Well.

This is different.

During the years I’ve been shooting Route 66 I’ve developed weird fascinations with certain of the photos I made along the way. (You may remember Wide Elvis?) (Or the Murder Church?) And now here’s Lipstick Gal, a mannequin I met in Seligman Arizona. I’ve edited the photo quite a few times and made seven or so monoprints of her. This one is my current favorite…she’s printed on a page from a book that I found in a thrift store. The book’s title is How I Raised Myself from FAILURE TO SUCCESS in Selling (c) 1949.

Hey, hello, again. I just wandered away to research some stuff on the page I printed the L. Gal on. The address mentioned – 925 Filbert Street in Philadelphia – appears to now be in a block that’s a shopping mall/transit facility/parking garage. And the Mr. George J. DeArmand that’s referenced lived his whole life in Philadelphia; he had eight siblings, most of whom died while they were in theirs 20s. He made it all the way to age 91, and passed away in 1944. Apparently, his upholstery-and-hardware lifestyle was healthy. And he had no problem killing a whole day gabbing to a couple of salesmen.

What does Mr. DeArmand’s story have to do with the L. Gal? Not one single thing, except that she landed on the page I randomly pulled from a book.

original photograph 6.1.2023
printed 5.9.2026

BONUS:

Lipstick Gal – Seligman, Arizona

Wide Elvis – Braidwood, Illinois

Murder Church – Allenread, Texas