Vintage film, TV, documents, and photographic footage from down the years

[Tintin]

The introduction of dial phones in the mid 1950s required a number of public service videos like this one from Bell Systems to provide instructions on how to use them.

This would come in really handy now for our younger generations who would I'm certain be just as befuddled now about this as must have been folks in the mid-1950s

I once worked with a chap who said that after receiving their first telephone many years ago, upon it ringing, his grandfather would always comb his hair and try and look his very best before answering it

[Tintin]

INTERIM update, which is completely "Off Topic!":

Folks, I'm away for a short Christmas break now and should be back on/around December 29th/30th. I'll not be able to login to the forum while I'm away or access the internet with any great ease, so, I'll be effectively 'offline' for a week, which may be quite a good thing actually

Have a lovely Christmas and holiday season and I'll see you soon

счастливого рождества!

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Have a lovely Christmas and holiday season and I'll see you soon

[Harmony]

Have a wonderful break Tintin May it be Merry and Bright

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ivl0xD8fBtY

[Ewan]

Dublin: Late 1800's and Early 1900's

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Patrick Street, Dublin, 1898.





Grafton Street in Dublin, ca. 1870s.





The sailing ship Adolphine moored at the Custom House in Dublin, with a swivel bridge in the foreground, ca. 1880s.





Main Street, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, late 19th century. (Not Dublin!)





The remains of the Dublin Bread Company at 6-7 Lower Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) after the Easter Rising in 1916.





Men surveying the wreckage of Linenhall Barracks in the aftermath of the Easter Rising in Dublin, May 1916.

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Source for all images.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3ouqhCtIh2g

[Ewan]

Thylacine: Rare photos of the last Tasmanian tiger, 1910-1933










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I don't think they're extinct yet, there's still a few out there, teetering on the edge.

[grapevine]

Posted by Tintin (here)
INTERIM update, which is completely "Off Topic!":

Folks, I'm away for a short Christmas break now and should be back on/around December 29th/30th. I'll not be able to login to the forum while I'm away or access the internet with any great ease, so, I'll be effectively 'offline' for a week, which may be quite a good thing actually

Have a lovely Christmas and holiday season and I'll see you soon

счастливого рождества!

That it bold translates to "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", yet on looking at the Home page there are 0 birthdays today. Hmmmmm, has Tintin set us another puzzle?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Miller (here)

Posted by Tintin (here)
INTERIM update, which is completely "Off Topic!":

Folks, I'm away for a short Christmas break now and should be back on/around December 29th/30th. I'll not be able to login to the forum while I'm away or access the internet with any great ease, so, I'll be effectively 'offline' for a week, which may be quite a good thing actually

Have a lovely Christmas and holiday season and I'll see you soon

счастливого рождества!

That it bold translates to "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", yet on looking at the Home page there are 0 birthdays today. Hmmmmm, has Tintin set us another puzzle?

No no, it's Merry Christmas!

[grapevine]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Miller (here)

Posted by Tintin (here)
INTERIM update, which is completely "Off Topic!":

счастливого рождества!

That it bold translates to "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", yet on looking at the Home page there are 0 birthdays today. Hmmmmm, has Tintin set us another puzzle?

No no, it's Merry Christmas!

Ha ha - so much for Google Translate. I checked it again and it still says "Happy Birthday"

Correction: Google Translate was defaulted to Afrikaans instead of "Detect Language" - it's Merry Christmas now !! Lol . . . .

[Brigantia]

Posted by Ewan (here)
Dublin: Late 1800's and Early 1900's

Thanks for these Ewan; maybe one of the people in the background of the Dublin photos was my great-grandfather. Lovely to see it as it was in his day.

[Ewan]

Source









My own sweet Mother.

(An old black and white photo I tinted on the computer around 1990, it was taken circa 1956)

[Flash]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CtAidqaK94s

I did not know this thread existed, great!
Here a video on Montreal showing its industrial development and explaining, in French, the discrepancies between the English/British owners and workers and the French Quebecers left in utter poverty working in their factories. It is at the root of the separatist movement of the 1980’s when French Canadians finally realised that they would never direct their own faith having the English with all the powers, legislative and financial. It shows how French Canadians were always the underdog and had enough after centuries of it.

[pounamuknight]

Pilgrims entering into Manger Square, Bethlehem, for Christmas, early 20thC




Christmas Day procession into Church of Nativity, Bethlehem, 1900-1920




Local women & boy in traditional attire, Bethlehem, late 19thC

[Ewan]

Down Under, Australia, turn of the century. ( 19-20, not 20-21 )

1927, opening of Parliament House, Canberra




Logging, erm.. somewhere




Construction of Harbour Bridge, Sydney. (I think this was 1959)




Darwin, Northern Territory

[Tintin]

A photograph that my mum took in November 1989 from the Hong Kong side of the border fence:

[Ewan]

The Montparnasse Train Wreck in rare photos, 1895

This extraordinary accident occurred on October 22, 1895 at Montparnasse, then known as Gare de l’Ouest. The drive of the express train from Granville to Paris, hoping to make up time for its 131 passengers, increased the train’s speed and the air brake failed.

