The Nationwide Inn, Columbus, Ohio. The card isn’t postmarked, but sure says 1960s to me. The back reads:
NATIONWIDE INN
an Albert Pick Motel
4101 West Broad Street (U. S. 40)
at Georgesville Road
Columbus, Ohio
Phone: BRoadway 6-5111 TWX: 614-759-0261
275 Air-conditioned rooms, all with TV, 24-hour telephone service. Heated swimming pool. Restaurant, cocktail lounge. Ideal meeting facilities, including 500-seat convention hall. Free parking for 500 cars. Children free under 12.
This Tichnor Bros. postcard features the Mirror Tourist Court. The Card was postmarked in 1947, but I’m inclined to think that it was first released in the ’30s. All I know about the motel is what’s found on the back:
MIRROR TOURIST COURT
An Outstanding Motor Court with Every Comfort and Convenience for the Traveler
Innerspring Mattresses – Tiled Baths – Garages
Service Station – Restaurant
On U.S. 17 – 12 Miles South of Savannah, Ga.
P. O. Address R.F.D. No. 4
Phone Long Distance – Savannah 11 Mile Post #1
Mr. and Mrs. James Mayo, Owner – Managers
Today a National Historic Landmark, the Schuyler Mansion was the residence of Philip Schuyler, who named the home “The Pasture”. Schuyler would become a general in the American Revolution and a U.S. Senator representing the state of New York. The mansion was visited by a number of historic figures, the most notable being George Washington. This unmailed postcard probably dates from the 1940s, but I have no knowledge of the dating system used by the publisher, Tichnor Brothers.
Earl Carroll and some of his girls, primping before hitting the stage in his Vanities of 1924. The production opened on September 10th of that year, and ran for 440 performances. Having lost some of the key names from his first Vanities, notably Peggy Hopkins Joyce and Dorothy Knapp, Carroll compensated for their absences by ramping up the nudity, a move that dazzled audiences and while upsetting the District Attorney. This would result in one night’s finale featuring police officers, armed with blankets, chasing the nude starlet Kathryn Ray across the stage.
Earl Carroll was a producer and director of theatrical productions who gained fame in part for the barely-there costumes worn by his Broadway showgirls. He opened the first Earl Carroll Theatre in 1922, located at 753 Seventh Ave. and W. Fiftieth Street in New York City. After rebuilding the Theatre on a massive scale in 1931 the facility proved too expensive to operate, going into foreclosure in ’32. It was subsequently purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld, who in turn went bust trying to operate the theatre. [click to continue…]
A celebrity of the sort more common today than in the late 1800′s, the activities, professional and otherwise, of Mrs. James
Brown Potter were followed with great interest by the press. Born into a wealthy New Orleans family in 1859 (or 1857, depending on the source), Mary Cora Urquhart married New York socialite James Brown-Potter, also wealthy, in 1877. The couple made the rounds in New York society, Cora’s beauty and elegant dress making her the hit of the parties. In those days the acting profession was somewhat less than dignified, and certainly not something for a lady of society to pursue, but she caught the bug nonetheless. In 1887, in spite of the objections of her family, Cora left for London to begin her career as an actress. Her much-anticipated debut took place at the Haymarket Theatre, playing the role of Anne Sylvester in Man and Wife. The critics were luke-warm, but it didn’t matter, as she was equally admired by London society as she was in America, hobnobbing with the likes of Robert Browning and the Prince of Wales. [click to continue…]
Poli’s Theater in Washington D.C., shown here in 1920. The movie being shown, starring Edith Taliaferro, is Keep to the Right, a re-release of the Curtiss Pictures film from the previous year, Who’s Your Brother. Keep to the Right was released by Equity Pictures, and it’s possible, but only a guess, that Equity picked up the film after Curtiss closed it’s doors. (“Brother” is said to have been Curtiss Pictures first production) [click to continue…]
This postcard shows the home of Gary Cooper, in Brentwood, California. As best as I can tell, the unmarked card appears to have been introduced in 1938.
From the Library of Congress comes this 1925 photo that is described as, “Chief Two Moon, wealthy Indian medicine man from Waterbury, Connecticut, photographed at the Lincoln Memorial on the observation platform of his palatial touring bus.” In reality little can be confirmed regarding his background or the legitimacy of his status as a Chief. [click to continue…]
The comedy team Wheeler and Woolsey made their transition from vaudeville to film as the comedy relief in their first three movies, the RKO musicals Rio Rita, The Cuckoos, and Dixiana. Their antics proved to be the highlights of those releases, and with their fourth outing, Half Shot at Sunrise
Half Shot at Sunrise is set in Paris during World War II, with Wheeler and Woolsey portraying Tommy and Gilbert, a pair of awol doughboys. They split their time between dodging a pair MPs (who are following the orders of the abrasive Colonel Marshall), and chasing Parisian women, an activity they pursue while posing as military officers. During the course of these shenanigans they run into Annette (played by W&W regular Dorothy Lee), Colonel Marshall’s daughter, as well as the Colonel’s Parisian girlfriend, Olga. (played by Leni Stengel) All this sets the stage for the sort of thing that Wheeler and Woolsey came to be known for, a brand of humor loaded with suggestive dialogue and situations. [click to continue…]
This is said to be a typical residence in Santa Maria, California. My house should be so typical. This card is interesting in that it was published by the postcard giant Curt Teich, but is not one of their better-known “linen” cards. The textured linen cards were predominate in the 1930s and into the ’40s, and were then replaced by the glossy “chrome” cards of today. This one is neither a linen nor a chrome, which would lead me to believe it’s a pre-linen card, possibly from the late 1920s. The only problem with that is that it doesn’t gel with the information provided by the Curt Teich Postcard Archives in Wauconda, Illinois. [click to continue…]
Andersen’s has roots all the way back to 1924, with the opening of “Andersen’s Electric Cafe” in Buellton, California. It was founded by Anton Anderson, who added a hotel in 1928. Split pea soup became the most popular item on the menu, so much so that Andersen’s came to be called “The Home of Split Pea Soup”. Following World War II a pair of cartoon chefs were designed to promote the restaurant. Called “Hap-Pea” and “Pea-Wee”, names chosen from a contest, they are the two fellows, one with a mallet the other a chisel, shown on this postcard. (my guess is that the postcard dates from around 1950) Andersen’s is still thriving today, and you can learn more by paying a visit to their website.
This 1940s postcard shows the Brown Derby at night. The description reads: “The famed Brown Derby on Vine Street, Hollywood, with its adjacent distinctive Bamboo Room, is the acknowledged center of the smart social life of the Movie Colony.”
Taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1940, this photograph shows a grocery store in the town of Salem, Illinois.
