The "Some Black & Whites To Share With You" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Cleaning off my desktop when I came across a variety of black and white photos with accompanying stories that I had been saving.  Rather than discard them, I thought you may also enjoy them as I did when I found them a few months ago.  So, enjoy them!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This photo was taken in 1928 showing the MGM Lion, the one who roars at the start of every classic film. Actually, several different lions were used throughout the years.  This particular lion was known as Jackie.  He also appeared in a few of the old Tarzan movies years ago.

This black and white was taken in 1961 in the lunch room at the Disneyland employee cafeteria.  Snow White and Goofy are going through the lunch line.  The place was dubbed "the happiest place on earth." 

This photograph was taken in 1967 and shows Katherine Switzer who was the first woman to officially compete in the Boston Marathon.  She finished in four hours and 20 minutes.  This photograph shows a few of the other competitors trying to stop her from running in the race.  It wasn't until five years later that women were officially allowed to run in the race alongside men.  Go Katherine!!

Charlie Chaplin and Helen Keller are shown in this 1919 photograph.  The photograph was taken on the set of "Sunnyside" where she reads Charlie Chaplin's lips by touching her fingers to his mouth.  

Photograph is titled "A Tower of Barrels."  Taken during the prohibition era of the United States.  From 1920 to 1933 authorities confiscated liquor in packages big and small.  Towers of barrels like this one were assembled and set on fire for disposal.

A photograph taken in 1905 shows one of the first batches of bananas being delivered to Norway.  The load of crates and boxes weighed 3,000 kilograms.  The long yellow fruit that we pick up at the grocery store today was once new to some, thanks to the advent of global trade.

This is "Ham the Chimp," also known as "Ham the Astrochimp," named for New Mexico's Holloman Aerospace Medical Center.  He was the first Hominidae to voyage into outer space and launched from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1961.  He survived the journey into space and returned to Earth unharmed except for bruising on his nose.

This 1934 black and white shows a wire cage that a council in London proposed for its buildings.  Infants were supposed to have sunlight and fresh air and this was to be the safe solution for the problem.  Didn't last long.

Early photography at it's best!  This photo shows the Great Pyramids which didn't become a tourist attraction until the 1970s.  Now, millions of visitors a year take photographs such as this, but probably with their phone...and in color.

This 1900's photograph show a female gunner taking aim at some nazis.  Most of the 800,000 women who served in the Soviet Armed Forces during WWII were medical staff, but some were women such as the one pictured here.  

The painting of the Eiffel Tower is shown in this black and white photograph.  It was taken in 1932.  The tower has been repainted 18 times since its construction, an average of once every seven years.  60 tons of paint are needed to complete the job as well a 1,500 brushes, 1,500 sets of work clothes and over a year's worth of shoes for 25 painters to get the job done.  So...if it takes 60 tons of paint and it has been painted 18 times...think how much it must weigh today.

The young boy selling newspapers in this photograph is Edward John Parfett.  His newspaper is announcing the Titanic's tragic fate.  He was 15 years old and standing outside the London offices of White Star Line, the ship's owner.  The photograph was taken on April 16, 1912, the day after the ocean inner hit an iceberg and took 1,500 lives as it sank into the sea.  Where were you that fateful day?

Do you see the bottle in the front of this black and white photograph?  It features a Coke and is seen at the Eiffel Tower where it is promoting the soft drink that is being sold in France for the first time.  

The Old Stockholm telephone tower was built in 1887 and connected more than 5,000 telephone wires in the Swedish capital.  This was constructed just before telephone companies began burying their wires.  By 1913, telephone wires were all underground and the tower no longer served its original purpose.  It was taken down in 1953 after being dragged in a fire the previous year.  

This photograph shows an afternoon of standing on a square.  It was a life-size human chess game in the Soviet Russia.

Everyone had one of these, didn't they.  It is a gas resistant baby-stroller.  Much like a bomb shelter or gas mask, these carriages look more like coffins.  Weren't very popular as you might have assumed.

This black and white shows veteran soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies in the Civil War reconciled and joined hands on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.  More than 50,000 former soldiers attended the event where President Woodrow Wilson spoke to the troops.  He said, "We have found one another again as brothers and comrades in arms, enemies no longer."

This photograph, taken in 1922, shows authorities in Washington D.C., along the Potomac, keeping a judgmental eye on women's swimwear.  There were plenty of rules on the books concerning the length of bathing suits and women were arrested when they wore a swimming suit that was deemed immodest.  

This black and white shows Audrey Hepburn and her pet deer.   It was taken while filming "Green Mansions."  The deer's name was Pippin and spent plenty of time with Audrey at her home.  The dear snuggled up to Audrey at bedtime. 

This final black and white hows the testing of an H Bomb by the United States at Bikini Atoll from 1946 to 1958.  The island is one of 23 making up the group of the Marshalls Islands in the Pacific.  It eventually was rendered uninhabitable due to radioactivity.