Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: shows

This is a handbill advertising a vaudeville show that took place at Woodford Farm, a venue in Ogdensburg, New York, from Thursday, July 9, through Saturday, July 11, 1903. The Ogdensburg Journal newspaper, in its issue for Friday, July 10, 1903, p. 4, didn't mention the Williard's Fun Makers or Burt Flower, but it had this to say about Prof. Hamnet's act (it spelled his name with an extra "t"); "Good Show at Woodford. Prof. Hamnett's Trained Animals and Birds Pleased Audience. Prof. Hamnett's trained animal show opened an engagement at Woodford Farm last night, giving a first-rate performance that pleased the 300 or more persons who assembled in the canvas pavilion. Prof. Hamnett's exhibitions are given by finely trained dogs, goats, geese and birds and the show is at all times bright and entertaining. It will be repeated tonight and Saturday night with a special matinee tomorrow afternoon for ladies and children." Almost as interesting as Prof. Hamnet (his full name was Florus Hamnet Frost) are the various typefaces used for this handbill. The typeface for "Woodford Farm" and "Don't Miss It" with its uniquely shaped "O" is particularly distinctive. Something New. Vaudeville Show at Woodford Farm Commencing, Thursday Ev'g, July 9, Three Nights, Saturday Matinee. Prof. Hamnet's Educated Dogs, Goats, Geese & Birds The Williard's Fun Makers Burt Flower in New Songs & Dances Don't Miss It. Doors Open 7 P.M., Performance at 8:15. Admission, 10c.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of sing, sing, sing!—folks making music vocally . An unidentified country musician poses in front of a microphone bearing the call letters for radio station WVLN in Olney, Illinois. Although the microphone and guitar suggest that he sang and played for a show on the station, I haven't been able to determine who he is. I was surprised to see that he was wearing a holster with a revolver. I hope he stuck to the singing and strumming and avoided any shooting. This is an unused real photo postcard with no date or any other additional information on the other side.

See the front of this ticket for more information. Richland House Hall Saturday and Monday, 7:30 P.M. Feb. 22-24.

The Nickelodean , a trade magazine for the early film industry, included a state-by-state listing of news "Among the Picture Theaters" in its issue for March 4, 1911. Under the section for Pennsylvania (p. 260), it noted, "A moving picture theater has been opened in the Richland House Hall at Richland." The Richland House was a hotel in Richland , Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to uncover any other information about this ticket or the moving picture theater held in the hotel's hall. Searching for "Braden & Funny Little Tommy" didn't yield any results either. The back of the ticket gives the dates of the shows as Saturday and Monday, February 22 and 24, without specifying a year. Thanks to Time and Date's Weekday Calculator , I was able to determine that February 22 and 24 fell on Saturdays and Mondays in the years of 1902, 1908, 1913, 1919, and 1930. Since the theater at the Richland House evidently opened in 1911, I'm guessing that this ticket dates to 1913. The Braden Entertainment with Edison Talking Moving Pictures Two hours of good show. Fun, travel, industrial, Wild West, cowboy, and lots of others. Braden & Funny Little Tommy. Bring this ticket first night only as you will have a chance to secure a Kalba diamond stick pin absolutely free. Admission, 10 cents. Free! Back of ticket: Richland House Hall. Saturday and Monday, 7:30 P.M. Feb. 22-24.

For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.

A membership card for a children's fan club celebrating cartoon character Felix the Cat . The card also served as a way to encourage kids to watch the cartoons on Satellite Six , a TV show hosted by Glendora (Glendora Vesta Folsom) on WRGB in Schenectady, New York, in the early 1960s. 13 22-3-7-1 13-17 26-13-26-19-17 17-12-2-1 11-3-8 17-3-3 10-3-19-5 17-3 26-1-6-3-26-1 17-22-13-4! 8-) Felix the Cat Fan Club This is to certify that Eloise Trainor is now enrolled in Glendora's Satellite Six Felix the Cat Fan Club and is entitled to all privileges and special information reserved for members. Glendora, Commander, WRGB Satellite Six, 4:30, Monday-Friday. No. 65271. Felix the Cat Secret Code For members only! (1) E, (2) K, (3) O, (4) S, (5) G, (6) C (7) P, (8) U, (9) F, (10) L, (11) Y, (12) A (13) I, (14) B, (15) J, (16) M, (17) T, (18) Q (19) N, (20) W, (21) Z, (22) H, (23) X, (24) V, (25) R, (26) D Messages will be given by numbers. Simply copy the numbers, then figure out the message.

