This photograph came from a flea market and is dated 1937. Coincidentally, that is also the year that Mickey Rooney starred in the first of what would become a series of "Andy Hardy" movies. Rooney played Andy Hardy, a teenage boy who lived in the fictional mid-west town of Carvel. Together with his father, Judge Hardy, mother and younger sister, they lived the arch-typical ordinary American life...or at least what would become the public's idealized perception of it. The series continued through the war years with a number of changes to the cast, perhaps most notably several productions where a young Judy Garland played Andy's romantic interest. Wonderful entertainment from an era now passed.
In the picture above it takes only a little imagination to see the Hardys themselves pitching in to manicure the expansive lawn in front of the large, tidy home. Apparently the depression had not greatly affected the family and, with WWII still several years away, all seems well here. Truly a visualization of the dream that was Andy Hardy's America.
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