New Look – New Headers

I got tired of good old Zsa Zsa and the E-type so I made some new headers and a new background. I like to do that from time to time, it makes the blog more fun to work with – Ted

Ketti Gallian – French Actress

Ketti Gallian was a French actress, born 25 December 1912 in Nice, France and died December 1972, aged 59 in Paris, France. She went to Paris at the age of 15 and secured work as a model. She later went back to Nice and appeared in a number of foreign films made by Paramount.

Her performance in The Ace in which she played opposite Raymond Massey on the London stage resulted in a screen contract from Fox. However she never managed to make a big success of acting in America, so returned to France.

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Partial filmography

With Assurance 1932
George White’s Scandals 1934
Marie Galante 1934
Espionage 1937
Shall we dance 1937
Mademoiselle X 1945
Du Guesclin 1949
Agnes de Rien 1950
Soupcons 1956

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

A Forgotten Profession

 In the days before alarm clocks were widely affordable, people like Mary Smith of Brenton Street were employed to rouse sleeping people in the early hours of the morning. They were commonly known as ‘knocker-ups’ or ‘knocker-uppers’. Mrs. Smith was paid sixpence a week to shoot dried peas at market workers’ windows in Limehouse Fields, London. – Photograph from Philip Davies’ Lost London: 1870-1945.

Image and text found at: schrumpfgermane.tumblr.com

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The Folk Museum In Oslo – The Late Seventies And Now

Three black’n’whites taken at the Folk Museum in Oslo with
my beloved Canon F1 sometimes in the late 1970s, but they might
as well have been
taken yesterday.

When I studied graphic design at the Art And Handcraft Collage in Oslo back then we started the school year drawing at the Folk Museum. It build the foundation for my love for the place and I’m there with my girlfriend Ingrid almost every
week still – Ted

 
As I said at the top of the post, I’m still The Folk Museum in Oslo quite often. These colour pictures were taken just a few weeks ago when I was there with my girlfriend – Ted

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Round Britain By Railway Posters – Bristol

Bristol (i/ˈbrɪstəl/) is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007. It is England’s sixth and the United Kingdom’s eighth most populous city, one of the Core Cities Group and the most populous city in South West England.

Historically split between Gloucestershire and Somerset, the city received a Royal charter in 1155 and was granted County status in 1373. From the 13th century, for half a millennium, it ranked amongst the top three English cities after London, alongside York and Norwich, on the basis of tax receipts, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire, and is also located near the historic cities of Bath to the south east and Gloucester to the north. The city is built around the River Avon, and it also has a short coastline on the Severn Estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel.

Bristol is the largest centre of culture, employment and education in the region. Its prosperity has been linked with the sea since its earliest days. The commercial Port of Bristol was originally in the city centre before being moved to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth; Royal Portbury Dock is on the western edge of the city boundary. In more recent years the economy has depended on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city centre docks have been regenerated as a centre of heritage and culture. There are 34 other populated places named Bristol, most in the United States, but also in Peru, Canada, Jamaica, Barbados, and Costa Rica, all presumably commemorating the original. People from Bristol are termed Bristolians.

Archaeological finds believed to be 60,000 years old, discovered at Shirehampton and St Annes, provide "evidence of human activity" in the Bristol area from the Palaeolithic era. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kingsweston Hill, near Henbury. During the Roman era there was a settlement, Abona, at what is now Sea Mills, connected to Bath by a Roman road, and another at the present-day Inns Court. There were also isolated Roman villas and small Roman forts and settlements throughout the area.

The town of Brycgstow (Old English, "the place at the bridge") appears to have been founded in c.1000 and by c.1020 was an important enough trading centre to possess its own mint, producing silver pennies bearing the town’s name. By 1067 the town was clearly a well fortified burh that proved capable of resisting an invasion force sent from Ireland by Harold’s sons. Under Norman rule the town acquired one of the strongest castles in southern England.

