Pipe-Smoking Man and His Family

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide (probably late 1950s). This pipe-smoking fellow reminds me of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of Church of the SubGenius fame. In another slide (see The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below), this same man is holding his pipe as he sits in a chair. A third slide (see Birds at Home , below) shows the same room from a different angle (compare the lamp, table, and floral-print chair).

Slide, location unknown, probably late 1950s. Birds at Home , a children's book by Marguerite Henry that was first published in 1942, is one of the few identifiable titles on the shelves in the background (the yellow letters of the title are visible at center top).

Pipe-Smoking Man (aka Yellow Socks Guy) relaxes in front of a warm and cozy fireplace. Tasteful art-- The Half Way House, Thatcham (1848), a copy of a painting by William Shayer Sr. (1787-1879)--hangs above the mantle, an issue of Seventeen is peeking out of the magazine rack, and the same floral-print curtains that were visible in The Silence in the Room Was Deafening show up here, too. See also Pipe-Smoking Television Man . (Thanks to goenetix for identifying the painting!) For related slides, select the thumbnail images below.

Undated slide.

A 35 mm slide for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. I believe that this couple is related to the Pipe-Smoking Man , who smokes a pipe, wears yellow socks, and appears in some other slides I've posted (see, for instance, The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below left). This woman and man, who may have been Pipe-Smoking Man's parents or in-laws, didn't always seem to be in such bad moods. Take a look at Here's the Lady You Ordered! (below right) to see the hilarity that ensued as the man and another fellow carried the woman through a doorway into a house (judging by the corsage that the woman was wearing and the flower in the man's lapel, I suspect that they were celebrating a wedding anniversary). I wasn't able to see a date or determine who's on the cover of the Life magazine on the coffee table, and it looks like there's also a Toby jug on the table near the magazine. Update: Thanks go to goenetix for identifying the Life magazine issue! It was published on October 9, 1950, and that's British actress Jean Simmons on the cover. See the comments section below for additional details.

For more information, see Grumpy and Grouchy (below):

Slide dated October 1959, location unknown. Hilarity ensued as these two men carried the woman through a doorway into a house. Judging by the corsage that the woman was wearing and the flower in the one man's lapel, I suspect that they may have been celebrating a wedding anniversary. Note, too, that a television set is partially visible behind the doll on the left.

This slide is dated January 1960, so I'm assuming that these Christmas gifts are from December 1959. See also Christmas Gifts, 1961 .

This slide is dated July 1962, so I'm guessing that these Christmas gifts date to December 1961. See also Christmas Gifts, 1959 .

A flowers photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A slide dated April 1959 shows an elaborate planter stand with flowering plants (violets?) situated in front of a window. Trendy curtains with geometric shapes flank the stand on both sides, and other household furnishings--a lamp, stereo, framed photo, artwork on the wall--are also visible. For another slide taken in the same house (with the same distinctive style of curtains), see Here's the Lady You Ordered! Where Do You Want Us to Put Her?

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of lamps, chandeliers, candlesticks, and other types of lighting . This is a color slide, circa 1959, that shows two flower paintings hanging on a wall. Below them is a Motorola "Stereophonic High Fidelity" console. Based on the online documentation for a similar model, the top of the stereo lifts up on the right for access to a record player inside. The six knobs on the left are labeled Function, Compensator, Loudness, Treble, Bass, and Balance. On top of the left side of the stereo are a decorative porcelain table lamp and a framed photo. This is another slide from the collection of the Pipe-Smoking Man's family . I only recently realized that two other photos from the collection show different parts of this same room. A photo taken to the left of this one also captures part of the stereo console (see Flowering Plants and Groovy Curtains ). The door, wall thermostat, and chair in this photo are visible in a photo taken to the right of this one (see Still Life with Television ). The flower paintings may be the work of "Ethel", a relative of the Pipe-Smoking Man (see Ethel's Oil Painting, 1967 ).

An slide, circa 1959, from Pipe-Smoking Man's family .

An undated red-border Kodachrome Duplicate slide. The honeymoon getaway car is a Ford Super Deluxe convertible with a 1949 Virginia license plate. This same car also appears in Newlyweds at the Hughes Dairy Bar, Tioga, Pa., 1949 .

An undated red-border Kodachrome Duplicate slide. Hughes Dairy Bar was located along Route 15, north of Tioga, Pa. For another view of this same car, which is a Ford Super Deluxe convertible with a 1949 license plate, see Just Married, 1949 .

A fashion (in its day) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a Kodachrome slide processed by Kodak in July 1963. The image shows two women and a small child posing for a photo among the orderly lawns and houses of a 1960s suburban development. The older woman is dressed up in a patterned dress, necklace, and earrings, while the younger one is wearing a striped cover over her dress. The woman on the left is named Ethel (last name unknown), and she appears in other slides that I purchased along with this one. See, for instance, Ethel's Oil Painting, 1967 .

An artists or art photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This Kodachrome slide is dated February 1967. The woman, whose first name is Ethel, apparently painted this still life along with a number of other oil paintings that are pictured in additional slides I purchased together in one tray a couple of years ago. For another example, see this clown painting from a Kodachrome slide dated December 1968.

A Kodachrome slide dated December 1968. For another work of art by the woman who painted this clown, see Ethel's Oil Painting, 1967 .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a favorite vintage portrait, formal or informal . This is a combination of two slides ( Pipe-Smoking Television Man and Birds at Home ) showing the opposite sides of a room in the 1950s home of a man I've called -- for lack of his real name -- "Pipe-Smoking Man" or "Yellow Socks Guy." These images were among the ones in several slide trays I bought at an antique mall a few years ago. They're some of my favorites for their bright and colorful depictions of mid-century people and furnishings. For more examples, see Pipe-Smoking Man in Front of the Fireplace and my album of Pipe-Smoking Man and His Family .