… taking five and a smoke during the filming of “The African Queen” one of my all time favourite movies. Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in the same movie, what more can you ask for – By the way, man, what a cool lady – Ted

I stand corrected! And thanks to the three of you, Terry, Mary & DQ Slotlins who stood for the correction. The lady on the picture is of course Lauren Bacall (another of my absolute favourites, by the way).

The text where I found the image said it was too, but it also said she was taking a rest during the filming of “The African Queen”. I took a chance guessing that the blogger had got the name wrong not the movie, totally forgetting that Bacall was married to Bogart. At least some of the text was right, Lauren Bacall is also a very cool lady ;-) – Ted

Here they are all three taking a break during the filming:

BURLINGTON ARCADE – This covered passage, with its fashionable little shops, runs from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens. The reason for its building is a curious one – the annoyance caused to Lord George Cavendish, who was then the owner of Burlington House, by ‘the inhabitants of a neighbouring street throwing oyster-shells, etc. over the wall of his garden’. To stop this, he caused ‘a covered promenade’, with shops on either side and rooms above, to be built in 1819. Lord George was a grandson of the 3rd Earl of Burlington, the famous art patron. Burlington House, together with the garden, was acquired by the Royal Academy of Arts in 1867 as its headquarters and the famous Academy exhibitions have been held there ever since. In our picture may be seen two of the Arcade’s uniformed beadles, who ensure that the regulations forbidding such things as running, whistling or pushing prams are kept.

From “Country Life Picture Book of London” with photos by G F Allen

Sussex Golden Ginger Ale is a "golden" ginger ale originally bottled in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. It is produced by Canada Dry Mott’s, a subsidiary of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The beverage is retailed in Canada’s Maritime Provinces and northern areas in the state of Maine.

Ginger ales generally come in two varieties. Golden ginger ale; which is dark collared and more strongly flavoured; and dry ginger ale, which is more common today. Dry ginger ale was developed during prohibition when ginger ale was used as a mixer for alcoholic beverages which made the stronger flavour of the golden variety undesirable. Dry ginger ale quickly became more popular than golden, and today golden ginger ales like Sussex are an uncommon and usually a regional drink. People who visit the Maritime Provinces often bring Sussex Ginger Ale back home for friends and relatives who have connections to the Maritime Provinces.

Variants

Other soft drinks with the Sussex name have been Sussex Old English Ginger Beer, Sussex Pale Dry Ginger Ale, Sussex Red Oval Ginger Ale, and Sussex Cola.

Brand ownership

The brand has had various owners including Sussex Mineral Spring Co., Sussex Ginger Ale Ltd., Maritime Beverages Ltd., Great Pacific Industries Inc., Canadian 7up, and Crush Canada Inc. Sussex Golden Ginger Ale is now owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (formerly Cadbury Beverages Canada Inc.)

Help Needed
I need your help visitors, both in suggesting sodas and soft drinks from around the world and in giving your opinion on the ones presented if you know the product. And you can start with giving your opinion on the ones posted already or reading what other visitors have written  – Ted

List of Soft drinks and sodas posted already
Visitors soft drinks and sodas suggestions and comments

The singular 1946-48 Ford Sportsman is memorable not so much as a car as for its mission. Simply put, it was designed to lure buyers back to the showrooms after World War II by adding a touch of glamour to a very familiar-looking model line.

As the war drew to a close, most U.S. automakers had to decide between getting back into volume production quickly with warmed-over pre-war products or putting the rush on all-new post-war designs. Except for Studebaker, everyone did the former. Ford Motor Company had no choice. Though financed to the tune of-$700 million, it was heavily in debt and now faced the huge cost of winding down its war effort. Moreover, the death of company president Edsel Ford in 1943 and a resulting series of key personnel departures had left one of the nation’s largest employers in disarray, beset by power struggles among the old guard that remained.

It was for this reason that Edsel’s son, Henry Ford II, was given early discharge from the Navy, and he returned to Dearborn in September 1945 to take the helm of his family’s ailing company. “HF II” knew that there wasn’t enough time or money for getting out brand-new designs until 1948 at the earliest. And, as it turned out, there was really no need: a car-starved public was more than happy to buy almost anything on wheels, even recycled’ 42s. But he still wanted to offer something different, reasoning that if the first post-war Fords couldn’t be all-new, at least some of them could be strikingly different on the surface. Panelling convertibles in maple or yellow birch with mahogany-veneer inserts seemed like a pretty good way to do that.

