photo courtesy of Mike Paul

Downtown Elmira, NY - 1939

he historical signifiance of the event in this picture has been lost, but the nostalgia is still alive and well in 2004. Here we see the Colonial Theatre's marquis displaying "Wife, Husband & Friend" as now showing. It was a 1939 hit starring Loretta Young and Caesar Romero. Elmira storefronts of the era are other memories that are clearly visible in this photo.

This month's photo, as many others we've displayed here, was sent to us by Mike Paul. The sad news that I must report to you is that Mike passed away on August 30, 2004 after a short illness. He will be missed by many.

I first met Mike at a Melbourne Elmira Day about 4 years ago after having corresponded with him via e-mail several times about pictures he had sent to me for our Photo of the Month feature at SHS58.org. A lasting image of our first meeting will always be standing beside him out in the parking lot of Ryan's Steak House going through the trunk of his car looking at boxes upon boxes of photos he had brought with him to show me. We were both totally oblivious to the hot Florida afternoon sunshine beaming down upon us and the resulting sizzle coming from the blacktop surrounding us. We did that again several times at subsequent Elmira Days. I always looked forward to seeing him and talking with him about Elmira. And I always stopped everything when it came to looking at another of his photos of Elmira.

You can view Mike's photos of Elmira that he shared with us by clicking here.