in this album and unfortunately not one single person is identified.  I hope to eventually post most of the photos from this album as many are from this era.  This particular CDV photo of a very distinguished and attractive man was taken by Trenton photographers Good & Stokes between 1864 and 1866.  Good is most likely Jonathan Good who very little is known about, and Stokes most likely Stockton Stokes who had studios in Trenton throughout the 1860's before moving to Philadelphia.  We do know that Good & Stokes had a studio at 27 East State Street at least between 1864 and 1866 as evidenced by the revenue stamp on the back of the photograph.  The stamp is also initialed by Stokes.

Tintype Tuesday - Debonair 1880's Man in Top Hat Part Two

A couple of weeks ago I posted two tintypes of a very good-looking and well-dressed man from the 1880's in top hat posing with a boy and by himself.  I bought these two photographs in a lot of about twenty tintypes.  In looking at them more closely I realized that most of these may be from the same family, in fact at least six or seven of them, and possibly more, are of the same man I previously posted and at different ages. Oh, how I wish I had names!

I wanted to share more of these tintype photos of Mr. Debonair so you can judge for yourself whether it is the same man.  The first image is a one-fourth plate tintype which is larger than the usual one-sixth plate tintypes.  In these first two photos he is on the left  and wearing his top hat.

In this third photo he is wearing a type of bowler hat and posing with three three children I can only assume are his own children.  Note the picture on the bottom left he has no mustache, the one on the right he does.

And then finally I have a couple of pictures of him as a younger man, first posing in a nice suit as usual and wearing a white bowler.  In the last photo he is even younger, is once again wearing a suit and for the first time is not wearing a hat.  He is posing with another young man - perhaps a friend or a classmate.

I'm quite fascinated with Mr. Debonair, unfortunately I'm afraid the mystery of his identity will never be solved.

Mystery Monday - Unknown Trio Poses with Chihuahua in Pittsburg, KS

Who are these three people posing for this Cabinet Card with the little black Chihuahua sitting on a stool in Pittsburg, Kansas? This picture is not of the greatest quality, it is blurred, it has been roughly handled over the years with many scratches, scuff marks and dirt.  The back is the same color as the front with something very lightly written in pencil but some one has scratched it out also with pencil.  There are water stains on the backside as well.  The pose of this trio is quite stiff and it is interesting to me that the men in the picture are so blurred while the little dog is quite clear.

The photographer is E. W. Smith who I found in three Kansas State Censuses, 1895, 1905 and 1915.  In the 1895 census he was age 42, born in Indiana, married to Elizabeth age 32, two daughters Roxie age 11 and Viola age 6.  None of these censuses listed an occupation.  I also found an 1890 Pittsburgh, Kansas City Directory where he is listed near the bottom of the page under "Masonic."  I found another cabinet card photograph taken by him on the Pittsburg State University site of the wedding of Anna Matilda Lahmann and Henry Cordes in 1887.

Due to the woman's clothing and the embossed text and artwork this photograph was probably taken around the very late 1890's or early 1900's.

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Big Hat & Grapes too!

Why can't I just for once post a picture without all the drama?  This week's "Women with Hats" photo is of English actress Edna Loftus (? -1916), this particular picture postcard taken before 1907.  I had never heard of Edna, but  thought to myself I'll just check her out on Wikipedia, write a short bio and be done with it.  Of course it could not be that simple!  Look at this beautiful Edwardian photo of her with the large hat, she is holding grapes in her hands and even appears to have white grapes on her hat.  She is truly a vision of loveliness.

From what little I have been able to learn about her she was an English musical comedy actress, birthday unknown.  Little is know about her early life; from this postcard which is postmarked 1907 I am going to guess her birth date somewhere between 1875 and 1885.  Her career was somewhat modest, however, her personal life was full of drama. As a young woman she went to London and joined a vaudeville-pantomime known there as the "Rein Deers" and evolved from that into a  London music hall star.  During this time her she announced her engagement to Lord Dunbarton of Manchester.  When this was called off she soon became engaged and then married to Winnie O'Connor, the famous English jockey, also famous on American tracks.  She divorced O'Connor and was said to have gone to New York City to appeared on Broadway after 1906.

