Vintage shots from days gone by!

snake charmer

 

Neat story! although I wonder why 99 and not just come down PCH, much nicer ride and less hills.

 

George petty was a pretty good illustrator,
rendering the female form without being
disrespectful -- naughty but not too racy.
BUT, even a good artist can't get very one
right! Yike.



Above, Eileen. I heard that after her modeling
career, she took a job as a waitress at IHOP.
Well, that's what I heard, anyway!



(Miss April 1953 looks like Lucy Ball with an
overdose of "Vita-Meata-Vega-Moo" ! )

 

My aunt was a "Rosie the Riverter" in an aircraft plant in Detroit during WWII.
When the war was over, she married my uncle (wounded 3 times in Europe
during the war), and they had all five of my cousins in that branch of the family.

Like "Rosie," she was very attractive, yet she wrote letters home saying how
lonely life was away from home when the work shift was done. I guess it's just
an historical note. But the reality was a bit different from the "Rosie" poster
hype. As LostforaWhile of Georgia said: "They were the unknown heroes of
the war, while the men were fighting and dying on the front lines, the women
were keeping them supplied with what they needed to fight the war. everything
from guns,tanks, bullets, all the way to airplanes. plus holding a lot of the
country together and taking care of the families. The greatest generation was
both the men and women."

He said a mouthful about the CRUCIAL role of women in WWII. I think it is fair
to say that it would have been a much LONGER war, had we not been able to
tap a largely untapped labor source !!!

And the war FOREVER changed self-perception among most American women,
IMO. After working so hard in factories, right alongside men, and earning their
own wages, many women weren't just going to go back to the kitchen after
the war ended. To this extent, WWII changed American society and the econ-
omy, too. And I can't say that women were any less "feminine" than before.

 

Nose art on combat aircraft actually dates back to 1913 in the Italian Air Force.
But the practice really hit its stride during WWII when crews painted mascots
ranging from the comic strips, to Disney characters, to pinup-girl paintings
originally done by Elvgrin, Vargas, Petty and others. Gals were a favorite! The
motives for nose art were various, ranging from homesickness to good-luck
charms and guardian "talismen." I also believe that guys wanted their planes
to have their own individual personalities, reflecting to some extent the crew
themselves. It helped make each plane a bit unique, an object of special pride!



LowCat posted this great wartime shot on another thread, quite some time back. These
mascots perked up in theater and served as an encouraging reminder of the good things
back home worth fighting for!
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Aussie nose art in New Guinea,
THANKS to ltc.arizona.edu!

 

THANKS to LoneSentry!

 

Above and below THANKS to TellingtonTouchTraining!