Help ID location on this RPPC

I figure there are four clues - the unique clothing on the men on the left, the long-stem pipe being smoked, the teapot shape and the blanket or rug hanging in the background. The owner wondered at first if the man sewing was Charlie Chaplin. We think it looks like a tent on an expedition perhaps and the two men on the left are guides. Feel free to brainstorm.

 

The hat is Kurdish, the waiter looks Turkish and the whole thing shouts Middle Eastern, including that pipe affair. Coffee, not tea. And isn't that a womanon far right?

 

I was thinking Mesopotamia after WWI.

 

I'm thinking theatrical?

 

I think if it was a stage set they would not have that pillar on the right. Taking realism a bit too far. And the lighting looks natural, as does the stuff behind the hole in the roof.

 

But then, what's with the blanket across the bottom and the potted plant? Very strange.

 

What does the back of the postcard look like?

 

I was going to make a joke about women being further advanced than men, because she is sitting at her computer screen completely oblivious to the others.

However, on closer inspection, I do not believe that to be a woman, but a man at a shaving mirror. And you all thought we were vain! HAH!


Top right just to the left of the pole, the blanket hanging down. Can you zoom in on that? Is it a flag?

 

You could just go to the blog that image came from, http://bowlersandhighcollars.com/ scroll till u find that image, and most likely there's a detailed explanation along with a pic of the back of the card. But that seems too simple, I must be missing something?

 

Clutteredcloset, when I "enlarged" the photo it "almost" looks like a darkened area just above where his raised hand/arm is (like the last remnant of a dark area of a beard which he is shaving off????).

 

Huh! I saw that tiny printed bowlers etc legend and was so fascinated by the image, I forgot to ask why it's there. Kudos to Spring for asking!

 

Wow, Springfld, that is one interesting photo website.

I just finished slow scrolling and reading information on most of the photos.

I did not see the photo in question on this thread. But it really is an interesting website with some fantastic photos from all over the world and at least some information on each photo.

 

Thanks for checking-I scrolled it too and the photo above isn't there-maybe it was once and was taken off? One of the many interesting photos on that site is right near the end. "Victorian man in Drag" posted March 21, 2015. Will have to go back and spend more time.

 

In Bev's opening post she said something about the postcard's owner, so I figured maybe the owner is also the owner of the site?

 

Clearing some of the pipe smoke out of the room:

 

Wasn't it fashionable in the 1870s-80s to have a Turkish corner ? I think that's what that is.

 

Yes, the Turkish corner. Being unfamiliar with that, I looked up old photos of some. Usually had a couch or ottoman with many very large pillow-like fat cushions around. Not much like this photo.

The pipe-smoker is in a uniform, don't know whether a band or bellboy or what uniform. ??? All men but pipe-guy are doing something appearance-related-mending, shaving, shining shoes.... Is this in a military barracks the night before a formal inspection?

 

That blog is owned by the same person who posted this image to a Facebook postcard collector's group and asked some questions about it. I think Bev is trying to help, which is why she posted it here. That particular group doesn't usually see too many replies.

And when I went to that blog, springfld, the scrolling was endless it seemed and I never did get to the owner's post there. What did it say?

It's an interesting photo... and by the way, it is definitely 20th century. The owner wrote on FB, "the card has a divided back. I think it's from the 20's." Cards like this would have been nonexistent in the 1870s-1880s.

Fig

 

Thanks for the added info re back etc. I never found a post with that card on the blog, just assumed since it had the blog's url on it, it was from there. Reminds me that assuming often results in ass-u-me.

 

I'm curious about the lower left corner. Looks a bit like the buttstock of a Japanese type 99 light machinegun, issued starting in 1939. That stock is fairly unique in that it has a monopod pivoted to the extreme rear of the stock, actually on the bottom of the steel buttplate. I can say it definitely looks like a shoulder weapon stock with an attached monopod, but what type I can't say for sure based on that small fuzzy part of an image.