Edna Loftus 1906

It was reported that while in New York in a Broadway restaurant she met Harry Rheinstrom, a younger man, and a son of a millionaire Cincinnati distiller and he was reported to have spent several thousand dollars on her in a short period of time.  When they announced their intention to marry, his family who strongly objected had her arrested, and had him admitted to a private sanitarium in Ohio.  Miss Loftus procured a writ of habeas corpus and secured Rheinstrom's release on 4 January 1910.  They crossed state lines and were married in Covington, KY on 7 Jan 1910.  He still had to face a lunacy trial through proceedings filed by his mother and have a guardian appointed.  Edna and Harry left for Los Angeles where they took up residency at a chicken farm in Boyle Heights.  After six months they returned to Cincinnati to effect a reconciliation with his mother and to try to procure his inheritance.

There were more drama to come.  She was arrested and accused of bigamy for not legally divorcing her first husband.  Her husband's parents had him readmitted to the sanitarium for his nerves.  After release from jail she went to work as as a cafe singer to pay for his expenses. His parents wanted him back, but without her.  In Dec 1910, now separated from her husband and penniless she jumped into Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to commit suicide.  She was rescued by an passing motorist.  In 1913 Rheinstrom was sent to the insane asylum at Stockton, released a year later, divorced his wife and returned to the East.

In October 1915 suffering from severe illness she tried to sue her former parents-in-law. Edna, whose career was virtually over at this time was also was facing deportation.  According to the Oakland Tribune, she was managing the Art Hotel at 883 Kearny Street, her fame long gone.  She died penniless 16 June 1916 of tuberculosis in San Francisco and was to be buried in the local potter's field until friends intervened and had her buried in Cypress Lawn Cemetery.

Sources:

1. Wikipedia

2.  New York Times

3.  http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/ArchiveTextL/EdnaLoftus.html

Sepia Saturday #130 - Hello/Goodbye WWII Soldier?

This week's Sepia Saturday theme centers around men in uniform, people saying hello and goodbye, etc.  This photograph I picked up somewhere of an unidentified man in uniform and nicely dressed woman looks to me as if they are either saying hello or goodbye.  I am not even sure how to date this, I am just assuming this is WWII time frame perhaps it is even a little later like Korea?  Perhaps someone else can help me with identifying the man's uniform and the car in the background.

Additionally, I just realized the woman's hat is quite interesting; I could have saved this for my Women with Hats post on Sunday!

Please check out all the other great posts this week at Sepia Saturday!

Fashionable Friday - 1880's Bainbridge, NY Woman

This young woman from Bainbridge, NY is leaning on an 1870's prop chair, but I believe this Cabinet Card to be dated probably around 1883 give or take a year.    She is wearing a bustled dress with fitted bodice made out of a gingham fabric of some sort, but look at all the lovely soutache trim down the front of the bodice, the sides of the skirt and around her neck and cuffs. The dress is also adorned with lace at the cuffs and on the bodice.  The image below is from the 1883 Peterson's Magazine May edition, it is one of the two-page hand-colored steel fashion plates that were in each monthly edition.  While these dresses are in no way the same dress our subject is wearing you can see some similarities in the first dress on the left in the high cut of the neckline, in the checkered gingham material of the fourth dress as well the cut of the bottom of the overcoat which tapers around the hips to pointed corners.  (Forgive me if I am not using correct terminology - I am not a seamstress or fashionista).

May 1883 Peterson's Magazine "The Sea-Shore"

Finally concerning our subject, her hairstyle was very common in the early to mid- 1880's with the curly fringed bangs and the length of her hair braided up on top of her hair.  I found this similar illustration of in the same 1883 Peterson's Magazine.  This style, either with short hair or hair in a bun and off the neck and ears, allowed the woman to wear the high necklines that were in style.

1883 Hairstyle Peterson's Magazine

The photographer was most likely Sheldon S. Wheeler of Otsego, New York which was a small town near Bainbridge.  He was born in January 1854, the son of John H. and Lovina Wheeler of Otsego.  His father's occupation was gunsmith.  In the 1880 Otsego Federal census Sheldon age 26 was living with his wife Kate age 23 and he listed his occupation as photographer.  They were married in 1877 according to the 1900 Berkshire, MA census and divorced before 1910. Before 1915 he remarried Belle Strohbeen the mother of three teenage children.

Mystery Monday - Three Gentlemen, Unknown Occupation

Can you determine what occupation these gentlemen are representing in this cabinet card from the 1880's?  The man on the left, identified as Curry Williams is wearing what appears to be a painter's overcoat and holding a paint can and paint brush.  The man in the middle who is rather good looking and seems somewhat smug is holding some sort of notebook in his hand.  t his feet is a large bag that could be any number of things.  The young man on the right is holding on to some sort of stick, has his left hand in his pocket and you may notice his pant legs are splotched with what appears to be paint.  From other pictures in my possession I believe he may be Curry's younger brother Albert.