The result was the Ford Sportsman and a kissin’ cousin, the Mercury Sportsman, the first product decisions made by the new man in charge. The concept had originated during the war with former styling director E.T. “Bob” Gregorie. It attracted HF II because it was easy and cheap to execute. The company already had a massive timber forest and processing plant at Iron Mountain, Michigan that had been supplying raw materials for Ford’s woody wagons since 1936, and a convertible would be no more costly or difficult to build.

Each Sportsman began as a stock convertible with a section of rear sheet metal cut away, replaced by a steel” skeleton.” To this was fitted the wood framing, which was fully structural, made from solid wood blocks and mitred together with handcrafted precision. All 1946 Ford Sportsmans used “A” type framing with full-length horizontal members. Later cars employed “B” and “C’ styles with vertical segments. The 1946 rear fenders didn’t match the wooden trunk lid’s new curvature, but 1941 sedan delivery fenders did.

Otherwise, the Sportsman was much like any other 1946-48 Ford. It was offered only in upper-level Super DeLuxe trim and only with the 100-horsepower, 239.4-cubic-inch flathead V-8, essentially the existing Mercury unit now adopted for all V-8 Fords, and not the 9O-bhp ohv six. Standard equipment included hydraulic window lifts, leather upholstery, and dual visor vanity mirrors, all of which lifted initial base price to $1260, some $500 above the standard ragtop.

Despite its high price and only scant promotion, the Sportsman was a fair success. The first one was delivered to film actress Ella Raines on Christmas Day 1945, just three months after Henry Ford II took over as company president. Another 1208 followed for ’46. The’ 47 saw 2250 copies, plus another 28 that were reserialed as 1948 models. (The Mercury version appeared only for’ 46. Just 205 were built.) Weighing 100 pounds more than the standard convertible, the Sportsman wasn’t super-quick, but it could hit 85 mph flat out and 60 mph from rest in just under 20 seconds.

The Sportsman would be Ford’s only non-wagon woody, but it wasn’t the only one on the post-war market. Nash had its novel Suburban sedan, Chrysler its beautiful Town & Countrys. Still, the Sportsman accomplished its mission. Today, it’s a Ford to remember and cherish, a handsome reminder of a unique period in American automotive history.

In context
Ford also made some really handsome woody station wagons in this period too, both standard versions and 4x4s.

Related articles

Russian motorcycle maker Ural is known for its adventurous, old-school, go-anywhere bikes, and it is releasing a new limited-edition model to celebrate the original adventurer – the American cowboy. Ural teamed up with Oregon-based blanket and clothier Pendleton Woolen Mills to create the 2013 Ural Gaucho Rambler Limited Edition.

With a starting price of $14,350 (excluding delivery fee) and production limited to just 50 bikes, all Gaucho Ramblers came painted in a matte hue called Pacific Blue with accompanying Pendleton-made touches like the canvas upholstery and blanket; a camping kit, luggage rack and spare tire are standard on the bike as well. The Gaucho Rambler is powered by 750cc two-cylinder engine producing 40 horsepower, and just like other sidecar-equipped Ural models, this power is sent to both rear wheels for better traction.

The rest of the Ural Sidecar range:
Ural Retro – Ural Ranger – Ural Sportsman – Ural Tourist – Ural Cross / Cross TWD – Ural T

Patent print for a board game apparatus called Monopoly filed August 31, 1935. Sheet 1 of 7. Inventor Charles B Darrow.

I’m a real shark at Monopoly, no one wants to play it with me anymore even though I’ve got a luxury version from Franklin Mint – Ted :-(

Patent print from etsy

Nottingham (ⁱ/ˈnɒtɪŋəm/ not-ing-əm) is a city in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England.

Nottingham is known for its links to the legend of Robin Hood and for its lace-making, bicycle and tobacco industries. It was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victoria‘s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

In 2013, Nottingham had an estimated population of 310,837 and the wider urban area, which includes many of the city’s suburbs, a population of 729,977, and the population of the metropolitan area is 1,543,000. Nottingham is a tourist destination; in 2011, visitors spent over £1.5 billion – the sixth highest amount in England.

Nottingham is home to the National Ice Centre, the National Water Sports Centre, Trent Bridge Test cricket ground, two Football League teams, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team. Over 60,000 students attend the city’s two universities Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham.

Culturally, there are two large-capacity theatres, numerous museums and art galleries, the Broadway Cinema and several live music venues, including the Nottingham Arena and Rock City, both of which regularly host major UK and international artists. In 2013, Nottingham was also named the most haunted city in England.

