Ransom Riggs
Talking Pictures: Love and Marriage
by Ransom Riggs - October 22, 2010 - 9:00 AM

Talking Pictures is a spankin’-new column in which, every week or so, I’ll post an array of fascinating found snapshots that have writing on them, all arranged around a particular theme. I discovered them either in swap meets or flea markets or in the vast collections of snapshot-obsessed friends — most of whom had never bothered to turn their photos over to check whether anything interesting was written on the backs.

For me, words are what make old photos come to life. A few scribbled lines can turn a blurry black-and-white snapshot of people who seem a million miles and a million years away into an intensely personal sliver of experience that anyone can relate to. It becomes something not just to look at, but to listen to.

This week it’s all about love. (I figure it’ll be a nice palate-cleanser before next week — Halloween — which will be all about death.) Fair warning: a couple of these are raunchy! But such is love.

Let’s begin with flirting, which hasn’t changed nearly as much, judging from the photo above, as the clothes people wear to picnics. Below, an example of the lost art of being suggestive without actually saying anything rude.

The long, trailing question-mark says it all, I think:

One finds a lot of mash notes when combing through old photos. This is one of my favorites:

Little Billy is ready for takeoff — and love.


To my weakness
from Bob
Love Always

Just remember Angel. I have a tag on you and you’re not for sale.
All my love,
Jim

To be viewed from a distance. I might eat you up.

Below — you can imagine how my jaw dropped when I found this one. Hotza! Also, I think she crossed out “lust” and wrote “love” instead. Playing hard to get?

I found this in a huge bin of disorganized snapshots in an antique shop. I was really hoping the nice old lady who ran the shop wouldn’t read the back as I paid for it. Luckily, she’d misplaced her bifocals. (I went ahead and blotted out her face … for obvious reasons, I think.) See what I mean about the lost art of romantic subtlety?

The inevitable outcome:

Were you happy then, baby? I was.

Of course, love — or the lack of it — can make you miserable, too.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love can also be super creepy:

For some lucky couples, though, it all seems fated from an early stage …

… even if your friends don’t agree.

She doesn’t look so sure:

Awwwww:

You can find two previous installments of Talking Pictures here: Hide This Please and Life During Wartime.

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Comments (54)

  1. As always, I loved them! I think the woman on the dock was simply stunning! Can’t wait for the next one!

    posted by shirleyfeeney on 10-22-2010 at 12:41 am

  2. this is my favorite article on this site. keep them coming!

    posted by sam on 10-22-2010 at 1:05 am

  3. “Were you happy then, baby? I was.”

    That was really touching. How could anyone let these pictures go?

    posted by Miss Cellania on 10-22-2010 at 8:01 am

  4. BEST THING EVER

    posted by ronbailey on 10-22-2010 at 8:23 am

  5. Loved this!! That picture of the couple kissing in front of the car is so incredibly poignant. I might have to start collecting more photos!

    posted by Sandimonium on 10-22-2010 at 9:23 am

  6. My wife collects pictures from antique stores too. She tears up thinking about how these momories are lost forever. So, she hangs on to them to keep the memories going.

    posted by Morris on 10-22-2010 at 10:25 am

  7. All yay for this column! Everyday poets, these folks – “Were you happy then, baby? I was.”

    posted by septerr on 10-22-2010 at 10:53 am

  8. please keep this a Friday thing. I was so busy thinking about the weekend, I wasn’t thinking about the past, or today. This post made me stop and think about the moment. It put me in a better frame of mind. Thanks, Ransom, you made my day!

    posted by megaroo on 10-22-2010 at 11:15 am

  9. Great!

    posted by becky willingham on 10-22-2010 at 11:23 am

  10. Not for everyone apparently (@Greg), but a nice break from my day for me. I thoroughly enjoyed these. Ditto what @megaroo said!

    posted by Hyacinth on 10-22-2010 at 11:25 am

  11. I think you could have left out the color snap shots. They didn’t carry the same wieght as the older b&w photos.

    posted by Troy Hopper on 10-22-2010 at 11:32 am

  12. I loved this! I love one of the last ones where the wife is hugging her husband and he is saying cut it out. I thought it was so cute.

    posted by Chelsea on 10-22-2010 at 11:43 am

  13. I really like this column too. I love to look through my grandma’s old pics, she has writing on a lot of them, and the kiss marks too! :) Seeing this pictures also instantly reminds me of the smell of her old pictures. Anyone else know what I’m talking about?

    posted by Jules on 10-22-2010 at 11:44 am

  14. A great article- like the rest of the site, these continue to give me something to think about. Keep the series coming!

    posted by David on 10-22-2010 at 11:49 am

  15. This was sooo cute. It made my heart hurt.
    It also inspires me to take my camera out this weekend.
    Great post… As always.

