I Think It's High Time For Our Annual Thread on the Western Electric Co. Christmas Party

I want to know what happened to all of these people.

Wha' the hell ish thish wordsh?

The bitch staring at Svetlana is ridiculing her. "Svetlana can't afford cable or internet. Svetlana hasn't seen 'Tiger King. Have you, Svetlana? You've never SEEN 'Tiger King'! Poor Russian slut!"

r2 has them all in hysterics at her office parties. they call her partygurl.

I think we've covered your last question at length in previous discussions, OP. Sveti's not looking AT anything, she's actively avoiding Mildred (with the wide lace collar)'s stare because -- unlike Mildred -- she deeply regrets what they did together after imbibing a little too much punch at that speakeasy last Friday.

She's learned her lesson: she'll never go out drinking with anyone from work, male or female, again!

Clara Bow's drunker sister right up front

As an interesting aside, the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) debuted an outdoor sculpture installation of a raucous Christmas party, which then turned out to actually be an elaborate lite beer advertisement. Just when I though LACMA could not become anymore despicable they show they can be.

Svetlana won't even bother to get her hair marcelled.

Nope. Too early.

I like cheese

Considering the wide exposure this picture has had since Shorpy first published it years ago, I'm kind of surprised no one has come forward claiming this or that party-goer as grandma or grandpa. Or maybe they have and I just haven't heard about it. Need to google.

I’ll bet they’re all dead. Dead, dead dead.

The woman sitting down front holding the candy cane is Ginny. This was before she transferred to Billing.

I prefer my Christmas parties more Bacharachesque.

Can you spot the terrorist?

Click on the photo at the link for the enlargement, the better to scrutinize these enigmatic characters and puzzle out who's been doing whom.

The guy sitting on the desk looks like he probably has a nice big cock.

Turkey Lurkey Time is more of a Thanksgiving thing, R14. Get back to us next November.

Lol

Okay, will someone please explain the oil can (yes that’s an oil can), miniature house, and teddy bear in front of the girl sitting on the right in the first row? Why are those things there?

Secret Santa gifts.

r11 I've thought the same thing. Odd that a grandchild or great-grandchild of at least one of these people hasn't come forward to identify their relative. It's possible that a few of the younger men and women in this photo could've lived into the 1980s or 1990s.

Haha, R19, (s)he matches the undercover Johnny Depp a few people to our left.

R18 Do you only know it from Glee, when they did set it at Thanksgiving? Because it is, and always has been a Christmas party in Promises, Promises.

What a great website. It's sad to think all the people in the photograph are now dead.

Thank you, OP.

Would one of you gals please post the NUMBERED version? Thanks.

These are the only employees left alive after the Eastland ship disaster in 1915.

I looked for the numbered version on the search function, but unsuccessfully. Maybe someone more adept than I am can find it, and we can commence saying "51 is letting 16 know that he knows she hooked up with 8" and "24 just goosed 30" so on.

There's also a colorized version, R27. I use it every year as my desktop art.

Crazy how jacked AF people's teeth were back then.

Men and women separate.

As they should be

Far right - the man sitting on the desk with the candy cane, and the other man with his hand on his shoulder. Could they have partaken of The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name?

What city was this?

Washington, DC.

R20, the house and bear were probably pulled from the homespun Christmas tableau that she had on her desk. The oil can she was probably going to repurpose as an ornament holder, as they are wont to do out in the countryside.

Genius, R37!

Why does the woman on the left look like she stepped out of 1964?

THE most important question is : Are any of the men in this photo DOABLE?

I've always thought that, R39. She looks like she belongs in my aunt's 1964 sorority photo.

The consensus has been that only the bald man on the right, standing behind the obnoxious fat guy with the cigar, is doable. The guy at top left could be doable if he didn't look like such a douchenozzle.

To Johnny Depp's left you can see Drew Barrymore, and Kurt Cobain has his hand on Drew's shoulder.

I counted four guys I would've fucked.

The TUBBY guy with the cigar is FATTY ARBUCKLE's older brother - CHUBBY ARBUCKLE

Actually the guy behind and between Chubby and the hot bald guy has possibilities, although he's so hidden you can't really tell.

Linda break!

R39, because she’s the only woman who didn’t curl her hair in waves. Maybe she just couldn’t be bothered to do all the hair setting the others were doing. The others are all marcelled, wore rollers to bed the night before, or got a perm. Probably done at home. Looks like they all got their hair did and wore their Sunday best for the picture. Except Svetlana, who has a hole in the arm of her dress. She’s poor.

