Kodak Duaflex IV c1960
Kodak produced lots of Duaflex cameras from 1947 – 1960. There’s nothing special about any of them. Although this mint specimen is brown, which is sort of odd.. That’s a GE 5B flashbulb up there. When I was a kid, I liked to catch freshly used flashbulbs after they were ejected by the photographer. An uncle or a dad would push a button and the sizzling bulb would pop out of the reflector. I liked to juggle it around like a hot potato. They smelled funny, too.
The box of GE flashbulbs warns the user that: “Static electricity may ignite flashbulbs. Therefore keep bulbs in this package until ready for use.” “If lacquer coating becomes damaged, bulbs may shatter when flashed. Examine before use and always use a shield over reflector.” “Never flash in explosive atmosphere.”
I don’t think anybody in my family examined flashbulbs before use and I really doubt they used a shield. I don’t recall any flashbulb related injuries.
Daddy died a long time ago
Of what I really can’t say.
And Jimmy got drafted
I think it was on Christmas Day.
Allen took his wife and kids
To Canada, to get away.
Grandma died in the kitchen
She’d have wanted it that way
Aunt Phyllis married that younger guy
But their time together was rough.
She got old too quickly
And he took to that heroin stuff.
Allen’s kids are all grown up
The baby a mother now.
But pretty Julie still lives alone
It makes no sense no how.
And Jimmy had a rabbit
He named the rabbit “Paul.”
Funny thing about that name
It follows Jimmy’s on The Wall.
Addendum:
As I was putting the Duaflex away I noted a long blond hair entwined in the camera strap.