Fanny Brice – American Comedian, Singer, Theatre And Film Actress

Fanny Brice (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951) was a popular and influential American illustrated song model, comedian, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show. Thirteen years after her death, she was portrayed on the Broadway stage by Barbra Streisand in the musical Funny Girl and its 1968 film adaptation.

Fanny Brice (occasionally spelled Fannie Brice) was the stage name of Fania Borach, born in New York City, the third child of relatively well-off saloon owners of Hungarian Jewish descent. In 1908, Brice dropped out of school to work in a burlesque revue, The revue was called ‘The Girls from Happy Land starring Sliding Billy Watson." Two years later she began her association with Florenz Ziegfeld, headlining his Ziegfeld Follies from 1910 to 1911. She was hired again in 1921 and performed in them into the 1930s. In the 1921 Follies, she was featured singing "My Man" which became both a big hit and her signature song. She made a popular recording of it for Victor Records.

The second song most associated with Brice is "Second Hand Rose," which she introduced in the "Ziegfeld Follies of 1921."

She recorded nearly two dozen record sides for Victor and also cut several for Columbia. She is a posthumous recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for her 1921 recording of "My Man."

Brice’s Broadway credits include Fioretta, Sweet and Low, and Billy Rose’s Crazy Quilt. Her films include My Man (1928), Be Yourself! (1930) and Everybody Sing (1938) with Judy Garland. Brice, Ray Bolger and Harriet Hoctor were the only original Ziegfeld performers to portray themselves in The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and Ziegfeld Follies (1946). For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at MP 6415 Hollywood Boulevard.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Inter 175A Berline

SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Societe Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Nord
Origin: Lyon, France
Production: est. 280
Motor: Ydral 1-cyl, 2-stroke
Displacement: 175 cc
Power: 8.5 hp
Length: 9 ft. 8 in.
Identification No. 1706

The Inter is the one microcar in the entire collection whose sleek lines most closely resemble those of a small aircraft. The Cyclops headlight, slab sides, tapering tail, and in particular, the shape of the nose contribute to this impression, as do the separate wheel spats and the steering handlebar. It comes by its avionic looks honestly, as it was produced in the aeronautical factories of S.N.C.A.N. (Société Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Nord) on behalf of A.E.M.S. (Ateliers Electromechaniques de la Seine), and sold by G.E.S.C.O.F.I. in Paris. The French do love their acronyms.

Introduced at the Paris Salon in the fall of 1953, the little “Autoscooter” was a sensation. It was positioned in the marketplace as halfway between a scooter and a small car, offering stability and complete weather protection, combined with the nimbleness in traffic and simplicity of maintenance of a scooter. The prototype on display was still under development, however, and the actual production car differed slightly in appearance when it finally became available to the public in the spring of 1954.

Two models were offered: the “Berline,” with a left-side hinged canopy complete with glass windows in the front and rear and sliding plastic side windows, and the “Torpedo,” with a small Plexiglas windscreen and no lifting canopy. Seating was in tandem, with the front seat adjustable. The sunroof consisted of an elasticated piece of fabric that fitted around a lip surrounding the roof opening. The Ydral motor (the odd name is a reversal of the designer’s name, Lardy), in at least two versions, drove the rear wheel by chain. The front outrigger wheels were covered by full helmet-type fenders, which turned with the steering. A startling feature was the ability of the front suspension to fold together on parallelogram arms upon releasing two pins, thus reducing the overall width from 4.4 feet to 2.9 feet. Much was made of this ability to pass through garden gates, but in reality, it was found to be impractical, and the majority of the cars had fixed suspension. The wheels were sprung by Niemann rubber rings, still in use on French trailers in modern times. Also typical of aviation practice is the bicycle chain steering, in this case connecting to a rack and pinion.

Yet another startling aviation-type feature of the Inter is its Westinghouse “Gyrostarter,” a system similar in principle to that used on helicopters. Raising the starter lever inside the cockpit causes the flywheel to spin at an ever-increasing speed, accompanied by a whining sound that rises in pitch. Once the gyro is up to speed (at least 10 seconds is recommended) the lever is quickly dropped, engaging the motor via a hefty clutch and imparting the flywheel’s stored rotational energy to the motor, which starts and then reverts to generator mode. This system was not particularly effective on an out of tune engine, as the six volt battery was only good for two or three attempts. The starting sequence itself never fails to draw a crowd.

Text from RM Auctions

This Week’s Retro Recipe – Breakfast Sweet Rolls

At a jumble-sale this summer I picked up a stack of small cookbooks and among them was the one you can see in the illustration above, “Rumford Bakebok” from 1927. I suspect that it is translated from English as Rumford is not a Norwegian product but who cares. With a bit of fancy PhotoShoping I managed to place both the book and a tin of Rumford into the intro illustrations for the recipes from the little book.

