All Posts In » Retro Bits
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27Apr
A Boy And His Bomber
A young “cowboy”, the son of a member of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, looks over the Convair built YB-60 during its visit at Edwards from the Fort Worth, Texas, plant. 1953 (U.S.
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20Apr
Busy As A (wartime) Beaver
Not much to add here, just something my Canadian friends might enjoy. It couldn’t be more opposite from the many dark, fear inducing images of other propaganda posters of the time.
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14Mar
One Awesome Horn Section
Orson Welles, Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy make a little music on the Fox lot circa 1943. Welles was filming Jane Eyre, and Laurel and Hardy Jitterbugs at the time. [via]
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20Feb
Keep Those Flies Down!
As spring approaches and you prepare to break ground on that new privy, please keep your community in mind…
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06Feb
Nighthawks
Painted by Edward Hopper in 1942, Nighthawks officially hangs at the Art Institute Of Chicago (and unofficially hangs on my computer as my new desktop wallpaper). I’ve always liked the image and find that, like other work by Hopper I’m seeing
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03Feb
Keep ‘Em Clean
A public service from your friends at Oddments (circa 1938).
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12Oct
The First Female Military Pilot
What first caught my eye in this photo, well, it was that hat. Look at that sucker! That’s Eugenie Mikhailovna Shakhovskaya, Princess and first female military pilot who flew for the Czar in 1914. The man is Wssewolod Abramovitch, pilot and
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07Oct
Secret Words, Secret Voices
Last September (2011) an unnamed collector payed over $208,000 at auction for an Enigma machine once used by the German military to encode and decode secret messages. Well, not as secret as they thought it turns out, but that didn’t
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20Sep
A Bit Of Grace
I came across this photo quite some time ago, and have dragged it around inside an old documents folder (imaginatively titled “Old Documents”) ever since. I’m sure the reason I grabbed it then is the same reason it is still worth
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18Sep
Portrait In Carbon Black
Unlike the mysteriously fractured face of the man below, it’s clear why this man looks like death itself. Carbon black. A substance used mostly in tire production, and reminiscent of soot. Actually, given how striking the image can be, it’s
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About Jim & Oddments
Jim is a podcaster, half-assed blogger, aficionado of old things, and the man behind Oddments.
Oddments exists solely for the amusement of its readers. Thanks for stopping by.
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