Smashing through the track buffers, the express careered across the station concourse, broke through the station wall, and crashed to the street below, where it remained for four days drawing crowds of curious onlookers.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that the express train, operated by Chemins de fer de l’Ouest, was made up of steam locomotive No. 721 (a type 2-4-0, French notation 120) hauling three luggage vans, a post van, and six-passenger coaches. The train had left Granville on time at 8:45 AM but was several minutes late as it approached its Paris Montparnasse terminus.

In an effort to make up lost time, the train approached the station too fast, at a speed of 40–60 km/h (25–37 mph), while there was a failure to apply the Westinghouse air brake.

Without sufficient braking, the momentum of the train carried it slowly into the buffers, and the locomotive crossed the almost 30-meter (98 ft) wide station concourse, crashing through a 60-centimeter (24 inches) thick wall, before falling onto the Place de Rennes 10 meters (33 ft) below, where it stood on its nose.

In total, a woman in the street below was killed by falling masonry, and two passengers, the fireman, two guards, and a passerby in the street sustained injuries.

The woman, Marie-Augustine Aguilard, had been standing in for her husband, a newspaper vendor, while he went to collect the evening newspapers. The driver received a fifty franc fine.

The locomotive was taken to a repair station and turned out to sustain only minor damages. Eventually, the locomotive and the passengers’ cars were put again in service. The Montparnasse derailment was beautifully recreated in Martin Scorsese’s movie Hugo.

[Ewan]

The Halifax Explosion: The naval accident that erased an entire city in Canada, 1917

There is more to the story at the link above and a lot more photos, for the sake of brevity I limited the amount of both text and images here.

The collision occurred at 8:45 am. The damage to Mont Blanc was not severe, but barrels of deck cargo toppled and broke open. This flooded the deck with benzol that quickly flowed into the hold. As Imo’s engines kicked in, she disengaged, which created sparks inside Mont-Blanc’s hull. These ignited the vapours from the benzol.

A fire started at the water line and travelled quickly up the side of the ship. Surrounded by thick black smoke, and fearing she would explode almost immediately, the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship.

A growing number of Halifax citizens gathered on the street or stood at the windows of their homes or businesses to watch the spectacular fire. The frantic crew of Mont-Blanc shouted from their two lifeboats to some of the other vessels that their ship was about to explode, but they could not be heard above the noise and confusion.

Just after 9:04 am, the Mont-Blanc exploded. The ship was completely blown apart and a powerful blast wave radiated away from the explosion initially at more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) per second.

Temperatures of 5,000 °C (9,000 °F) and pressures of thousands of atmospheres accompanied the moment of detonation at the centre of the explosion.

White-hot shards of iron fell down upon Halifax and Dartmouth. Mont-Blanc’s forward 90-mm gun landed approximately 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) north of the explosion site near Albro Lake in Dartmouth with its barrel melted away.

The last, above, was particularly traumatising for me. That's the Army & Navy Brewery in Dartmouth, on the opposite shore to Halifax. All that beer, gone!


Sorry, I can have a very dark sense of humour.

[Tintin]

Vladimir Putin makes his first address to the nation as President following Boris Yeltsin's resignation, December 31st, 1999. He was formerly the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation:

[Ewan]

Vintage color postcards capture life in 19th century Tunisia

These stunning color postcards of Tunisia show its vibrant streets, spectacular architecture, and the everyday life of Tunisian people. Produced in 1899, the postcards were printed using the popular Photochrom technique invented by a Swiss printer in the 1880s.

During this time Tunisia was occupied by the French in 1881 and administered as a protectorate in which the nominal authority of local government was recognized. Europeans at one time made up half the population in Tunis.

Rapid redevelopment of the city occurred as the French-built new boulevards, neighborhoods, and infrastructure and the city became divided into a traditional Arab-populated medina and a new quarter populated by immigrants.

(More at link, text and postcards)

[Ewan]

Egypt 1860 - 1930



A view from the top of the pyramid. 1900.




Photographer Lewis Larsson composes a photo from atop the Great Pyramid. 1900.




Egyptians and tourists clamber up one of the pyramids. 1880.




British tourists. 1900.


Bedouin Nomads. 1898



A Bedouin man riding his horse.




Men with trained falcons used for hunting.




Women carry bundles of papyrus.




A young man plays an instrument. (A variant of bag-pipes).