PEELING AN APPLE AT 1:34 P.M. — or, Even Geisha Girls need to Eat

Ahhhhh….the old peel-it-all-off-in-one-piece trick……and she’s doing it while looking right at you. From a ca.1905-10 Hand-colored Postcard.

Unfortunately, this is not a left-handed Geisha who doesn’t know how to dress herself. If she was, I’d auction the photo at Christie’s or Southeby’s with a reserve of $1,000,000…which would allow me to keep it.

Astute observer and sharp-as-a-whip comment-poster dschinny2001 (see comments below) caught the fact that the negative for this picture was REVERSED before printing. Her Kimono — and the clock as well — tell the story, as both are BACKWARDS. (Since the Japanese are the ones that printed it, I ascribe the gross error to the darkroom guy having been out drinking sake all night with his friends, and cavorting with Geisha Girls).

In any case, thanks to her below comment, I have readjusted the time from A.M. to P.M., and denied myself a Soft Pretzel for a day as punishment for not having been the first to notice. Further, I now think the apple peel might be a phony stage prop. (What? A fake apple peel? OK. My reserve on the photo is back up to $1,000,000 again).

However, seeing that I had not slept for two days, and posted the image at 3:00 A.M. with only one eye open, I forgive myself for not noticing all the problems with this picture. PLUS, being a guy, I was hypnotized by her alluring gaze (best excuse, yet). When I get some rest, I will flip the girl over.

I’m trying to remember the last time I flipped a Geisha Girl over….

Thanks, dschinny2001.

NOTE : Coming up on almost 2 years since posting, and I still have not flipped it. It’s more interesting this way, as it demonstrates a printing problem that existed with not only postcards, but with projectionists projecting lantern-slides, and book publishers losing sight of which side had the emulsion, and flipping the photos as well.