Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Family Portrait with a Reg'lar Feller


This is the only formal portrait that I know of picturing all the TerMaat siblings together. Some effort went into it as you can see that Margaret, Marion and Hattie are wearing matching dresses. And Little Connie has picked out his best tie. If you look very closely, you can see that the photographer added a little blush to the cheeks.

The tie says "Reg'lar Fellers" and depicts one of the characters from a comic strip by that name. The series, created by Gene Byrnes ran from 1917-1949 and had many spin-offs including books, radio, animated and feature film versions, assorted merchandising such as dolls, pencil boxes (just search ebay) and apparently children's clothing.  This photo must have been taken in the mid 1930s. 1936, when Dad was seven and the animated short below was released would not be a bad guess. 



I like the little Reg'lar Feller jingle that introduces the film. Having just survived a visit from Connie's grandson Max (who really resembles his grandpa!), in which he dug a hole, built a catapult, investigated a pumpkin-tossing trebuchet and devoured Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it's especially fun to see the comic kids digging a hole, messing with an old jalopy, making it fly and in the feature film, building an amphibious vehicle. Some things about seven-year-old boys and their comic alter-egos never change.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving, Sheboygan 1966

Thanksgiving at Aunt Margaret's in Sheboygan, 1966

Kid's Table! Pete was less than a year old, so he must have been hanging with the adults. Note that Grandma TerMaat is lurking in the background.


Here Pete joins us to add a little emotional interest to the ritual group photo. 


Ann get's caught in a sneeze?


Pete gets acquainted with Aunt Marion. 


Eggebeen's had the best games!

Cousin Pile!