Nottingham has the largest publicly owned bus network in the UK and is also served by Nottingham railway stationand the Nottingham Express Transit tram system. East Midlands Airport is thirteen miles south-west of the city.

History

In Anglo-Saxon times the area was part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and was known in the Brythonic language asTigguo Cobauc, meaning Place of Caves. In Welsh it is known poetically as Y Ty Ogofog and Irish Gaelic as Na Tithe Uaimh "The Cavey Dwelling". When it fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot it became known as "Snotingaham"; the homestead of Snot’s people (Inga = the people of; Ham = homestead). Some authors derive "Nottingham" from Snottenga, caves, and ham, but "this has nothing to do with the English form".

Nottingham was captured in 867 by Viking/Danish Great Heathen Army and later became one of the Five Burghs – or fortified towns – of the Danelaw.

Nottingham Castle was constructed in the 11th century on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen. The Anglo-Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall and Law Courts. A settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later. On the return of Richard the Lion Heart from the Crusades, the castle stood out in Prince John‘s favour. It was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured.

By the 15th century Nottingham had established itself as a centre of a thriving export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham Alabaster. The town became a county corporate in 1449 giving it effective self-government, in the words of the charter, "for eternity". The Castle and Shire Hall were expressly excluded and remained as detached Parishes ofNottinghamshire.

During the Industrial Revolution, much of Nottingham’s prosperity was founded on the textile industry; in particular, the city became an internationally important centre of lace manufacture. In 1831 citizens rioted in protest against the Duke of Newcastle‘s opposition to the Reform Act 1832, setting fire to his residence, Nottingham Castle.

In common with the UK textile industry, Nottingham’s textile sector fell into decline in the decades following World War II. Little textile manufacture now takes place in Nottingham, however, many of the former industrial buildings in the Lace Market district have been restored and put to new uses.

Nottingham was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and at that time consisted of the parishes of St Mary, St Nicholas and St Peter. It was expanded in 1877 by adding the parishes of Basford, Brewhouse Yard,Bulwell, Radford, Sneinton, Standard Hill and parts of the parishes of West Bridgford, Carlton, Wilford (North Wilford). In 1889 Nottingham became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. City status was awarded as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria, being signified in a letter from the Prime Minister the Marquess of Salisbury to the Mayor, dated 18 June 1897. Nottingham was extended in 1933 by adding Bilborough and Wollaton, parts of the parishes of Bestwood Park and Colwick, and a recently developed part of the Beeston Urban District. A further boundary extension was granted in 1951 when Clifton and Wilford (south of the River Trent) were incorporated into the city.

Text from Wikipedia 

Here’s a photo of Aunt Mabel and her 12th. …..or was Cedric her 13th. husband, well, never mind. The image might lead an unsuspecting viewer to believe that this was staged for the photographer, but alas no.

Mable caught Cedric kissing a shelf stacker girl at Tesco on the cheek because she had helped him find a particular grocery item and as a punishment he had to carry her around like this, and not only around the house. Terribly jealous, Aunt Mable.

When young Johnny asked his mother, Mable’s sister, what it was all about, she shook her head slowly and answered with a slight smile: “I have long since stopped trying to understand Mable’s actions, drunk or in her rare glimpses of sobriety. But she is at least entertaining at times, you have to give her that.”

Needless to say the marriage lasted about as long as Cedric’s back – Ted

Elvis’ Palm Springs Honeymoon Home for Sale

The ultimate Elvis pad is now up for sale in sunny Palm Springs, California – complete with Rock ‘n’ Roll memorabilia. In 1962, Look Magazine featured the estate calling it the “House of Tomorrow” due to its forward-thinking decor. Oh, and Lisa Marie was most likely conceived here. In 1966 this historic mid-century house was leased to Elvis Presley and Priscilla for around $21,000 to spend their honeymoon. The original lease actually still hangs on one of the walls. The house is designed around four perfect circles on three levels and features four bedrooms and five bathrooms. It is nestled in at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains which the honeymoon suite offers a panoramic view of. There is also a pool, tennis court and a fruit orchard among many other features.

The house is currently owned by ‘Elvis junkie’ M.L. Lewis which purchased it in 1987 for under $500,000. It has since then been restored to its 1960s splendor and features art deco design and furnishings throughout. The house is currently a museum, open to tourists on the weekends and comes packed with various Elvis memorabilia – which the buyer gets to keep. Fans might recognize it from the film “Elvis And Me” and the documentary “Elvis By the Presley”, starring Priscilla Presley herself. So any Elvis fan with a really deep pocket who’s in the market for the ultimate Elvis Presley time-capsule will most likely have found the best one around. More information about this property can be found the real estate agent Hilton & Hyland.

