(ignore 4-30-17 publish date – this was published on February 16, 2021)

 

My mother never really talked about any of this stuff – at least not to me (plus – as the eldest – I was out on my own for a lot of this) – so the revelations uncovered by this dive into bags of family history are eye-opening and welcome – especially to a photographer-offspring. If any of what’s here is news to my siblings, all the better.

Fortunately, she did these things sparingly over the course of a couple of decades, so I don’t have to write a book about each thing.

 

POLITICS

I knew she (and my father) were involved in local Republican politics – she was a Republican Committeewoman from Teaneck (not sure if Dad held a similar male post) – but I didn’t know about her photographic involvement.

I found about two dozen pix – including a couple of musicians and sports figures – at political events, so I’m just going to post them chronologically.

1964 – When Barry Goldwater ran for president, Mom worked at Goldwater HQ on Cedar Lane in Teaneck:

(I remember that when Barry lost, Mom came home VERY late on Election night, but it is NOT known if those hours were spent at the establishment to HQ’s immediate left in the picture.)

 

Though she never photographed Barry, she DID photograph his son, Michael, at what she referred to on the back of the print as “Teaneck’s Cow Palace” – a name/place that no one I’ve asked in town seems to be able to identify:

 

Official status!

 

1966 – As far as I can tell, this has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with politics, but these are the sports figures I mentioned above, so I’m including it because it’s SO rare that my mother – a Brooklyn Dodger fan – would photograph any NY Yankees (who I shot a TON of, beginning 14 years later), but here is her shot of Steve Hamilton (l) and Clete Boyer (r) onstage at Palisades Amusement Park on July 8, 1966. It’s likely that she was there because my younger brother was a Clete Boyer fan:

The “Next Performance 8pm” sign on the left probably does NOT refer to these guys. Further research shows that the Yankees played a twi-night doubleheader that day against the Washington Senators (they split it) and both men played in the first game – which started at 5:03pm – and Boyer also played in the second game, which started at 8:57pm. Hamilton pitched one inning and Boyer went 2 for 7.

Their north-facing shadows indicate that this photo was probably taken between 11am and 1pm.

BTW – the Park sat atop the mighty Palisades on the Jersey side of the Hudson River. If you look through the picket fencing, that bluish-looking land on the horizon is Manhattan. Yankee Stadium in the Bronx is only a mile or two beyond that.

 

 

1967 – Similar to me shooting on Tom Snyder’s “Tomorrow” show in 1981, Mom shot William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line” show 14 years earlier on April 10, 1967. Mr. Buckley is on the left:

 

Two guests that day: film director Otto Preminger and psychologist/writer Timothy Leary:

 

(From another post on this blog): On October 28, 1967, she photographed George Romney (Mitt’s father), Teaneck’s Max Hasse (who I knew from his involvement at Blue Cab) and others on Cedar Lane. Maybe they were going to the Imperial Diner? George looks ready to shake Mom’s hand:

(George ran for the Republican Party nomination in the 1968 presidential election.)

 

 

1968 – The Neptune Inn – on Route 4 in Paramus, NJ – hosted a pre-election event on September 6, 1968, featuring Governor of Maryland and Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Spiro T. Agnew. Republican photographer Eunice K. Leafe did not have the best seat in the house from which to take pictures:

 

On October 12, 1968, Bergen County Sheriff Joe Job, Eunice Leafe and Teaneck councilman Max Hasse posed in front of Nixon HQ in Teaneck. Mom apparently had Joe sign the pic later, “To Eunice with best wishes Joe”:

 

October 26, 1968 – Big day for Eunice: Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign came to the steps of Fort Lee, NJ, high school and she’s a program official, according to this:

 

On the nixonlibrary.gov site, I found a detailed schedule for the day. Nixon had an apartment in NYC (810 Fifth Avenue, corner of E. 62nd St), where he (RN), wife Pat (PN), daughters Tricia and Julie and Julie’s husband, David Eisenhower – Ike’s grandson – stayed the night before the Fort Lee rally.

In the Platform Committee list, you’ll see the name “Nelson Gross” – the Nixon state chairman, who will pop up in a 1969 picture. A more-familiar surname just below that list is EHRLICHMAN. John was the advance man for this campaign and, of course, a key figure during Watergate:

 

I found two photos that Mom took of Nixon:

In the second photo, the man on the left may be familiar to some older NJ residents. He’s Congressman William B. Widnall, who was in the House of Representatives for 24 years.

 

The rally lasted a little over an hour and then headed for the next stop (Bloomfield, NJ).

