*julia's photostream  

This is the Mississippi. Not a fantastic photo, but it's damned hard to get a good image of this legend, in my experience. It's definitely the best I've got of it, of my own.

For all its mythos and magic, the Mississippi is frightfully, dreadfully unpicturesque. By day the skies are always blank above it (and often white), its banks are essentially featureless, and it's *so* flat and wide ... I don't know, I've never been visually impressed. Historically? Oh, yes. Captures my imagination, certainly. I have some books on early trade and travel on this mighty waterway, and I love what it represents of our past in several ways. But it ain't a looker.

Taken on the banks of the river, "under-the-hill" (along the bottoms) in Natchez, Mississippi ... right outside the Magnolia Grill, which, far from being the tourist trap one might fear, has genuinely *excellent* food and a really pleasant atmosphere. Travelguide out!

Products that have stood the test of time, on the shelves at Nau's Enfield Drugs in Austin.

Williams Mug Shaving Soap ("For a lasting lather"), a Pinaud item called "Lilac Vegetal" (regularly see their "Clubman" in the barber shop), assorted Roger & Gallet soaps and scents, and, just out of view, "Magic," a shaving powder "specially formulated for black men to help stop razor bumps."

Combe, the company that markets Williams Mug Shaving Soap, also handles Brylcreem (hair pomade originating in England in 1928) and Aqua-Velva (which you know now as an aftershave but might be interested to find was first sold as a mouthwash, in 1929. Ew.)

May 1949 issue of Ace-High Western

(Originally posted 2008, thought I'd group it with its mates that I finally got around to scanning and uploading.)

Thrilling Western, September 1944

I'm feeling like this would have been a fatal gut shot for our hero, but still, the chips blown to smithereens gives amazing drama to the piece!

September 1948 issue of Mammoth Western