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Tag: 1920s fashion

‘The Stagecoach – 1930’. A Vintage Yearbook, The Likes Of Which Has Never Been Seen Before

I was recently back on one of my favourite websites, The North Carolina Yearbooks Collection to do some vintage fashion falling in love (I mean browsing HA!).

While in the depths of it’s online pages I stumbled upon the most amazing vintage yearbook that I have ever seen and I just knew that I needed to share it with all of you (yes it’s true!).

Today we are looking at ‘The Stagecoach’, a Yearbook from 1930 St. Mary’s School, Raleigh, NC. It is truly like NOTHING you have seen before on my blog. Visually stunning from start to finish and a not to miss post.

Here we go!

The Stagecoach yearbook St. Mary's School (Raleigh, N.C.) featuring a Stagecoach illustration.

The Stagecoach’, a Yearbook from 1930 St. Mary’s School, Raleigh, NC

About St. Mary’s:

Founded in 1842 by the Rev. Aldert Smedes, an Episcopal priest, Saint Mary’s School has operated continuously on the same site ever since.

With the support of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, Smedes founded Saint Mary’s as a school for young ladies “designed to furnish a thorough and excellent education equal to the best that can be obtained in the city of New York, or in any Northern school.

Today, Saint Mary’s School is an innovative independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 9–12 (Source).


The Classes

From little girl to a young woman graduating from Grade 12.

1930 Yearbook inside page featuring an illustration of a young woman in 1930s evening gown. Senior Student.

Here is a small sampling of our lovely senior ladies. Look at those 1929 early 1930s hairstyles? Both in photo and in illustration. YOOZA!

1930s vintage yearbook featuring young woman, seniors of the school in 1930s late 1920s hairstyles.

Prophecy for class of 1930.

Look inside a senior class yearbook from 1930 in North Carolina

Our Grade 12 senior class in late 1920s fashions, looking fashionable and fun!

Senior Grade 12 class of 1930 at St Mary's school North Carolina. Beautiful late 1920s early 1930s fashions.

The Junior Class of 1930.

Look inside a vintage 1930s yearbook featuring the Junior Class of St. Mary's School North Carolina.
1930 vintage yearbook featuring late 1920s fashions for young women
1930s vintage yearbook featuring Sophmore class of St. Mary's Schoo, North Carolina.

The Sophomore Class of 1930.

1930s vintage yearbook featuring Sophmore class of St. Mary's Schoo, North Carolina. All the young women are wearing late 1920s fashions.

Freshmens!

1930s vintage yearbook featuring the freshman class of St. Mary's School North Carolina. Image is a graphic design of 2 young woman having tea.
1930 Vintage yearbook for St. Mary's School North Carolina featuring the Freshmen class all in late 1920s fashions.

PREPS. All bright eyed and busy tailed and ready for the adventures of St. Mary’s School.

1930 Vintage yearbook for St. Mary's School North Carolina featuring an illustration of 2 girls holding hands
1930 Vintage yearbook for St. Mary's School North Carolina featuring the Preps class in late 1920s fashions.

THE STATISTICS

Now here is there real reason why I wanted to do this blog post……THE STATISTICS (wait for it….)

Look inside a yearbook from 1930 at St. Mary's School North Carolina

MOST POPULAR – Elizabeth Collins. LOVE the use of the sheet music in the background for each one of the “winners”. How creative!

Most Popular student at St. Mary's School in the 1930 Yearbook.

MOST ATTRACTIVE “She’s Got IT” -Elizabeth Nunn.

1930 Vintage Yearbook photo featuring the most attractive student.

MOST EFFICIENT, BEST ALL-AROUND “She’s a Great, Great Girl” -Roxana Eaton.

Inside a 1930 Vintage yearbook featuring the winner of the most efficient award at St. Mary's School North Carolina

THE CUTEST “Hello Cutie” – Lela Shewmake. I love this one so much!

Late 1920s Vintage Hairstyle as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina. The fashion illustration in the back features 1920s fashions and is on sheet music.

OMG! MOST STYLISH Indeed, Margaret West! I never looked this good in highschool…ever ha!

Most Fashionable as seen in a 1930s yearbook. The young woman is wearing late 1920s fashions.

CLEVEREST – Julia Askew.

Late 1920s Vintage Hairstyle as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina.

MOST GRACEFUL, ‘Dance Away The Night’ – Freda De Pass.

As a dancer, I am enjoying this title and the look of our graceful gal.

Most Graceful! Late 1920s Vintage Hairstyle and late 1920s evening gowns as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina.

DAINTIEST – Elizabeth Webb. Not sure how you get this title, but can we get an applause for the evening gown Elizabeth is wearing? Beautiful!

Most Daintest. Late 1920s Evening Gown/ Early 1930s Evening gown as seen in a vintage yearbook. Late 1920s Vintage Hairstyle as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina.

MOST ATHLETIC – Marion Myers.

Most Athletic. Late 1920s Vintage Hairstyle as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina.

Summary of our Statstics above. YOOZA those 1920s fashions!

Late 1920s Fashions for Women as seen in an early 1930s vintage yearbook from St. mary's school, North Carolina.

Okay back to a few other goodies in the yearbook…..

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The May Queen, Eveyln Mann in all her royal glory.

may queen vintage yearbook photo from 1930 of a young woman in a long 1920s evening gown and crown

Tennis anyone? The illustrations in this yearbook are just simply stunning. Whoever did them, I hope went on to do great things in her life.

1930 Vintage Yearbook featuring a sketch of a woman in late 1920s fashions getting ready to play tennis. Sportswear fashion for women.
1929-1930 women's school sports team as seen in a 1930 vintage yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina.

