11/30/15

Nita loved having a big family dinner over at Charlie's parents' house and her favorite was the baked potatoes with sour cream. Ivan, however, always went for the pork chops!

And so 1971 marked the final year that Zinger's Archery Range had wooden bathroom facilities. From this incident on, they would permanently switch to the aqua-hued, fiberglass port-o-lets, which were more easily identifiable!

Time and again, Uncle Andrew had complained about the kids leaving their Mr. Potato Head in inconvenient places and this time he didn't intend to give him back to them!

Even though Roy had gotten the banjo he wanted from Santa okay, Robbie remained skeptical and took quite a while to accent his present from the unusual man.

CBS News file photo of Mrs. Jessica Peckham, who never again took sardines and Zesta crackers for lunch to the flamingo pond...

That fateful first meeting between Georgia and Hyman Sidebottom and Lexie Wigglesworth (who, four months after this photo, became the next Mrs. Sidebottom.)

Poor Josh couldn't catch a break. Even the subjects in semi-nude portraits seemed a bit hesitant and skittish whenever he entered a room!

11/25/15

And so, after someone secretly swapped out Henny's ginger ale with 7 & 7 and tossed a quarter into the jukebox, The Funky Chicken dance craze was created...

On her first Christmas without Herman, Iris wanted to make sure he could still see everything going on, so she put most of the decorations and presents in front of his portrait and made sure the tree was in full view of his urn!

This was the third bike shop that she and Gunnar had been to and still there was no helmet for sale that could fit over Gracie's hat.

Charlie waited and waited for some sort of reaction from Terri regarding the message he'd left her while she was asleep on her stomach, but she never even knew about it until later that night when she got home and removed her t-shirt.

Ronee McDonald-King couldn't wait until she and her family finished this portrait sitting so that they could all head over to her dad's restaurant and have a couple of Filet-O-Fish and two Happy Meals.

Mischievous little brats that they were, Brandon and Pete giggled over the fact that they had taken Aunt Georgia's painting off the wall and re-hung it upside-down. Thing was, it remained that way for five months before anyone even noticed!

11/23/15

Stefanie couldn't wait to ditch her graduation gown behind the nearest shrub the instant the ceremony was over so that everyone could see her snappy new dress her mother LaVerne had picked up at The Fabb Foxx!

Once all the other patrons had exited The Iron Handle Cafe, Birdie and Ella Kay felt comfortable climbing up onto the top of the banquette for a quick snapshot, thus showing off their entire outfits instead of just their shoulders...

Mr. Ford had tolerated just about enough of Beverly's posturing and posing just outside his porch for her all-important portfolio and ultimately decided to spoil some of her shots by posing exaggeratedly in the background of them himself!

And so the birthday gift for old Mrs. Nettlebaum was ruined because Margarhetta couldn't wait until after the sitting to pester her brother Wylie about a long ago incident in which he used one of her dolls for archery practice. Helene, as always, only wanted to keep the peace.

After weeks of painstaking try-outs, Chad was the one ultimately chosen to dance opposite Vera Hubbledown in Granite Falls' spring ballet, Drake Pond...

Members of the Dry Fork Athletic Club were thrilled when the city opted to build a new public pool for use during the parching summers there and they all knew it would be even more fun once the council agreed to fill it up with water!

11/20/15

Fred Royce was busily deciding which pose to use for the next Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, so he enlisted the help of his niece Mary Jane, who was strapped to the front of his car as he drove up and down the neighborhood at various speeds.

Frannie had a ball at the Coughlin Tool & Die Christmas party, but limited herself to two Manhattans and was also careful not to spoil her new maternity top with any cigarette burns since she only owned five total!

Rare file photo of The Swooney Sisters, THE hot girl trio during The Crimean War, as they were later reunited for a family reunion. Bessie, Flossie and Esther Faye's harmonies (and curvy figures) had made all the difference to the French servicemen they entertained during the 1853-1856 conflict.

Tina May and Dave were quite relieved when neighbor JoAnn and her son Tommy dropped in for an unexpected visit because it meant they would have help extricating themselves from the tree and presents they'd been caught behind for the last fifteen minutes.

It's not that Uncle Lon wasn't grateful for all the gifts, but after receving a scary head statuette, a model kit of The Bride of Frankenstein and a hardback copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula, he began to wonder if his nieces and nephews were trying to tell him something!

Everyone thought that Al had gone prematurely gray shortly after purchasing Edgar the blackbird, but upon closer inspection they realized he was still a true brunette and that the problem lay elsewhere...

11/18/15

Sick to death of looking so "everyday" at her weekly Needlepoint & Potato Salad Bruncheons, Agnes Anne borrowed a few floral and decorative items from her living room to incorporate them and help to gussy up her ensemble...