"Pomeroy's Juvenile Hour. WEEU. Bernie, program director. Photo by Pomeroy's." Pomeroy's was a department store that had locations in Reading, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, and other Pennsylvania cities. This real photo postcard, which shows the Reading store in the upper left-hand corner, was used to advertise Pomeroy's Juvenile Hour radio show, which debuted sometime in the 1930s. Various local radio stations carried the show, including WEEU in Reading and WHP in Harrisburg. Pomeroy's ran ads for the Juvenile Hour in newspapers, too, as this excerpt from the Harrisburg Telegraph , Sept. 29, 1932, p. 8, demonstrates: "Pomeroy's, 'Harrisburg's Greatest Department Store,' Saturday, 9:30 a.m. You are invited to attend our first 'Juvenile Hour' radio broadcast direct from our broadcasting studio on the third floor. See and hear Harrisburg's future radio stars as they broadcast over radio station WHP. These performers are all between the ages of 2 and 12, and you'll marvel at their exhibition. If you are unable to attend the broadcast in person, tune in at 9:30 Saturday morning on station WHP and you'll get an hour of radio sunshine and happiness that will thrill you for a long time to come. Pomeroy's 'Juvenile Hour' will be on the air every Saturday morning, 9:30 to 10:30."

"Leave It to Beaver Rocket to the Moon Space Game. Thrills with Beaver on a race to the moon. As seen on A.B.C. television coast-to-coast." The disembodied head of Beaver Cleaver floats in space somewhere between the earth and moon on the lid of this 1958 board game tie-in with the TV show Leave It to Beaver .

"Wishing you a fortune in happiness! Mr. Fortune. WCBM." Homer Todd, shown here holding a telephone handset and sitting in front of a microphone in this postcard-sized promotional photo, originated the Dialing for Dollars program on Baltimore, Maryland, radio station WCBM in 1939. As "Mr. Fortune," he would randomly call phone numbers and award cash prizes to listeners who answered the phone and could tell him the amount of money he was offering as a prize (the amount increased each time the phone went unanswered or the wrong amount was given as an answer). Dialing for Dollars turned out to be wildly successful and was carried on many different stations as a franchised program first on radio and then on television into the 1970s. Todd--his full name was Homer Ulric Todd, Jr.--apparently continued his career as Mr. Fortune at WCBM until at least 1950. He passed away in 1967 at the age of 56. .

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten note on the back of the photo: "Halloween, 1955." A little cowboy--wearing a Howdy Doody kerchief around his neck and Howdy Doody boots--poses in front of the fireplace alongside his brother, whose costume features a devilish image on the front.

In this real photo postcard, the hostess for the local WGAL-TV version of the Romper Room children's show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is standing in front of the station's "Color Television" camera (the show was broadcast in color beginning in 1957). The unnamed hostess is holding a drawing of the show's logo, which featured a jack-in-the-box . Behind the hostess is a board with illustrations of "Don't Bee" and "Do Bee." The message on the right-hand side of the board is "Don't be toy selfish," and although we can't see the left side, the sentiment there was probably "Do be toy sharing." Wikipedia's Romper Room article mentions the Bees in its description of a typical episode : "A recurring character was Mr. Do-Bee, an oversized bumblebee who came to teach the children proper deportment; he was noted for always starting his sentence with 'Do Bee', as in the imperative 'Do be'; for example, 'Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!' There was also a 'Mr. Don't Bee' to show children exactly what they should not do." Perhaps the most interesting and perplexing Romper Room prop--not visible in this photo postcard, unfortunately--was the magic mirror, whose appearance on the screen was always accompanied by a psychedelic mass of swirling colors (see the 1980 Romper Room Magic Mirror Clip on YouTube for an example). As Wikipedia explains, "At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a 'magic mirror'--actually an open hoop with a handle, the size and shape of a hand mirror--recite the rhyme, 'Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?' She would then name the children she saw in 'televisionland,' saying, for example, 'I can see Kathleen and Owen and Julie and Jimmy and Kelly and Tommy and Bobby and Jennifer and Martin' and so on. Kids were encouraged to mail in their names, which would be read on the air--first names only." I'm not sure how long Romper Room continued on WGAL-TV, but the show apparently lasted into the 1990s in some areas. For another Romper Room-ination on Ipernity, take a look at arts enthusiast's Romper Room Exercise Book .

