Blimp? What blimp? Notice that not one person on that beach is looking upward at this gigantic blimp floating along. Well, why not, for gosh sakes? Because the blimp’s not really there. This is a composite image, as far as I can tell. Well done, too.
An L-Class Goodyear blimp. The resolution of the image, plus a pesky palm frond, keep me from reading the NC number on the bottom tail fin. And I don’t know what that blue and yellow signal flag means.
Here’s the reverse:
This colorful, embossed cigar label was printed in the 1920s, when Don Rey cigars were being made in Red Lion PA by T. E. Brooks & Co. (later Van Slyke & Horn). As far as I can determine, the company lasted from 1910 to 2011, when the assets were auctioned off. The brand is now being produced in Puerto Rico (if they survived the hurricane).
Hmm. Pillbox hat, red kerchief and lipstick, sideburns. Early gender dysphoria?
It’s a red postcard, all right. Printed by Dexter Press, which was in Pearl River NY from 1928 to 1952, when it relocated to West Nyack NY.
The Fendrich Cigar Company was headquartered in Evansville IN as early as the mid-19th century, but it became a very large company and could very well have had a factory in New Castle PA in the 20s. It was listed as having one in Columbia PA around that time. I see ads in the New Castle newspaper promoting La Fendrich cigars in 1925.
More to the point, one of the cigar brands they sold was Red Ruby.
With a superstructure designed by the famous Raymond Loewy, the S.S. Princess Anne launched in 1934 and plied the waters until 1964, when it was sold and became the S.S. New Jersey. It is now an artificial reef 100′ deep off West Palm Beach. (I have enhanced the color. The card has faded)
Dandelions! They’ll grow anywhere…
(That’s a blasting drill hole on the right)
You don’t see a lot of these around. It’s a wooden feed silo. I have no guess of its age, but these tended to rot out over a period of time. It’s located on the right on Highway 58 in Lee County VA, just a bit east of the junction of 58 and 421.
Oversize 5″ x 7″, company-issued postcard. Since Ozark Air Lines acquired its first DC-9s in 1966, I would suppose this card dates from about then. Ozark lasted from 1950 to 1986, when it was bought out by TWA. The company was based in St. Louis.
This card was printed in 1950. The factory-added color is kind of slapdash, but it’s probably reasonably true. The salesmen made pretty accurate color notes.
Begun in Glade Spring in 1884, the college in Bristol closed in 2014.
On the site of the old Columbian Paper Company in Bristol. These were supports for a Norfolk & Western railroad loading ramp at the plant. This ramp was made for very heavy loads. The first arch (at the other end) has a 1931 date formed in the concrete. Oh, wait, here’s a shot of it now (taken with my VERY CRAPPY cell phone camera…I always have a good camera with me, well, except for this day):
Both of these postcards show a Delta DC-7 with different livery (color scheme). And, except for the livery, they both feature the same photograph. Whoever did the retouching was really good. These are from the mid- to late-50s. This particular DC-7 was “written off” in 1962, after a service of eight years.
On the back: “Delta-C&S Air Lines Golden Crown DC-7’s are world’s fastest airlines. This luxurious transport, seating 69 passengers cruises at 365 miles per hour at 25,000 feet, has a top speed of 410 miles per hour.”
The card was printed by Delta and included in folders presented to passengers upon boarding. The flight attendant would mail this card for you at no charge (I think). All you had to do was address the card and scrawl something banal as a message.
I put the back of the card first because that’s Meinhardt Raabe as “Little Oscar”. Starting in 1937, he was the original little person (he was 4′ tall) to be the official representative of Oscar Mayer Wieners. This card dates to the 40s.
Raabe was in The Wizard of Oz. He was the coroner who pronounced the Wicked Witch as “dead”. Ding, dong, etc.
The credits are: Pub. by William Wollin Studio, Madison 3, Wisc. (63826)
Dextone Made Direct from Kodachrome and Ansco Color by Dexter Press, West Nyack, N.Y.
Uncle Bob's Pix 