4 of 5 grammar school friends from the 1920s, in 1943
Kodachrome is gone. Nothing else lasts forever either.
These are four of the five friends who bonded their friendship in grammar school in 1928 or 1929. They graduated in the Class of 1940 from Fremont High in Los Angeles, California. Two of their classmates became quite famous photographers and both were, at one time, and at the same time, on the staff of Life Magazine. John Dominis and Mark Kauffman studied photography at Fremont as students of the legendary C. A. Bach, whose teaching ability, skill, and guidance resulted in several of his students becoming big photography names in what is now called “The Greatest Generation.”
All four girls shown were at one time or another in front of the evil glass eye of Messrs. Dominis and Kauffman. Two were pom-pom girls, one was a semi-regular model of Mr. Dominis, and all were pictured at least at school dances or activities. Mr. Bach, like all good photography teachers, would task his students with photographing different objects and different people. These gals, being at least casual friends of both Mr. Dominis and Mr. Kauffman, made easy pickins for these young budding photographers.
There was no television, portable DVD players, nor Ipods. Most kids were poor during the Depression and few had access to an automobile, let alone owned one. Most households had little spare money to send the kids to a show. School dances took on a lot more importance and were the subject of a much higher percentage of dates for Depression-era students. Of course, the photography students were there with their ever-present cameras to practice what became for many either a lifelong interest or a good livelihood.
Mark Kauffman has passed away. John Dominis is still alive (Note as of 2015, John is also gone), still active, and doing food photography for a famous chef’s cookbooks. “Food photography?” you say. Yes, it’s one of the hardest things to photograph, requiring the highest skills, lighting, composition, angle, and in film days, film choice. If you should own or see on the newsstand a “75 Years of Life Photography” special, you’ll see Messrs. Dominis and Kauffman included in their “Greatest Photographers of All Time” staff shot. Mr. Dominis is well known for his celebrity photos, but, in addition, captured on film (and I’m pretty sure it was Kodachrome) the famous leopard vs. baboon Life picture, my favorite.
Betty Ricord Metcalf, the then-young, beautiful brunette in blue, passed away this last Friday, June 10, 2011. She was a good woman and a good example of the type of people America produced during the Kodachrome era. All five (including the one not pictured here, but shown in a later picture in this Kodachrome series) endured the lesser circumstances all Americans did during the Depression. During their first year out of high school, they watched their husbands, sweethearts, boyfriends, and classmates go off to World War II to save the world we live in today. Meanwhile, they worked in factories, bakeries, forges, railroad yards, and anything else that could help produce the arsenal of democracy. These were desperate times on the West Coast, with the constant fear that the Japanese would invade. Our capital ships, battleships, were sitting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. The new and barely-tested-in-battle aircraft carriers and their support ships were the only thing that stood behind a then-mighty Japanese navy and the shores of America. The five gals had a vested interest with their fellas overseas and their very homes and families at risk. They worked long hours at tasks unfamiliar to women, as those tasks were formerly only allotted to the now-missing men.
Betty married unsuccessfully after the war and became a single mother at one of the worst times that could happen. The men had returned and taken all the jobs that women became skilled at during World War II. Nevertheless, she obtained suitable “women’s” employment, proper and all, but low paying. She struggled to maintain a decent living standard with both a toddler, who was a brittle diabetic, and a daughter, who had banged her head badly on the side of a pool while jumping off a diving board. Without complaining, without medical insurance, and without public assistance, Betty balanced job, family, medical trips for the boy to UCLA, and still found time to help her daughter grow up nicely. People today don’t have to face that. There’s always some government program that can be used and abused. Although short in stature, Betty stood tall and did everything necessary, one way or another.
Later in life, not only did her financial situation change dramatically, but she also found a good man who appreciated the wonderful person she was. Life was improved and even sweet. If anybody deserved a taste of honey, it was Betty. She remained in a most comfortable situation until infirmity and her subsequent passing, and I’m glad for it.
Betty was Betty, as a kid, as a teenager, and as an adult. She maintained being who and what she was, in good times and bad. Although she often wished for better circumstances for her children during hard times, she was never angry with envy. When the better life came her way, she generously shared it with her friends and never paraded her increased wealth and social status to create envy in others.
I point to her as the type of American who earned the reputation for being “The Greatest Generation” in America. Sure, I obviously think more highly of her than even the other many decent, productive people of the Greatest Generation and the Kodachrome Era. She and many others helped create the inheritance that subsequent generations have squandered. She and many others helped create the creditworthiness of America that has been destroyed because it was used like a credit card in the hands of an irresponsible teenager.
As both a compliment to the then-young ladies shown in the old Kodachrome, and a voice of concern for America’s future, I ask the question, “Who will replace these people?” I’m sure as Betty passed away, a new baby was born. That child will eat the food that Betty will not and breathe the air that Betty can no longer. That’s just the cycle of life and the way it always will be. Sadly, that child will never see, nor be part of, anything like the Kodachrome Era. It seems like America is just not replacing “Bettys” of like quality and caliber. Our children, grandchildren, and our grandchildren’s children will have to live with the results.
I treasure this old photo. It still has the clarity, color, look and feel that can make an old man look back to yesterday. I’m glad it wasn’t digital, as it would be long ago corrupted. My memory fades, but the Kodachrome does not.
