The 1925 Christmas Party Photo... a Datalounge holiday tradition.

What's REALLY going on here?

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I remember this from a few years ago. On the right side, there's a real Karl Rove-looking know-it-all right in front holding a cigar. Behind him is a hot balding guy. I also remember the outcast sitting against a desk in the lower left-hand corner. She looks like something from an asylum. I like the woman sitting on the floor looking at the outcast. I imagine she sends the most "it has come to my attention" memos.
Blythe Danner really wants everyone to notice her ring and she even points to it. The big handsome guy right above the lady in the PD hat, who kind of resembles an older Leonardo, is the one who gave her that ring. But, he has massive dick face so I am going to assume that he has fucked every woman in the orifice. Well, maybe not the one giving Natasha, who is sitting on the floor, the stink eye. His wingman is the balding, Ed Harris lookalike. They have spit roasted several of the ladies and possibly a couple of the guys.
Thanks OP. So much to see in this photo... and yes, it has become a yearly tradition here on DL. The guy holding the toy horse? The oil can? The girl with the police helmet who looks like she is drunk. And of course Svetlana on the floor huddled next to the desk.
And June, looking on enviously; "I don't think she's so 'exotic'. I just think she looks dark.
Thank you R2. I knew that woman looked like someone. Poor little Svetlana would be pretty with some make up. What's up with both those women? The body language is interesting. They look like they just had a fight or something.
What's "go go" mean here?
The woman who looks like a deranged Liz Taylor with the horrible pouffy hair and bad teeth looks ready for some stabbing time with her candy cane.
If this photo were in color, I bet it'd be eye-poppingly bright.
I never noticed the guy hiding behind the tree before. He looks like he could be a little hottie. Wonder what he's doing back there? Where's he got his hands? Hmmm?
I think that's Tammy Grimes giving Svetlana the stink eye.
[quote]What's "go go" mean here? In the days before traffic lights, traffic signals were rotating "Stop" and "Go" signs.
I now laugh from the cold maw of SPACE!
Svetlana
I'm sure the two 'mos on the right made good use of that candy cane later that night. What's with the dame in the cop hat? Did she think it was a costume party? Is this where Schulz got the idea for Charlie Brown's Christmas free?
FUCK! Why were people so homely back then? I mean, what the fuck!
I was thinking the same thing R14 but I was going to be nice for once. The women for the most part are very homely. "Blythe" is the prettiest but there are two or three that would be attractive if they had different hair and make up. Women's fashion back then were really bad. Is that the twenties or thirties in the picture? There are a few downright fugs and that goes for the men too.
The fat little dumpy women all the way on the left looks mentally challenged. Like she sticks out her tongue to write. The pretty one pointing out her ring has a lesbian stalker. She's the one (top right) gazing lovingly at her! Svetlana looks like Anne Bancroft! She's hiding communist secret and will meet up with Boris after this decadent party! I don't think this group is homely at all r14...have you seen what the population looks like now? Just go to any WalMart and take a gander.
The women look like ancestors of Chloe Sevigny. All of them.
You have a point R16. At least most of the folks in the picture are of normal weight except for that really dumpy "special" one. The girl on the floor on the very far right looks like she'd be a hoot to go out to the local speakeasy with and drink bathtub gin and Charleston away the night.
Mops must not have been invented yet -- the floor is filthy!
The chubbette in the center (the one below the horse guy) is smiling because she knows she's gonna be bukkake'd by the guys in a few hours.
those stupid toys they are all holding look atrocious
Hillary Swank's great-great grandmother standing up next to the xmas tree
Nan Michiganwomyn, front and center next to the woman with the "P.D." hat on is busy recruiting from the typing pool for her first Michfest event.
Compare the girls to these in 1941. 1941 was much better for women's looks.
http://www.shorpy.com/node%3Fpage%3D2
they all look hideous too
Are we still convinced that one of these women is a man in drag? Will Forte in a wig.
"Svetlana just HAD to ruin the picture by looking the other way."
Funny how back they looked thinner, face and arms, but they were still quite flabby from the looks of these gals.
http://www.junipergallery.com/sexy_girls
R28 they look to be on average, quite smaller (healthier) than the average woman today.
These old pictures are a treasure trove. Who is on a date with who?
http://www.junipergallery.com/sexy_girls
I think that's a real-live Christmas witch front and center with the candy cane. I can see her sitting all day twisting that greasy curl with her finger.
If Francis Seigel thinks she's ever getting off the switchboard, she better start looking at the camera. It's not my fault she's the only individual in an office of 40 people that doesn't celebrate Christmas. She's lucky Cecil thought she was interesting looking because I know that's the only reason she was hired here.