History
The area around the original junction of the River Frome with the River Avon, adjacent to the original Bristol Bridge and just outside the town walls, was where the port began to develop in the 11th century. By the 12th century Bristol was an important port, handling much of England’s trade with Ireland, including slaves. In 1247 a new stone bridge was built, which was replaced by the current Bristol Bridge in the 1760s, and the town was extended to incorporate neighbouring suburbs, becoming in 1373 a county in its own right. During this period Bristol also became a centre of shipbuilding and manufacturing. By the 14th century Bristol was one of England’s three largest medieval towns after London, along with York and Norwich, and it has been suggested that between a third and half of the population were lost during the Black Death of 1348–49. The plague resulted in a prolonged pause in the growth of Bristol’s population, with numbers remaining at 10,000–12,000 through most of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Twin cities 
Bristol was among the first cities to adopt the idea of town twinning. In 1947 it was twinned with Bordeaux and then with Hannover, the first post-war twinning of British and German cities. Twinnings with Porto, Portugal (1984), Tbilisi, Georgia (1988), Puerto Morazan, Nicaragua (1989), Beira, Mozambique (1990) and Guangzhou, China (2001), have followed.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1908 London Olympics

Those were other times my friends – Ted

Old Sins – Two Of My Old Glamour Sites

When rummaging through some old link lists to day I came across links to two of my old sites and to my astonishment I found that both were still active. I haven’t updated them in donkey’s years, but for new visitors they are crammed full of images and other niceties. Totty Tributes feature 169 British glamour models, all with their own gallery and Paragon Past Paraphernalia feature more than 10.000 images and a tribute galleries to those voluptuous girls from the fifties and sixties – Enjoy – Ted 

Links: Totty Tributes – Paragon Past Paraphernalia

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

The Little Blue Car That Never Was

I love to come across lost cars of the past and this beauty in baby blue is no exception. Behold the Alca Volpe, probably the rarest of Italian microcars, only ten of these cars were ever made following a mysterious turn of events involving the manufacturer…

Met with great enthusiasm by the Italian press, the Volpe, meaning ‘fox’, was set to rival the micro car du jour, the Fiat Topolino. Even smaller than the Topolino and cheaper, the Volpe seemed destined for automotive stardom in post-war Italy.

After its celebrated launch in Rome, 1947, despite many pre-orders and pre-payments, no complete deliveries were ever made to any customer. The following year,  Alca was hit with charges for fraudulent bankruptcy. Customer bank deposits went ‘missing’ and courts found that the equivalent of 5.5 million euros today, had been illegally held by the company. It is possible that Alca never in fact built a single running car.

So what about the model we’re looking at? This is one of a handful of Alca Volpe’s that still exist today and was sold recently at auction for a little over $40,000.

Just one problem; it doesn’t actually drive. RM auctions, who sold the car in February 2013 writes in their description:

“This rare car is restored as original, without the motor it never received”.

Text and images from Messy Nessy Chick

This Week’s Softdrink – Traubi

Traubi or traubisoda is a brand of soft drink flavored with grape juice. It is produced in Hungary, Austria and Croatia.

In Hungary, it is made by a factory called Traubi Hungaria located in the village of Balatonvilágos. The company produces the drink from a special type of Hungarian grapes, called saszla. The name Traubi derives from the German word Trauben that means grape. Visiting the factory in Balatonvilágos one can follow the steps of production from grapes harvest to bottling.

In Austria, it’s produced by Waldquelle Kobersdorf GmbH from Kobersdorf. A Croatian company Trento sokovi licenses it from Waldquelle since 2006, and produces it in Brestovac

History

The aroma was originally invented by Lenz Moser of Austria in 1954. It was licensed to Traubi Hungaria in 1971. The new flavour became popular not only due to the successful advertisement but also as it appeared to be the first Hungarian fizzy drink. As a result of the growing interest, Traubi was also produced in Kunbaja, Csány and in Debrecen.

In response to the first fizzy drink success, in 1973 another product, called Márka, appeared on the Hungarian market. This drink proved to be popular that time just as well it is nowadays. Márka is liked for its special orange, grape, sour cherry and raspberry flavor.

In the 1980s, due to the spread of Coca-Cola, Traubi became less popular, the production decreased by 20%. In 1992, Traubi Hungaria bought the factory in Balatonvilágos and by the investment of Salamon Berkowitz (a US owner) the factory started to improve. It grew, not only in numbers of machines but also in production.

Popularity

The popularity of the drink was tested through a market research conducted by the producer. The findings clearly showed, that there was a strong nostalgia for the drink among Hungarians who were teenagers in the ’80s. Drinking Traubi evokes memories from Hungarian people’s past, therefore a special importance belongs to this drink. Salamon Berkowitz, the owner of the company Traubi Hungaria claims that the original publicity campaign team, who created the first campaign, has been working on the company’s advertisements and image nowadays.

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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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RMS Campania In The Mersey

RMS Campania was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company, built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, 8 September 1892.Campania was the largest and fastest passenger liner afloat when she entered service in 1893.  She crossed the Atlantic in less than six days; and on her second voyage in 1893, she won the prestigious Blue Riband.

Sunk in a collision with HMS Glorious 5 November 1918: Six days before the armistice was signed, when she was involved in an accident in the Firth of Forth during high winds.Campania dragged her anchor in a sudden squall, and at 03:45 struck the bow of the battleship Royal Oak and then dragged along the side of the battle cruiser Glorious.She began to sink stern first. A few hours later an explosion—presumed to be a boiler—sent her to the bottom.

Wreckage at 56°02′N 03°13′W

Text and image: Adventures of the Blackgang

Vikki "the Back" Dougan – Glamour Model

Some of the best pin-ups to write about are those who, by marketing or just dumb luck,  came up with a gimmick. Take for example this weeks feature, Vikki "the Back" Dougan. As you can tell by this photo, and just about any other photo you see of her, she has the habit of wearing the lowest of low-cut, backless dresses. Dougan grew up near New York City and started her modeling career in her early to mid-teens (depending on what you read). As a studio model, she was pretty much run-of-the-mill until a fated photo shoot for Esquire magazine. For this shoot, Dougan had a notion of what she wanted to wear, and had a dress specially designed for her. That dress and a few other well placed publicity appearances helped forge her place in pin-up history. She, like many other models, had Hollywood dreams, but, aside from a few stage plays, never became much more than a distance satellite orbiting about the Hollywood stars. Regardless of anything else, Dougan will be remembered by those classic pictures of her looking coyly over her shoulder in her trademark low-back creations.

Text from Java’s Batchelor Pad

Britons At The Sea

And here’s the reason most Britons’ skin looks like a condom filled with skimmed milk  Total lack of sun. But at least they’re well fed – Ted

Victorian Inventions – Part 8

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

Baltimore, 30th August 1865
Dear Editor

In recent months you have published several articles on flying-machines, undoubtedly expecting that these projects would materialise in the future. I have for years nourished an idea which, however, I never could put to the test of experiment. It is to make use of the powers of inferior animals given to man to be his servants to effect his purposes. There are many birds, for example, noted for strength of wing and endurance in flight, such as the brown eagle. Proceeding from the assumption that such birds can carry up to twenty pounds each known as they are to carry off babies and lambs, one would require ten such eagles to convey an adult person through the air. In the accompanying drawing I have indicated how the eagles, by means of jackets fitted round their bodies, could be attached to a circular framework of hollow tubes which could carry aloft a metal basket large enough to hold a man, thus forming a natural flying-machine. An arrangement of cords passing through the hollow tubes would allow the occupant to compress or release the creatures’ wings to control the altitude and, by a similar system, to regulate the direction of flight by drawing the head of the bird to one side or the other. Would not this invention lead to an extremely simple and inexpensive means of air transport?

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Of all the hair brain ideas and silly contraptions presented in Leonard De Vries marvellous book this really takes the prize. I, for one, do not find it particularly strange that the letter was sent anonymously – Ted

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The Hanomag 1.3

The Hanomag 1.3 Litre was a low-priced car intended to compete at the high side of Volkswagen (at the time, called KdF-Wagen after Hitler’s Strength Through Joy movement) that had not yet entered regular production.

The (likely) publicity photo at the top shows the scale of the car – quite small. Yet the stylists were able to craft a trim fastback with nicely integrated 30s style teardrop profile fenders. Note that there is no exterior running board, a touch just being introduced in the USA at the time. A more archaic feature is the split rear window ("backlight" in stylist-speak).  But that feature is justifiable because the splitter is an extension of the central wind split extending from the center bar of the grille over the hood, between the windshield panes and over the top.  For some reason, I’m a sucker for wind splits, so this gimmick is okay by me. Oh, and it adds visual interest without quite becoming clutter.

In summary, a neat design for a small car. And maybe some day I’ll finally have the pleasure of seeing a Hanomag 1.3 in person.

