Photo Friday: Hetty From Hoboken Edition

Good morning!

We made it, kiddlings! It's FRIDAY. Got anything good planned for this weekend? I'm looking forward to a boatload of estate sales, a stack of magazines I need to catch up on, and a three-day pass from work...that's right, an uninterrupted 72-hour leave from the book factory! Whew, boys and girls, it's about time. But it wouldn't be the end of the work-a-day week if I didn't have someone-else's family photos to share with you! If a weekly digest isn't enough flickr action for you, don't forget I have a ton more where this came from in the odds and ends of my Pinterest board, aptly titled "(Not My) Family Photos". Check it out when you a chance!

This photo stream features a number of beautiful photos of the user's mother, circa 1950-1952, and I was just bowled over by her youth and smiling prettiness and CLOTHES, naturally, the clothes are a knockout. Let's take a look at Hetty from Hoboken, New Jersey's own beauty star:

From what I can tell, pretty Hetty married R. John some time in the late forties'-- I've been stuck in the early fifties' or I could give you more recon on the family situation. They have two little girls, Laura and Lindy, and Hetty's father-in-law, who works in insurance, looks a lot like my beloved Claude Rains. But the real stand out in these 1950-1952 photos is Hetty herself. Tall, slim, with a killer smile and sparkling dark eyes, I kept choosing her out of the gallery as the real star of the show.

Here she is with a Studebaker, adopting the standing-in-front-of-cars pose of many vintage photographs:

With a cute little cocker spaniel pup:

And with her two little baby girls:

While the scans aren't perfect, and the picture quality isn't always good, I love seeing these pictures and thinking of the little girls, and their brother, the user who posted the photos and didn't join the family until a couple of years later, looking at them. I can just hear the admiring, "Look how young Mom was! She was so beautiful!" And isn't she! How about this folded-faded pin-up pic of her with a little bab in a  swimsuit?

Here, the kind of late forties'/early fifties' evening wear I can really get behind. See the bejeweled peplum and shoulder pads out to there? I can't for the life of me understand how the eighties' got these silhouettes so wrong when both came back in that decade...see how feminine she stays even with linebacker padding in the shoulder department?

Another crisp, nice day dress and an interesting angle-- who's been reading Photographer's Weekly and figured out how flattering and easy it would be to do a in-the-mirror shot like this? I like the etching on the medicine cabinet's mirror.

With her husband on  New Year's Eve, 1950. "Were my eyes closed in that one?" "No, I'm sure they weren't." Do you see she's giving R. John bunny-ears, and how perfectly symmetrical her wide smile is? She could be in a lipstick advertisement!

Another example of her winning smile from a side view, and she dances with a friend:

And two more man-and-wife photos...again, aren't they just a terrifically handsome couple?

I gotta scoot so I can get started on my day of leisure, but tell me what you think! Which photo is the best of this gorgeous gal? Do you have similar photos of your mom or grandma with a perfect smile and great clothes? Seen any photos of midcentury women that have been inspiring you lately? Let's talk!

That's all for this week, but you'd better believe they'll be more to talk about come Monday. :) Have a great weekend, and I will see you then! Wish me luck at the sales!! Take care.