    @Greg,
    You’re a hater! Why did you even open the article up. Bitter maybe?

    posted by chrystani on 10-22-2010 at 11:52 am

  16. Ransom – you’ve got another hit on your hands!

    posted by Chris Higgins on 10-22-2010 at 12:19 pm

  17. I love it because it reminds me that the cute old people at Cracker Barrel once were young and in love too.

    posted by KerriD on 10-22-2010 at 12:20 pm

  18. I love the fisrt one… because you know she’s a goer!

    wink, wink, nudge, nudge…

    posted by Tom Weidermeijer on 10-22-2010 at 12:58 pm

  19. Very interesting… really connect with the past looking at photos like this. It reminds that “they where just like us”.

    I saw a documentary on this hobby a few years ago at the Coney Island Film Fest. It was called Other Peoples Pictures… http://www.other-peoples-pictures.com/home_alternate.htm

    Some of the memorable ones was one guy collected old nudes of wives and girlfriends… another collected photos of Nazis doing everyday things (for example, an SS soldier getting married, a Nazi riding a bike, Nazis at Christmas, etc). Pretty wild stuff…

    posted by Frank on 10-22-2010 at 1:12 pm

  20. Greg- I think this falls nicely under history. You can see how things were back in the day. Attitudes, beliefs, maybe a few things you never thought of. If old pictures can’t fall under something for a “knowledge junkie” to enjoy, well…you may want to have a word with the Library of Congress.

    I for one am loving this feature!

    posted by Kate on 10-22-2010 at 1:32 pm

  21. I come to Mental Floss for things I don’t see/read about anywhere else online – this falls nicely into that category for me! :D

    posted by C on 10-22-2010 at 1:44 pm

  22. I love these :) They remind me of pictures I’ve seen when my grandparents were young <3

    posted by Rina on 10-22-2010 at 2:55 pm

  23. I love the color photos, too. Just because they’re not in black and white doesn’t mean the message and the meaning doesn’t hold weight.

    I like what someone else said about having a glimpse of a time when those elderly couples were young and in love.

    posted by Tracie on 10-22-2010 at 3:10 pm

  24. Really a great post. Touching and amusing. Thanks. Keep ‘em coming.

    posted by tommieg on 10-22-2010 at 3:50 pm

  25. “Nobody’s baby” – wish I had a time machine so she could be mine!

    Love this feature! Don’t stop, please…

    posted by Mr Retro on 10-22-2010 at 4:48 pm

  26. Poignant – please keep posting these.

    posted by Flo on 10-22-2010 at 4:58 pm

  27. “I wish I had taken more pictures…”
        (Princeton, from the B’way musical “Avenue Q”)

    -”BB”-

    posted by Bicycle Bill on 10-22-2010 at 6:06 pm

  28. This post reminds me of when I worked in a nursing home while doing my undergrad. Some of the residents would have an old picture or two on display in their room, and more often then not I’d have to fight back tears. These were terminal patients, most couldnt eat or take care of themselves at all, and seeing pictures of them full of life and energy and hope really hit a weak spot in me. The one that sticks out the most in my mind is a wedding picture of a couple who was living (dying, really) together in the home. They could barely communicate they were both so old and frail, but I’ll always remember that look in their eyes in their picture. The contrast is such a tragedy.

    posted by Mr. T on 10-23-2010 at 9:16 am

  29. I love the one “To My Weakness…”

    These are great. I love when these pictures are posted. Keep them coming! :)

    posted by Zoey on 10-23-2010 at 1:58 pm

  30. Yes! I love this new column :D

    posted by GH on 10-23-2010 at 4:55 pm

  31. Love the new column!

    posted by Stina on 10-23-2010 at 11:02 pm

  32. “You are my weakness” what a great line. Really digging these old photos.