Chandu the Magician , "one of the longest running radio adventure serials," first aired in 1931. Beech-Nut Packing Company was a sponsor of the show in the 1930s and advertised Beech-Nut Gum and other food products. This "Season's Greetings" card may have been an insert that came with chewing gum or another product. "Beech-Nut and Chandu extend the Season's Greetings. Dorothy Regent, Princess Nadji, Betty-Lou, and Bobby join Chandu in wishing their many friends of 'Chandu, the Magician' another year of enjoyable entertainment. Presented over thirty radio stations by Beech-Nut Packing Company, makers of Beech-Nut Gum, Confections, and Beech-Nut Coffee, Peanut Butter, and many other foods of finest flavor."

This "Paul Winchell" trading card is no. 18 in a series of 36 "Television & Radio Stars of N.B.C." cards published in 1952 The description on the back of the card identifies ventriloquist Paul Winchell as the star of the Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney Show on NBC-TV (the show ran from 1950 to 1954) . Winchell's puppet (also called a ventriloquist's dummy or ventriloquial figure) was named Jerry Mahoney, and the back of the trading card explains, "Jerry, the sassier half of Winchell, is one of the most valuable puppets in the world. He is insured for $10,000. Winchell lives in New York with his wife and small daughter, who accepts Jerry as a living member of the family." Paul Winchell died in 2005, but his puppets--Jerry Mahoney and another one named Knucklehead Smiff--live on in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.

The borough of Lititz, located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has hosted a Fourth of July celebration--including a "Fairyland of Candles," as mentioned in this notice from 1940--for well over 100 years. The Lititz Web site provides additional details: "One of America's oldest continuing observance of Independence Day also takes place in Lititz. Since 1818 the community-wide Fourth of July celebration in Lititz Springs Park has been a mainstay. The festivities include the 'Fairyland of Candles' along the Lititz Run within the Park, which is a grand illumination of over 7,000 candles, started in 1843 when only 400 were lighted." -------- "Lititz Springs Park, Thursday, July 4, 1940, afternoon and evening. 98th annual Fairyland of Candles. 7,000 candles, only display of its kind in America. Hon William S. Livengood, Jr., secretary of internal affairs, guest speaker, 7:30 p.m. Streaker's Band of Lancaster, concerts from 2 to 10:30 p.m. (D.S.T.). Punch and Judy, three shows, 3:00, 4:45, 6:00 p.m. 3rd annual Photographic Salon, more prints than ever from U.S. and foreign lands. Baby Parade, 4:30 p.m. Gigantic fireworks display. Admission, 35c, children under 12 free, free parking. Largest program ever offered for the money; continuous from 2 to 11 p.m. Bring your supper and spend the day."

"At Edwards' Animal Show, Joe the Chimpanzee is holding receptions daily."

Flier announcing James Brown's appearance at the State Theatre in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 28, 1966. The Big Show of the Year The Fabulous James Brown, Mr. Dynamite. "Man's, Man's, Man's World." "Is It Yes, or Is It No?" "I Got You." The Famous Flames. The Jewels, "My Song," "This Is My Story." Butterbeans & Dixie. Go-go dancing girls. James Crawford, "Honest I Do." Bobby Byrd, "Oh! What a Night." Extra added attraction, Swanee Quintette, "That's the Spirit," "Try Me, Father." James Brown's Big 18-Piece Band. Halloween Show, State Theatre, Harrisburg, Pa., Fri., Oct. 28. Two shows, 7:00 & 10 p.m.

"Boy Scout Troop No. 11 of Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Catholic Church, Simpson, Pa., presents Dead Man's Eyes , with Lon Chaney, Jr., and Jean Parker, at the Neutral Theatre, Simpson, Tuesday evening, March 20th, 1945. Shows at 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock. Admission (tax incl.), 30c." Ticket for a showing of Dead Man's Eyes , a 1944 film noir mystery, to benefit a Boy Scout troop.