Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: card playing

A photo of libraries or books for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Transport Mercury. Red Cross. From American Library Association for all men on board. Not to be opened until return voyage." This real photo postcard shows a photograph taken on board the USS Mercury , a United States Navy ship, as it transported troops home following the end of World War I. The sign on the left indicates that the American Library Association provided books for the troops. I located another photograph of this same scene that was taken from a different angle. This second photo was cataloged as NH 45345 by the Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command, and its description also applies to my real photo postcard: "Scene in troop spaces in a hold below the waterline, showing a card game in progress [why aren't they reading their books?], with banjo accompaniment [the banjo player's hands are partially visible at far right in my photo], circa 1918-1919. Note books at left, placed on board by the Red Cross and the American Library Association. Sign with the books indicates that the photo was taken as Mercury was transporting troops back to the U.S. from Europe after the World War I Armistice [November 11, 1918]."

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "White Way Photo Studio, 1341 Broadway, New York City." For additional examples of this type of trick photo, which uses mirrors to create its illusion and is sometimes called a multigraph , see my Mirror Photos album.

A playing cards and board games photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A scary scene during a card game! The four young men pictured in this real photo postcard have obviously been playing all evening. One of them is holding a bottle of Tokay wine, and we can see that a tobacco pipe, playing cards, and various coins and bills are strewn across the table (mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the table ). The guy on the left with the unruly hair is staring intently at the one on the right, who has drawn a gun and seems to be trying not to laugh. The two other fellows, however, haven't even noticed the gun. Perhaps the guy with the gun is angry because he suspects that one of his friends has been cheating, or maybe he's just upset that the print hanging on the wall behind him is starting to fall down. Judging by the humorous poem that's written on the other side of this photo postcard (see below), it's doubtful that any gunplay ever took place. Instead, considering that we can see a bed on the right-hand side of the photo and a dresser piled with books on the other side, it seems likely that these lads are simply students in a dorm room or apartment posing for an amusing photo of a card game gone wrong. -------- Handwritten poem on the other side of this real photo postcard (note: "out of chine" seems to mean "out of alignment" or "out of sync" in this context): Perhaps we had a big old time And maybe it was a spree But really I don't know What actually did happen to me. I only know my poor intellect Was most awful out of chine And I longed for just one drink of--- Well it wasn't wine. L. Messersmith, Fairmont, Minn.