    posted by Justin on 10-24-2010 at 12:31 am

  33. A few weeks before my grandfather died my grandmother found a copy of an old photograph in his wallet. It was a picture of her taken while they were first dating with her leaning against his new Dodge. He carried it for years and never told anyone.

    posted by Bajonista on 10-26-2010 at 12:23 pm

  34. My weakness! *swoon* I would die if someone addressed me as that. In a good way. *presses hand to forehead* Especially if he looked like that :)

    The “nobody’s baby” picture is stunning. Super stunning. I would frame that in a heartbeat. Is that from your personal collection? Can I have a copy? ;)

    posted by Nicole on 10-28-2010 at 1:29 pm

  35. Jerry was one lucky schmuck (and so were you, Ransom, for finding that photo)! How can anyone let that photo – hell, all these photos – go? As always, great stuff.

    posted by Steve from San Diego on 11-4-2010 at 12:52 pm

  36. Do you have any information on the “I’m nobody’s baby” photograph??? A friend and I were really tripped out cause i looks JUST like her, face, body, pose everything. We wanted to research it more.

    posted by Ashley Kennedy on 11-9-2010 at 1:13 pm

  37. I love this blog! Old photos of people, even those of unknown people, are endlessly fascinating. Thank you for sharing these.

    posted by Clover on 11-21-2010 at 11:38 pm

  38. This was so beautiful…I am really teary-eyed and truly moved…please keep these coming

    posted by Shanni on 11-24-2010 at 5:53 pm

  39. This was so beautiful…I am really teary-eyed and truly moved…please keep these coming

    posted by sdfadfasd on 12-5-2010 at 8:42 pm

  40. This is absolutely lovely. I must admit that I’m overcome with nostalgia and can’t help but thinking what will become of my photos in 60+ years.

    posted by Kristin on 12-20-2010 at 2:49 am

  41. That picture of the couple kissing in front of the car is so incredibly poignant

    posted by fajas colombianas on 12-30-2010 at 1:44 pm

  42. Discovering sites like this is exactly why I like StumbleUpon so much. Great site.

    posted by John on 12-31-2010 at 11:49 pm

  43. I LIVE for this kind of stuff. This is an amazingly great collection! I can’t express how happy this made me.

    posted by Sidney on 1-2-2011 at 4:19 pm

  44. The “every move you make…” one is a line from a Police song. Maybe not so creepy, i dunno.

    posted by taryn on 1-9-2011 at 5:43 pm

  45. I LOVE this! It’s inspired me to start doing the same thing! My mom said she has a whole bunch of pictures like this and I’m going to start digging through them!

    However, I do have a question…I’m ABSOLUTELY in LOVE with the “To my weakness, Love Always, Bob” photograph, any chance you would consider selling it? I don’t mean to be disrespectful in any way, I’m just curious, for some reason I really really love it!

    posted by Jacki on 3-24-2011 at 10:11 pm

  46. I stumbled upon this site today. It is goregous! I have to agree with the commentor “Jackie”. I adore “Bob’s Weakness” photo.

    posted by Elizabeth on 4-22-2011 at 10:34 am

  47. I love these..I especially love that the one of the naked girl was taken on my birthday 6-21-80 lol

    posted by mandi on 4-26-2011 at 10:40 pm

  48. The one that says “you better save me some” looks like my Uncle Marv and Aunt Norma.

    posted by Dawn on 8-3-2011 at 10:00 pm

  49. These photos make me tear up:(

    posted by Dori on 9-4-2011 at 11:33 pm

  50. Your hobby sounds interesting and fun. I love the photos, although they made a little sad.

    Thank you for sharing them. :-)

    ~Sherry

    posted by sherry soule on 9-15-2011 at 2:20 am

  51. This strikes close to my heart. I love old pics, especially when they tell a story. But even more, your idea was inventive and inspiring to me. I knew I would have a use for the old photos I refuse to toss. Thanx!

    posted by Jennifer on 10-20-2011 at 10:14 pm

  52. I love love love this. most enjoyable read all night. all week even.

    posted by JJ on 12-5-2011 at 10:31 pm

  53. Thanks for capturing these amazing moments from the past. I never realized how beautiful text on old photos could be until you brought this to my attention. I think you could make an amazing collage with all of these photos.

    posted by Lynn Williams on 12-10-2011 at 11:21 pm

  54. to my weakness… what a meaningful and touching sentence <3

    posted by ceylan on 12-16-2011 at 1:46 pm

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