The book had been appreciated as it was obvious that several generations of the woman in the Grindalen family had used it frequently (two generations had scribbled their name inside and one on the outside) before it ended up in my vast collection of old printed matter

The recipe is HERE

The Retro DIY Project – Breakfast Nook

A digital recreation of an article published in Popular Mechanics magazine, March 1941

Breakfast Nook
That Folds Against The wall

From its appearance when folded, one would never suspect that the compact unit could be lowered to make a sturdy breakfast nook. It is just the thing for the small home or apartment, and it can be made inexpensively with hand tools.

Plans and description in
jpg  & pdf format HERE

The Norwegian Public Telephone Booth

These red telephone booths has become a landmark in Norway and has its own national conservation plan. It saw the light in 1933 after an architectural competition , which was won by architect Georg Fasting from Bergen. The first was set up at the America boat docks in Oslo. A restored version is currently set up at near it’s original place (see picture). Only after the war did they spread  to the rest of the country. The location of public telephone booths always took into account the public safety and should provide easy access to a doctor, midwife, police and fire departments. They were of course a natural among high rises in the 60’s satellite towns, railway stations and numerous ferry ports. The public telephone booths was primarily a service, and profitability was secondary. The last booth was produced in 1995. In total it has been produced about 6,000 of them, and many are still in use. The design has remained unchanged, except for the weight: The first booths weighed 800 kg , while later editions weighed less than half . As mentioned it has now been developed a special protection plan for these telephone booths.

Text (translated) and image (slightly coloured) from NostalgiSiden

Deanna Lund – American Actress

Deanna Lund (born May 30, 1937) is an American film and television actress best remembered for her role in the Irwin Allen television series Land of the Giants, where she played the character of Valerie Ames Scott.

Early life
After the series was cancelled, she married co-star Don Matheson, but they were divorced in the late 1970s. Their daughter Michele Matheson is also an actress. Lund is an alum of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

In 1995, she dated Larry King, and the couple were engaged five weeks after they met. The relationship ended before they could marry.

Career
Valerie in Giantland, a novella written by Lund, is based on the Land of the Giants series, and set ten years later; written from the point of view of Lund’s character, Valerie Ames. She also played the lead role in the 1989 Christmas horror film Elves. In 1976, she appeared on the drama General Hospital as Peggy Lowell, the secretary and mistress of Cameron Faulkner, who was played by Lund’s husband Don Matheson.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Jones Tourer

The Jones Tourer was built between 1958 – 1960 in the UK.  It was designed and built by Mr. Jones who was also the owner of the vehicle. Mounted on a tubular space frame chassis, the car is of fibreglass and aluminium construction. Externally the vehicle has Morris Minor front wings and grille surround, with the remainder of the body fabricated from aluminium sheet or moulded in fibreglass from a mould produced by its designer. The rear engine cover has Reliant Regal rear lights and air vents from a Standard vanguard. The cover hinges just behind the seated area to expose the drive train. The engine is a Ford Classic 1340cc with twin SU carbs, mounted transversely, with a sprocket on the end of the gearbox to a counter shaft to get the ratios correct, with final drive by chain to the single rear wheel. Originally the rear wheel was suspended from the tubular cross members by 12 yards of catapult elastic, but this has since been replaced by budge elastic!! Front suspension is taken from a Morris Minor.

Internally the seats were hand made and spring with rubber from an industrial tyre inner tube.  The instruments were from various vehicles for example Wolseley. The hood was made by Mr. Jones’ late wife. It was originally intended to fit a 997cc Ford Anglia engine, however it was not until the short motor was obtained that it was found to be 1340cc. This gives the car performance beyond what is considered safe and will happily cruise all day at 70mph, but is expected to be capable of exceeding 90mph. The car was built for performance rather than fuel economy, though still returns approximately 40mpg from the front mounted petrol tank.

Text and images found at 3wheelers.com

Round Britain By Railway Posters – Conway Valley

The Conwy Valley Line (Welsh: Llinell Dyffryn Conwy) is a railway line in north Wales. It runs from Llandudno via Llandudno Junction (Welsh: Cyffordd Llandudno) to Blaenau Ffestiniog, and was originally part of the London and North Western Railway, being opened in stages to 1879. The primary purpose of the line was to carry slate from the Ffestiniog quarries to a specially built quay at Deganwy for export by sea. The line also provided goods facilities for the market town of Llanrwst, and via the extensive facilities at Betws-y-Coed on the London to Holyhead A5 turnpike road it served many isolated communities in Snowdonia and also the developing tourist industry. Although a little over 27 miles (43 km) between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog the journey takes over one hour. Most of the stations along the route are treated as a request stop.