June%2C%20clutching%20hankie
And don't even get me started on Peg. I know Cecil owed his sister a favor, and had to hire his niece but what am I supposed to do with her? All she is capable of is sweeping and staring out the window all day until it's time for her to turn out the lights. Honestly, she was probably much happier in that sanatorium.
June%2C%20clutching%20hankie
"a Datalounge holiday tradition." You people are fucking pitiful. Why don't you try going outside and having a look at real life? You might like it.
R34 = Scrooge-like BITCH.
The women almost all look horrible and greasy. And most of the men look retarded. The teddy bear, the oil can and the toy house on the floor are creepy for some reason.
Svetlana has fascinated me for four years. I'd love to know her real story, but of course it's probably nothing dramatic or even interesting. She certainly is mysterious looking, though.
The cute young guy standing on the table all the way on the right? His wife is a layabout. She sits in her bedjacket all day long eating bon-bons and reading magazines. You can tell from his crooked tie and unironed shirt that his wife has zero housekeeping skills. He married her for her honeypot but got stung in the process.
Jean Harlow kicking the ass of Wallace Beery
R35 = Worked in a gay bar in Minnesota back in the 70s, does not understand the worls has changed since those long ago days.
Wow R 38, I'm embarrassed for you.
Maybe she's Jewish or something R37?
What's your damage, R34/39/40?
I swear I can almost smell these people through my screen. What were the bathing habits of people in the 1920s? I'm sure some DLers could enlighten us. I'm no expert, but I know daily bathing wasn't the norm back then like it is now - didn't most homes not even have a shower, just a bathtub? I've heard that taking a bath ONCE A WEEK was not uncommon, and then during the week it was just a whore bath in front of the sink. Hair, of course, was only washed during bathtime and not touched all week. God, people must have smelled.
"What's your damage" Is that a victorian term?
They look downright ghoulish, but in a 'that's how people looked like back then?' kind of way. If I were rich I'd do a series that is inspired about the picture and the characters it features. It truly is a treasure trove of colorful characters.
It's Heatherian, R34/39/40/44.
I was born in 1978, R39, so yeah, no. Getting back to this picture, the woman staring off at who-knows-what in the distance, standing to the left of the P.D. woman looks like Chris Lilley in drag. It's almost eerie. She looks like she's having her own private moment of personal glory. Like she just got some major shit on her arch-rival. The woman sitting in front of the creepy teddy bear, oil can and little house looks like she wants to fuck something.
The woman in the front holding a candy cane is smiling thinking about how she is going to use it to give all the girls who work under her in the secretarial pool a "special treat".
Radclyffe Hall
Svetlana looks like she rehearsing for an Ibsen play. Such a mysterious figure!
[quote]God, people must have smelled. If everybody stinks then nobody notices. Your ability to detect any particular scent diminishes if you are constantly exposed to it. If you drive through a town with a paper mill in it, the stench may be strong enough to bring tears to your eyes. Meanwhile the people who live there go about their business completely oblivious to it.
Charlie Brown called. He does NOT want his Christmas tree back.
[quote] Is that the twenties or thirties in the picture? It's 1925, genius
R50, my grandmother used to talk about the first deodorant she ever saw when her sister bought it after she began working in an office. It was Mum and it was a cream that came in a little glass pot. She said before then they used corn starch as a body powder and they put baking soda under their arms to freshen themselves, especially in the summer. Since Mum and other early deodorants were only marketed to women, apparently it was okay for men to stink. They brushed their teeth and washed their faces every day. Adults did a whore bath. My grandmother said nobody noticed anyone's body odor because they all smelled the same. She said later on after people began using deodorant and bathing more frequently, body odor was more noticeable. She said it never would have been considered appropriate to comment on body odor.
Many of the women in the picture are plain, if not downright homely. Because of this, they couldn't snatch a man to marry (or find a man who would want their snatch) so the only thing for them to do was to find a respectable job like secretary (if they weren't smart enough to be school marms). They were also probably repressed lesbians (hence, the ogling of their spinster colleagues). So this worked out quite well for them.
Bar Bush
God, the one standing up in the back truly does look like Chloe Sevigny. In fact, a lot of them remind me of people I've seen now. Do you think there are only several genetic "facial" types? There was some science posted on an article of a Nicholas Cage doppelganger in a Civil War era photo. It could have been his twin.
Which one of the lucky ladies will be getting a pearl necklace for Christmas?
I am particularly interested in the antique lube dispenser on the floor next to the little house. It looks like it would get in deep for a very through grease-up.
