FOUND PHOTO: MS BROADSHOULDERS CABINET CARD

Remember the classic scene from The Carol Burnett Show? You know the famous scene! The one where Carol walks down the stairs with the curtain rod dress during the Gone with the Wind parody, Went with the Wind.

Click here for a short interview video about the dress from the famous skit.

This past weekend I found in an antique store a cabinet card photo of a real life Victorian curtain rod gal. I don't know anything about women's fashion from the 19th century, but I can say I've never seen a photo like this one before. When I discovered this photo in an antique booth, I had to laugh. So did the First Lady of Neato Coolville. Just the night before, we watched Gone with the Wind.  Then the next day, we discussed the film in the car in route to the antique store and of course the Carol Burnett spoof came up in our conversation. Just a short time after reminiscing about the classic skit, I found the photo.  Crazy-weird-funny!

Since the photo is not id'd, I've named her Ms. Broadshoulders. I doubt she had abnormally wide shoulders or a curtain rod under her dress, but my guess is that she's wearing a costume for a stage play. Anyway, this photo was just too funny not to share today.

FOUND PHOTOS: BABY GOT BACK

Recently, I picked up a bag of snapshots at a flea market and inside were these! I always get a kick out of seeing silly snaps and here we can share in some backwoods silliness from these two girls. Wait, did I say two girls? There's just one really tall girl posing behind a tree, right? Shh...just play along.

Sorry to break the illusion, but the head in the above photo belongs to the booty in the next photo and vice versa.  

Oops! Looks like the head is showing a bit too much leg. Let me fix that for her.

There you go! Now the illusion works much better with the aid of photoshop.

Unfortunately the snapshots are void of any identification. The photos that were in the same bag are marked Pocahontas, Arkansas. So, it's a good guess that these gals were goofing off over seventy years ago in the Ozarks.

FOUND PHOTOS: 1966 ADULT HALLOWEEN PARTY

It has been a dry run for me in the way of finding found Halloween photos, but I did manage to buy a collection of slides this past spring. Within the collection are these five slides from an adult Halloween party from 1966. Not sure of the location, but since the photographer was from St. Louis, it's a good chance these 1960s Halloween hipsters got their freak on in ol' Saint Lou. 

Now let's have some made-up fun and jump in the Neato Coolville time machine and meet these Halloween party people!

Such a motley crew of Halloween hooligans ready to party the night away! Whoop! Whoop!

Here's Mr. & Mrs. Topstone, straight from the back pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. I hear they can cut a mean rug on the dance floor. Mr. & Mrs. Topstone are the ghost hosts of this swingin' party in Mr. Topstone's rec room. 

Ms. Macy Headless. a good gal, but she's a bit absent minded. That one is always losing her head, especially after a few Bloody Marys. 

Poor Miss Little Crybaby. Not sure who invited her to the party, because she's such a party pooper. The littlest of things will start the water works with this girl. I think someone spilled her Shirley Temple!  

The tall guy with the hat is Paul Beachcomber. He's not happy at the moment as he glares at Roger Ricardo, the guy with the slicked back hair and glasses. Paul has been at odds with Roger ever since '59 when Roger stole his girlfriend, Pearl the Flamenco dancer.  

Pearl the Flamenco dancer was the catch of a lifetime and Paul let her slip through his fingers like sand through an hourglass.

Let's meet some of the others at this Halloween party. 

That's Mr. Not-so-speedy Gonzales and his girlfriend Fernanda Plasticface. They will leave the party early because Mr. Gonzales will attempt to open beer bottles with his mouth and in turn break out all of his front teeth. At least he will leave his hat for Pearl the Flamenco dancer to do her famous forbidden hat dance of love. 

Here's Mr. and Mrs. To Wong Foo. At first, I thought Mr. Foo was that antique dealer guy who wanted to buy Mayberry's civil war cannon on The Andy Griffith Show. So uncanny, they could've been brothers! Mrs. Foo will entertain all the guests with her invention of the "Me Chinese, me play joke" joke.

We see in this next slide, that Mr. Topstone is tired of picture taking and just wants to dance. Grrr! 

Looks like Mr. Topstone is a collector of fine art with his neatly displayed wall of pin-ups. That Mr. Topstone is one classy guy.

 Grrrrrrrrrrr! Let us dance!

This group just showed up uninvited. I think they're real hobos looking for booze and party snacks. Someone throw a bottle cap in that one guy's hat.

Hey, wait minute! Who's that guy in the middle wearing Mr. Not-so-speedy Gonzales' hat and hanging out with his girlfriend Fernanda Plasticface?

Oh oh. Looks like we got some party drama going on as Fernanda Plasticface didn't leave with the toothless Mr. Gonzales after all. Instead she's hooked up with Sam Redshirt. He's the local butcher and supposedly real smooth with the ladies. Good thing this is the last slide because things might have been too scandalous for Neato Coolville.  

Oops. I almost forgot Miss Bigeyes Surprise! She sees everything, don't you know? All the party shenanigans will be all over town before the last of the spirits are poured. Egads!

I hope you enjoyed my silly slide captions. It's always fun to make something up about total strangers from a different era.