Text and image from UltraSwank 

Nice pad, but there are actually not one real Art Deco object in sight – Ted

Not one plan for you to day my DIY friends, but 21. A whole book actually. Kansas 4H Woodworking Plans published  by Kansas State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service.

21 plans of various degree of difficulty for handy children and youth out there in the sticks.

The book in pdf format –>

A recipe from an ad that was published in “Chatelaine Magazine” in February 1960

From the ad: Here’s a simple but sophisticated main-dish … a savoury bacon-cheese custard pie! Actually, this is a celebrated French dish called "Quiche Lorraine" (pronounced "Keesh lorrayne" ). Our adaptation of it looks wonderfully professional but, as the recipe will show you, is very easy.

And when you bake it with Robin Hood Flour, you know it will come out just like the picture. Robin Hood is specially milled from the nutritious hearts of wheat … and every batch is bake-tested before it’s ever sold. So Robin Hood Flour is extra-good … in every possible way – Recipe HERE

 Related articles

Did an exotic actress from Vienna, considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood in the 1940s, really invent wireless? Not exactly, but the non-sensationalized facts of the matter are no less fascinating, involving Hollywood, the World War II Axis Powers, and remote control technology.

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, better known as “Hedy Lamarr”, once really did patent a “Secret Communication System” for radio communication, meant to foil the Axis during WWII. It was specifically designed to be used as a remote control system to securely guide torpedoes while getting around the problem of jamming.  Her idea at its core was really part of the larger concept of “frequency-hopping”, with her device developed with composer George Antheil.

Long forgotten until relatively recently, when it was re-discovered by researchers in 1997, the methods used in her invention were far ahead of their time, with the principles behind it paving the way for wide spectrum communication technology we enjoy today in Bluetooth and other wireless technologies.

Read the rest of the story HERE

A fascinating woman Hedy, one of the first woman to appear naked in a feature movie (Extase), a brilliant inventor and a shoplifter in her old days. A lot more colourful than her Hollywood contemporaries that’s for sure – Ted

What more can I say ;-) – Ted

Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM OM (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian musician, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear dramatic soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.

Career

McKennitt’s first album, Elemental, was released in 1985, followed by To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995), The Book of Secrets (1997), An Ancient Muse (2006), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (2008), and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010). All of her work is released under her own label, Quinlan Road.

In 1990, McKennitt provided the music for the National Film Board of Canada documentary The Burning Times, a feminist revisionist account of the Early Modern European witchcraft trials. The main theme would later be rerecorded by her and her band and called "Tango to Evora", a track that appears on her album The Visit.

In 1993, she toured Europe supporting Mike Oldfield. In 1995, her version of the traditional Irish song "Bonny Portmore" was featured in the Highlander series. McKennitt’s single "The Mummers’ Dance" received airplay in North American markets during the spring of 1997, and was used as the theme song for the short-lived TV series Legacy. It also saw use in the trailer for a wide-release 1998 Drew Barrymore film Ever After.

Her music appeared in the movies The Santa Clause, Soldier, Jade, Holy Man, The Mists of Avalon and Tinkerbell; and in the television series Roar, Due South, andFull Circle (Women and Spirituality).

On November 30, 2012, McKennitt lent her support to Kate Winslet’s Golden Hat Foundation together with Tim Janis, Sarah McLachlan, Andrea Corr, Hayley Westenra, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Dawn Kenney, Jana Mashonee, Amy Petty and a choir etc performing on "The American Christmas Carol" concert in Carnegie Hall.

Text from Wikipedia:

You can listen to music from her whole career HERE

A whole concert for you, watch and listen before its gone ;-)

Image found at VintageEveryday

In context:
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American scout, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but he grew up for several years in his father’s hometown in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory.

William Cody, aka Buffalo
Bill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven after his father’s death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 14. During the American Civil War, he served from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout to the US Army during the Indian Wars, receiving the Medal of Honour in 1872. One of the most colourful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill became famous for the Wild West shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured in Great Britain and Europe as well as the United States.

…. for another picture gallery featuring one of my all time
favourite fifties bombshells, Anita Ekberg

 
When young Ted was a small boy Scandinavian magazines was crammed with images of Anita, Norwegian too, even though she was Swedish (I guess the Norwegian magazine editors felt she was a little ours too.)

