• Old Photos: June Wedding

    Few words before this post. No, I did not become a fan of weddings, but I thought that the fact that this wedding happened exactly 63 years ago today is the neatest thing; people in these photos should be in their 80’s so it’s not impossible that someone would remember being there or hearing about it. None of the text below belongs to me, it was reproduced from the Life Magazine article from July 14th, 1947, which has many additional photos and a detailed description of the preparations and the ceremony. Although my friend Hyperblogal was already operating his photography business in 1947 these photos were not taken by him; a famous Life Magazine photographer Nina Leen gets the credit for them. Lastly, this is going to be long, so keep scrolling. More photos can be found here.

    The boom in weddings, which was set off at the end of the war is still going strong. Last month it was responsible for a bumper crop of brides throughout the U.S. Some of the weddings were big and grand, others small and quiet, but every one was a major event in the lives of the participants. As a tribute to this burgeoning romanticism, Life herewith presents a picture album of a U.S. wedding which took a place in Kansas City, Mo. on June 21 (*1947).

    The bride was blue-eyed, blond Barbara Winn, 23–year old daughter of Mr.and Mrs. Edward Lawrence Winn of 1022 West 64 Street Terrace, Kansas City. Her father is well-to-do contractor. The groom was Thomas Ferrel Bailey, 23, of Topeka, Kan., whom Barbara first met at a New Year’s Eve party in 1945. Tom had just been discharged from the U.S. Army Air Forces as an air cadet and was returning to complete his studies at the University of Kansas, from which Barbara graduated in 1945.

    When Barbara and Tom announced their engagement, they decided that they wanted a big wedding to entertain all their friends. Barbara’s mother particularly liked the idea because she had eloped herself and had missed the excitement of a big church ceremony. And since Barbara was his only daughter, her father was anxious to make the wedding a resounding success. For the groom the wedding preparations were pretty hectic because he was being graduated form the University of Kansas on the Monday before the Saturday ceremony and was piloting his owe plane back and forth to his home in Topeka on countless last-minute errands.

    A large wedding like Barbara’s is one of the modern society’s elaborate rites. In staging it Barbara was constantly helped by her parents and her brother Larry, but like most American girls she made all the decisions herself. It was in fact a full time job. How she brought it to a happy conclusion is shown below.

    Tom Ferrell and Barbara Winn planning their June wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Tom Ferell and Barbara Winn consulting with the minister in their chuch before the wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    A Wasserman test is given to Barbara for $2. As a means of checking social diseases the State of Missouri wisely requires every couple to pass this painless blood test before they can be married. ©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bride Barbara Winn shopping with her mother for a wedding cake for her wedding. Six weeks before the wedding Barbara finally ordered a six-layer cake from a caterer who specializes in wedding cakes. It was a marvelous thing adorned with candy gardenias and bowknots. It cost $100 and rested in a wreath of real gardenias.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Invitations are a chore for Barbara's family. They sit around the dining room table, addressing 525 envelopes 5 weeks before the wedding. All guests were invited to both the wedding and the reception.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bride Barbara Winn's father.©Time, Nina Leen.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bride Barbara Winn's home.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Barbara Winn and her mother buying the flowers for her June wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Barbara Winn and Tom Ferell eating a barbecue supper given by Barbara's bridesmaids before the wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Wedding presents sitting in Barbara Winn's bedroom before her wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Tom Ferell and Barbara Winn attending their bridal dinner before their wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bride Barbara Winn wearing her new wedding dress for her wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bride Barbara Winn wearing a blue garter on her leg for her wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.

    Groomsman,possibly future Johnson County Congressman Congressman Larry Winn.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Bridesmaids.©Time, Nina Leen.
    The Bride Barbara Winn.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Tom Ferell and Barbara Winn walking up the aisle during their wedding.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Reception.©Time, Nina Leen.
    Cutting the Cake.©Time, Nina Leen.
    ©Time, Nina Leen.
    ©Time, Nina Leen.
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  • Headgear News

    As always I am keeping up with the newest headgear looks. Today’s trip to Lawrence, KS brought me up to date.

    Gene Hackman called from 1971, wants his hat back.

    P1010536

    I wrote about cool hair before. Maybe my fascination with other people’s hair stems from a complete inability to fashion anything more then the look of a dead squirrel peacefully resting on the top of my head out of my own hair. So I present the biggest coolest Mohawk I’ve ever seen.

    P1010539P1010538

    My previous champion might as well shave his pitiful hair.

    fiestaKC

    All I can say is:

    P1010519

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  • Old Photos: One Day In Life Of Kansas Farm Boy

    Here are some photos featuring Kansas farm boy – Dan Gardner taken in June, 1947.

    Here we see Dan in front of some kind of pre-historic computer.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects.
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects. © Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Farmer Boy Dan Gardner with roan Shorthorn and Hereford (white faced).© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Farmer Boy Dan Gardner with baby calf. © Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Before the scientists figured out the evil formula for the hog feed, hogs were fed skim milk and Oreo cookies.

    Kansas Farm Boy Dan Gardner feeding a mixture of his and his father's hogs skim milk.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Late dinner with the family, the clock shows 7:50PM.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner having meal with his parents.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    Malted milk – the gateway drink to other malted beverages.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (2R) with friends in drug store having malted milk.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland

    After a cup of malted milk, the only thing you want is some square-dancing. The kid seated next to the door looks like he is doing community service, the girl standing on the right stuck her tongue out; must be thirsty for some of that milk.

