The Sepia Saturday suggestion for this week is a healthy miss in a armor costume, maybe for an opera.
(No, I don't know which one.)
So for this week, it was a casting call for old photographs that had costumed people ready for some sort of thespian activity or perhaps were just larking around.
Most photographs on this page are from the Back Page called The Costumes
This is thought to be the only surviving picture of Honor Knightly (aka “Satin”) the elusive department store heiress and stenographer for the Kairian Luncheon Club. She was quite fond of changing clothes and of gentlemen standing in doorways to avoid the rain.
Thorne Smith thought very highly of her but she still faded into obscurity behind Cosmo Topper and the ghost-dog, Oscar (or "Neil" if you see the TV or Movie Version).
The REST of the story...
Benny put on his cape, posed for one picture and then he flew away.
SaraJean knew she was a gypsy but she could never quite get the hang of playing the tambourine.
Later in life, when they were taller, flying became less important. Not to mention, harder to do. 
Dennis kept a hockey stick in his pocket at all times. In order to keep his underwear from showing he kept his shorts under his hat.
Many years later, sisters Neiffel and Helvetica Typehigh would think of this moment as a pivotal point in their lives. Things would never be the same.
Neiffel, here shown on the left, realized she would never be able to develop the leg muscles that sister Helvetica had so she gave up ballet and ran away from home. She eventually became a roadie for Simian Softoot and her all girl accordian band. Neiffel was in charge of sweeping the bandstand before and after the performance. She was able to put away a substantial portion of her monthly salary and retired at the early age of 37 years, three months. She now lives in seclusion on an island at the south end of Marlow Lake. Well, it’s an island when the water is up.
Helvetica realized too that she would never become the ballet diva that she had envisioned since early childhood. Apart from the obvious allergy to mascara and eye shadow, she could never find a tutu that fit properly.
She eventually married the photographer who wishes to remain Nameless. (Because that’s his name.) The couple settled on Frank Zappa’s dental floss ranch in Polka Dot Valley and raised two fine children, Holly and Neville and a dog they called Rax. The dog’s real name was Tsiannpokrumadioutly but no one knew how to pronounce it.
From the Back Page called
Grass Skirt Gallery
Let's see. We have bare feet, boots, bedroom slippers, roller skates, ice skates, moccasins, ballet flats, taps, high heels, and at least three pair of saddle shoes. What? No clown feet?
Now exit stage right and get ready for the next scene at Sepia Saturday. Your fans are waiting!
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THE KIDS 
Dee and the Business School 
The beautiful Dee. A curious story; What do you see?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
"What are they doing?"
I think that first photo there at the top of the dancing woman is my favorite. She does resemble the prompt woman too.
ReplyDeleteQuite the array here. The captions are a hoot, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristin. Yes, that's my favorite too. I have had that one a long time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Silver Fox. Sometimes an old unidentified photo just sort of speaks. Glad you liked the stories.
The minute I read about Honor Knightly, I knew I was in for a good time! Certainly hope SaraJean has life insurance; Dennis with his hockey stick left me laughing out loud. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb Gould. I am glad you had a good laugh. Laughing out loud makes one live longer. Guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteYou have an amazing collection!
ReplyDeleteI've seen other photos from a similar era showing girls on a beach festooned with seaweed skirts, a little like the Iolanthe costumes that we saw in someone else's post this week. I wonder if there was a show ...
ReplyDeleteSome great 'line-ups' here. It's amazing how often a fan appears as a prop.
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen S. I think there are around 12 thousand. Does the name "Albatross" mean anything to you?
ReplyDeleteThanks Brett Payne. I wondered too if it was some sort of play or skit. I have four photograph showing the seaweed costume. I first ran into it in 2011.
Thanks Little Nell. Yes, the fan is a popular prop. I count five on this page alone. Maybe I should make up a page of them. Good idea!
Nieffel and Helvetica - what a story. I wish I could have retired at 37 years and three months. Some talented actuary figured that one out.
ReplyDeleteAnother fantastic kaleidoscope of snapshots. Costumed people always make great subjects. The four cowboys are my favorite. Perhaps we should have a caption contest for Sepia Saturday sometime too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen Bauch McHargue. That job of sweeping stages must pay well!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike Brubaker. I like the “cowboys” too. They have generated almost 13,000 visits on their Flickr postings. Captions are fun. Sometimes an old photo just speaks and tells a story.
As usual, it is the range of images that is so striking - you must have a magnificent collection in your Lost Gallery to post so many new (old) images week after week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alan Burnett I have been rescuing photographs for decades. There are a lot of them now. When Flickr became available, I started categorizing them and posting them in groups. The tag system makes it easy to round up batches with similar subject matter.
ReplyDeleteI've seen hockey sticks used for all sorts of things but never like the one you've shown, It must have been uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob Scotney. I have never been able to figure out anything to explain what is going on in that one. He's clowning around, I hope. But I don't know why or what it means. And yes, it must have been a bit uncomfortable.
ReplyDelete