History
The first section from Llandudno Junction to Llanrwst (now called North Llanrwst) was built as the Conway and Llanrwst Railway and opened in 1863. The LNWR took over in 1863 and opened the extension to Betws-y-Coed in 1868.

The next extension was to Blaenau Ffestiniog to access the output of the large slate quarries there. The LNWR first proposed a narrow gauge railway via the steeply graded Lledr Valley to Blaenau Ffestiniog. After construction began, it was decided that the extension would be built to standard gauge, allowing through running of trains. Between 1874 and 1879 the railway tunnel underneath Moel Dyrnogydd was bored, allowing the extension to open in 1881.

Blaenau Ffestiniog’s other standard gauge railway, the Bala and Ffestiniog Railway, was closed to all traffic in 1961, and a portion was flooded in the creation of the Llyn Celyn reservoir. A rail connection was desired for the nuclear power station under construction at Trawsfynydd, and a connecting line was built from Blaenau Ffestiniog North to the site of the demolished Blaenau Ffestiniog Central station for freight use. With the reconstruction of the Ffestiniog Railway, passenger services were relocated to a new joint station on the site of the old Central station in 1982. Regular freight traffic to Trawsfynydd ceased in the 1990s, and the power station is being decommissioned.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert LaDuke – American Painter

Robert LaDuke’s narrative paintings are a combination of memories, dreams and everyday life. Based on America in the 1930-40s, his art usually includes some form of transportation and features the toys which were popular during that era.

Monroe In Jeans

Sam Shaw about Marilyn Monroe:
She was among the first to wear jeans. She would get a new pair of jeans from an Army-Navy outlet store, go to Santa Monica beach, go into the sea, drenching the jeans till they clung to her body, then stay in the sun. The jeans dried to her form like a leotard. She said panties would interrupt the flow of the line.

Text and image found at Fifi~Feeling is First

Who Said Pigs Can’t Fly

The first flight of a pig took place at Leysdown, Kent, England. Lord Brabazon of Tara took the pig for a flight of about 3.7 miles from Shellbeach airfield on the Isle of Sheppey in 1909.

Text and image found on vintage everyday

This Week’s Softdrink – Gold Spot

Gold Spot was one of the three brands of carbonated soft drink started in India by Parle under the initiative of its founder Ramesh Chauhan in 1977 after the exit of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo from the Indian market. Gold Spot was introduced along with Thums Up and Limca.

It was artificially flavoured and coloured orange. Parle sold Gold Spot along with Thums Up, Limca, Citra and Maaza to Coca-Cola in 1993 (which had just relaunched in the Indian market), reportedly for $ 40 million. In spite of its wide popularity, Gold Spot was withdrawn by Coke from the market in order to re-make space for Coca-Cola’s Fanta brand.

Gold Spot had a catchy punch line – "The Zing Thing."

As per data available from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries of India (MoFPI), Gold Spot has a market share of 2% among all soft drink companies (Cola + Non-Cola drink Manufacturers) during the year 2009-10.

 

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Help Needed
I need your help visitors, both in suggesting sodas and soft drinks from around the world and in giving your opinion on the ones presented if you know the product. And you can start with giving your opinion on the ones posted already or reading what other visitors have written  – Ted

List of Soft drinks and sodas posted already
Visitors soft drinks and sodas suggestions and comments

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Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but principally the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. There were local partnership companies; Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd) in Australia and TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Ltd) in New Zealand.

Imperial Airways was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939, which in turn merged with the British European Airways Corporation to form British Airways.

Short Empire flying boat Challenger
In 1937 with the introduction of ‘Empire class’ flying boats designed and built at the Short Brothers factory, Imperial Airways could offer a real through-service from Southampton to the Empire. The journey to the Cape consisted of flights via Marseille, Rome, Brindisi, Athens, Alexandria, Khartoum, Port Bell, Kisumu and onwards by land-based craft to Nairobi, Mbeya and eventually Cape Town. Survey flights were also made across the Atlantic and to New Zealand. By mid-1937 Imperial had completed its thousandth service to the Empire. Starting in 1938 Empire flying boats also flew between Britain and Australia via India and the Middle East.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marilù Tolo – Italian Actress

Marilù Tolo (born 16 January 1944) is an Italian film actress. She appeared in 64 films between 1960 and 1985.

Born in Rome, Tolo debuted at very young age as an assistant of Mario Riva in the RAI variety show Il Musichiere. She made her film debut at 16 years old in Alberto Lattuada’s I dolci inganni.

She was also a fashion model and a close friend of Italian stylist Valentino. Valentino told in an interview to Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Tolo was the only woman he had ever really loved.

