Shebas

I love, love, love anything involving the 1920's. It was especially a great time for women's rights. We got to vote thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920. Women took the workforce by storm, even after their men came home from the Great War. Women were also shaking off the old shackles of Victorian propriety, and started the processes of becoming men's social and even sexual equals. The 1920's brought about America's (if not the world's) love affair with moving pictures, and thus was born the "sex symbol," or as the would have said back then "It Girls." The original It Girl, Clara Bow, has to be one of my favorite figures in the Jazz Age. If anyone is interested in the subject of women in the 1920's, I would recommend "Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern" by Joshua Zeitz.

This video was part of a recent post in Glamour Daze (one of my fav blogs), and I just had to share---it was so fabulous! It highlights both Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, the grand shebas of the 1920's. Enjoy! :)

Family Affair

Like any typical Italian family the Dominos/Alfieris always stuck together. My grandmother Anna, always tells me stories of how her whole family would get together almost every week at her grandparent's house in Babylon, NY. At night women would sleep in the house, and the men would sleep in the cars.

This photo is of my grandma (2nd from the left) and her female family members (her mom, Rosie, is the first woman on the left). My grandma looks about 15 y.o. so I'm dating this ca 1941.

The Lost and the Silent

There is something about this picture that I intrigues me, but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it is the expressions on their faces. There seems to be a real disconnect between these two women. It may be strain caused by the generational gap between these two. That's why I named this post "The Lost and the Silent." My great-grandmother was born in 1900: The Lost Generation. My grandmother, 1926: The Silent Generation. "Lost" and "Silent" seems to fit this picture perfectly.

I'm dating this ca 1941. Babylon, NY

1920's Babes in 3D!!

Found this on Youtube. It's so interesting to see what was considered really racy back then. Where are my dang 3D glasses when I need them? There are some really cool stereoscope pictures at StereoscopeTheatre.com

Rum and Coca-Cola and Fun on the Beach

I've been posting a lot of photos from the 1920's lately. I thought it'd be nice to change it up a little bit.

Here is my grandmother Anna (the one on top) with a girlfriend of hers sometime in the mid-1940's. It was most likely taken in the Rockaways here on Long Island.

They are all dolled up to go to the beach! Their bathing suits are so cute too. The beginning of the two-piece. Still conservative at this point in time, but we're getting there.

It is so strange seeing grandparents like this. Young and goofy :) My grandmother probably is close to my age in the picture. It just makes me wonder, what if I met her back then. Would we have been friends? Could she relate to me?

I like to have a soundtrack for everything, and I thought this song would go great with my post today. It's from 1945. Around about the time the photo was taken. The lyrics are.....hmmm....well.....interesting.......if it's about what I think it's about. You be the judge.

Rosie and Friend

Another great rooftop photo from the '20s. The woman on the left is my great-grandmother Rosie (or as my family likes to call her Nanie Rosie). The other is the same woman from my earlier post La Bellissima Regina .

They're wearing the same dress! Was this planned or was it a coincidence? Maybe the store had a sale.

La Bellissima Regina

I was going to post this photo later after I introduced my great-grandmother, but I couldn't help it. I'm in love with this picture. I found this photo with others of my great-grandmother from 1920s. This woman is in other pics with my great-grandmother, so she is probably one of her friends or family members. My great-grandparents lived in Little Italy, NY on Broome Street in the 1920s. That is probably where this picture was taken.

I think this photo is gorgeous! There are so many things to love about it. I especially love the juxtaposition of this elegantly dressed woman set against the dilapidated, urban background. It looks like she is a queen sitting on her throne.

I wonder how much thought was put into it. The composition is just beautiful...the levels and the textures... G'ah! It makes the art geek inside me happy. lol

Truly Thine

I have no idea whom these two wonderful women are. I found this photo in an old shirt box (hence the blog name) with a hundred other pictures from my grandma's childhood.

The photograph itself is mounted on some sort of mat board. The colorful designs on top are not original. They are stickers (when were stickers invented, anyway?) or things someone has pasted onto the board. If you look close you can see the original design beneath the stickers.

I don't have any idea when this photo could have been taken. It appears to be very old. The picture is faded, and the women's dresses are in a very old style. Maybe pre-1910s...? I'm pretty positive that it is from Italy....Sicily to be exact. My grandmother's family was from Vittoria. There was part of a stamp on the back that had something in Italian.

Can anyone help me date this fantastic photo?