Alan Mays' photos

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hat in hand . Five fellows pose for a photo on a sunny day. The right side of the image is a bit washed out due to the bright light, but it's evident that the man on the end is holding a straw hat in his hand. What may not be obvious at first glance, however, is that the man in the middle is balancing a mounted deer head against his leg as he holds on to it with both hands. There's no address, message, or postmark on the other side of this unused real photo postcard. The type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on it suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918. Although animal head taxidermy mounts seem a little macabre to me, I do have two other similar photos. See A Man and His Deer Head and A Man and His Moosehead Bier . For another photo with multiple hats in hands, see Bachelor's Club Hats .

"One dozen Ryman's Liver Pills. Sugar coated." Ryman's Celebrated Worm Syrup and Dr. Ryman's Catarrh Snuff were two other patent medicines sold under the Ryman name. The OCLC catalog record for Materials relating to proprietary medicines marketed by H. A. Moore & Co., of Howard, Pa. , provides some background information regarding the manufacturer of Ryman products: "'We beg leave to call your attention to the fact that we have purchased the right to manufacture and sell all of Ryman's medicines, and that our agent will call on you in a very short time with a fresh and new lot of the different kinds of medicines formerly sold by C. H. Else & Bro., of Milesburg, ...'--printed letter dated May 26, 1883, and signed: H. A. Moore & Co. Howard A. Moore was apprenticed to Dr. C. H. Else, druggist, of Milesburg, Pa. In 1876, Moore married Laura J. Ryman of Milesburg."

"M________. May I have the pleasure of your company to attend a ________ to be held at ________ on ____ day of ________ 188__ at ____ o'clock __M. If so, please sign your name on the back of this card and return to me. ________." An escort or acquaintance card from the 1880s. For a discussion of these types of cards, see the article " When 'Flirtation Cards' Were All The Rage ," by Linton Weeks, on NPR's Web site.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of this was the [you name the decade] (please explain why the photo represents the period) . "Midway Diner, where we ate our dinner. On our trip to Atlantic City. Thursday, July 13, 1950." This was the 1950s -- just barely -- but diners like this have played a significant role in fifties nostalgia. As Wikipedia observes, "In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob , Happy Days , Grease , and Diner ), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date." Based on other photos I purchased along with this one, I believe that the family members who ate their dinner here on July 13 were traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, from their home in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania. This suggests that the Midway Diner was located somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to determine exactly where. As I was getting ready to post this picture, I discovered that I used a different diner photo for a previous 1950s theme for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See Good Food Federal Diner, Brookline Avenue, Boston, Mass., 1956 .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of someone's in the kitchen . Seven students and two teachers pose for the camera during a cooking class in a school kitchen. Judging by the recipes visible on the chalkboard, the subject of the day's lesson was "Butter Cake" with "Boiled Frosting" (see a cropped version of the photo for a close-up of the recipes). This is an unused real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box (four corner triangles with two pointing up and two pointing down) on the other side, which suggests a date as early as 1917 to 1930.