These images along with those of Sophia Loren and others awakened young Teds interest in women and formed a taste in shape and form that has lasted to this day. Ted still like his women with a little meat on the bones ;-)

A little service for my female visitors, useless for my male visitors of course as man just usually just drop down like a sack of potatoes in any type of seating ;-)

…. before you reach puberty

Talitha Getty born Talitha Dina Pol (18 October 1940 – 14 July 1971) was an actress of Dutch extraction, born in the former Dutch East Indies, who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. Her husband was the oil heir and subsequent philanthropist John Paul Getty, Jr.

Swinging sixties: marriage to John Paul Getty

Talitha became the second wife of John Paul Getty, Jr. on 10 December 1966. She was married in a white mini-skirt, trimmed with mink. The Gettys became part of"Swinging" London‘s fashionable scene, becoming friends with, among others, singers Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and his girl-friend Marianne Faithfull. Faithfull has recounted her apprehension, through "ingrained agoraphobia", about an invitation to spend five weeks with the Gettys in Morocco ("but for Mick this is an essential part of his life") and how, after splitting from Jagger, she took up with Talitha Getty’s lover, Count Jean de Breteuil, a young French aristocrat (1949–1971). Breteuil supplied drugs to rock stars such as Jim Morrison of The Doors, Keith Richards, and Marianne Faithfull, who wrote that Breteuil "saw himself as dealer to the stars" and has claimed that he delivered the drugs that accidentally killed Morrison less than two weeks before Talitha’s own death in 1971. For his part, Richards recalled that John Paul and Talitha Getty "had the best and finest opium".

Print designer Celia Birtwell, who married designer Ossie Clark, recalled Talitha Getty as one of a number of "beautiful people" who crossed her threshold in the late 1960s, while couturier Yves Saint Laurent likened the Gettys to the title of a 1922 novel by F Scott Fitzgerald as "beautiful and damned".

John Paul Getty, who has been described as "a swinging playboy who drove fast cars, drank heavily, experimented with drugs and squired raunchy starlets", eschewed the family business, Getty Oil, during this period, much to the chagrin of his father. However, in later years, he became a philanthropist and (as a US citizen) received an honorary British knighthood in 1986. His luxury yacht, built in 1927 and renovated in 1994, was the MY Talitha G.

In July 1968, the Gettys had a son, Tara Gabriel Gramophone Galaxy, who became a noted ecological conservationist in Africa, dropped his third and fourth forenames, and took Irish citizenship in 1999. He and his wife Jessica (a chalet maid he met in Verbier) had three children, including a daughter named Talitha.

Film career

As an actress, Talitha appeared in several films, including Village of Daughters (1962) (as a daughter, Gioia Spartaco); an Edgar Wallace mystery, We Shall See (1964) (as Jirina); The System (1964) (as Helga); Return from the Ashes (1965) (as Claudine, alongside Maximilian Schell, Ingrid Thulin and Samantha Eggar); andBarbarella (1968), a sexually charged science-fiction fantasy starring Jane Fonda, in which she had the minor uncredited role of a girl smoking a pipe.

Death

Talitha Getty died of a heroin overdose in Rome, Italy on 14 July 1971 while attempting to patch up her marriage. She died within the same twelve-month period as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Edie Sedgwick and, as noted, Jim Morrison, other cultural icons of the 1960s.

His wife’s death marked the end of John Paul Getty’s period of hedonism and its circumstances initially drove him to ground in England. He remained reclusive for several years, being described by the critic Kenneth Tynan as the "Hermit Millionaire". His rehabilitation was assisted by a growing passion for cricket, which was nurtured by, among others, Mick Jagger and a former England captain and future MCC President, Gubby Allen, whom he met in the London Clinic during a long period of illness. In 1985, when Getty was receiving extended treatment for phlebitis, a Sunday Times journalist reported "an almost visible pain" in his life and that he still mourned Talitha. Getty remarked that "the pain does not evaporate".

Text from Wikipedia 

Take a good look at that picture visitor and ponder this; Is his wife buying flat, stale coffee just to get spanked. Her facial expression seams to indicate that she’s quite enjoying it.

On the other hand, ads like this one makes one wonder if giving your wife a good spanking whenever there things to complain about in her dealings with house and home was common in the US back then. This  is not the first old ad I’ve come across where spanking wives has been the subject.

I was raised by pacifistic parents and haven’t raised my hand at another person my entire life so I don’t think a stale cup of coffee would make me start. Besides I’m a tea drinker, I only drink coffee at places where there is no chance of getting a decent cup of tea, so I probably wouldn’t know stale cup of coffee from a fresh one.  –Ted ;-)

Six lucky housewives temporarily saved from a sore bum by Chase & Sandborn

In context: