Throwback Thursday Two-fer || All Roads Lead to Nashville
02/05/2013 § Leave a comment
Photo via the US National Archives.
The original caption is so great: “A group of Nashville newsies. In middle of group is 7 year old Sam. Smart and profane. He sells nights also. Nashville, Tenn, November 1910”
For TBT, you’re getting this gem partially because of the guy at far left and the fact that my grandfather worked as a newsie, but mostly because it was taken in Nashville, the city that I am bound for this morning! We have stops planned in both Virginia and West Virginia, as well as a visit to Northern Grade, which is making a stop in Music City this weekend. Anything I must do or see? I demand you tell me! And give me a shout if you’ll be around, as well!
While I’m rambling about, the best way to keep up with me will be on Instagram and Tumblr. I’m hoping to attempt a bit of Tumbl-vlogging from the road, but no promises. I’m not sure 1) how to do it, and 2) if my traveling partner will humor me trying to figure it out (I mean, how fun is THAT?!).
Throwback Thursday: Elephant in the Room
14/03/2013 § 2 Comments
For today’s Throwback Thursday selection, I give you one of my most favorite pictures of my paternal grandfather – and I hope you will please excuse the whole “picture of a picture” situation, but when you take a good look at all this awesomeness, I think you will. I actually never met my grandad, as he passed away when my father was barely a teenager, but the few photos my father has of him and the stories I have heard, manage to make me miss him. Here he’s pictured at his work bench at RCA (interestingly both of my grandfathers worked with radio/technology after they were in the service), and his work clothes are definitely rad, but my favorite bits in this picture are the Barry Goldwater election sign and the inexplicable elephant hovering above his head. Do we think my grandad was a fan of elephants? Maybe he won it at a fair or had recently visited the circus with the kids? Or perhaps he was just a staunch Republican?
I suppose it is a mystery for the ages…
Throwback Thursday: “And She Learned About Dames,” 1934
21/02/2013 § 1 Comment
When Martha Howson, a wallflower at the Rovina Finishing School for Girls in New York, wins a competition to become “Miss Complexion 1934” she also receives a grand tour of the Warner Brothers lot in Hollywood. In a lovely little promotional short that is one part movie trailer and one part 1930s Entertainment Tonight, Marsha’s tour guide Lyle Talbot shows her around the production of the musical “Dames” (which I mentioned previously), introduces her to the director and choreographer Busby Berkeley, and makes himself scarce so she can request 5,000 kisses from actor Dick Powell — on behalf of the girls at finishing school, of course!
Throwback Thursday: Little M on Xmas
21/12/2012 § 3 Comments
Since this is the last Thursday before the holidays, I thought I might share a gem from the family archive taken on my second Christmas. Now, there is almost too much awesome in this photo, but I’m going to attempt to parse it: First, that face I’m making was taught to me by my Godmother, and in most pictures of me around this age I don’t smile, preferring instead to pull this face. Second, I’m standing in front of our red Ford station wagon, a car whose vinyl seats are one of my earliest memories. Third, I’m holding a Sesame Street Christmas record. RECORD. Fourth, my lace-trimmed — and quite possibly velour — hoodie getup. And last, but definitely not least, the little Chucks I’m wearing and the bells my mom tied onto them so she could keep track of me. Priceless.
May your holiday season be filled with wonderful memories, both new and old.
xoxo. M.
Throwback Thursday || There Will Be Breweries (and Beards)
24/10/2012 § 6 Comments
From the family archives: an amazing group portrait — which you must click to enlarge — featuring my great, great-grandfather Peter Joseph in New Orleans, sometime after the Civil War. A veteran, a civic leader and a policeman, he somehow also had the time to serve as foreman for a brewery built on Canal Street, and here he is pictured with his crew. You can find him either by the arrow penciled in on the photo, or you could just search for a masterful beard…
Throwback Thursday || Halloweenasaurus Rex
18/10/2012 § 6 Comments
I have always adored Halloween. I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that during my formative years my mom took the time to make costumes for all three of us (and usually also for herself and my dad) from scratch – and they were always of our own choosing. We’d all make a special trip to the (usually boring) fabric store with renewed interest, ready to pick something amazing from those big floppy pattern books.
In the first grade, the most amazing thing I could think to be was a dinosaur. And my mother, bless her heart, obliged her tomboy with the felt creation you see above. However, you’ll also note that she added two bows and a bit of lipstick.
“If you’re going to be a dinosaur,
at least you’re gonna be a GIRL dinosaur!”
You know, maybe it’s high time for a repeat.
Happy Halloween!
What are you going to be?
Throwback Thursday || Autumn in New York
11/10/2012 § 1 Comment
Holy smokes! Where’ve ya been, kid?
Guilty as charged! I’ve definitely been quiet this week, and I’ve got to chalk it up to autumn in New York, which is quietly unfurling its beautiful self with cool evenings, hot toddys, falling leaves and flannel bathrobes. I’ve slipped down a few rabbit holes these last few days, of the cultural, literary, culinary, musical, and cinematic kind, which I am looking forward to sharing with you very soon. But today, I am forced to beg your forgiveness for being a wayward parent as of late. I’m hoping a gorgeous rendition of Autumn in New York by Sarah Vaughn might help me win you back…
Autumn in New York
Why does it seem so inviting
Autumn in New York
It spells the thrill of first-nighting
Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
They’re making me feel
I’m home
It’s autumn in New York
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in New York
Is often mingled with pain
Dreamers with empty hands
May sigh for exotic lands
It’s autumn in New York
It’s good to live it again
Throwback Thursday || Stormy Weather
04/10/2012 § 1 Comment
Quite Continental 