Surreal Kodak moments: Irish-American tourist snapshots from 1971

I love the colours in these early 70s holiday snapshots which I purchased from an online seller recently. There is something very evocative about this Kodak colour process with its strong red and brown hues. 

The photographs were taken by Irish-American tourists in 1971 and include the slightly surreal image of an A and B pay phone. This pay phone system required the caller to contact an operator and if for some reason the call didn’t go through they could hit the ‘B’ button to return their coins. I wonder if the photograph was taken in an airport and that the green phone is perhaps a courtesy phone? I cannot make out the headlines on the newspaper which might have provided clues as to the time of year. 

I’ve identified the clock tower in the background of this photograph as that on Waterford Quay which was built in 1881. The man is the foreground appears to be enjoying his holiday. 

Upon their return to the United States, the travellers chose to photograph the items they had purchased during their trip to England and Ireland. It provides a great insight into the types of souvenirs which were popular with tourists during the period. I recognise several brands including an Irish Wade pin dish and a leprechaun figure which looks very like those made by Crolly in Donegal. They also bought plenty of linen teacloths and some strange looking records.

Read Full Post »

An Irish ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, Kodak snapshots from Ballycotton, County Cork, 1931

When I first saw these 1931 photographs, I was immediately reminded of Arthur Penn’s film Bonnie and Clyde which tells the story of the infamous armed robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Snapshots found by police at the couple’s abandoned hideout in 1934 helped to spread their notoriety and are referenced within the film.There aren’t any guns visible in these images of a day trip to the seaside town of Ballycotton, County Cork, however, the 1930s styles are very similar to those worn by Bonnie and Clyde!

I particularly like the lady’s beret, tweed coat, sheer tights and clutch bag. Her companion wears his suit and Fedora hat with great swagger and charm. These hats were often worn tipped down over one eye at a rakish angle and were favored by American gangsters. Suits with double-breasted jackets and wide trouser legs were very fashionable in the early 1930s.

The Irish snapshots were taken on the 12^th of July 1931 and were safely put into a Kodak wallet complete with negatives. The Kodak girl is, as ever, sporting the latest styles and her bobbed hair and white collar are not disimilar to the Ballycotton woman’s.

The promotional wallet mentions an amateur photographic competition with prizes awarded to photographs taken between the 1^st of May and the 31^st of August 1931.  I have featured Kodak advertising in an earlier post and look forward to seeing a recent book on Kodak ephemera based on the Martha Cooper collection.

Read Full Post »

1930s seaside fun! Snapshots developed by Belfast chemist

Sometimes mistakes make for the best photographs especially when the attempts to rectify them are as humorous as the one above. The tops of the heads of this seaside group were chopped off by the photographer only to be restored in this crude but highly effective manner. Someone has pencilled in the missing foreheads and hairstyles and the results are especially funny on the gentleman in the middle of the shot. The little girl with her bucket and spade is the only intact figure and appears to laugh mischievously at her older relations.                                                                                                                                        

This snapshot reminds me of a scene from RC Sherriff’s The Fortnight in September (1931) one of my favourite recent reads from the excellent Persephone Books. The novel relates in beautiful detail the experiences of a family on a seaside holiday in Bognor Regis between the World Wars. It includes a magical scene where they collect their holiday snapshots from the local pharmacist. They were presented with six snapshots which must have been a standard number of exposures during this period. The Kodak album which houses the above photograph also held that number of prints and the following ad from the 1930s records the move to eight exposures! In the digital age, this appears like a ridiculously small number of photographs with which to record a holiday.

I bought this little album alongside five others in the same format for only $9.99 and can’t believe no-one else wanted them! All originated from the Belfast area and the Kodak verichrome film stickers which appear at the back of them are nice little pieces of 1930s ephemera. I also noticed that there is an interesting article by Lucy Curzon in the latest issue of ‘History of Photography’ on the Mass Observation’s documentary photographs of 1930s holiday makers in Blackpool which ties in nicely with this topic. 

Read Full Post »

Malcomson snapshot album, 1925 to 1932, Belfast

This album is one of my latest purchases. It contains about a hundred snapshots taken between 1925 and 1932 by H.J. Malcomson from Belfast. He started to put the album together when he was about eleven years of age, however, unlike a lot of photographers he has filled each page and captioned all the images. The snaps were taken with a Kodak Vest Pocket camera. I haven’t been able to find out too much about H.J. but he is probably related to the merchant and amateur natural historian Herbert Thomas Malcolmson who donated several collections to the Ulster Museum.

The album provides a good overview of a wealthy Protestant family’s life in the inter-war period. The subjects include the usual family events such as picnics and day trips and their home and its grounds at Glenorchy, Knock, Belfast. Many pages are of antiquarian interest and I especially love the first page above with its strange combination of a cromlech and a snapshot of hens in the hallway of the house.

Read Full Post »

Kodak in Ireland

I came across this advertisement for Kodak in Ireland which dates from 1940. It mentions war time shortages and the fact that Kodak cameras were currently unavailable. The George Eastman House has an extensive collection of Kodak advertisements many of which, like the one above, depict fashionable young women. 

The ad also refers to Kodak House in Rathmines. This Art Deco building was designed by the architectural firm of Donnelly, Moore & Keatinge in 1930 and was used by the firm until 1982. William Sedgwick Keatinge was also responsible for later additions in 1949 and 1951. The building was recently renovated and the following atmospheric photograph demonstrates how well it has survived.

Read Full Post »