Text and images from ArtContrarian

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On This day in 1960: “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” Sold Out

Bookshops all over England have sold out of Penguin’s first run of the controversial novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover – a total of 200,000 copies – on the first day of publication. DH Lawrence’s sexually explicit novel was published in Italy in 1928 and in Paris the following year. It has been banned in the UK – until now.

Last month, after a dramatic and much-publicised trial, Penguin won the right to publish the book in its entirety. For those who can manage to find a copy, it is available in paperback for 3s 6d.

Rush to buy
London’s largest bookstore, W&G Foyle Ltd, said its 300 copies had gone in just 15 minutes and it had taken orders for 3,000 more copies. When the shop opened this morning there were 400 people – mostly men – waiting to buy the unexpurgated version of the book.

Hatchards in Piccadilly sold out in 40 minutes and also had hundreds of orders pending. Selfridges sold 250 copies in minutes. A spokesman told the Times newspaper, "It’s bedlam here. We could have sold 10,000 copies if we had had them."

Lady C, as it has become known, has also become a bestseller in the Midlands and the North where demand has been described as "terrific".

Novel on trial
The book tells of Lady Chatterley’s passionate affair with Mellors, the family gamekeeper, and details their erotic meetings.

 Last year the government introduced the Obscene Publications Act that said that any book considered obscene by some but that could be shown to have "redeeming social merit" might still published.

This prompted Penguin to print off and store 200,000 copies with the aim of completing a set of works by DH Lawrence to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death this year. Penguin sent 12 copies to the Director of Public Prosecutions challenging him to prosecute, which he duly did.

The six-day trial at the Old Bailey began on 27 October and gripped the nation. The defence produced 35 witnesses, including bishops and leading literary figures, such as Dame Rebecca West, EM Forster and Richard Hoggart.

The prosecution was unable to make a substantial case against the novel and at one point prosecution counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones shocked the jury by asking: "Is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?"

In Context
Within a year Lady Chatterley’s Lover had sold two million copies, outselling even the Bible. The famous trial of Lady Chatterley was not only a victory for Penguin but for all British publishers, as from then on it became much more difficult to prosecute on grounds of obscenity.

The likes of Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association founded in 1964 turned their attention to violent and sexual scenes broadcast on television and in film. The Broadcasting Standards Council was set up in 1988 to monitor taste and decency.

In 1993 the BBC dramatised Lady Chatterley’s Lover in a film directed by Ken Russell although the more explicit scenes were toned down.

Text from BBCs On This Day

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The Sunday Comic – A Second Opinion

This Week’s Girliemag Article – Uncovered Cover Girl

With a name like Brigitte Cannes, a face like Liz Taylor, and a set of measurements that could give the U.S. Bureau of Weights and Measures an inferiority complex, Modern Man’s cover girl wouldn’t surprise anyone if she were a starlet working toward her big break in films.

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 😉

 

June Simpson – Harrison Marks Model

More than any other Harrison Marks model June Simpson defines the classic stunning blonde of the 50s. June appeared regularly alongside Pamela Green. However, she had Solo No.5 to herself. She was also in Kameras No.2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 34 & 35 and Kamera Special No.3

Text from harrison-marks.com

Zsa-Zsa In The Tub

Quite honestly, from what I’ve read about the lady over the years I would have thought she had a more stylish bathroom, cleaner if nothing else – Ted 😉

New Thrills From Winged Bicycle

A digital recreation of an article published in Popular Science, December 1930

Part, at least, of the thrill of gliding can be had by bicycle riders whose machines are equipped with wings and tailpiece. This glider outfit is the invention of Harry T. Nelson, Dallas, Texas, World War flyer. It consists of small wings and a tailpiece that, he says, can be readily attached to any bicycle.

As the speed of the rider increases, the wings are elevated and the front wheel leaves the ground. The rear wheel, remaining on the ground, provides the traction. Wing and tailpiece are operated by the handlebars on the front wheel. As long as sufficient speed is maintained, the front wheel of the bicycle remains in the air.

It is not claimed that greater speed is obtainable by this device, but it is expected to add a thrill to the ordinary bicycle ride. The inven- tor recently demonstrated its stability and safety by riding his winged wheel in a hard gale and coming through the “flight” without accident or discomfort.

Text and images found at modernmechanix.com