A poem on Modernism.

a poem on modernism as seen in a vintage 1930s yearbook from St. Mary's School North Carolina

I’m going to leave you with what I think is the “Naughty List” aka “Restriction List” and the public calling out in the yearbook.

Not sure if this is meant to be a poke at those who messed up or a legit, you suck burn list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

look inside a 1930s yearbook from st. Mary's schoo, North Carolina.

And that is the end of today’s post. Hope you enjoyed it friends! I know I LOVED putting this one together and drooling over all those 1920s hairstyles (so dreamy).

Question Time: What was your favourite image / graphic design from this yearbook? Share in the comments section below.

Further Reading:

Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Liz

Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star

I felt sure that I’d see my name in electric lights before long.”
– Anna May Wong –

It’s been my mission on my blog to bring to light amazing women from the past to my readers that may have been overlooked. I have done posts on “Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Needs to Know-Part 1 & 2“, “The Women of the Canadian Heritage Minutes“, “Halifax, Nova Scotia Women Volunteers of WW2” and so many more.

Today as I open my Google landing page, I was taken by the sight of a beautiful Asian Woman in Black & White on my screen.

Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle

Her name…ANNA MAY WONG and the the slideshow images (above & below) of artwork depicting Anna comes on the 97th anniversary of the general release of “The Toll of the Sea,” in which she claimed her first starring role.

Anna May Wong Toll of the Sea
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle
Anna May Wong-The First Asian-American Movie Star Google Doodle

Gosh such stunning Google Doodles!

The First Asian-American Movie Star

Anna May Wong

ABOUT ANNA MAY WONG:

Born Wong Liu Tsong; January 3, 1905 in Los Angeles to laundryman Wong Sam Sing and his wife, Lee Gon Toy.

Anna May Wong knew she wanted to be a movie star from the time she was a young girl seeing movies being shot constantly in and around Wong’s neighborhood. She began going to Nickelodeon movie theaters and quickly became obsessed with the “flickers”, missing school and using lunch money to attend the cinema. Her father was not happy with her interest in films, feeling that it interfered with her studies, but Wong decided to pursue a film career regardless. At the age of nine, she constantly begged filmmakers to give her roles, earning herself the nickname “C.C.C.” or “Curious Chinese Child”. By the age of 11, Wong had come up with her stage name of Anna May Wong, formed by joining both her English and family names. By the age of 17 she had become a movie star (Source).

A third-generation American, she managed to have a substantial acting career during a deeply racist time when the taboo against miscegenation meant that Caucasian actresses were cast as “Oriental” women in lead parts opposite Caucasian leading men.

She was also one of the few actors to successfully transition from silent to sound cinema, co-starring with Marlene Dietrich, Anthony Quinn and Douglas Fairbanks along the way. She was glamorous, talented and cosmopolitan—yet she spent most of her career typecast either as a painted doll or a scheming dragon lady (as seen below in the Look Magazine cover).

Anna May Wong on the cover of Look Magazine

She died of a massive heart attack on February 3, 1961, in Santa Monica, CA, after a long struggle against Laennec’s cirrhosis, a disease of the liver. She was 56 years old. Her fame lives on, four decades after her death. She is a part of American popular consciousness, chosen as one of the first movie stars to be featured on a postage stamp (Source).

For a more detailed BIO please read this article HERE.

Her Movie & TV Career

Anna May Wong appeared in over 50 American, English and German films in her career, making her the first global Chinese-American movie star.

Marlene Dietrich & Anna May Wong, cheeky scene from ‘The Shanghai Express‘ (1932). (video clip)

Anna May Wong in King of Chinatown (1939).

Anna May Wong in King of Chinatown (1939). Cartoon promoting the movie.

Source: IMDB

Daughter of the Dragon is a 1931 American pre-Code crime mystery film.

Daughter of the Dragon movie poster featuring Anna May Wong
DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON, clockwise from top: Anna May Wong, Frances Dade, Bramwell Fletcher on window card, 1931

TV: The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (1951).

An American television series which aired on the now defunct DuMont Television Network. It starred Anna May Wong, who played a detective in a role written specifically for her. The Gallery of Madame Liu Tsong was the first U.S. television series starring an Asian-American series lead (Source).

The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong Anna May Wong TV Show

Complete List of her movie & TV shows, HERE.

Photos of Anna May Wong during her Career

Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star
Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star
Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star
Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star in a stunning 1930's evening gown.
Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star in a top hat having a drink.
Anna May Wong, 1929. Photo- Dudley Glanfield. Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star
Vintage Photo of Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Movie Star in a stunning hair turban.

Why is Anna important?

The artist who depicted her for Google, Sophie Diao, said that she wished she knew of Wong when she was a child looking for Chinese American role models in Hollywood.”Asian American actors are underrepresented even now, so amazingly Anna May Wong was so active right at the beginning of film history, bridging the gap between silent films and talkies,” Diao said.That conversation about under representation has continued into modern Hollywood.

In 2017, the social media campaign #ExpressiveAsians was launched from sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen’s book “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism,” which quotes an unnamed casting director said it was a challenge to cast Asian actors because they are seen as not very “expressive.”The following year “Crazy Rich Asians” saw great critical acclaim. Leading actress Constance Wu was only the fourth woman of Asian descent to be nominated for best performance by an actress in a musical or comedy motion picture for the Golden Globes (Source).

For years, older generations of Chinese-Americans frowned upon the types of roles she played; but today a younger generation of Asian Americans sees her as a pioneering artist, who succeeded in a hostile environment that hasn’t altogether changed.

Check out this short video on Anna May Wong-In Her Own Words.

I hope readers that you enjoyed learning a bit more about this incredible woman, I know I did!

Question time: Have you heard of Anna May Wong before? Or was this your first time? Share in the comments section below.

FURTHER READING: Women’s History 1920s-1960s (Archived blog posts)

Liz