Scenes from a 1960s Office Party

Friday, December 09, 2011
Drinking and smoking, smoking and drinking. I found these photos on Tumbler, credited to the username Saltyrain. They're supposedly photos of a 1960s office party--with today's photo technology I'm not sure if they're indeed 100% authentic but I'm hoping they are (the vintage Coke bottles seem to validate them.) Don Draper and crew would be proud. I think we can learn a few things here: that blondes like to have fun and the guys from finance don't know how to dance.

13 comments:

  1. Drinking and smoking, smoking and drinking is right indeed!

    Love the look of the woman seated on the desk in the first pic.

    Some great posts here Pam. I haven't commented properly over the last while but I've been reading! Such a fun place to visit.

    Happy Friday! :)

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  2. Now if only they passed an orange aroudn neck to neck! They all look so classy even after hours!

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  3. Check out the guy on the left in the third photo. He appears to be the boss, and is eying the blonde suspiciously..."Didn't I see her bumming a smoke off of Bob two minutes ago?"

    The numerous empty bottles indicate to me that the party was a smashing success.

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  4. This does look pretty authentic. My parents used to throw a wild Xmas party every year which always went until dawn. The first one I clearly remember was when I was 6 years old. I wasn't allowed to hit the booze of course, but I remember them as being quite fun and these pictures look almost exactly like the parties they threw. Enough cigarette smoke to make the living room a very foggy place...

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  5. My gosh--in the very first picture, that blonde's slip is showing!

    Meanwhile, I bet these guys' poor wives were all home watching Cronkite and wishing their husbands didn't have to put in such long hours at the office...

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  6. They're glorious photos! What a fab time capsule.

    I wonder what people will be saying in 40-50 years time about our office parties?

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  7. Funny! Reminds me of the parties my Mom and Dad used to throw!

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  8. I remember they were blondes *because* they liked to have fun ... always fussing about their roots. hahaha.
    Though seeing the tail end of the era, I miss the stream of tiki and cocktail lounges (I'm only a social drinker), cocktail waitresses, shrimp cocktails at steak houses, and office and dinner parties.
    s-a-h-d

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  9. I don't think those photos are genuine. They're way too perfect.

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  10. My girl is a historical stylist - I'm a visual artist and musician - if the photos are not real - they are very very very well done. There's a real authentic round grain to the images that you don't get with digital photography... you can really see it, it it happens when you digitize film prints (or negatives) then bump up the contrast. All the clothes hair and makeup are spot on. There are pieces in there that are boring of the rack stuff that you hardly ever in repro. Some of the Men's hair cuts are 50's throwback, and - what really convinced me, all the music equipment is period - look at the photo taken from behind the High Hat.. you can see all that hardware is not modern.

    Also - great content.

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  11. bleeb--Thanks for your comments and for making those observations...you and your girlfriend have a good eye

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  12. They are absolutely authentic. Some of my favorite all time photos. You can find the series at Magnum Photos/USA . Taken in New York City, 1966 by photographer Leonard Freed. https://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Leonard-Freed/1966/USA-New-York-Office-Party-NN112952.html

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