Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Forties

And I don't mean shoulder pads. Wait! I do mean shoulder pads! There's a homecoming football game on Friday, and I hope it's not still in the 40s for that. Brrrr in the bleachers.

Thanks, Lauren Bacall, for looking over your shoulder pads at us from the 1940s, and thanks to the "U.S. army soldier or employee" who took this photo "during the course of the person's official duties," first published in Yank, the Army Weekly (mmhm) and now in the public domain. And thanks, as always, to Wikimedia!

It's cold! Providing the sudden random theme of this Thor's Day in the blog. I am drained, from the harvesting of 20--now 20, yes, count them, 20!--enough for a chapbook!--poems written as the Harvest Moon swelled into fullness and the corn got chopped down to dangerous stalks on which to be impaled if you're not careful. (Anyone who lives in corn country knows this!)

Speaking of vertical lines, am I crazy or does Leonard Bernstein somehow make this jacket look good!? Thanks to the Library of Congress for its New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection for this photo, and again to Wikimedia Commons, where full credits/permission are listed here. And I hope it's not in the 40s for the band members and other participants in the Homecoming Parade, but at least the sun might be out for that!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really great photo :)

Kathleen said...

Thanks, Andressa. Happy Fashion Thor's Day to you!

Maureen said...

I can take Bernstein's jacket in black-and-white. Those are broad stripes!

Kathleen said...

And I see from The Sartoralist that plaid jackets, outerwear, are "in," if tucked and tailored.

Dale said...

I wouldn't go so far as to say he makes the *jacket* look good. But he does look good in it, which argues really preternatural good looks :-)

Jayne said...

What a fun read, Kathleen. Great photos--I'm going to have to visit Wikemedia (haven't before been).

Hope it's not too chilly in the bleachers. But you know, the ladies wore lots of furs in the 40s... ;)

Collagemama said...

Yikes! I had some pants that matched that jacket.

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

I envy your cooler weather. Maybe I'll turn the AC way down and make pumpkin bread this week-end.

Kathleen said...

Now I'll imagine us all tailgating with fresh pumpkin bread in stripes and furs.

Jayne, Wikimedia is part of Wikipedia, or that's how I get there. Most Wikipedia articles have images available for our general use--in them, or collected at the end--with instructions on how to credit them and whether they are in the public domain.

Kathleen said...

Follow-up: The sun is not out, but it's still a fine day to be out for a Homecoming Parade, going on now on the east side of Normal.