That said, the lady at R39’s hair looks really thick and maybe a bit teased, which is why it has that “modified beehive” look. Her eyebrows are pretty well done too. They look modern.

Typewriters need oiling sometimes. That could be the reason for the oil can.

I don't think that's a hole in Svetlana's dress; I suspect it's an irregularity in the plate, like the seeming jizz splatter on the front of the oil-can girl's dress.

Notice how Svetlana is huddled in on herself . Also note the dark circles under her eyes and the seemingly poor condition of her clothing. Shes got a mean drunk husband at home that beats her and takes all her money.

I wonder who was the last one to die.

Well, at least we know Charlie Brown bought the tree.

Svetlana came into their office to beg for a little more time before they turned off her lights...except it was Christmas party day and in the spirit of the season they insisted she come so as to demonstrate their generosity...she felt mocked at all the finery but they left a bone for her to pick on the floor next to her.

The douche at the very left of the men is Matt Gaetz' grandfather who came to DC as a young alcoholic looking for his own Nestor.

I'm the pinched lipped Mary in front of the Christmas tree. My name is Elmer Graham, but my friends call me....Esmerelda!

My grandnephew Lindsey has, I understand, a striking resemblance to me........

Sales bottoms are in the back, on the right

The guy partially hidden between the two baldies shows promise.

I'll bet oil can girl liked to party.

You're all sleeping on Sherm, the twink behind Fatty von Cigar. He's got one of those long, lean Eastern European.....uh, frames. That's it, a lanky frame.

Link to last year's thread. Apparently the numbered photo wasn't linked then, either—has it disappeared into the internet void?

I'd fuck Fatty von Cigar.

The two celebrities I remember from past years are Blythe Danner (in between Svetlana and the girl who's glaring at Svetlana) and Chloe Sevigny (looking rather mannish, standing right in front of the girl with the fire chief's hat).

I can't find the numbered version either. I did come across this...

And this one, that is *ever* so festive!

*

Women workers at Westinghouse in Newark paused during their Christmas party at the factory in 1936.

[quote]I'll bet oil can girl liked to party.

I think she used it for lube.

The one holding the candy cane and sitting on the desk is smelling cookies for daaaays.

I found the link for the numbered version in the 2017 thread, but the photo is no longer at the link.

The guy at the farthest left of the guys up top on the left looks like he's got a big one and throws a mean fuck.

Looks like we have to resort to descriptive phrases instead of numbers.

[quote]The one holding the candy cane and sitting on the desk is smelling cookies for daaaays.

He's smelling the cookies baked by those two gossip-hounds on the left of the group at upper right.

Oi! Lady, second from far left with the big man style tie on.....Tessie!

Tessie's expression tells us she's seen some things that a woman ain't s'posed to see.

Who, conversely, is the most innocent and unstained woman in the photo? My guess is the plump young thing behind the slut with the oil can. In a later age she would be posting endless cat photos on Facebook.

the man all the way to the right is what Tom Holland will look like when he gets older.

I can tell which eight men Candy Cane Boy has blown, and the icky daddy with his hand on him is vying for a year-ended. Mr. Butchy on the left also has fucked him.

I took a stab at making a new version of the photo with numbers.

The guy kneeling next to the fat girl looks bored and a bit dull, but is insanely hairy and a real tiger in bed.

The baldy behind Fatty Mcfaterson looks like he'd finger fuck you while youre gobbling his pole then flip you over and shove it in without lube .

Thank you, hero at R74!

It was the 19th floor's annual [italic]Christmas[/italic] party at which we sang "Turkey Lurkey Time," r18:

[quote]Let us make a wish

[quote]And may all our wishes come true

[quote]A snowy, blowy Christmas

[quote]A mistletoey Christmas

[quote]A turkey lurkey Christmas to you

[quote]A turkey lurkey Christmas to you

I can only imagine how they all smelled. People didn't bathe daily back then, or wash their clothes regularly.

Considering it was winter they probably didn't smell that bad R79.

Wrong, some form of deodorant was already being marketed aggressively towards insecure proles eager to ride the roaring twenties into the middle classes. Likewise mouthwash. And a gent was never without clean socks and underwear.

"Insecure proles?" What's wrong with wanting to practice good personal hygiene?

People didn't shower daily back then like they do now.

***And now we can cue the DLers who will tell us you only need to shower once every three weeks or some bullshit. And you don't need soap, either.***

Does the room smell of:

dirty clothing

pussy and period odors

smegma (most of those guys were probably NOT cut)

BO

hair tonic

cigarette stench

dime-store perfume

talc

onions and liverwurst breath

R83 You forgot lavender or rose scented talc used by the ladies, and probably a few of the gents.