I picked up this Cabinet Card at the same antique show where I got the one I talked about recently (Lillie Allen Draper) along with about fifteen or so others.  I believe many may have been from the same family. You will see that some, once again has written in ink on the front of the card and identified Curry Williams on the left. Since I have the other photographs with family names I was able to locate him on Ancestry.com.  

He was born 15 Mar 1857, Curry Elihu Cadwallader Williams, to Abner and Agatha (Heacock) Williams in Talladega, Alabama.  In the 1880 Oxford, Calhoun, Alabama census, at age 23 he was living with his parents, sister Mollie age 21, brother J. Albert age 19, brother Abner J. age 13, and sister Lillie Belle age 11.  He listed his occupation as warehouse keeper.  He married Cordelia "Della" Anderson on 1 Jan 1889 in Alabama.  I could not identify the photographer - looks likes Hurd & Delany, and I suspect this photo was taken sometime before his marriage.

Curry and his wife Della were the parents of five children.  They moved to Oklahoma City, OK sometime before 1906 were I found numerous Oklahoma City Directory listings of him as "cotton buyer" starting in 1906 and ending in 1927.  He died 2 Feb 1954 in Illinois and is buried in Oklahoma City.

Here's a picture of his younger brother J. Albert Williams (30 Nov 1861 - 23 Mar 1923):

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Northampton England Woman with Feathery Hat

This Cartes de Visite of a young woman was taken by photographer, Henry Cooper, of 17 The Drapery, Northampton (England), most likely in the 1870's.  It appears her name was Victoria Carte and I would assume she was well-known but I have not been able to find out anything about her.  I did however, find this article about the photographer published by the Northampton Chronicle & Echo:

Published on Monday 15 September 2003

AVID historians will have a chance to trace the evolution the Northamptonshire when prints by one of the oldest photography businesses in England go on display in the town.

A collection of rare and unique photographs taken by three generations of the Cooper family, who have been based in Northampton since 1866, will be exhibited and sold for the first time in October.

The established business was run by Henry Cooper Senior, followed by his children Henry Cooper Junior and Nellie Cooper, and his son Eric Cooper, until he retired in 1990.

Gary Shaeffer, Popperfoto’s marketing director said:  “The exhibition includes a number of evocative images of the county’s magnificent countryside and photographs of sights and sites either long-gone or barely recognizable today."

The public will have an opportunity to purchase photographs either as archival digital printsm on acid-free fine art paper, or as fibre-based limited edition prints.

Bob Thomas, chairman of Popperfoto, said: “The Cooper archive is one of the most fascinating collections that we have acquired in recent times.”

The Cooper Collection can be seen free of charge on Saturday October 4 and Sunday October 5 between 12pm and 4pm, and between 10am and 4pm from October 6 until January 2.

Sepia Saturday #129 - Dummy Can Serve the Tea

Once again I am late posting my Sepia Saturday entry.  I watched my grandsons most of the weekend so did not have time to work on this week's theme for Sepia Saturday.  I knew I had no good photographs having used my one and only a couple of weeks ago (see here).  As the boys were playing on my computer, I sat and thumbed through some vintage magazines I had picked up in antiques stores and just happened to see this article which I thought would be perfect for this week's post.  This particular article comes from the October 1935 Better Homes and Gardens issue and talks about  how a hostess can prepare for serving tea for an afternoon bridge game.

To read more tea-time stories go to Sepia Saturday.

Fashionable Friday - Stylish 1880's Atlanta, GA Woman

Lillie Allen Draper ca 1884-1885 Atlanta, GA

Recently at an antique show I bought a number of cabinet cards from what I believe were the same family mostly from Alabama.  This very stylish young woman was photographed in Atlanta, GA and is idenitified as Lillie Allen Draper.  She is wearing a beautiful bustled dress with fitted bodice.  Note the lace sleeves and lace around the neck and upper chest as well.  I originally thought this cabinet card was dated from the 1870's but further investigation makes me believe this photo most likely to be dated around 1884 - 1885.  I believe Lillie would have been about 18 or 19 in this picture.

The fringed chair was usually seen in 1870 photographs but the front of this cabinet card is maroon, a color which did not  come in use until around 1884 and was popular until 1895.    The earlier dark colored cards (maroon, green, black) were only dark on the front with the back being  grey or natural. Although the chair is most likely an 1870's chair, it was not uncommon for a studio to keep using a piece  of furniture such as this after it lost its popularity with other photographers.

