In the Houston Post photo files that I’ve been working with each envelope contains both negatives and the assignment sheet that led to their production. So I can see that the photographer who was sent out to the Rice practice field on September 6, 1958 was supposed to be taking pictures of the team scrimmaging, thusly:
And obviously he did. He took, in fact, exactly three such pictures. Then he took nine more, all of the twirlers who were practicing on the other side of the field:
Bonus: I forgot to mention this earlier but for all you fans of the Rice architecture school there’s a program tonight at the HMRC about one of our own.
Collection Spotlight: MSS 0351 Betty Jo Jones Architectural Drawings
Thursday, March 7, 2019 6:30-7:30 pm Julia Ideson Building
Well– A man has to do what a man has to do! If you look closely, there is actual football going on behind the twirlers.
I’m sure that’s what he was thinking!
Thanks for the tip about Sam’s presentation last night. I went because I’ve long been curious about Betty Jo Jones. She designed a lot of houses but they were almost all extremely traditional and self-effacing.
What is the tower, beyond the trees, just left of center?
I was hoping somebody here would know!
The building is the former “Medical Towers”, between Main and Fannin at Dryden.
The white Golden Gate bridge tower thing is the sign tower on the Tidelands Motor Inn, less the signs.
The signs may not have been installed yet – it opened in 1958.
To the right of that we’re seeing the second floor of the wing of the motel along University.
On the left is the initial building of Methodist Hospital.
This image shows the sight-angle of the camera: https://grungeworthy.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/1958photocomparison.jpg?w=2048
Here’s an image of the Tidelands. What I don’t understand about this image is the complete absence of the track stadium.
https://grungeworthy.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/89728111_3084570431603825_3093749442495381504_n.jpg
Looks to me like he got his shot and moved on. Shooting sports with a 4×5 is not the easiest thing in the world.
Is the film thin, like roll film, or thick? If it is thin, it was probably from a film pack, where you could pull a tab to move the next negative into place. A film pack held 16 negatives.
Finally, I can’t find a likely sheet film notch code for two triangular notches. Tri-X Pan Pro was three notches like that. They are probably too far apart for Super-XX Pan. Panatomic-X used two wide-spaced notches, but nobody would be crazy enough to shoot sports with a 4×5 using ASA 32 film.
http://www.mattosbornephotography.com/film_chart.jpg
Maybe film pack negatives were coded differently. I have some at home, I think.
Aha! Probably Royal Pan, a 400 ASA sheet film popular with press photographers.
I followed a pointer to the “Acetate Negative Survey” by David G. Horvath. This is notch code type 32A (see Appendix B), which was used by Royal Pan and Appan (never head of that film).
http://gawainweaver.com/images/uploads/Horvath_AcetateNegativeSurvey.pdf
The guy who’s the photo archivist at the HMRC actually worked for the Post for many years. Next Thursday I’ll see what he has to say about this.
Gevaert before Agfa~ ?