1940s Yearbook Photo Subjects Are Over It

It's yearbook photo time! Time to flash that smile!

Or not.

Okay, I get it. The early 40's were rough. What with Polio, World War II, and the amount of curlers girls were expected to sleep on every night being, well, quite extraordinary, I can see why a person might not choose to look chipper in their photo.

There really was a lot going on!

I, myself, look quite frightful in my 8th grade yearbook picture, because I was desperately trying to take a photo without my eyes being closed. Maybe keeping the eyes open was on these folks' minds, too. 

Or maybe it was something else. 

I mean, maybe these people were just... over it.

Lunch Lady Henrietta Waldendorf knows what "The Children" have been saying about her tuna casserole, and she's over it.

Don't be fooled by Herbert Hillerman's Mona Lisa Smile. He's over it.

Gregory Goyleston has spent 6 years as an underappreciated sidekick to more popular folks, and he's over it.

Arthur Coolidge is over it, and he wonders why you're not as well.

Edith Wilkins is over it, but her curls still have a few hours left.

Maude Treehorn has mysteriously appeared in every single edition of the school yearbook since 1899, even though she died in a tragic horse-and-buggy accident that very same year. 

Her expression would suggest she is over it.

Susie Billings is smiling on the outside, but on the inside, she's over it.

Mara Rooneyman is over a lot of things, "it" being one of them.

Rupert D. Miller doesn't care whether you think he's over it or not. But he is... he so totally is.

Mrs. MacPherson is over your library books all being morbidly overdue, you wretched minion.

Mr. Howell is over you, you slacker.

Teddy Hopkins is living in the wrong decade, and he's over it.

Percival MacGraw can read your thoughts. But can you read his? Sure you can. He's thinking, I'm over it, of course. 

Or is he?

Kathandra Zellers slept on 400 pin curlers last night, and she's over it.

Charlotte Lucaston slept on exactly 3 (enormous) pin curlers last night, and words cannot express how over it she is.

Gladys Burton died while taking this picture. 

School secretary Mrs. Lehman knows where you live. Don't be fooled by that smile. In fact, run while you still can.

This photograph was taken on the second day of school, but math teacher Mrs. Greene is already so entirely over it. 

(ONLY 189 DAYS LEFT TILL SUMMER VACATION, MRS. GREENE! YOU CAN DO IT!)

Miss Elder and Miss Ingalls are extremely over people thinking that they're twins.

Laura Linney's grandmother is asking herself, Am I over it?

Long after the photo is taken, she will decide, Yes. Yes I am.

Kathy Newman is over it. 

And you.

At the very least, future serial killer Morton Hatfield's emergent horn is over it.

"Srsly? Can you not see I'm over it?" asks Bettie Jones.

"Just take the picture," Carole Thornberry silently begs.

Christian Baleregard II is over it.

Mr. Gleason may be over it, but his hair is ready to party.

Sister Marie Sinclair is over your unrelenting sin-filled ways, you heathen.

Is Thomas Widdleton III over it?

Yeah, I dunno... this one's iffy.

Wait! I just got confirmation. He's over it.

And last but not least....

You know, I think Gertie Hoss might actually be enjoying herself, here!

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Note: all photos here came from three Portland, Oregon-area yearbooks dated 1940, 1941, and 1942. Two are high school yearbooks and one is college. Names, except those you see in captions, are fictionalized.

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