Ciaran
The blonde sitting behind the oil can looks like she'd be a lot of fun to go drinking with. She has a mischevious smile.
See my post at R18 R58. We think alike.
Okay, IT IS TIME TO REFINISH THOSE FLOORS!!! Look under the table and compare to the rest of the floor. And that's why the women are looking that way. Pissed that once again, they were relegated to the floor in front of the men. That nasty, dirty floor!
derwood
I'd love to know the life stories of these people, esp. the women. What happened to them in their lives in the next decades and when they all died. Obviously, all would be dead now. Even an 18 year-old back then would be 105 years old today.
One interesting thing: Apparently this was taken in an office in Washington, DC. Notice any "persons of color"?
That sad Christmas tree looks like it could go up in flames at any moment. I think they have the lights plugged into the ceiling fixture. Can anyone make out what is says on the door? The last word looks like "department."
One of the commenters on the site says the women in front of the oil can is his grandmother. Unfortunately, no comments about what Grandma was like, if it's true. As far as the women looking "plain," look again. Even the ones with plucked eyebrows and elaborate hairdos look like they are wearing no makeup. Maybe they are, but you can't see it. A lot of them have visible dark circles under their eyes and look tired. Most aren't wearing lipstick dark enough to show up in a photo. That same bunch of women today would have an inch of makeup on and look 100% better.
[quote] One interesting thing: Apparently this was taken in an office in Washington, DC. Notice any "persons of color"? The janitor probably wasn't invited to the party.
R65 Probably because was lousy at his job. Did you see the mess on the floor?
[quote]One interesting thing: Apparently this was taken in an office in Washington, DC. Notice any "persons of color"? Home schooled or just not all that up on American history, R62????
R63, it's the "Western Electric Co. group".
The sad thing as it was an office party in 1925, there was no alcohol. No wonder Svetlana looks so depressed.
Some of those women would be attractive with modern hairstyles and makeup and fixed teeth. The styles of that era were not very flattering on the average woman.
Many of the women seem to be adopting the Clara Bow look of that time.
It's nice to see Johnny Depp's great great granny again..
And you, Curls By The Door and little miss Oil Can, don't think that I didn't hear you two talking about me by the washrooms on Tuesday. You think this white elephant party was easy to organize? Do you? Cecil made me use electricity from the ceiling to light up the "tree." And even though I explicitly stated we would be taking a photograph, Policehat still ransacked that desk beforehand.
June%2C%20clutching%20her%20hankie
It's funny how virtually all of the women are attempting the same short, bobbed, wavy hairstyle, but some (Miss Oilcan) pull it off better than the others. Except for poor sad Svetlana, that is. She's always been "different"
Actually, the one on the far left of the last row that is seated (just below the first row of standees) has a 'do that would've been perfectly au courant in the '60s. She was way ahead of her time. A real Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Creepy.
[R62], I was a member of the cleaning crew for that office. I purposely left that floor dirty. Despite the racist attitudes, I secretly dated more than a few of the white men (one who was in drag, putting his hand on other women in that photo). Listen, bitches, it wasn't a pleasant time for people like me, but I was always proud. In fact, I will always be here thanks to a guy named Spike.
Bertha the Vampire (Buffy was a joke)
Ooh, I yem so brooding and existential, no? Aw, fuck it -- Flossie and I are transfixed by the huge dump P.D. took in the corner.
Svetlana
Thisbe, 1900 is gorgeous.
http://www.junipergallery.com/node/830
I wonder how many of guys have major schmegma to lick off. Most would probably be uncut.
Yummm, you shouldn't knock it until you've tried it
[quote]one who was in drag, putting his hand on other women in that photo The one below Mr Eyebrow?
Someone has no doubt made this comment about the woman with far-off gaze but what the hell...She is the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Nicholas II. The old maid to her left has recognized her, and she will go to the local newspaper with the story after the office has reopened in the New Year! The brown-haired woman in front of the office door on the left is very pretty. I'd do either the guy without the jacket or the dark-suited guy in the upper left-hand corner of the picture.
BonniePrinceCharlie
Dude holding the horse was the first Brony.
That picture is great because it displays so many of the same archetypes that are found in all offices today. The chick on the floor with the mischievous grin is the office good time girl. The one giving the stink-eye to desk girl is the office busybody frau. The big guy on the left is the office stud.
Svetlana looks like she's looking for a way to escape.
Is Svetlana the one bottom left, looking terrified behind the office furniture?
[quote]Dude holding the horse was the first Brony. LOL
[quote]Svetlana looks like she's looking for a way to escape. She's looking for a place to POOP.