    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (center) at 4-H square dance.
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner (center) at 4-H square dance.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
    Kansas Farm Boy, Dan Gardner in his room seated at his desk with 4-H club ribbons awarded to him on his many projects.© Time Inc. Wallace Kirkland
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  • Dusseldorf and Cologne

    Preface:

    Germany wasn’t on my bucket list. I don’t even have a list. The only reason I use it to name my travel posts is because I like the way they look on my travel page, all nicely lined up.

    The original plan was to stop at Bruges on the way from Amsterdam to Paris, but the prospect of spending a day with my childhood friend, riding on an autobahn, while still adding another country to the itinerary outweighed my desire to see the exact spot where the body of a killer plopped down from the tower in that one movie. A chance to see the famous Cologne Cathedral in person and me having only a vague idea of how to make the trip from Amsterdam to Bruges and still make it to Paris the same night tipped the scale and the next morning we were on the way to Düsseldorf.

    Face:

    I was underwhelmed by the autobahn. Besides not having a speed limit in some places it wasn’t that much different from the stretch of I-70 between Kansas City and St.Louis. My friend drove fairly fast on some stretches, but just like here we were frequently slowed down by construction and slow drivers in the passing lane. My eye was missing my favorite highway entertainment – the billboards. It took about 2.5 hours to arrive in Düsseldorf.

    Düsseldorf turned out to be a lively town with an interesting but fairly generic historic center and a large and expensive shopping district. That one restaurant downtown with a German name serves the best liver I’ve ever had. Make sure to check it out while you there.

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  • Behind The Iron Curtain – #1 and #2

    Before I move on with the continuation of my ever-popular crapper series I’d like to clarify something. The reason I am writing these is not to get some compassion for the misery that I and my countrymen had to go through. Even with the lack of modern conveniences millions of happy and meaningful lives were lived in the USSR. Many scientific breakthroughs were made by people who after work went back to their crappy communal apartments. Many cultural masterpieces were created by people with no running water in sight. Millions of children were conceived while someone else was sleeping in the other corner of the same room. On the other hand, there are miserable people leaving in the mansions with 6 bathrooms and loads of toilet paper. What I am trying to say is that life conditions are important but even more important are families, friends, surroundings, etc. When everything else is peachy, the toilet paper shortage is not so relevant.
    Now back to the subject.

    Outdoor Plumbing.

    Outdoor plumbing is an oxymoron.
    There wasn’t any plumbing outdoors. In most of the rural areas and old parts of town for their natural needs people visited an outhouse. Regular outhouse looked kinda like this sans the raccoon, heating and funny signs. It was normally situated above the giant hole in the ground which sometimes was pumped out à la “Dirty Jobs”. (notice the abundance of the French words in my blog). I am not sure how the rest of them were emptied but I’ve never heard about septic tanks until I got here. Some of these were regular “squat” types and the other ones had a way to sit down on a toilet seat. If you ever get to visit one of these I recommend to not look down the hole. Just take my word on this.
    People who owned these outhouses kept them clean and tried to insulate them from cold. I’ve never seen a heated one, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any. During the cold times of the year these places did not encourage prolonged sessions with a funny book.An old army joke talked about having to have a partner while going to the bathroom above the Arctic Circle: one will do his business and the one other will stand by with an axe in case the first one had to be separated from the toilet. In these areas liquids freeze before they hit the ground.
    As I’ve mentioned above, many toilet facilities were of the “squat” type where you’d find a hole of various shapes (with some evil crap inside, don’t look down) and sometimes there were markings where to place you feet. Feet placement was also guided by disgusting stuff on the floor. You just had to try not to step in the unknown hazardous waste (not all people have excellent aiming skills and that’s all I’m going to say about that). When I was in the army our outdoor facility was a huge concrete building with 40 to 60 holes in the floor and a 20 yard trough for #1 (I’ve heard that Chiefs stadium has some of these). In the morning, when 300 people visited it at the same time my eyes would tear up, and not because I was so proud or whatever. It wasn’t a smell anymore, it was a wall of ammonia-laden mist. Surprisingly,within few minutes, the smell became bearable and you could go on about your business. To sanitize the out-buildings they spread some kind of powder similar to mix of DDT, dry Clorox and Lysol. I should also mention that the building had no doors and partial walls so all the warmth was generated…sorry, I told you not to look down there. When we were on a mission they just dug a trench and surrounded the area with tarps (no roof). Notice that the squat toilets did not discriminate against handicapped, elderly and pregnant women. Just imagine doing it with any of these conditions. I still have great balancing skills.
    Sometimes people rebelled and improved the age-old design as shown in exhibit to the right. Sometimes it was more ingenuous than that but this will give you an idea. Notice that there are no dividers. Enjoy the company!
    If you are feeling deprived of the genuine squat toilet experience, some schmuck is promoting a device to convert your nice, comfortable throne into a squatting nightmare. It will cure your depression, impotence and make your hair grow back. I, on the other hand, will enjoy some time in one of my two bathrooms with an issue of “Consumer Reports”.
    To be continued.
    P.S. This blog is not responsible for trauma caused by your attempts to climb up on your toilet. Do not try this at home.

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