Few things take us back in time more effectively than the advertising art of decades gone by, and a collection of images recently featured at Flavorwire.com we found utterly charming.

Every child loves a visit to the zoo, and we’re willing to bet that every visitor to Cladrite Radio will be glad that we shared Flavorwire’s collection of vintage zoo posters from all over the world. And we do mean all over the world, from the Bronx to to London, Antwerp, Tel-Aviv, Munich and Berlin.

Not all of the thirty posters originate from the first half of the 20th century—our focus here at Cladrite Radio—but many of them do, and all are well worth savoring.

Enjoy the examples below, then enjoy the entire collection.

What sweeter treat could exist for any classic movie buff than to see oneself (or a more-than-reasonable facsimile thereof) on the silver screen in a movie from the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s, or ’50s?

No, we’ve not discovered our own cinematic doppelganger, though we’d like nothing more.

But we have found, over time, a handful of actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood who very strongly resemble prominent contemporary figures (and we’d love to hear from you, the members of the Cladrite Community, if you’ve found some we’ve missed).

Our first pair of (nearly) identical twins separated by several decades is the lovely contemporary actress Jane Leeves, best known for playing Daphne Moon on the long-running hit television show Frasier, and her Golden Age lookalike, actress Lillian Bond.

Don’t you agree that, allowing for differences in the hair and make-up styles of their respective eras, these two are very close to a matched set? At the very least, Leeves would be an ideal choice to play Bond if ever there were a biopic called “The Lillian Bond Story” produced.

These very alluring mirror images are/were both English by birth, with Bond having been born and raised in London and Leeves making her debut in lford, Essex, and growing up in East Grinstead in Sussex.

Bond often played the “other woman” in pictures (as she does in the clip below), while Leeves has long specialized in comedic roles.

So while their careers may not have been similar, we think their facial features are strikingly so. And we envy Jane Leeves that—not because we wish we resembled Lillian Bond, but because we think it’d be fun to be watching an old movie late one night and suddenly see “yourself” acting in it.

Below are two clips featuring the actresses. The first features Leeves in an episode of Frazier; the second finds Bond appearing opposite the lovely Sylvia Sidney in a 1933 picture called Pick-Up. See if you don’t think there’s a very strong resemblance.

In Chapter 15 of his 1930 memoir, Vagabond Dreams Come True, Rudy Vallée pays homage to the man who served as his saxophone mentor and muse, Rudy Wiedoeft.

I took up the study of the trumpet while working back stage with a stock company, and then rented a saxophone when I began my senior year in school. The similarity between saxophone and clarinet made it possible for me to play a limited range of notes on the saxophone. The horn that I had was called a C Melody, being pitched in C. I could read song sheets, the violin parts, without any transposition. I used to play at night with several acquaintances who gathered in a bowling alley where near beer was served, and go canoeing with a banjo player or a violinist. Always I played for my own amusement and for those who cared to listen. Finally I was engaged by a small dance orchestra playing two nights a week in a Pythian Temple Building. This led to more engagements in northern Maine with what had been Maine’s most famous dance orchestra, Welch’s Novelty Orchestra.

Read more

In this week’s Snapshot in Prose, we convene with Ray Noble‘s favorite vocalist (and one of ours, too), Mr. Al Bowlly. We learn that Bowlly had a fledgling career as a barber before he became a professional singer and that he grew up not in England, as we’d always thought, but in Johannesburg, South Africa. Join us for this 1935 tête-à-tête with Mr. Bowlly.

Read more

Earlier this week, we pointed you toward some amazing color footage of London from the 1920s.

Today, we follow that up by tipping you off to the website How to Be a Retronaut, which is currently featuring four gorgeous color photos of London, taken around 1949. They’re remarkable pictures, and we’re grateful to H2BAR for sharing them with the world.