Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: 1950

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of this was the [you name the decade] (please explain why the photo represents the period) . "Midway Diner, where we ate our dinner. On our trip to Atlantic City. Thursday, July 13, 1950." This was the 1950s -- just barely -- but diners like this have played a significant role in fifties nostalgia. As Wikipedia observes, "In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob , Happy Days , Grease , and Diner ), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date." Based on other photos I purchased along with this one, I believe that the family members who ate their dinner here on July 13 were traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, from their home in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania. This suggests that the Midway Diner was located somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to determine exactly where. As I was getting ready to post this picture, I discovered that I used a different diner photo for a previous 1950s theme for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See Good Food Federal Diner, Brookline Avenue, Boston, Mass., 1956 .

A photo of dolls for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten note on the other side of this small snapshot (circa 1950, possibly from Columbia County, Pa.): "Charlie Coates (left). Ed Sharretts (right). Madge dressed Charlie & I dressed Ed. Ed got [a] prize for being the cutest." Not to be confused with Guys and Dolls .

"Seasons Greetings, 1950." Handwritten signature on the other side of this photographic greeting card: "The Weidman's." For the Weidman family Christmas card from 1949, this young girl posed with Santa outside on the porch instead of inside on the stairs. See Season's Greetings, 1949—From Our House to Your House .

Printed on the back of this linen advertising postcard: "The Moline Cafe. Best for many miles. Located center of city. Service--5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Air-conditioned. Soda fountain. On main highway to Yellowstone Park. U.S. No. 10, No. 52, No. 281. OC-H373." Postmarks: Mandan, N.Dak., Aug. 10, 1951, and Lake Sheridan, Pa., Aug. 13, 1951. Handwritten message: "Thurs. noon. Dear Mom, Having lunch in this cafe. Very nice. Left Alexandria about 6:30 this A.M. You can really make time going thru here. No traffic--good strait roads. Flat as a dye. Love, Della."

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

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.

Cover of an advertising brochure extolling the virtues of the "Studebaker Automatic Drive"--"the newest and most advanced automatic transmission." This Studebaker has "No clutch pedal, of course! But there's nothing new to learn. You just drive in the usual way--without any clutching, declutching, or shifting gears. Marvelous for 'new' drivers." "Studebaker Automatic Drive. The newest and most advanced!" License plate on front of car: "1950." Stamped on cover: "Goodwin Park Garage, 908 Maple Ave., Hartford, Conn."

"Annual Fastnacht Social, sponsored by Beginner's, Primary, and Junior Depts., St. Andrew's Reformed Sunday School, Spruce Street off Perkiomen Avenue, Tuesday, February 21, 1950. Supper served from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets, 10 cents." Although "fastnachts"--a type of fried doughnut--are eaten in central Pennsylvania on Fastnacht Day , it's not known whether the traditional treat was featured as part of this "Fasnacht Social" supper held as a church fundraiser in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Shrove Tuesday in 1950. For additional information on Fastnacht Day, see Fastnacht Sociable, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lancaster, Pa., Feb. 16, 1904 .

"New Port Authority Bus Terminal, 41st Street & Eighth Avenue, Longacre 4-8484, one block from Times Square." Printed on the back of this postard: "Largest in the world, the $24,000,000 Port Authority Bus Terminal to open December 15, 1950, was built by the Port of New York Authority, the self-supporting joint agency of the states of New Jersey and New York, to relieve street traffic congestion in Manhattan and to provide a comfortable central station for 130,000 bus commuters and many thousand long distance bus travelers who daily enter and leave New York. The Port of New York Authority, 111 Eighth Avenue. N.Y. 11, N.Y." Message and name--both printed rather than handwritten--on back: "I thought you would be interested in receiving the above facts about the Port Authority Bus Terminal. With best wishes, cordially, Howard S. Cullman." See also Steve Shook's image of this postcard on Flickr, which has a linen finish that's missing on my copy: New Port Authority Bus Terminal, 1950 - Linen Postcard .

"Quality Courts United, Inc. Free guide, 1950. Travel first class." Cover illustration from a small booklet listing the motels affliiated with Quality Courts United.