Take Another Look

"...And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this: 

 

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: 'Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?'

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant..."

-The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Perhaps all we need sometimes is to rub our eyes, dust off our glasses, and reconsider.

I could hardly believe it as I pulled not one, not two, but...

HUNDREDS of old photographs from the decaying cardboard box. Yes, the box from the very old bus in the woods across the street from my apartment. And I couldn't believe what these images were of! See for yourself:

Photographs of the Korean War! The explicit destruction in these images is so unbelievable; this glimpse into a time 50 years past leaves my mouth agape (well, metaphorically speaking.) 

Continue after the jump to see what other objects were in the box.

HaleyWulfman.com now live!

As you may have noticed, The Second Look blog has been on a brief hiatus--but now, is back! Look for the next post on what was found in the old bus, as promised. 







Also, HaleyWulfman.com is now live! Check it out for some brand new, never-before-seen photographs.

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As winter has begun to recede, springtime has started poking its head around the corner. It seems a good song would be just the icing on the cake. Ride a White Swan, by T-Rex, is fantastic, if you haven't heard it before. Marc Bolan's fuschia suit and blue sky glasses in the following video might just be the fudge on the brownie. You decide:

: )

Found: Time Capsule

Ever searched your house for your glasses, only to realize that they were sitting right there on your nose? Sometimes we miss those things which are most obvious.

Last weekend, I noticed a very old school bus in the woods up the street from my apartment. I've lived here for almost a year, and somehow managed not to see it all that time! Baffled at my own unawareness, I grabbed my camera and went to explore.

I couldn't figure out exactly what the transformed space had been used for. Glass jars lined the sides...some broken, some not. There was tons of stuff, just sitting there, waiting for something to happen. The long worktables with drawers along the right side of the bus led me to believe that this functioned as some sort of workspace. But for what?

Well, I went back today to investigate further. After spending some time checking out the old stuff (most of it not terribly interesting), I came across a box that was nearly closed, but not quite. Peeling back the decaying cardboard, the saturated red and yellow inks glared out at me...KODAK. I could barely contain myself! I reached my hand in, and the very first thing I pulled out was a roll of unused film that expired in 1959...

More to come soon! : )

Roman Vishniac: History Through a Camera

an interview by Ellen Wulfman (my mother)

featured in The Star News, 1984

It is late fall. Mrs. Vishniac has retrieved some flowers from the outdoors before the cold weather mercilessly dismissed them. Roman Vishniac first met his wife Edith in 1931 in Berlin. "She is unbelievable. I took one look and fell in love with her. She looked like a saint. She is very unusual. We never had a disagreement in 54 years." With the mention of Edith's name he let loose a deep joyful giggle. Vishniac laughed only once during our meeting.

Every other year Vishniac travels to Germany to visit the gravesite of his grandfather Wolf Vishniac. Taking his key he opens the old rusted gates of the cemetery. Once inside he cleans off the gravesite and cuts back the overgrown foliage; if the tombstone has fallen he repositions it. "Once I am gone no one will come to do this."

Roman Vishniac was born on Aug. 19, 1897 in a small town outside Leningrad. Vishniac's father was a Zionist who organized the first Zionist congress for his friend Theodore Hertzl. Vishniac's mother and father were founders of the early ORT society. As a young medical student Vishniac worked to organize the Jewish community to aid the many thousands of Jews who suffered as a result of the pogroms. There is only one time when Vishniac could remember the Jews of Russia being treated humanely, and that was from March to October of 1917 under the rule of Kerensky. "In Russia the anti-Semitism is the strongest; it is in their blood." Shortly after the Russian Revolution the Vishniac family immigrated to Berlin.

Once in Berlin Vishniac began to record the life of the Jewish communities with his camera.

The Nazis believed Vishniac was a Jewish spy. "For photography I was very often put in prison. If I succeeded by bribery to buy myself free then I could photograph again." Vishniac had covered over 5.000 miles by the time he left Europe in 1941...

Click here for the full article.

Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

Do you recall the blogpost about the great, rusty-voiced Vietnam vet with the used furniture shop in Cohoes? Many readers have mentioned that it was one of their favorite posts. Well, good news folks, he's still there!

And just this weekend, he told me a story...

Every night when Jimmy Durante signed off from The Jimmy Durante Show, the last thing he said was, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." Who was Mrs. Calabash? Nobody ever really knew the answer.

According to the story, back in the days before Jimmy Durante became Jimmy Durante, he had some work playing ragtime piano. Every day when he went to his job, there was a beautiful and well-respected woman, and every day, he fell more and more in love with her. One day, in spite of the big nose for which he became known, he got up the confidence and asked this woman to marry him. She turned him down.

History holds that somewhere along the way, Jimmy Durante scored his big break, got radio and television airtime, and even his own prime time show. He never forgot about that beautiful lady, though, even though he didn't see or hear of her for many years.

That lady--Mrs. Calabash, she did watch his show. Every night, after mixing with folks like Frank Sinatra and Eddie Jackson, when Jimmy'd say, "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are," she knew he was talking to her.

Well, Jimmy married--first Jeanne Olsen, then Margie Little. Many years later, he saw Mrs. Calabash again. As the time had slipped away, so too had her good looks. Life had not been kind to her. 


And so, though he continued on his own path, Jimmy Durante supported Mrs. Calabash, for the rest of her life. 

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Whether completely true or not, it makes for a great story!

Harmony Mills Interior

Remember the Harmony Mills? Finally got inside the main part of the building! More to come soon...