I had no luck finding any information on the photographer,  Edwards & Son, Successors to Edwards & Dorman, Photographers, No. 56 1/2 Whitehall St. (or Sq.), Atlanta, Ga.  I did however find Lillie and her husband John. R. Draper in the 1900 DeArmanville, Calhoun, Alabama census.  Lillie was born July 1866 in Alabama, her father in Georgia, her mother in Alabama.  She and John married in 1889, had four children, Emmie born 1889, Robbie 1894, Lewis 1896 and Essie 1898.  Her husband died before 1910 because she is listed as a widow in that census and is living with the same children and two more, Lucino (Lucien) and Clifford.  I also found her in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.  She died 13 Jul 1954 at the age of 88.

Tintype Tuesday - Man in Top Hat

These are two of five tintypes I obtained somewhere of the same very attractive gentleman.  As is common with many tintypes, the subjects and photographer are both unidentified.   In these two particular photos the gentleman in question is posing wearing a top hat, first alone and then with a young boy at his side.  In the first photo he is wearing a long dark overcoat, sitting on a studio prop "tree stump" and holding in his hand an unknown object;  in the second photo he is wearing a white or beige overcoat, sitting with the boy standing next to him.  Tintype dating is always a challenge for me, but I feel that from the props in the first photo that it was most likely dated in the 1880's.  Perhaps in the near future I will post the other tintypes I have of this subject in which he is posing alone and with other gentlemen.

Mystery Monday - Unidentified Rochester, NY Woman

These two cabinet card photographs are obviously of the same woman from Rochester, New York. What is interesting to me is that although taken by the same photographer, I am not totally certain that these photos were taken on the same day. She is wearing the same dress but there are some slight differences in the two pictures if one cares to look closely.  In the first picture our lovely subject is wearing the typical 1880's bustled dress with fitted bodice.  The bodice has a number of buttons, around twenty, down the pleated front. At her neck she is wearing a pin/brooch in the shape of a letter "D" which makes you wonder if her name perhaps started with that letter.  She also has white lace jutting out from under the top of the neckline of her dress.  This photograph is a full-figure pose and she is standing with her hand resting on a studio prop faux, wooden chair; behind her the backdrop is a large tree trunk.  She is wearing a curly hairstyle that was so popular with women in the mid 1880's.

The second photograph is a bust pose in which we can only see the top half of her dress but it is obviously the same dress.  If you look closely however, you will see that there is no lace sticking out of the neckline as in the first photo. Additionally, in the photo she is wearing a different brooch at her neck in the shape of  flower with stem and leaf.  She is also wearing a pair of small drop earrings which I am not sure if she is wearing them or not in photograph number one. She is wearing a necklace of some sort in the first photo with a square-shaped charm that is sticking out of her buttons mid-way down the placket of her bodice.  I believe she is also wearing this in the second photo.  Her hairstyle looks very much the same in both photographs.

My question about our mystery woman would be, did she have these photos taken the same day and change accessories or were they perhaps taken some time apart and she wore the same dress? The photographer is a bit of a mystery as well - the front of the card says "Pomeroy Gallery" while the back says McMahon & Nelson.  I did find a mention of McMahon & Nelson in the 1887 Rochester, New York City Directory.  Due to certain clues in these pictures this is also about the time I would date these photos, 1885 - 1888.

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Edna Wallace Hopper

I just love these two cabinet cards taken in 1898 of Edna Wallace Hopper (17 Jan 1872 or 74 - 14 Dec 1959) who was a famous American stage and silent film actress and her dog.   She was born to Walker and Josephine Wallace in either 1872 or 74, but refused to give her exact birth date and no one could find out for certain because her birth records were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  In these photographs she is wearing very typical 1890's garb while posing with her beloved dog. Her hat is quite impressive and you will notice she is wearing a long chain around her neck that appears to be a dog whistle.  Also on her hip is an object that I was quite curious about, but I found something similar today and believe it to be a vintage scent bottle (see picture). The photographer is Benjamin J. Falk (1853 - 1925), who was one of the leading celebrity photographers in New York City at that time. He opened his studio at 13 and 15 West 24th St. N.Y. Madison Square in 1892.  He also had studios at twenty-third street and Broadway (on the present site of the Flatiron Building) and the Waldorf Astoria at West 33rd Street.

vintage scent bottle

Edna was no stranger to drama in her personal life. Her father was the head night usher at the California Theatre.  According to Wikipedia, while she was still young her parents took in a wealthy boarder, Alexander Dunsmuir (1853 - 1900) co-heir to the Dunsmuir coal and shipping fortune.  Unfortunately her mother fell in love with their boarder and ran off with him and left Edna, her father and her sibling. Wally sued for divorce and Alex's parents disapproved so their marriage was on hold.  Alex apparently was an alcoholic and began to drink heavily.  In the spring of 1886 he disappeared in San Francisco on a drinking binge for ten days. After his father died in 1889 Alex bought the estate of Souther Farm now known as Dunsmuir House, near San Francisco at a cost $350,000 and deeded it to Josephine. Alex and Josephine were married on 21 Dec 1899 in California and honeymooned in New York City.  

Edna Wallace Hopper 1898 NYC

Edna had gone to New York to train for the stage. While there she had married DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935) on 28 June 1895. They appeared together in comic operas including John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, but divorced in 1898, the same year these photos were taken.  They were a somewhat mismatched couple on stage and in life; DeWolf was tall for the times at 6 foot 3 inches and Edna was less than five feet and weighed 85 pounds. By the time her mother married Alex Dunsmuir, Edna was already a star on Broadway. She met with them while they were in New York.  Unfortunately, Alex was very sick with alcohol withdrawal, worsening each day and died on New Year's Day in a New York City Hospital.  Josephine, now a widow, returned to her new San Leandro estate where she died of cancer on 22 Jun 1901.

By this time Edna had achieved great fame starring in her most famous role, Lady Holyrood in the popular London inportation Florodora.  Although she did not play one of the renowned Florodora Sextettes, she shared in the wide adulation of the many male admirers who mobbed the backstage door after each performance.  She remained very active on stage over the next decade including starring in George M. Cohen's Fifty Miles from Boston in 1907.  In 1908 she married Wall Street broker Albert O. Brown.

1910

During the 1910's and early 1920's her career slowed down but took a different direction.  She was one of the earlier stage actors to have a facelift and had the operation filmed.  Over the next eight years she made personal appearances and tours showing the film and giving beauty tips.  Over the years she would put her name on a line of products noted for keeping her youthful looks - Edna Wallace Hopper Cosmetics.  

She separated from her second husband Brown and he died in the 1930's.  She went on to become the only woman of the thirty-six member board of L. F. Rothschld & Co..  She traveled daily by subway to her office to handle investments until shortly before her death in New York City from complications of pneumonia on 14 Dec 1959 at the reported age of 94 leaving no immediate survivors.  She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California.

Sources:

1.  Wikipedia
2.  Shades of the Departed:  http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/2011/08/todays-shades-old-photograph.html#links
3.  Find-A-Grave:  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19073997

Sepia Saturday #128 - You Belong To Me - Jo Stafford

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt relates to music, song, etc and as usually happens I never know where I'm going with the theme and where I'll end up.  I remembered that I had a pile of old sheet music I bought on one of my "antiquing" junkets that I had no idea what I was going to do with them, I just liked the way they looked.  This particular piece of sheet music is a song I have heard and liked my whole life except I have always heard it sung by one of my all time favorites, Patsy Cline.  The words and music are by Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart and Chilton Price, and was recorded previously by Jo Stafford in 1952 for Columbia Records.  I have to admit I had never heard of Jo Stafford before today (she was a little before my time) but evidently she was quite famous and had a beautiful voice.

This piece of sheet music was evidently a popular piece with the former owner as you can see by all the pencil marks on the second page.  I have no idea what all these notations mean as I know nothing about playing music, I just enjoy the outcome.

According to Wikipedia Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 - July 16, 2008) was an American singer of traditional American pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930's to the early 1960's.  Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era.   She came from a musical family and was also related to Sgt. Alvin York a famous WWI hero.  The article is quite interesting and lengthy - I encourage you to read it if you are interested in the music of this time period. 

Here is a great YouTube video of her recording of You Belong To Me with different photo clips of her throughout her career by mr40sfan - she does have a beautiful voice:

For more great musical themes as well as other song-worthy posts, check out this week's Sepia Saturday.

Fashionable Friday - 1860's Montpelier, Vermont Woman

1860's Montpelier, VT Woman

This Carte de Visite shows a  lovely Montpelier, Vermont woman sitting in a chair which is a very common pose for the times.  She is wearing the typical hooped dress, belted and although difficult to see I suspect her hair his held with a snood. It's also very hard to see, but I believe she is wearing a ring on her left index finger; that seems to me to be unusual.

This CDV was taken by S. O. Hersey, Photographer, State Street of Montpelier.  Because of the revenue stamp on the back we know this photo was taken between 1864 and 1866.  I very little information on this photographer but I did find him on an IRS Tax Assesment List on ancestry.com in Montpelier District 1 in 1866.