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September 1942. "Rochester, New York. The two Babcock boys share one room." Howard and Earl drifting off to Slumberland, with Ralph Amdursky's floodight showing the way. Photo for the Office of War Information. View full size.
tterrace, I'm glad you posted that link in your comment; I had somehow missed that photo and the one of your dad.
I had a friend in New Orleans who had that same wallpaper, or something similar, and he had all his airplane models hanging on fishing line from his bedroom ceiling! It was spectacular.
Any model I made looked like a joke; I was unskilled and impatient. I did love the smell of airplane dope; my dad used it when he restored an old Taylor Cub airplane.
For those in the Washington, DC, area or planning to visit, the fellows who work at the Paul E. Garber Smithsonian facility in Silver Hill, Maryland, (where they restore aircraft for the Air & Space Museum) have a ton of wonderful model airplanes they've made on display near their break room. Those folks have the skills and patience!
The photographer has had the one boy on the left to put his pillow down at the foot of the bed so he could get both boys in the photo and make it visually compact. I also wondered if they cleaned up the bedroom for the shot or if always looked so bare.
I had much cooler wallpaper in the bedroom I shared with my older brother.
Where are the wall pennants, the catchers mitts, the toys, train set and other accoutrements of a Boys room?
As a life long insomniac, I can only dream of making a journey to a sweet & peaceful dreamland like these youths are obviously enjoying. *sigh*
I've something in common with the Babcock Boys; my mother had poor taste when choosing wallpaper too.
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