Just stumbled across an amazing page from the Eisenhower Library with scans of the staff book and Nat'l Geo article. There are staff photos and bios, a whole chronology, and then the whole WH article with color pics. Keen, as they said back then.
Unfortunately, the scans are rather... cajun-style; so blackened they've lost all detail in the shadows (they're Monroe Room; my Monroe Room).
I've already added JB West's picture to his Wikipedia article.
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It's the future! I see Derek doing a lot of cropping. :D
ReplyDeleteI already have that issue of Nat'l Geo and added several photos from it a couple of weeks ago. However, they clearly cut the mag up and scanned in the pages separately, which allowed me to grab some of the ones in two pieces and piece them together. A little clone brush magic and I've got some sweet pics I couldn't get any other way. I didn't find anything of interest to the WHM in the staff photos or chronology, but the reading will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteThere it is! The article that started it all! Lord, that's not a flatbed scanner; that's a flatbed TRUCK scanner! Derek, did you knit the Diplomatic Reception picture together? That's cool! -
ReplyDeleteOh - I just saw your post that said you did exactly that! Honestly - you computer guys! And here I was so proud that I finally posted a picture to the White House Fanatics website...
Very nicely done, Derek! These National Geographic photos look better than the originals.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that the Eisenhower State Dining Room looked like it was painted with toothpaste. God it was SO bad.
Chris
Christopher,
ReplyDeleteI always thought the green State Dining Room of the Truman/Eisenhower years looked like the make-up that Yvonne De Carlo used as the character Lily on the Munsters. Hideous! The best the room looked was when Nancy Reagan had the room painted an ivory color with an umber glaze to highlight the architectural features of the room.
In the Nat'l Geo article, they talk about how they tried and tried until they finally got *just* the right hue ("celedon"). It's a very 1950s color. I can imagine it on an Oldsmobile 88... where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteMy dad had an Oldsmobile *just* that same color (eewwww), except that it was tri-toned (!) with cream and copper. I could sit on the fold-down armrest and actually see out! How did my generation ever grow up without car seats warning labels and flashing lights and beeping trucks?
ReplyDeleteHey!!! :( We had a Olds 88 when I was a kid . . . :(
ReplyDelete. . . . :D
I wonder why they thought the Dining Room should be painted a color, rather than an ivory or off-white like the East Room. It makes sense to me that the two largest rooms on the State Floor where the large crowds gather should be painted white, off-white, ivory, etc., leaving the dramatic colors for the Parlors.
ReplyDeleteHey, are we all supposed to be "Friends" from this Blog?
Any word on Clinton's decor, the curtains?
ReplyDeleteThey have grown on me. I did not like the matching E Room and Dining Room look per se. before.
I saw them on my last tour and liked them in person. But they don't look good when Pres does the events with cross hall in back showing Dining Room. They should close the doors of Dining room for that ......
I am even game for the E Room curtains to change. Is RED too much LOL
sb
I don't like Red in the East Room. The Gold is far richer, to me.
ReplyDelete