Sepia Saturday - The Park Bench

A Sepia Saturday Suggestion

Here we have a photograph of three benches.

Two of them are empty. One seats three people, all reading newspapers. That bench is full, crowded even.

What does that tell us?

The Bench

Whether located at the bus stop, in front of the barber shop or on the footpath through the park, it's a most convenient place to rest, read or just watch the people; it's the bench. A bench is a benign bit of furniture, found in waiting rooms, entry halls, depots and basketball courts; best of all, public parks.

Rustic or modern, iron, wood or concrete, stand-alone or attached to a picnic table, a bench is essential for outdoor lunches, modeling sessions or just waiting.

They're background, almost invisible, that is, unless you need one, then there they are: right where they should be.

Here are benches, some playing the lead, others just back-drops, some essential stars, some bit part players, but always on stage.

This week we will look at that under-appreciated and over-worked essential, the Bench.

Why are these girls sitting on the ground? There's a perfectly good bench behind them.

The bench is away back here on the left.

The rest of the BENCHES on this page all come from one set of photographs with a very interesting story.

Here is one of the happiest faces I have found in a long time. She is in most of the photographs in a "found" batch of 116 old prints. They date from the 1940's and do tell a bit of a story.

Since all of the photographs were unidentified I had to make up the names "Holli" and her friend "Thelma” for the two who appear in most of the prints.

They have glamorous smiles and lots of clothes. She just looks like a "Holli", maybe “Hollywood”. She dominates a set of 116 pictures found all in one bunch from an estate sale in Johnson City, New York. I posted the whole set originally in August of 2008.

There are lots of landmarks, lots of people. Someday I hoped, someone would recognize something and at least establish a location.

Then, in June of 2009 I found another batch of photographs from an estate sale in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can imagine my moment when I saw “Holli” again looking up at me from the stack, about 400 miles from the first group and ten months later.

I was able to coordinate some of the photographs by means of the photo lab’s series stamps on the reverse of many of them. Others matched in physical details of the prints. Six photographs, unrelated in any other way, have a light red stain at the edges showing they have been stored in the same place for a long time and thus linking them together.

A few of the photographs in the Pennsylvania batch must have been taken on the SAME ROLL OF FILM as the New York batch. And from the clothing and locations, obviously some were taken the same day, perhaps only minutes apart.

So now there are 63 more photographs of our Holli, her friends and her time. 179 in all.

One thing stands out in the Pennsylvania group. There is ONE photograph with a date on the reverse. November 22, 1943. Holli stands on her toes to give her man in uniform a big smooch. It must have been a special moment for them.

In the FLICKR set I have designated each item as New York Source or Pennsylvania Source in the tags to show where each photograph was found. In addition I have noted the origin in some of the captions.

Our Holli was a popular girl, perhaps a USO volunteer. She loved the beach and the sun. Her bright smile probably made her an instant friend to anyone she met.

Look carefully at these photographs. What do you think is the story?
For a look at the entire set, go to HOLLI AND HER FRIEND THELMA
For a slide show of the entire set go to THE HOLLI SLIDE SHOW

I suppose you think this is the end.

Well, it is.

So go back to the Sepia Saturday list and see what else you can find.

Or maybe you'd prefer just a list of all (well, most) of the categories and subjects and album pages in LOST GALLERY! Well, here it is!

A to C

Advance to the Rear The Rear View
Aircraft
Aircraft – Biplanes
Aircraft – Connie, the Lockheed Constellation
Aliens and Mystery – Area Fifty-One and a Half
Animals – Gone to the Chickens
Animals – The Pets by themselves
Animals – Posing on a Pony
Area Fifty-One and a Half – Don’t Look Now
Automobiles – Car Bumpers
Automobiles – Car Running Boards
Baby Buggy
Beach – Itinerant Beach Photographer (page 01)
Beach – Itinerant Beach Photographer (page 02)
Beach – The Old Days
Beach – The Slide Show
Beach – The Girlfriend
Biplane
Bows
Boys in Dresses
Bridges
Bumpers – Car Bumpers
Cabinet Cards
Camera – Photographs containing a camera
Carte-de-Viste
C'est la Guerre – Photographs about the wars
Chain Chain Chain – People doing the same things
Chair, Fringed
Chair, One Armed
Cheesecake
Chickens - Gone to the Chickens
Children – Boys in Dresses
Children – A Child on the Front Steps
Children - Girls and their Dolls
Children – Kid in a Tub
Children – Mobile Toys
Children - On Running Boards
Children – Slide Show
Children – Trios - In groups of Three
Christmas – in found photographs
Cities – Unknown Street Scenes
Class Pictures – School Days!
Clothing – Bows
Clothing – Costumes
Clothing – Cowboy Outfits
Clothing – Boys in Dresses
Clothing – Furs – The Dead Animal Society
Clothing – Grass Skirts
Clothing – Hats
Clothing – Jodhpurs
Clothing – Saddle Shoes
Clothing – Sailor Tailored Fashion
Clothing – Swimwear – At the Beach
Clothing – Uniforms – Girl & her Guy in Uniform
Clothing – Uniforms - Our Man at the Front
Connie, the Lockheed Constellation
Costumes
Couples – A Girl and her Guy in Uniform
Fake Fight

C to P

Fringed Chair
Furniture and Props – One Armed Chair
Furniture and Props – Props and Backdrops
Furniture and Props – The Fringed Chair
Furniture and Props – Wicker
Girl in a Boat
Girlfriend and the Car
Girlfriend at the beach
Goat Cart
Gone to the Chickens – Snaps including a chicken
Grass Skirt Gallery
Groups – Chain Chain Chain – People lined up
Groups – Class Pictures
Hats – Where everyone is wearing a hat
Hats – Really Big hats
Homes – We Call it Home
House – Our House
Itinerant Street Photographer
Itinerant Photographer With PONY!
Jodhpurs
Laundry – People and Clothes Lines
Lurker
Music – Trombones
Music Makers
Novelty Photo Booth – Collection
Novelty Photo Booth – Examination
The Office Typewriters and business
On a Bumper
On a Car
On a Rock
On a Running Board
One-Armed Chair
Parade – Parties, Parades and Picnics
Parties – Parties, Parades and Picnics
People Stacks
Personal Pinups – the best girl. (Page One)
Personal Pinups – the best girl. (Page Two)
Personal Pinups – Girlfriend at the beach
Pets – The animals by themselves
Photo Mask
PhotoBombing – Pranks to ruin a photo
Photography – Photographs containing a camera
Photography – The Photo Mask
Photography – Tinted Photograph
Photography – Polaroids
Photography Errors – Lurker
Photography Errors – photographer's Shadow
Photography Errors – The Double Exposure
Photography Errors – Unauthorized Photographs
Picnics – Parties, Parades and Picnics
Places to Go - More about where than who.
Places – Our House - With people in front
Places – We Call it Home - More houses
Pony – Posing on a Pony

P to W

Poses – Advance to the Rear!
Poses - Belly Down, Heads Up! (A really odd pose.)
Poses – Cheesecake
Poses – Fake Fight
Poses – Girl in a Boat
Poses – In a Tree
Poses – Kid in a Tub
Poses – On a Bumper
Poses – On a Car
Poses – On a Pony
Poses – On a Running Board
Poses – Out Sitting on a Rock
Poses – People with Signs.
Poses – Personal Pinup
Poses – The Rear View
Poses – Sleeping people
Poses – Stacks of People People on People
Props and Backdrops
Rock – People out sitting on a rock
Running Boards - Automobiles
Running Boards with Children
Saddle Shoes
Sailor Tailored Clothing
Signs – People posing with signs.
Sleeping People
Sneaky Snaps–People not posing at all
Telephone - About telephones and operators
Things – Typewriter – A Modern Antique
Things – Telephones
Things – Watermelon in the picture
Tinted Photograph
Tintypes
Toys – Children and their Mobile Toys
Toys - Girls and their Dolls
Transportation – Aircraft
Transportation – Automobile Bumpers
Transportation – Automobile Running Boards
Transportation – Baby Buggy
Transportation – Biplanes
Transportation – Lockheed Constellation
Transportation – Wheelbarrow
Tree Thing
Trombones!
Types of Photographs – Cabinet Cards
Types of Photographs – CDV (Carte-de Viste)
Types of Photographs – Photobooth
Types of Photographs – Polaroids
Types of Photographs – Tintypes
Typewriter – A Modern Antique
Unauthorized Photographs – Sneaky snaps
Uniformed Man – Our Man at the Front
Vehicles – Biplane
Vehicles – Lockheed Constellation
Vehicles – Wheelbarrow
Washday Blues – Of Love and Laundry
Watermelon
Wheelbarrow
Wicker Chairs
Wicker Furniture
World War One