Lists of ingredients and descriptions of the procedures for making "Butter Cake" with "Boiled Frosting" appear on the chalkboard behind the teacher and students in this image from an early twentieth-century photo postcard. See also the full version of this photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of sitting on a park bench . Printed on the verso: "Luna Park Photo Co., Scranton, Pa. Souvenir Luna Park." Names handwritten on the other side: "Rosa & Tom." Tom was sitting on a park bench and Rosa was standing behind him as they posed for this photo as a souvenir of their visit to Luna Park , an amusement park located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, sometime in the late 1900s or early 1910s. The painted backdrop behind the couple depicts a scene in the park (see a photo of the southern section of Luna Park, Scranton , for a similar view). To the right of the couple is the park's Shoot the Chute water ride. The building to the left of Rosa's head is the park's dance hall. This is an unused real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box on the other side (diamonds in corners) that indicates a date that may be as early as 1907 to 1909.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of lines/stripes . Five boys are sitting at a patio table in the back yard as they drink Food Fair root beer and orange soda and snack on Wheat Thins, twin pops, and Fruit Flavored Slices. Three of the boys are wearing striped shirts, and the two oldest boys look similar enough to be brothers or maybe even twins. The Kodak Paper stamp box on the other side of this real photo postcard was first used around 1950. The design of the Wheat Thins box on the table suggests a date sometime in the sixties based on the Nabisco Wheat Thins - 1960s image posted on Flickr by Brandon (Waffle Whiffler). Update: After another Alan commented on Flickr that he was getting a sixties vibe from this photo, I did some additional checking and found a clearer example of the side of the box (see Nabisco Wheat Thins - 1960s ). I revised the title and description to reflect that these kids were probably snacking in the sixties rather than the seventies.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of playing a trick: high jinks . Handwritten note on the back of this photo: "Aunt Maggie trick shot by Art." Aunt Maggie certainly played her cards right! This trick photo uses a double exposure to make it look like she's playing cards with her doppelgänger. This is an undated photo mounted on cardboard (see the full photo ) with no further identification of "Aunt Maggie" or her photographer "Art."

Aunt Maggie is playing cards with herself! For more information, see the cropped version of the photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of eyeglasses, goggles, and other eyewear . "A Happy New Year, Ben. K. Emerson." A New Year's greeting from bespectacled American geologist Benjamin Kendall Emerson (1843-1932). This is an unused real photo postcard with a PMC stamp box (suggesting a date between 1920 and 1935) on the other side. For some other photos with identifiable eyewear, see Spinning a Tale of Dogs in Glasses and Mother and Son with White-Rimmed Sunglasses .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of out in the yard or garden . Handwritten note on the other side of this snapshot: "The Lemonade Stand, .88 profit - Maine '49." Out in the yard with a couple of kids operating a profitable lemonade stand.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tables . This is a larger picture mounted on cardboard. It shows the interior of an unidentified restaurant with tables, distinctive chairs, and a menu on each tabletop. Unfortunately, there's no indication of the restaurant's location or the date when the photo was taken. My attempts to decipher some of the clues in the photo -- the menus on the tables and a glimpse of street signs through the doorway -- haven't yielded any additional details about the restaurant's name or location.

A detail from a photo of a restaurant interior , date and location unknown. I was hoping that an enlargement of the menus would be sharp enough to determine the name of the restaurant, but the image doesn't seem clear enough to even make a guess at the words. A close-up of the doorway of the restaurant similarly provides a peek out onto the street, but identifying the business signs by the partial words that are visible presents another challenge.

Another detail from a photo of an unidentified restaurant interior . This is a close-up of an entrance or window,, and it shows what may be parts of signs from other businesses along the same street. I haven't been able to decipher the partial words or figure out what the signs might say. I haven't had any luck reading the words on the menus that are visible in the photo either.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of holding a ball . Two boys strike baseball player poses in a backyard -- one holds a baseball bat over his shoulder and the other holds a ball in his right hand and wears a baseball glove on his left hand. The boys are dressed identically and look so much alike that I wonder if they might be twins. This is a picture from a real photo postcard with a Rexo stamp box on the other side, which suggests a date range of 1905 to 1920.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a favorite vintage portrait, formal or informal . This is a combination of two slides ( Pipe-Smoking Television Man and Birds at Home ) showing the opposite sides of a room in the 1950s home of a man I've called -- for lack of his real name -- "Pipe-Smoking Man" or "Yellow Socks Guy." These images were among the ones in several slide trays I bought at an antique mall a few years ago. They're some of my favorites for their bright and colorful depictions of mid-century people and furnishings. For more examples, see Pipe-Smoking Man in Front of the Fireplace and my album of Pipe-Smoking Man and His Family .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of romantic or in love . "Greetings from Elitch's. Smile-A-While Studio, Elitch's Gardens, Denver, Colorado." A souvenir novelty photo from Elitch's Gardens , an amusement park in Denver, Colorado. For an earlier picture from the park, see Labor Day Photo from Elitch's Gardens, 1905 .