Saturday Morning, July 2, 2022
Saturday, July 2nd, we will be closed to honor our July 4th holiday. We return July 11.
A Kodak Moment
This is not simply a wheel gentlemen, this is a time machine. Words excerpted from a Mad Men episode, a television series broadcast from 2007 to 2015. Fictional, the plot line followed the travails and successes in a New York City advertising agency. The writing was excellent, the casting perfect, the stories memorable. This particular show covered the ad campaign for Eastman Kodak when they marketed their new slide projector featuring a circular tray, known today as the Carousel. Innovative, the presentation in Mad Men shows how company executives were sold this advertising approach. Worth a look.
June 10th, 1959. Newtown, Bucks County. Parade commemorating the 275th year of the town's founding.
Slides are an interesting arena, an almost unrecognized source for contemporary history. Many collections are now pouring onto the market, the result of a generation selling their homes. Vacations, family gatherings, graduations, they mirror the scrapbooks of prior generations. All capture the spirit of living. America on a tray. It is here we uncovered these gems. We thought this would be an appropriate July 4th holiday celebration - a trip back in time to Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In these images we resurrect the town's 275th anniversary celebration, specifically the parade held on June 10, 1959. Here our ancestors step down State Street, forever frozen in time. How many people will you recognize?
Kodak Carousel projector. A tremendous breakthrough in its moment in time. We can still hear the viewers snoring.
76 Trombones led the Big Parade
Parades are a statement, of achievement, of respect for one another, a milestone for community and country. People patting each other on the back. Look what we have built here. We work today to guarantee tomorrow, for us, for our children.
South State Street, Newtown, 1959.
Passing Stockburger Chevrolet.
Photographs are the barometer, a method to measure. Despite explosive growth, our communities still gel. The personality may have changed, but not the person, all choosing to reside side-by-side within this umbrella world. Congratulations to all of you who make our communities work. It was William Penn's dream for all people to live together, regardless of creed, race, or religion. Here was a rare individual. His belief in free speech and religious tolerance germinated our future Bill of Rights. One should never compromise this achievement. Here we discover continual success. So, let the drums roll, the bands step, and the cameras, well, shutter. America still remains the place to hang our hats, tricorn or cap.
Happy July 4th America.
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