 

 

1969 – I have no information where this event took place or why, but Lionel Hampton was the entertainment and the man next to the girl in the second picture is the aforementioned Nelson Gross. Next to him is Lionel Hampton and the gentleman on the far right is Anthony Statile – a GOP county chairman (sorry, un-ID’d man in tan):

 

December 30, 1969 – This is another no-info (where, why) pic except for the names. Yankees announcer Frank Messer is on the left and Yankees star catcher, Elston Howard – who lived in Teaneck – is on the right:

 

 

1970 – March 11: At some unknown event, NJ Governor William Cahill signs a picture for Mom (I don’t know what caused that black blotch below his shoulder). Below that, she poses with Gov. Cahill and others………….and that signed picture (as if anyone could see the signature):

 

September 13, 1970: Another event at the Neptune Inn, whose sign says:

Bergen County Republican Organization

Nelson Gross Day

Sen. John Tower

I don’t know what “Nelson Gross Day” is all about, but he doesn’t show up in any of the pictures. I wonder what attracted Texas Senator John Tower to the event (and I have no idea what’s up with his eye in the middle pic):

 

 

1972 – To me, the guy with the light-colored tie is a very young-looking version of the man I knew as Jack Terhune (inset), when he was a Teaneck police lieutenant in the ‘80s. He became the County Sheriff and then the state corrections commissioner, Leonia borough administrator and…………..I don’t know what else, but he was always very nice to me – probably because of his friendship with Mom:

 

That’s probably why I still have this refrigerator magnet:

 

 

1973 – (Mom horning in on my territory in the year I shot my first concert – I’ll take Led Zeppelin over Lou Monte ANY day.)

March 24, 1973 – I don’t know where or why, but this IS the great Lou Monte. According to Wikipedia, “Lou Monte was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Victor and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s”:

 

May 4, 1973 – Again, no info other than Mom is shown with US Senator James L. Buckley of New York. James was the brother of previously-shown William F. Buckley:

 

 

Jumping ahead a decade………

1983 – (Sometime in September) This is Pope John Paul II and it may be the best shot my mother ever took:

Is the Pope a politician? (https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Pope-a-politician)

 

Sometimes.

 

 

 

 

PARKING TIX

 

 

So I found this little (5.5” x 7.5”) Fotomax book with plastic spiral binding and 10 plastic pages that were made for inserting two 5” x 3.5” in each page, which was actually about 5.25” long to accommodate a similar-sized piece of white paper on which you could write the where and when info on the edge:

 

I thought I would just scan each page, but scanning through the wrinkly plastic proved to be problematic. Besides, the pix were out of sequence and needed a good amount of editing (some were beyond hope, as you’ll see), so I’m presenting them in order and cleaned up to the best of my ability.

My parents traveled all over the world and I know I’ve got a manila envelope somewhere that’s filled with Mom’s global photos, but I haven’t uncovered that yet.

This little book isn’t about the sites/sights of the world. This is a niche subject that I’ve never seen displayed before, but it’s one Mom had some familiarity with.

I think this item from my site – especially the last sentence – will make sense of all this when you see the pictures:

 

In order, they are:

2-21-72, Hilo Airport, Hawaii:

 

2-8-73, Madrid, Spain:

 

2-18-74, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

 

4-12-75, London, England:

 

8-12-79, Greece:

 

9-8-82, Oslo, Norway:

 

9-19-83, Florence, Italy:

 

9-12-84, London, England (is that Lovely Rita?):

I just noticed something in the background: The Dog & Trumpet pub. The illustration under the ampersand looks familiar, so I found a more recent closeup – courtesy of Alamy.com:

I wonder if the pub is aware of RCA’s ownership of that image. I would imagine so, given that “His Master’s Voice” is too well-known an image to NOT be aware of it:

 

9-21-84, Paris, France:

 

11-12-95, Australia (no idea why this pic is included in the Fototmax book…………part of the business, I guess):

 

November, 1995, Australia, NZ: The Aussie meter person is probably smiling because it’s the first time anyone – a crazy Yank, no less – ever asked to take his picture while writing a ticket:

 

And so ends Eunice’s World Ticket Tour 1972-1995. Has anyone ever before seen so much dedication to such an obscure photo niche for so long a period of time on a global basis?

 

The I-May-Be-Related-To-This-Person Department:

Three days before I wrote this, I took this picture from my living room window of two Hackensack Parking Enforcement personnel chatting in the municipal lot behind my building:

The standing officer is the older brother of someone I went to grammar school with two blocks away. He once gave me a $57 parking ticket (we’ve since become friends).

At least I didn’t have to pay the fine to my mother.

 

Maybe I should take a picture of HIM tossing papers into the air?