Selected filmography
Shéhérazade (1963)
The Triumph of Hercules (1964)
Marriage Italian-Style (1964)
The Magnificent Gladiator (1964)
Sept hommes et une garce (1967)
Django Kill (1967)
The Oldest Profession (1967)
Commandos (1968)
Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970)
Confessions of a Police Captain (1971)
My Dear Killer (1972)
Themroc (1973)
The Five Days aka Le Cinque Giornate (1973)
The Greek Tycoon (1978)
Vacanze di Natale (1983)

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Victorian Inventions – Part 13

From “Victorian Inventions” by Leonard De Vries published by American Heritage Press in 1972

Dr Varlot, a surgeon in a major hospital in Paris, has developed a method of covering the body of a deceased person with a layer of metal in order to preserve it for eternity. The drawing illustrates how this is done with the cadaver of a child. The body is first made electrically conductive by atomising nitrate of silver on to it. To free the silver in this solution, the object is placed under a glass dome from which the air is evacuated and exposed to the vapours of white phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulphide. Having been made conductive, the body is immersed in a galvanic bath of sulphate of copper, thus causing a 1 millimetre thick layer of metallic copper to be deposited on the skin. The result is a brilliant red copper finish of exceptional strength and durability.

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Nice try Dr Varlot, But the day I want a dead relative electroplated with brilliant red copper standing in a corner of my living room I hope someone has the sense to send me to the funnyfarm – Ted

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The Playboy Land Yacht

That’s what I call camping in style and comfort – Ted

Daf-kini

Built in the Netherlands in 1949 the royal range car: DAF-kini was designed by Hub van Doorne as a small car for the masses.  Nicknamed “ (rijdende) regenjas" which is literally "(driving) overcoat" the vehicle was never put into mass production. The only prototype that existed was purchased by a circus though. Today the car is now at the DAF museum in Eindhoven. (Netherlands).

Bunny Yeager – American Glamour Model & Photographer

Bunny Yeager (born Linnea Eleanor Yeager; March 13, 1929) is an American photographer and former pin-up model.

Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. Yeager became one of the most photographed models in Miami. After retiring from modeling, she began her career behind the camera. She met Bettie Page in 1954, and took most of the photographs of her that year. Along with photographer Irving Klaw, Yeager played a role in helping to make Page famous, particularly with her photos in Playboy magazine. Yeager is also credited with discovering the model Lisa Winters. Following Page’s retirement, Yeager remained a successful photographer. She took the well-known still images of Ursula Andress on the beach in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No, and discovered many other notable models. In 1968 she played the role of a Swedish masseuse opposite Frank Sinatra in Lady In Cement.

Yeager was played by Sarah Paulson in the 2005 film The Notorious Bettie Page. She was also featured on a CNN story about the 60th anniversary of the bikini. In the 1950s Mrs. Yeager appeared on America’s Number One Game Show, What’s My Line, and she stumped the panel.

In 2005, Cult Epics released the DVD 100 Girls by Bunny Yeager, a documentary with behind-the-scenes footage on Yeager’s photo sessions with Page and other pin-up models.

In early 2010, the Warhol Museum held the first exhibition of Bunny’s work. Most of the photographs in the exhibit came from Bunny’s book "How I Photograph Myself" published by A.S.Barnes & Co. in 1964.

In 2011, the Schuster Gallery (Berlin/Miami) became the official representative of the photographic artwork of Bunny.

In November 2011, the Dezer Schauhalle in Miami, FL hosted a retrospective exhibition of Bunny’s work. Included were some never before seen photos of various models including the late Bettie Page.

There is a temporary exhibit at the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum featuring her photographs of herself, Page, and model Paz de la Huerta, until October 6, 2013. The show placed Bunny’s work in the context of artists she influenced like Cindy Sherman and Diane Arbus and was curated by Peter Boswell.

Bunny had a show at the Sofia Vault in the Bulgarian Capital in October 2013. She was also added to the list of artists represented by Gavlak Gallery in Palm Beach, FL. She has her own studio gallery in the art district of Miami (bunnyyeagerstudio.com), part of the Center for Visual Communication.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This Week’s Girlymag Articel – Nightcap for a NUDE

By the time Jean Smith’s day has ended, it is too late for her to have a cocktail at any of the night clubs or bars, for Jean  is a stripper in one of Denver’s largest clubs. The last show actually ends a few minutes after drink are no longer sold, so Jean solves the problem by keeping a small stock of her favorite “relaxers” at her apartment.

Read the whole article and see
the naughty pictures HERE

Warning: Nudity do occur in this article. If you are under age or live in a country where watching images of nude women for some reason is against the law  I take no responsibility if you click the link above. In other words you’re flying solo from here on – Ted 😉

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The Sunday Comic – A Triumphant Time Travel