Even though he'd put a roof over Ronnie Sue's head and food on the table for their baby Donetta, Randall was never really accepted by his in-laws, a fact driven home the day of Rico & Suzette's (not pictured) wedding in which Randall was the sole person excluded from being part of the bridal party...

Everyone declared that Tracey took after her Great Aunt Evelyn and made her pose with this portrait as proof, but Tracey wasn't certain this was a compliment since Evelyn had been a night nurse with an imposing, austere manner, not to mention the highest rate of patient loss at Wilkes County Hospital!

Just as they were about to cut it, Teri realized that the wedding cake, which Andy's family had purchased, contained the very same topper that had been on the one two years ago when Andy's fiancee got cold feet and left him at the altar!

Real estate was so scarce in Furnace Creek, Nevada that when Reggie was first transferred there, he, Mandy and the kids had to rent a 1/2 bedroom, 1/2 bath until they could secure a larger home, one with plumbing, windows, floors and so on!

Until this pre-wedding portrait finally came back from the photographer's, Byron had been utterly baffled as to why Lily had greeted him at the altar in a dress full of snags and bits of broken thorn in the train!

11/16/15

Art Garfunkel was so pleased with the new Polaroid camera that Paul Simon gave him for his birthday that he decided to make Paul the subject of his first photograph.

Ilsa was pleased at coming in fifth at the Carlton Tissue Trim-a-Tree Contest, but couldn't help feeling a bit dejected that hers was put on display in the back, directly across from the bathrooms.

For years, Mrs. MacLeod worried that her son Stewie, a cruise ship purser, would never find a wife, but to the delight of everyone, he ran into Bess while on shore leave in the Caribbean and they hit it off marvelously, eventually marrying!

All the joy that Rae felt after redecorating the master bathroom was quickly dissipated when Stan came bellowing out of the room claiming he'd been in there for two minutes and never did "find a place to take a leak!"

Clinton wanted everything to be perfect at the embassy for Princess Sylvia's visit, but unfortunately signals got crossed and not only did members of The Clyde Bailey Circus wind up being invited, but there was also construction going on during the reception, leading to a rather raucous occasion!

Raynelle had to get up at 7:00am and creep downstairs in order to catch Barry mixing up his secret hair-growth tonic, something he'd always claimed never existed and that his recent outcrop was attributed to high dosage vitamin E and increased exercise...

11/13/15

With physical fitness a priority for her, Helen didn't at all mind rising early in order to watch Lilias, Yoga and You, though she did have to set her alarm fifteen minutes earlier in order to put her hair on ahead of time...

File Photo of the gals who inspired the long-running series Petticoat Junction: Bitsy Jo, Bonnie Jo and Bessie Jo of Garter Junction, Louisiana.

And so, after secretly siphoning Breck shampoo out of his little sister's bottle for the past four weeks, Mike was at last ready for his audition for Jesus Christ Superstar down at Johnson City Players.

Esther Sue fully embraced all the new man-made fabrics that came about in the '50s and '60s. Vinyl lining for her drapes, plastic covers for her lamps, nylon for her wigs...

The fateful moment when Buster decided to exact his revenge on Myra for having his ears pinned. Only her curlers saved her from a severe concussion after he upended her lawn chair onto the blacktop driveway.

Suzanne was proud to have been named Miss Glitz at the 14th Annual Guildhall Shrimp & Scallop Supper, but had no idea in the world how she and Arthur were going to get the trophy home, much less into their car!

11/11/15

Happy Veterans Day!

(No Caption Required!)

While so many of his buddies were burdened with tearful goodbyes from various ladyfriends they'd made in Gestadt, Myron merely had to say farewell to Sylvester and place him in the care of Mrs. Ollsen until he returned.

After having his bed short-sheeted and his shoelaces tied in knots by Private Harmon, Buddy looked forward to introducing his new friend to Harmon's sleeping bag during this field maneuver!

At last Sgt. Bowling had the opportunity to repay the "favor" to Sgt. Hacker for the horrendous haircut he'd given him a few days before...!

Knowing he was considered one of the weaker members of his troop, Clarence decided to toughen himself up by going through a few rounds of hand-to-hand combat with Aunt Charlotte during one of his brief leaves home.

No longer jealous of the soldiers who got to be entertained by Bob Hope, Biff and the gang were thrilled to be paid a visit by Mr. Ed, the talking horse! (It was later determined, however, that "Ed" was from a nearby farm and only spoke when their bottles were half-empty!)

Until the obstacle course at Fort Tumble could be repaired after a recent tornado, the soldiers were compelled to use the playground at nearby St. Sebastian Elementary in order to stay in top condition.

In an inducement to prowess when it came to swimming, Captain Harrison pitted four soldiers against one another with only three prostitutes awaiting them on shore!