I know there was no such concept as "sexual harassment" in 1925, but I wonder if that guy's hand on the shoulder would constitute an "unwelcome" advance. I'll bet they were doing it.
The lady above Bette Davis has the only modern, page boy style haircut. The chick with the far away eyes is beautiful.
The woman with the necklace (behind the one in the front row with the big hair and the buckles on her shoes) looks like she takes the short bus to get tot work.
Svetlana and the girl with the ring are lovers. Svetlana is upset cause redhead got engaged to a man.
[quote]Adults did a whore bath. A what?????
Lots of cologne/perfume, R93. And a quick wash of certain spots prone to odors.
"Adults did a whore bath. A what?????" As my mother used to say: wash your feet, face and fanny. (Not necessarily in that order.)
Which one is Ginny from Billing?
My mom said "twat, butt, underarms" R95. Whore bath.
I don't see anyone that looks like Chloe Sevigny in that picture. Which one are you referring to R55? I do see Drew Barrymore's grandmother though ogling the pretty engaged girl sitting at the corner of the desk pointing out her ring.
Whore Bath = PTA Bath = Pits, Tits and Ass Bath.
Cheryl%20and%20her%20still%20stinking%20pussy
Picture the woman right in front, standing, of the woman with the police hat on. She has Chloe's features with brown hair.
What's with that oil can and miniature house on the floor?!?
Cheryl dear, the "T" is for twat not tits. No one ever needs to wash their tits. Guess we all now know why you stink so bad.
[quote]The brown-haired woman in front of the office door on the left is very pretty. Yes she is -- in a modern way, too.
I was trying to determine if the women all had their hair bobbed or if some of them still wore it longer and up as would have been the style by practically every women only 5 years earlier. It is amazing how radically the women's styles changed from 1915 to 1925. When did the real Christmas trees become so groomed. Even when I was a kid in the 70's it was not that unusual to see the Charlie Brown tree. Tinsil used to be popular because it really filled the tree out. In some ways they had a charm that the perfect trees today don't have (and you could see the ornaments more).
Colorized:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/11937%3Fsize%3D_original%23caption
I like the gay couple over on the far right - the prissy bottom in front, and the top in back, looking shocked that someone took the picture while his hand was on his boyfriend.
Disappointing colorization - too many browns and greens on the women. Did none of them dare to wear red, or hot pink, or deep purple or orange or some other color to work?
The woman on the left wearing the tie does a good Mia Farrow imitation. By next Christmas, she'll have her Bonnie Frankin imitation perfected.
[quote]I now laugh from the cold maw of SPACE! I love you, R12.
r107, I agree. Wouldn't some of these women have worn Christmas red if they knew they were going to a Christmas party? I also think the yellow on the lights of the Christmas tree is wrong. We used to have those pointy lights on our tree and there was never a yellow. They were blue, green and red.
Not a tattoo on a one of them.
R105, thanks Ted!
J.%20Fonda
The men are shockingly homely.
[quote] No one ever needs to wash their tits. You need to wash under them, dear. They get stinky if you don't.
"The men are shockingly homely." Men didn't need faces back then. They had big dicks.
When you polish the floor you have to move the tree. I'm not mad at you, Helga, I'm mad at the dirt!
Joan%20Crawford
"Men didn't need faces back then. They had big dicks." Not that bunch of hobbits.
The men all have a "Ed Gein" kind of look, and the women all look like items from "The Ed Gein Cookbook"
%20if%20your%20an%20idiot%20...just%20%22google%22%20him
Why is there a wire hanging down from the light?
The gal who is standing directly to our left of the Christmas tree is blocking nearly half the face of the man standing behind her, on her right, with the pouf of hair on the right side of her head. The chagrined expression on his face suggests that he realizes he can't be seen behind her wuzzy coif. Meanwhile the guy who is behind this same woman to her left is peeking through the branches of the tree, eager to get his entire mug in the portrait. He is one of the handsomer men pictured, but he fades almost ghost-like into the background behind the tree.
Looking to our right of the tree, there is a man whose right eye and ear and bald head are the only parts visible. He looks a bit like President Eisenhower or Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. He is so positioned that the object behind him appears to be resting atop his bald pate.
What's with the one guy sitting with the "girls"? Was he "theatrical"? Being shamed for fighting? The office manager's bitch?
Why is no one smiling? Didn't people smile forint urges back then?
They've been unwrapping gifts - the guy next to the tree has a horse! And some of the women are holding candy canes. There's trash (wrapping) on the floor, under the desk, and empty pacaging on the desk. One of the women, in the centre of the standing row on the left, is wearing a Police Department hat. A little house, a bear and an oil can are set on the floor at the front right, presumably more gifts. The fat guy standing at the front of the group on the right with the cigar and the ring on his finger must be the boss. He's vain and so has taken his glasses off. The bald guy at the back next to the Xmas tree has a funny pair of legs on his head with the sign "Go Go". Looks like it was a fun party.