Did we ever give a name to the transgender gal (#12 in r74's picture)?

I never go anywhere without my dusting powder!

Just think: the majority of people in this photo were born in the 1800s.

[quote]You forgot lavender or rose scented talc used by the ladies, and probably a few of the gents.

Mine's gardenia!

My mother (died 1995) used rose scented talc by Yardley. It's the scent I most often associate with her. She also used rouge - is that still a thing anywhere ?

Bitchy queens (R44 and R45) are either eyefucking another guy or throwing some shade.

Or both, R90.

But they're not R, they're #.

I would do 11 of those guys. I know, sad.

And talc is on my list, so piss off.

I'm *never* seen without my Tangee, r89.

I would do (in no particular order) 9, 31, 36, 38, and 40. Maybe a couple of others

R39 is hot, even by today's standards.

How often did those clothes get washed?

Talc is a deadly carcinogenic, how didn’t swaths of people die from it back then?

#45 - JK Simmons' grandpa;

Mr. Bowtie @#46 - the office's resident mincing queen?

The colorized version. Years ago someone created a version of this photo with numbers on each person, it was great for making it clear who you were talking about, wish I had saved that photo.

R74 I like you.

Or you could just use the one the R74 in this thread created earlier today, R100.

R74 I still like you.

I definitely would swallow 6, 35 and 36.

39 isn't handsome but high in testosterone and probably doesn't do men but might fuck you if you put on a wig, stockings and a corset. 47 is not handsome but he is horsehung and he fucked his cousins male and female, growing up. I regret to say he probably raped some of them.

No. 41 looks like he’s side-fucking No. 42 as we view them in the photo. Miss No. 29 looks vindictive.

46 is the department snitch, ass kisser and self-appointed rules enforcer Percy. He saw 42 and 47 come out of the closet. This is why 47's clothes are not straight. Percy can not wait to tell the boss, 45, what he saw. 35 is either a future, past or current serial killer. 32 is very proud of his horsey. 7 looks like the neighbor from a 50s or 60s sitcom. 8 is peeved that Percy got to stand by the Boss. 9 is William H. Macy's grandfather Stanford. 10 is scared of his own shadow. Unfortunately Party Girl (11) and Mrs. Yikes at 17 will be found in dumpsters within the next few days. 13 (James Taylor's crazy great Uncle) will confess. In reality 31 is the leading suspect. That is why he is hiding behind the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Pervy 5 has been tapping 4 since she was 13. 25 has her eye on the food spread out on the unseen table. 30 would like to show us how she can make that oil can disappear.

That looks like Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency

Are there two numbering charts now? Which one are people using?

I think a colorized and numbered one should be launched in a new thread and this one closed.

I'm still alive, bitches! Concerned?

And I'm still pissed at that whore, Svetlana, for seducing and turning me into a Russian mole, which I remain to this day.

Thanks for posting this . seeing this was the perfect pick me up and reminder those before us preservered.

On another note, I was the OP of this photo years ago. This brings me double joy! Thanks and have a fantastic Christmas!

I enjoyed your original post r112 so thank you again! Merry Christmas🎄🎅🔔❄🎄🎅🔔❄

I smell the overpowering chemical odor of home permanent solution

mixed with sweat

and the pressure of keeping this rotten job to help support a suffocating family,

"Having a good time this year, Edna?"

"Don't worry Ina Mae, I know you're tired."

"You run along."

"I'll catch up all those ledge entries for you."

"My mother worked for weeks making this new dress for me for the party."

"I have never had a such a bright colored dress before, but mother said it would be festive."

"Mr. Langford spilled punch all over the bodice at the start of the party."

"My sister got married and has a family. They come over ever Sunday after church."

"Sometimes I hear my Papa tell folks I'm his 'unmarried daughter'."

[quote]People didn't shower daily back then like they do now.

You mean like they did before March.

Those lads had a little too much punch and played pocket pool with each other.

Were the men all uncut then?

Not the Jewish ones, R119. Most Muslims also. I wonder if this company hired Jewish men. (Women maybe because they were unimportant. )

It's my very great pleasure to bring you joy, R112! You have a fantastic Christmas, too!

[Quote] I wonder if this company hired Jewish men.

The company accountants obviously.

[quote]Percy can not wait to tell the boss, 45, what he saw.

45, the boss? Bossy bottom, maybe.

Come to think of it, I can't tell who the boss is here. Fatty von Cigar acts like he's boss, but that's likely a put-on. I suspect the actual boss put in an appearance at the end of the (early) work day, maybe passed out bonuses with a benevolent smile and paternal compliment or two, and then went to meet his mistress for some Count Basie and black-market gin before going home to his Dumontesque wife. The group photo was taken later.

