More Vintage Mardi Gras

Not quite as old as the photos of Mardi Gras 1903, the images here date mostly from the 1930s through 1970s. The parade goers in "Country Bumpkin" costumes (top) is a Louisiana WPA image. The “Indian” family is dated 1970. (Photos throughout are from the LOUISiana Digital Library.)

The moss twins and the two families above them are from

Mardi Gras 1967 and 1968. (photos: Art Kleiner)

Two 1971 photos from a Cajun Mardi Gras

in Mamou, Louisiana.
New Orleans Mardi Gras 1967. (photo: Art Kleiner)

Mardi Gras 1936

Rural Mardi Gras in Church Point Louisiana, 1972.    
New Orleans Mardi Gras during a presidentialelection year. Nixon v. McGovern, 1972.
Lafayette Louisiana, 1972

Church Point Mardi Gras, 1970s

New Orleans, 1967 (photo: Art Kleiner)

Ghosts of Mardi Gras Past

These photos of costumed revelers are from the Telling-Grandon scrapbook/diary, found at the LOUISiana Digital Library. It contains photographs and ephemera collected by an Evanston, Illinois group during a visit by train to the New Orleans Carnival of 1903.

The Telling-Grandon group

Happy Hanukkah from the Trenches

So much for this amazingly original trench art Hanukkah Menorah I found on eBay. There’s another exactly like this one, written up here, and yet another just like it in the book "From the Secular to the Sacred: Everyday Objects in Jewish Ritual Use" by the Israel Museum.

“Trench art,” as it turns out, is a tricky business. It’s hard to know whether the our Menorah was a microtrend, as in “I’ve got this rifle butt--hey, I think I’ll make one of those nifty menorahs I just saw Ari make,” or if it is of the “mass produced” variety. By that I mean “Yossi, bring me as many rifle butts as you can get your hands on. Tourists are buying them faster than I can turn them out.”

Here’s how Wikipedia presents the subject of trench art:

To the uninitiated, all trench art, by definition, was made by a soldier sitting in a trench in France during the First World War, in the midst of a bombardment. To the cynics, it was all made in the 1920s by enterprising French and Belgian citizens. The reality is, naturally, a mix of these extremes, and everything in between, and spans conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the present day.

In the realm of Judaica, the Menorah might be the only ritual object for which a gun is actually appropriate, as Hanukkah is the only ancient Jewish holiday to commemorate Jews battling their enemies. If you are not familiar with those guerilla warriors who took back the Temple, read about the macho Maccabees here.

Here's to repurposing all guns! Wishing a peaceful, light-filled holiday to all.

Happy Cinco

I was delighted to find Magazo on La Paleteria, a site that reposted one of the Soviet space posters I put up the other day. The video was originally posted on Mexicovers.


Here are some of the album covers I found posted
there by Sr. Mexicant.

Passover vs. Easter

The soup photo, above, left, was sent to me by Terry Rosen. Her title, 'Kneidleachness Monster,' made me not even care that it's really a matzo ball snowman. Besides, it's creepy enough to pass for a monster. (Photo by Joyce Lapinsky Lewis)

'Peepzilla' was posted here by Stacy Hay.

Shop till you ...

Herbert Matter’s "Surreal Shopper" appeared in a 1939 Harper's Bazaar cautioning shopper's not to lose their heads to fashion. (Via bits&bites, via The Eclectic Eye)

Face it; nothing says President’s Day like a good sale. It used to be that Washington’s Birthday was when stores made final markdowns on Winter’s leftovers, in order to make room for the Spring line. Alas, the holiday is now called President’s Day, Winter merchandise went on sale before Christmas, and gauzy florals have been hanging in stores for at least a month or two. And even though, the mere act of shopping, in itself, is downright American, gone is that reverential moment of handing over presidential portraits in exchange for our purchases. Somehow, swiping a credit card just doesn’t make me think of George.


Lacoste windows, Rockefeller center, the first week of January.

Laying Needles to Rest

Broken and worn sewing needles will be lovingly and respectfully laid to rest in soft blocks of tofu throughout Japan today. Though hardly as popular as it once was, the annual ceremony known as Hari-kuyo (needle memorial service), dates back some 400 years. No sewing is done on this day, as all needle-workers (kimono-makers in particular), honor the soul and spirit of these important implements that served so well during their useful lives.

Photo by Michele Walker

Bergdorf's Windows

Bergdorf’s Holiday windows are, so over the top this year that they are a challenge to behold. ‘Labor intensive’ doesn’t even begin to describe this extravaganza of passementarie, quilling, encrustation, and taxidermy, with a dose of steampunk.


During the day, the reflections of Fifth Avenue
upon the glass offer some dreamlike surprises ...


But the general effect is dizzying.


If you visit after dark …


and get up close to explore …


you’ll be transported to a world of fantastical detail.










































Glorious, but exhausting, much like the Christmas season in New York!