New Motown Photos on Facebook

[Sharpmoves]

Martha, and others [[eg Antonio Dandridge) are posting loads of photos ahead of Martha's 75th on Monday, including this one, which I have never seen before. Those famous catsuits LIVE!

[westgrandboulevard]

No, Sharpmoves, I've not seen this before, either. It's a good one.

And you've posted it on what is your own birthday, today??

[Sharpmoves]

Yes, Martha and I are the same sign. How about this shot with The Searchers..

[RossHolloway]

Thanks for posting, I had never seen either of those photos, both are really nice.

[marv2]

That top picture is classic!

[westgrandboulevard]

Studying the top pic a little more....

I can see Martha's lowered right arm.

I can see Betty's left arm outstretched in front of Martha's right arm....but the hand looks like it should be Martha's right hand, behind. I can't see two hands. Must be just a photographic optical illusion, I suppose.

And while Roz and Betty look to be singing, there seems to be no mike on their stand......

[marv2]

Studying the top pic a little more....

Must be just one of those 'I wonder' photographic optical illusions.

I can see Martha's lowered right arm, with her hand touching her mike stand.

I can see Betty's left arm outstretched in front of Martha's right arm....but I can't see Betty's left hand.

And while Roz and Betty look to be singing, there seems to be no mike on their stand......

In the case of Roz. She is left handed and often times had to do the movements opposite of the others.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm left-handed too, and am often told I look odd doing things....LOL

[marv2]

I'm left-handed too, and am often told I look odd doing things....LOL

So am I, so was my Dad and so is President Obama!!!!

[westgrandboulevard]

Think our current Prime Minister [[bye David!) is also left-handed.

Marv, I've never seen you write [[though I've seen PLENTY of the words you've written!), or your Dad, but I've seen Obama write.

He is an 'overhand' leftie'.

When handwriting, are you likewise, or do you hold the pen under the words as they are formed, as a right-hander would ?

[theboyfromxtown]

My dad was left handed. I find that interesting what you just wrote cos my dad didn't write under the words...he wrote across the words.

[westgrandboulevard]

Right-handers [[about 85-90% of people) write 'away' from their written words.

Left-handers write 'into', and then across their words. If using a fountain pen, there is a tendency to dig the nib into the page, instead of dragging it across. Also, a tendency to smudge the written words with the hand, as it passes over the words.

Fortunately for Marv and myself, and all others like us, we were not forced to use our right hand to write, as in earlier generations. I'm interested that your Dad was not made to use his right hand when handwriting, as many of his generation would have been.

Post-WW2, things became more enlightened, and teachers would supply ballpoint pens.

Left-handers are often speedier writers than right-handers - although it's not always the case that what they write is easy to read!

I think the 'overhand' method of writing [[and which is very much slower in practice) is something generally seen only in left-handers. The letters are formed by holding the pen with the tip pointing towards the body of the writer, instead of the more usual method with it pointing away from the body.

I'd guess that a slightly higher percentage of members of Soulful Detroit are left-handers, than are found in society in general.

And I wonder who else from Motown, apart from Roz, is/was left-handed.......

[marv2]

Think our current Prime Minister [[bye David!) is also left-handed.

Marv, I've never seen you write [[though I've seen PLENTY of the words you've written!), or your Dad, but I've seen Obama write.

He is an 'overhand' leftie'.

When handwriting, are you likewise, or do you hold the pen under the words as they are formed, as a right-hander would ?

When I was a kid, I wrote the way Obama writes. I now pretty much do as you describe, holding the pen under the words......

[marv2]

Right-handers [[about 85-90% of people) write 'away' from their written words.

Left-handers write 'into', and then across their words. If using a fountain pen, there is a tendency to dig the nib into the page, instead of dragging it across. Also, a tendency to smudge the written words with the hand, as it passes over the words.

Fortunately for Marv and myself, and all others like us, we were not forced to use our right hand to write, as in earlier generations. I'm interested that your Dad was not made to use his right hand when handwriting, as many of his generation would have been.

Post-WW2, things became more enlightened, and teachers would supply ballpoint pens.

Left-handers are often speedier writers than right-handers - although it's not always the case that what they write is easy to read!

I think the 'overhand' method of writing [[and which is very much slower in practice) is something generally seen only in left-handers. The letters are formed by holding the pen with the tip pointing towards the body of the writer, instead of the more usual method with it pointing away from the body.

I'd guess that a slightly higher percentage of members of Soulful Detroit are left-handers, than are found in society in general.

And I wonder who else from Motown, apart from Roz, is/was left-handed.......

There were others at Motown that were left-handed. I'm thinking Melvin Franklin for one. I will have to think about it.

[soulwally]

Yes, Martha and I are the same sign. How about this shot with The Searchers..

Now... if anyone's interested in the Searchers... from the left, drummer Chris Curtis left the group in 1966 and died, aged 63, in 2005; Frank Allen [[now 72) still tours in The Searchers; Mike Pender [[now 75) still tours in his own group, Mike Pender's Searchers; John Mcnally [[now 74) still tours in The Searchers.

[westgrandboulevard]

Marv, it sounds like you adapted your handwriting pretty quickly. A smart move.