A. T. Burke
4 of 5 grammar school friends from the 1920s, in 1943
Kodachrome is gone. Nothing else lasts forever either.
These are four of the five friends who bonded their friendship in grammar school in 1928 or 1929. They graduated in the Class of 1940 from Fremont High in Los Angeles, California. Two of their classmates became quite famous photographers and both were, at one time, and at the same time, on the staff of Life Magazine. John Dominis and Mark Kauffman studied photography at Fremont as students of the legendary C. A. Bach, whose teaching ability, skill, and guidance resulted in several of his students becoming big photography names in what is now called “The Greatest Generation.”
All four girls shown were at one time or another in front of the evil glass eye of Messrs. Dominis and Kauffman. Two were pom-pom girls, one was a semi-regular model of Mr. Dominis, and all were pictured at least at school dances or activities. Mr. Bach, like all good photography teachers, would task his students with photographing different objects and different people. These gals, being at least casual friends of both Mr. Dominis and Mr. Kauffman, made easy pickins for these young budding photographers.
There was no television, portable DVD players, nor Ipods. Most kids were poor during the Depression and few had access to an automobile, let alone owned one. Most households had little spare money to send the kids to a show. School dances took on a lot more importance and were the subject of a much higher percentage of dates for Depression-era students. Of course, the photography students were there with their ever-present cameras to practice what became for many either a lifelong interest or a good livelihood.
Mark Kauffman has passed away. John Dominis is still alive (Note as of 2015, John is also gone), still active, and doing food photography for a famous chef’s cookbooks. “Food photography?” you say. Yes, it’s one of the hardest things to photograph, requiring the highest skills, lighting, composition, angle, and in film days, film choice. If you should own or see on the newsstand a “75 Years of Life Photography” special, you’ll see Messrs. Dominis and Kauffman included in their “Greatest Photographers of All Time” staff shot. Mr. Dominis is well known for his celebrity photos, but, in addition, captured on film (and I’m pretty sure it was Kodachrome) the famous leopard vs. baboon Life picture, my favorite.
Betty Ricord Metcalf, the then-young, beautiful brunette in blue, passed away this last Friday, June 10, 2011. She was a good woman and a good example of the type of people America produced during the Kodachrome era. All five (including the one not pictured here, but shown in a later picture in this Kodachrome series) endured the lesser circumstances all Americans did during the Depression. During their first year out of high school, they watched their husbands, sweethearts, boyfriends, and classmates go off to World War II to save the world we live in today. Meanwhile, they worked in factories, bakeries, forges, railroad yards, and anything else that could help produce the arsenal of democracy. These were desperate times on the West Coast, with the constant fear that the Japanese would invade. Our capital ships, battleships, were sitting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. The new and barely-tested-in-battle aircraft carriers and their support ships were the only thing that stood behind a then-mighty Japanese navy and the shores of America. The five gals had a vested interest with their fellas overseas and their very homes and families at risk. They worked long hours at tasks unfamiliar to women, as those tasks were formerly only allotted to the now-missing men.
Betty married unsuccessfully after the war and became a single mother at one of the worst times that could happen. The men had returned and taken all the jobs that women became skilled at during World War II. Nevertheless, she obtained suitable “women’s” employment, proper and all, but low paying. She struggled to maintain a decent living standard with both a toddler, who was a brittle diabetic, and a daughter, who had banged her head badly on the side of a pool while jumping off a diving board. Without complaining, without medical insurance, and without public assistance, Betty balanced job, family, medical trips for the boy to UCLA, and still found time to help her daughter grow up nicely. People today don’t have to face that. There’s always some government program that can be used and abused. Although short in stature, Betty stood tall and did everything necessary, one way or another.
Later in life, not only did her financial situation change dramatically, but she also found a good man who appreciated the wonderful person she was. Life was improved and even sweet. If anybody deserved a taste of honey, it was Betty. She remained in a most comfortable situation until infirmity and her subsequent passing, and I’m glad for it.
Betty was Betty, as a kid, as a teenager, and as an adult. She maintained being who and what she was, in good times and bad. Although she often wished for better circumstances for her children during hard times, she was never angry with envy. When the better life came her way, she generously shared it with her friends and never paraded her increased wealth and social status to create envy in others.
I point to her as the type of American who earned the reputation for being “The Greatest Generation” in America. Sure, I obviously think more highly of her than even the other many decent, productive people of the Greatest Generation and the Kodachrome Era. She and many others helped create the inheritance that subsequent generations have squandered. She and many others helped create the creditworthiness of America that has been destroyed because it was used like a credit card in the hands of an irresponsible teenager.
As both a compliment to the then-young ladies shown in the old Kodachrome, and a voice of concern for America’s future, I ask the question, “Who will replace these people?” I’m sure as Betty passed away, a new baby was born. That child will eat the food that Betty will not and breathe the air that Betty can no longer. That’s just the cycle of life and the way it always will be. Sadly, that child will never see, nor be part of, anything like the Kodachrome Era. It seems like America is just not replacing “Bettys” of like quality and caliber. Our children, grandchildren, and our grandchildren’s children will have to live with the results.
I treasure this old photo. It still has the clarity, color, look and feel that can make an old man look back to yesterday. I’m glad it wasn’t digital, as it would be long ago corrupted. My memory fades, but the Kodachrome does not.
A. T. Burke