I picture the boss as looking like Adolph Menjou.

The woman who is seated on the floor at the side of the desk looking away has just told the woman staring at her that she is the 24-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, She survived the execution of her family in July 1918 in Yekaterinburg with the help of a sympathetic guard. He brought her east across Civil War-ravaged Russia to China where they embarked on a steamship for the USA thanks to an American Methodist missionary group. she was separated from that guard after a train accident coming east from California. She has been working at the Western Electric Co. to save enough money for a ticket on a steamship to Europe. She is not returning to the Western Electric Co. after New Year's. She intends to set sail from New York to Hamburg. From Hamburg she will take a train to Copenhagen in hope of a reunion with her beloved Grandmama , the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna.

All these years and I never noticed before that #10 is Edward Everett Horton.

I think #45 is Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life. For whom is he serving as guardian angel?

Why for me, of course, R126! At least I hope so, since I've just realized I've misplaced the $8k deposit that was supposed to get to the bank before it closed today and, more importantly, before our creditors start cashing those checks on which their families' holiday cheer depends.

I'll just head on down to the bridge and see if he follows me.

#2 is wearing the Bonnie Franklin bob.

R123 Fatty von Cigar is the boss's son.

Next time, Try not to put the numbers on their faces.

21 is Jena Malone

r117 many of us have kept up with our personal hygiene. A daily shower is a must. In my case, twice daily.

The sweaty smell of all those woolen clothes and B.O. just jumps off the page.

Why would you put the numbers ON their FACES? Who would do that?

And where the fuck is 10?

^Ok. I found10. Never mind.

Why is 24 sitting on the floor with the women?

r133 I thought the same. If we could go back in time, we'd be taken aback by how nasty people smelled.

I think the objects were prizes in some kind of contest and now everyone resents 30 for either being smart or lucky. Or cheating.

I did travel back in time. I went to the Soviet Union in 1977. The smells were vivid.

Obviously, everyone was used to the smells in the natural air back then. I'm old enough, like many here, to remember the stink from cigarettes, not even that many years ago in restaurants, bars. movie theaters and even airplanes.....you just dealt with it.

This is one of the better earlier threads, with some information about some of the people.

But this was BO, which is even nastier imho. Unwashed armpits, ass, and hair is just the worst.

I decry these scurrilous accusations of BO!

If you were alive during that time, you probably wouldn't even notice the smells unless they were exceptionally bad. You would be nose blind to them. You would also be as smelly as your colleagues. So I don't know what this obsession is with the way things may have smelled in 1925. Unless you can travel back in time with today's environment as a reference point, why do you care?

r143 it's normal to wonder what life was like in certain time periods.

The girl with the woman's hand on her shoulder looks like a relative of James Spader.

How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad

Don't these folks look like they smell better?

If you don't use deodorant and don't shower regularly, guess what? You DO smell bad.

r147 they look very well-groomed. All the minges on the ladies and taints on the men are soaped, washed and talcum-powdered on the regular.

I swear I can smell the Johnnie Walker and Pall Mall fumes coming out of r147's pic.

This looks like a *caption this* pic...

[quote]Don't these folks look like they smell better?

I can't discern their B.O. potential by looking at the photo at R147, but they are a reminder that obesity wasn't also so prevalent in the United States.

People were so much thinner back then. Not nearly as much fast food/junkfood and lots of people smoked.

[quote]a reminder that obesity wasn't also so prevalent in the United States.

. . . obesity wasn't always so prevalent in the United States.

[quote]obesity wasn't always so prevalent in the United States

It's true. Can you imagine nowadays trying to fit as many office workers into the small space of the Western Electric photo? You might need almost twice as much space for the same number of current Americans who work in offices.

It's really alarming how many fat people there are today. And by "fat" I don't mean ten or even twenty pounds overweight, but people the size of land whales.

Thanks OP, I'd forgotten about this classic and now it's happily going to be my desktop wallpaper for the rest of the year.

Have Yourself A Shitty Little Ann-mas

oops wrong thread

The office gals....

The smell of Aquanet emanating out of r160's photo is overwhelming! I hope none of the ladies lit up.

An interesting observation about women's hairstyles in the 1920s:

Their ears were ALWAYS covered, almost as if the ear was some kind of vulgar sexual organ. Note, not a single pair of ladies' ears are evident in this photo, even in the short bobbed styles. This was a common practice during the 192)s.

The thing I don't like...