Quick thinkers need to put their thoughts into words just as quickly!

[marv2]

Marv, it sounds like you adapted your handwriting pretty quickly. A smart move.

Quick thinkers need to put their thoughts into words just as quickly!

Thank you Westgrandboulevard. The real challenge for me came when I played on my school's basketball team.

[westgrandboulevard]

Another example of being quick on your feet....!

[marv2]

Another example of being quick on your feet....!

Well when you think about it, a left handed person has to learn everything in a right handed World. We have to do it just as well.

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh yes, Marv. Only a left handed person would really understand that!
[[we've wobbled off topic, but here goes, anyway)

Little but important everyday things, like locks and handles on doors, are generally fitted or will operate to suit right handers.

Remember going to banks, and the pen seemed ALWAYS to be attached on a cord to the right side of only a small place to rest, so you'd have to skew yourself round, even to sign your name!

Ever since I was small, I've always carried a pen [[in my left pocket!), so I'm not made to look or feel even more 'odd' in public places, or be personally inconvenienced.

Cheque counterfoils were always positioned for right handers, and also printed that way. It was the majority way. I know left handed cheque books were printed [[so I'm told; never saw one) but it would have been so much simpler to print the counterfoils sideways, so that both right and left handers could then enter details on them with ease.

And speaking of basketball, one is not only left handed, but usually left footed, too. More boys are left handed/left footed than girls. More left handed boys develop a stammer/stutter than right handed, and are prone to dyslexia. But left handers can often think quickly [[they learn to be adaptable), and often speak very quickly, with a degree of intensity.

In the US [[where you drive on the right - and as you know, right is right!), the steering wheel is usually on the left [[that's correct?). The left hander is then obliged to use their right hand [[their less strong hand) to select the gear, particularly on a manual gear operated vehicle. Here in the UK, we drive on the left, so our driving wheel is on the right side. This gives me a slight advantage, as I'm using my 'strong' left hand for the gear changes, and my left foot to operate the clutch.

Have you read of the theory that when we left handers were at the very beginning of development within our mothers, there was the potential for twins...but one part of the embryo makes no further development, and the one part which survives, becomes a left handed person?

Funny thing is, I can try some gadgets made for left-handed people, and can't get on with them.

I just do, and have always done, what comes naturally to me, and adapt. Never occurs to me that, to a right handed person, I might look odd, because right handers have just never looked odd to me.

Mind you, it's not good for a kid to be told they are 'odd' right from the word go. There can be an early and steadily growing determination to succeed in a kid, if they feel or are told they are 'odd'.

Everyone in any minority group [[which includes most of us, to varying degrees), be they 'just' left handed or, much more significantly, of a different race, a different gender [[females can have a hard time), a different sexuality, a different faith......if they feel quietly valuable within themselves, they then become valuable to other people, and have earned their place in the world.

Back on topic.......I bet the Motown group choreography favoured right handers.

For example, 'Stop! in the name of love', I'd automatically want to use my left hand.....LOL

[theboyfromxtown]

I still have my dad's left handed potato peeler and he also used to have a pair of left handed scissors.

There used to be shop specifically catering for left handed people in Soho. Not sure if it is still there. [[WGB - it was in Brewer Street near Cheap Cheapo.....opposite the strip joints! LOL)

[westgrandboulevard]

Tbfxtown.....

As a left hander, I always had to remember to first look RIGHT, then left, then right again, any time I crossed a road, whether it was to look at a shop for left-handed people, or a strip joint.....LOL

The shop was 'Anything Left-Handed'. Started in Beak Street, off Carnaby Street [[right where Martha asked "Got any clothes for SKINNY people?!"), in late '60s, then moved to Brewer Street. Think the staff were all left handed. Now online only.......

[Sharpmoves]

Guys, what are you like? THIS is what this thread is about!

[westgrandboulevard]

Well, we're just chatting, Sharpmoves.... you should know by now what we're like

Another nice, informal pic of Martha, adjusting her earring. I see she wasn't into long fingernails, as were many of the other Motown ladies..or maybe false ones were used, as and when required.

Wonder where and when this one was taken? Maybe around the time of the photo at the top of the thread?

Could probably guess the approximate year when the first two pics were taken, but exact details with photos do add extra interest......

[marv2]

Well, we're just chatting, Sharpmoves.... you should know by now what we're like

Another nice, informal pic of Martha, adjusting her earring. I see she wasn't into long fingernails, as were many of the other Motown ladies..or maybe false ones were used, as and when required.

Wonder where and when this one was taken? Maybe around the time of the photo at the top of the thread?

Could probably guess the approximate year when the first two pics were taken, but exact details with photos do add extra interest......

I have some personal pictures of Martha that I am going to send her for her birthday.

[westgrandboulevard]

Maybe we'll have the opportunity to see them here, sometime.

But only after Martha's seen them, of course.....

[marv2]

Maybe we'll have the opportunity to see them here, sometime.

But only after Martha's seen them, of course.....

I may post a few of them here and yep, after I send them to Martha first.

[Sharpmoves]

Another one I've never seen before. The girls on a night out with Weldon McDougal...every girl, grab a guy...