vintagenational:

Photo by Maynard Owen Williams.

From “Syria and Lebanon Taste Freedom,” National Geographic, December, 1946.

An Aleppo Baker Festoons His Shop with Necklaces of Bread

French-style bread is popular. Circular loaves are puffed up like pincushions when they come from the oven. Hole-in-the-center hardtack, shaped like a teething ring, is munched by bus travelers on their journeys.

to be festooned with bread necklaces is going on the resolution list for 2013

vintagenational:

Kodachrome by Luis Marden.

From “Aviation Looks Ahead on its 50th Birthday,” National Geographic, December, 1953.

PDrills Screech, Rivet Guns Chatter as Workers Assemble the Fuselage of a DC-&

Douglas Aircraft’s DC-7 is America’s newest airliner.This rear quarter takes shape at Santa Monica, California, largely through the efforts of women. Anti-corrosive zinc chromate colors the metal.

vintagenational:

Photo from the American Institute of Architects.
From left: A. Stewart Walker, the Fuller Building; Leonard Schultze, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel; Ely Jacques Kahn, the Squibb Building; William Van Alen, the Chrysler Building; Ralph Walker, One Wall Street; D.E. Ward, Metropolitan Life Tower; J.H. Freedlander, Museum of the City of New York City.

From “Skyscrapers: Above the Crowd,” National Geographic, February, 1989.

Spoofing the profession, prominent architects masquerade as their buildings for the 1931 Beaux-Arts Ball in New York City. As the scene suggests, architects, often forgotten by name, live in the public mind through the fame of their creations.

And don’t they look just thrilled to be there?

vintagenational:

High-Speed Ektachrome by David Cahlander and Frederic Webster, Lincoln Laboratory, MIT.

From “How Bats Hunt With Sound,” National Geographic, April, 1961.

Like a plane snatching a nose cone falling from space, he sweeps the meal worm into his tail scoop, then dips head to tail and takes the tidbit in his mouth.

It makes me really, really happy that you guys do like bats. Take two, they’re small.

vintagenational:

Photograph of Dr. Seuss in his studio, by J. Baylor Roberts.

From “La Jolla, a Gem of the California Coast,” National Geographic, December, 1952.

Dr. Seuss, Creator of Comic Monsters, Enjoys a 70-mile View from His Hilltop Studio

Theodor Geisel takes his nom de plume from his middle name, Seuss. As an illustrator, he is noted for his grotesque insects and dragons. He has written such works as Horton Hatches the Egg and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Dr. Seuss is shown illustrating a children’s book to be published next spring.

I couldn’t pass by this fantastic sound bite from the main body of the article:

When I asked Dr. Seuss if he had any children of his own, he answered, “No, I have a slogan: ‘You have ‘em, and I’ll amuse ‘em!’”

Don’t ever change, Doctor.

vintagenational:

Kodachrome by Thomas Nebbia.

From “Jamaica Goes it Alone,” National Geographic, December, 1967.

Jogging across powdery sand, a donkey and his master introduce a young rider to an Ocho Rios pastime. Other diversions of the windward coast include swimming, fishing, water-skiing, shell collecting, and dancing to the rhythms of barefoot calypso bands.

Every time I look at this, I think the donkey is flying a kite.

vintagenational:

Painting by Douglas Chaffee in consultation with Carl Sagan.

From “Mars,” written by Carl Sagan, National Geographic, December, 1967.

If Martian life exists, its higher forms might look somewhat like these, [Carl Sagan] conjectures. Shielded from ultraviolet radiation by a glassy shell, an animal gorges on mossy ground cover among plants with cabbagelike tops. Outer leaves close at night to protect buds from cold. Like the ground cover, these plants have developed an ultraviolet tolerance. Others, lacking such immunity, wear transparent bubbles.

Man, I can’t wait for Curiosity to come across these guys!

vintagenational:

Paintings by Robert W. Nicholson.

From “Mars,” written by Carl Sagan, National Geographic, December, 1967.

Anyone else stay up way too late last night to watch the Curiosity landing? So great.

vintagenational:

Photo by Amos Burg.

From “Along the Yukon Trail,” National Geographic, September, 1953.

A Skagway Bust Commemorates a Heroine of the Gold Trail

Few women braved the Far North’s rigors during the stampede of the ‘90’s. One who did was Mollie Walsh, who kept a grub tent on White Pass Trail. A former sweetheart erected this monument years after she was murdered.

The inscription on the bust reads:

Alone without help this courageous girl ran a grub tent near Log Cabin during the Gold Rush of 1897, 1898. She fed and lodged the wildest gold crazed men. Generations shall surely know this inspiring spirit murdered Oct 27 1902.

She fed and lodged the wildest gold crazed men

vintagenational:

From “Crickets, Nature’s Expert Fiddlers,” National Geographic, September, 1953.

Drawing by A. Castaigne, courtesy of the Bettman Archive.

Crickets Slug it Out While Bug-Eyed Bettors Watch

Since A.D. 960 Chinese have bred crickets for battles to the death, as shown in this old drawing. large sums often are wagered on the bouts. Pre-fight diet includes mosquitoes fattened by feeding on trainers’ arms.

Photo by national Geographic Photographer Willard B. Culver.

Tickling Makes a Cricket Mad Enough to Fight

The girl demonstrates a Chinese cricket tickler usually made of rat or hare whiskers in a reed or bone handle. A wire cage holds the insect while its jade-topped gourd (right) is being cleaned.

Oddly enough, tickling also makes me angry enough to fight.