Holy Cats!

Photos: Satan Claus is coming to town

I obtained this turn-of-the-century photograph in a batch of photographs of a one-room schoolhouse.  Santa Claus paid a visit to those lucky kids on thise day.   Well, I guess that's depending on your definition of "lucky".

He just wanted to remind them that he's Santa and he knows when they've been bad or good.

He knows. Oh, he knows...

(There's another photo of Scary Satanic Santa coming soon.  I could have posted these closer to Christmas but honestly, I felt that this particular Santa was more worthy of an October debut.)

Photos: Men in Trees

And on top of posts and fences. Was there some late 1800s-early 1900's trend of scaling the nearest high tree or fence before having your photo taken?

Well, actually the fellow below didn't make it all the way up the tree. He was too busy making kissy faces with his girlfriend there, I guess. But I bet if she hadn't been there, he would been up in that top of that tree ready for his photograph.

Photos: Julia Roberts circa 1875

Julia Roberts' long-lost ancestor?

Photos: A Day at the Shore

These are two photos in a series of 5. The other ones show this couple frolicking on a beach, as much as two people can frolic in a full military uniform and a full-length long-sleeved black dress and hat.  I'm assuming, based on nothing more than my wild imagination, that the man is on leave from the military (WWI?) and this is his last hurrah with his girlfriend before having to go back.   Maybe they spent the day at Coney Island, eating hot dogs and dipping their toes in the surf.  Maybe she was even forward enough to take off her shoes and stockings.  Maybe they took these photos of each other and she kept the photograph of him on the nightstand next to her bed. Maybe he took her photograph with him back overseas and kept it in his pocket, looking at it every time he wrote her a letter back home.

And just maybe he was lucky enough to come back to her after the War...

Photos: Dapper young fellow

Dapper : adj : marked by smartness in dress and manners; "a dapper young            man"; "a jaunty red hat" [syn: dashing, jaunty, natty, raffish, rakish, smart, snappy, spruce]

His whole expression says "Yes indeed, I am a dapper young fellow. I even have a dapper riding crop and am sitting dapper-ed-ly in this chair.  Even my hat and bowtie are quite dapper."

Either that or he just has a bad case of gas.

Photos: Faithful Companion

A boy and his dog.

His very, very happy dog. 

Photos: School Girl

This photograph is absolutely one of my all-time favorites.  I obtained it in a batch of anonymous photographs, all centered around a one room schoolhouse.  There's a whole novel written in the details of this picture if you look close enough.

See the desk next to the girl? It's not hard to imagine those scratches on the side coming from years of bored students passing the time carving their initials while trying to look attentive to the droning of the teacher.  And see the ink wells  and open books arranged haphazardly on each desk? It's as if the entire class just got up and walked out of the room moments before this photo was taken. And from the look on the girl's face, that's exactly what happened.

Judging from the sullen expression on her face, the unfortunate subject of the photograph quite obviously wants to be anywhere but the center of a portrait .  Her friends and schoolmates are all outside for recess and she's had to stay behind forced to sit completely still for what, to a young girl,  seems to be an eternity.  She can hear the yells and laughter of the other kids out in the schoolyard and is doing her best to ignore the sounds and look straight ahead and "look natural" as the photographer has ordered her to do. Her facial expression has quickly turned from natural to a grumpy scowl because it's hard to look natural when you're hot and your best Sunday dress is itchy and you can feel sweat trickling down your back. And your hair is a mess even though Mother very carefully put it up this morning and ordered you to make certain it stayed that way.

After all, you were the special one chosen for the honor of being photographed with one of those new-fangled things called a camera.  But no one told you it would take this long.  All you want to do is kick off your shoes, hitch up your skirt and run down to the river and take a dip in the cool water. But no, you can do no such thing, at least until this silly photography business is over with.

Photograph, smotograph.

Photos: Family Portrait

Another photo from the big random batch from Iowa.

I think it's pretty obvious who wore the pants in this family.

Photos: Bess and the Preacher Man

I aquired this photo in a big random batch of photos off eBay. They were all taken in Shenandoah, Iowa and a lot of them were apparently from the same family, including these two.

Here's one of a friendly looking fella taking a break from a long day's work and watching the cats play at his feet.

Except it's not a fella. It's a woman named Bess and she's dressed like a man.

Closeup of Bess, as requested:

If I were Bess I'd be dressing like a man too. Corsets and petticoats weren't all that practical down on the farm or, well, anywhere. It makes sense. 

But then it gets a little strange.

Here's Bess's husband, who, according to the caption on the back of the photo, is dressed as a "Preacher Man". One can assume that he isn't actually a Preacher Man because then the photographer wouldn't feel the need to point out the fact he was dressed like one.

I'm guessing that Bess and the Preacher Man had an interesting marriage.