The one you call Svetlana is my great-grandmother. Everyone at the office hated her because her pussy stank.
Cheryl
Their company was the Western Electric Co. I wonder if Alice Heacock Seidel is one of the women we see here. If so, she made history... According to Wikipedia: In 1920, Alice Heacock Seidel was the first of Western Electric's female employees to be given permission to stay on after she had married. This set a precedent in the company, which up until that time had not allowed married women in their employ. Miss Heacock had worked for Western Electric for sixteen years before her marriage, and was at the time the highest-paid secretary in the company. From a memoir of her life, she writes that the decision to allow her to stay on "required a meeting of the top executives to decide whether I might remain with the Company, for it established a precedent and a new policy for the Company - that of married women in their employ. If the women at the top were permitted to remain after marriage then all women would expect the same privilege. How far and how fast the policy was expanded is shown by the fact that a few years later women were given maternity leaves with no loss of time on their service records."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Electric
Interesting to realize they are all dead now. I bet they would laugh their asses off to see pictures of the fat queens that were making fun of them.
[quote]If everybody stinks then nobody notices So true. See 'Smoking In The Sixties.' [quote]The sad thing as it was an office party in 1925, there was no alcohol. Yeah. Just like there are no drugs in office parties today. The two handsome guys all the way up left (dark suit and lighter suit) look like brothers. If it weren't for the ears, I would have said twins with different hairlines. The guy in between them without glasses is Will Forte's great-grandfather. And Candy Kane with the pilgrim shoes and the huge hair is not related to Liz Taylor for Chrissakes. She's the great-aunt of the little girl from the Pepsi commercials in the 90's
http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4d194fc1cadcbb1809190000-400-300/9-little-girl-in-the-pepsi-commercials-memba-her.jpg
[quote]Didn't people smile forint urges back then? huh?
[quote]by: if your an idiot ...just "google" him
oh%2C%20dear
The tree is pathetic looking. Emaciated. The lack of decorations makes it look even sparser.
Obviously, "Good-Time" Gerty (seated on the floor in front of the oil can) gave the boss (holding the cigar) herpes at the last office party.
I like that the have to plus the Christmas tree into the ceiling fixture instead of a wall outlet.
plug* not plus
R133
What's on the bald guy's head- the one standing under "go go?"
Anonymous
The one some of you call Svetlana is, as someone on shorpy said, a dead ringer for Anna Magnani.
That's actually a sign he's wearing on his head R135. I guess it's the equivalent of a lampshade. Someone smuggled some hooch in.
The go-go thing appears to be a toy traffic light. You can't see it, but there are probably panels that say "stop-stop" too. The thin edge of one of those "stop" panels is aimed almost directly at the camera. Old traffic lights had the words 'stop' and 'go' printed on rotating panels or hinged panels that rose up and down. You can see these in old movies. I think the toy traffic light is standing on something else stacked on a file cabinet behind him. It only appears to be on top of his head because he is standing directly in front of it. You can see the curve of his bald head blocking the base of the object from the camera.
There are 6 attractive women in the photo, but not a single one of the guys could even be considered cute, much less handsome. I wonder what the boss looked like and if he only hired hideous men so he'd have less competition.
This picture is strangely fascinating. I would love to know what happened to all of these people, and who lived the longest. I imagine a few of the younger ones could have lived as late as the 1990s.
Two women have the same necklace.
The woman kneeling behind Liz or Candy cane w/the buckles, looks like a young Elenor Roosevelt. I can't decide of the guy with the cigar or the guy with the toy horse look like a "skinny" Fatty Arbuckle. Pictures from the 20's are always so creepy.
I think the fat guy with the boil and the cigar is the boss. He has that smug look.
If you were told that there was exactly serial killer in that photo... which one do you think it would be?
The woman next to the tree reminds me of Hillary Swank.
I swear the mysterious woman was facing more toward the front last Christmas. I think she's pivoting and in a few years will be facing the desk with her back to the camera. That picture is haunted.
R144, the one in the back on the left with the glasses and double chin glaring at the top of the tree.
[R110] You have to remember this was 1925 - Red was the colour of "strumpets" back then, and if you did have red you didn't were it to the office. Agree the colourization is a tad on the dramatic side.. More Royal blue on some of the women depicted in green may have been more the case. Same with the men. Royal Blue suits were prominent then too.