FOUND PHOTO: GHOUL MAMA

As a collector of found photos, I usually go for much older snapshots. Even though both of these are from the early 1990s, they're just too much fun not to share during the countdown. I don't think the little girl wants to stand too close to her Ghoul Mama!

Goodbye from the Ghoul Mama!

FOUND PHOTOS: JFK TEMPORARY GRAVESITE

Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest days of the 20th century, the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. In my collection of found photos, I have two photo slides of JFK's temporary gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. The photos were taken in early 1964, a few months after the assassination. I have no clue who snapped these photos, but I'm sure they would say that viewing the grave was a poignant reminder of that fateful day, November, 22, 1963. 

I noticed that the LBJ Library uploaded some silent raw film footage of the temporary gravesite to their YouTube page. Click here to view the video.

In 1967, a permanent gravesite was finished and open for public viewing.     

2005 photo of the eternal flame.

1964 commemorative postage stamp.

FOUND PHOTO: 1923 CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP TO LAKE TAHOE

It's been a while since I've shared a snapshot from my found photo collection. With everyone planning vacations and road trips, I thought this one from 1923 might give some of you road trippers some inspiration.

The inscription on the back - "This was the day we crossed Calif. line Aug. 19. It constitutes one of the most educational & prettiest drives of all. We rose 11,500 ft in 25 min. When we got to the top of the Mt. we came to a beautiful mountain lake, called Lake Tahoe. It is about 1/2 mi. square & the water has the color of the emerald birth stone. This days drive took us thru Americas Greatest forrest, Pine-Cedar & Spruce. Beautiful & Dense? Mamma comments on it most every day. Geography is now an interesting subject to me."

Isn't that great? Between the photograph and the inscription, it really transports you back to when taking a road trip truly was an adventure. I'm sure this unidentified gent and "Momma" had to deal with some rough terrain and maybe a flat tire or two along the way.  

FOUND PHOTO: MT. HELIX CROSS LA MESSA CALIFORNIA

Happy Easter! Here's a nice image that fits perfectly for today. This old photo was snapped in La Messa, California at the cross on Mt. Helix. Unfortunately the family was not identified on the back of the photo.

FOUND PHOTO: THE BOWMAN SNOWMAN

We're having a snow day here in Neato Coolville! Since we're experiencing a blanket of snow and ice, I dug out this found photo from a snow day way back in 1946.  

Now that's an impressive looking snowman! According to the inscription on the back, the snowman was built by the three kids in the photo, The Bowman Kids and is dated Nov. 1946.

Just think, ol' frosty melted away 66 years ago! He was a sharp dressed snowman with the classic coal button down shirt and floppy hat. From his smile, he looked to be a happy snowman.

Now, here's someone that needs a frown turned upside down. Apparently the oldest kid has a fear of snowmen. Hmm...maybe just seconds before the photo was taken the snowman gave this kid a frozen fingered wet willie! Brrrr...  

The younger siblings are all smiles and apparently aren't afraid of no snowmen! 

If you're having a snow day today, go out and make some fun snow time memories of your own with family and friends. There's not much better than playing in the snow!!

FOUND PHOTO: NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year's Eve! 

FOUND PHOTO: THIS GUY IS READY FOR A WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE

FOUND PHOTOS: CHRISTMAS TREE YEAR AFTER YEAR

1960

Here's a collection of Christmas tree snaps from a mystery family. Each year the person documented the family Christmas tree. I bought these at an antique mall earlier this year. 

1961

I'm sure this mystery boy is silently singing O' Christmas Tree as he gazes at the family tree.

1961

Things must have been going well for our mystery family in 1961. They can afford a second tree and they're popular. Just look at all those Christmas cards!

1962

War has broken out under the Christmas tree and it's in spectacular color. I spy some plastic army men!

1963

Okay, let me guess what might be wrapped up under the tree. Could they be chairs?

Oh oh! More war and this time it's on a piano.

1964

Looks like our mystery family is having some remodeling done. I can hear mystery husband tell mystery wife, "Sure sweetie, I'll get this place fixed up before Christmas. No problem!"

1964

Check out the two unwrapped presents under the tree. I've zoomed in and enhanced the photo a bit.

Lucky mystery kid got an Aurora Undertaker Dragster model and....

....a Green Hornet roadster model! Wow! That mystery kid was on the nice list!

It seems we're missing 1965. I hope everything is A-OK with our mystery family!

1966

Now we're back to color this year and it looks like that remodeling job is taking mystery dad longer than he thought.

1967

Hmm....maybe that remodeling job is not a remodeling job after all, but instead times got tough for our mystery family. We'll have to wait until next year to see.

What? There's no next year. No Christmas in 1968? None in 69, 70, 71 etc. No photo until the year 1975. Let's hope the family camera was broken. 

1975

Ah good. Looks like all is well with our mystery family and the remodeling job is finally done! Too bad it took more than ten years to complete. 

1977

Have you noticed the angel tree topper? She's been up there since 1964. Too bad she didn't make it into the 1980s as you'll see in the photo below.

1980

This is the last photo from our mystery family and this time we have some mystery children in the photo. Probably the next generation.

That's all I got! So on your way out tip ol' Ghost of Christmas past!