TULSA DECO, & Historic Photos & Ephemera
Page 5
PHOTOS & POSTCARDS - ADVERTISEMENTS - MAGAZINES - DOCUMENTS
Above: Miss Tulsa, Norma Smallwood in Atlantic City, being crowned Miss America by King Neptune in 1926. Norma was the first Native American (Cherokee) to win the Miss America contest. She was married, for a time, to the famous Tulsa oil magnate, Thomas Gilcrease.
Above and Below. Douglas A-26 Invader used by the Allies during WWII.
Above photo shows an A-26 Invader named Miss Tulsa, and perhaps that is Miss Tulsa herself sitting on top!
Below: Dorothy Ann Turner an electrical technician working on an A-26 Invader at the Tulsa, Douglas Aircraft assembly plant. At the time the front plexiglass housing featured the largest piece of plexiglass used on a war plane.
Above: We love this photo of a sassy looking flapper in front of a fun Art Deco background. An inscription on the back reads "White Rabbit fur coat... worn by Peanuts Wagner". What a perfect flapper name!
Above: Another great fashion photo from our collection. This one features a young lady wearing what is likely a flying outfit or possibly a motoring outfit.
Above:
Photo postcard of a group of women. On the back of the postcard is a Jan 1908 Tulsa postmark. Postcard was sent to Mrs Marcia Allen of Lulca Oklahoma, from J.R Allen. This is a great exampleof the clothes and hair styles of women in Tulsa at the turn of the century. These fashions would see radical changes (as seen in the images above) in a relatively short time.
Above: Neat photo of the construction of the Drew Building in Tulsa. On the back is the date the photo postcard was mailed August 31 1910 and a note that the building was completed by the time the postcard was sent.
Above: Beano Hall, (Beano Building)
Perhaps one of the most nightmarishly disgusting places to have ever existed in Tulsa. The building is now gone.
You can read an article about the building and its inhabitants here. https://thislandpress.com/2011/09/03/beno-hall-tulsas-den-of-terror/
Just for Fun
A little DECOPOLIS "Before & After" magic.
During the turn of the century and well into the Deco Era, the "Paper Moon" was a favorite photo op. Which is one reason we have our giant Paper Moon out front of our Route 66 location!
Above:
A found "Paper Moon" photo postcard from the 1920's.
Above: Yale Theater window display, Sapulpa Oklahoma.
7 S. Main Street.
This one-screen theater, in the Gothic style, was opened in 1907. The exterior was later remodeled in a more streamline deco style.
Destroyed by fire in 1954.
This photo was likely taken in November or December of 1934. Claudette Colbert in "Imitation of Life" was first released in November 1934.
Above:
Some of the lobby cards that are found in the Yale Theater window display.
Above:
Tulsa 4 or "Tulsa Oil field Special"
Above:
Photo postcard of a nitroglycerine explosion near Tulsa in 1912. Nitroglycerine was used in the oil industry. It was sent down a pipe far into the ground and detonated to fracture the surrounding rock. Unfortunately nitroglycerine is extremely unstable and detonated easily leading to accidents like this one which killed one man.
Above:
The postmark on the back of this postcard is April 1912. A search found a different image of the same explosion (from the University of Tulsa Special Archives) noting that it was from a nitroglycerine accident, March 30th 1912.
Above:
Photo postcard of Hanes Messenger Service. A quick search found mention of the Hanes Messenger Service in a November 1923 Tulsa paper. Location 25 West Archer. However the back of the card has an "AZO" stamp mark having 4 "up" arrows which places the photo between 1904 & 1918, our current guess would be the latter part.
