Figure 1.-- We are not sure just what to make of this photograph. It is undated, but we would guess it was taken about 1930. We would guess the teenage girls here are having some kind of party, obviously a costume party. The girls are wearing quite a range of costumes. In with this lot is a boy in an imaculate white sailor suit. Notice the cap tally reading "Topedo Division".

We are not sure just what to make of this photograph. It is undated, but we would guess it was taken about 1930. We would guess the teenage girls here are having some kind of party, obviously a costume party. The girls are wearing quite a range of costumes. In with this lot is a boy in an immaculate white sailor suit. Notice the cap tally reading "Torpedo Division". I am guessing that this not a costume, but the boy's best outfit. I assume he is include in the group because one of the girls is his sister and they are having the party at his house. That of course is only a guess. Perhaps readers will have other ideas here. Note that he is playing the harmonica in his right hand. He apparently is providing the musical accopanament. He is also clutching on to something else in his left hand,but I have no idea what it is. I'm also not sure why they have included a religious painting in the background. A reader writes, "For me, the painting by Raphaël at rear is more important than it seems. I suspect it is related to something like the adoration of Wise Men. It is just a guess. It could be also a series of scenes telling the life of the Blessed Virgin." Perhaps, notice that one of the girls is holding a baby doll. Of course there weren't any sailors mixed in with the sheaperds to the best of my memory. A German reader offers a likely explanation for the photograph. "I think it is a photo from the birthday party of one of the girls in the living room of her home. The religious picture at the wall was not uncommon hanging in such a living room - no specific meaning. lLook to the design of the wall-paper, dark wall-papers with coloured flowers were en vogue in the time between the two wars. The girl probably had her birthday around February during carnival. The family was affluent, but not loving the carneval scenery of cities like Mainz, Köln or Munich (a girl of such a family will not have the party with her class-mates outdoor and loud, these were "höhere Töchter"). The boy is her brother. He is not much interested in the girls, he was more interested in his mouth-organ. But his parents probanly insisted that he join the party and photo. (Imagine an 8 year old or so boy in such circumstances!) And to his right (left corner of the photo), is this the mother of the children? She does not look as unrestrained, boisterous as the other girls."

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Created: 11:37 PM 4/21/2006
Last updated: 7:12 AM 4/25/2006