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March 1941. "Rustburg, Virginia. Judge of local court on right." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
That's the back side of a cathedral radio facing toward the window. I couldn't say which, but judging by the style, it would have been about 5-10 years old when this photo was taken.
In 1958, I conducted an experiment involving a six-year-old boy with access to a 24-bottle case of chilled Grapette.
I discovered that drinking five Grapettes in thirty minutes would make that boy throw up.
The Grapette poster that has fallen down in the window would not be very old, as the company only started marketing it in 1940. Read the Wikipedia article on Grapette - interesting story that continues today.
Sartorially, I'd say it's a pretty evenly matched pair of dudes.
It's been said that you can always tell the stature of a man by his shoes. Take a look at the difference here.
Looks like a Phi Beta Kappa key on the waist chain of the guy on the right.
This matching wall and window are directly across the street from the old courthouse.
Whoever last repaired that cathedral radio didn't bother to reattach the masonite back panel.
I covered county government in Campbell County, VA, for two years when I edited a weekly newspaper there in the mid-'70s. The county seat was Rustburg, and I learned in my two years that the most powerful person in the county was the circuit court clerk, a constitutional officer who served an eight-year term. I bet the guy on the right approached whoever held that job in 1941 with hat in hand.
... that the judge was the guy on the right.
However, the guy on the left has a dignified and confident bearing that says, “In another time and place, I, too, might be a judge.”
Followed by a first class hanging. That's my promise.
That judge does not look like one I'd like to face. But who is the gentleman on the left? I must say, black lives matter, and ignoring him is greatly insulting in these times.
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