American Amusement Co. seems to be selling a color photo booth again.

We reported on the sale of the booth in April, and the auction ended successfully with a winning price of $872.55, but for whatever reason, the booth is back on the market. Hopefully, the sellers aren’t selling a different booth but using an old set of photos.

Once again, the sellers have set a five day auction, beginning with an opening bid of one dollar, and featuring no reserve price. Bargain photobooth hunters could get a real prize with this one, unless there’s something we don’t know. The other stuff featured in the photos doesn’t seem to be included, but it might be worth asking.

We have often lamented the lack of simple, properly-sized frames for photobooth strips. Someone could make a killing with a nice, clean frame that perfectly fits the traditional four-pose strip.

So it was with some interest this week that we came across a raft of frames on eBay, purpose-made for individual photos from photobooths. These classic designs, featuring reverse-painted glass and printed messages above and below the photos, date from the 1940s. The frames, many of which feature a period photo still inside, are made of glass and metal, and measure approximately 3″ x 4″. The items for sale include a frame with a floral theme, and frames with messages that include “Remember Me,” “Thinking of You,” “Long May It Wave,” “For Victory,” and “Victory” (at right). With a starting bid of $9.99 each, these unique, striking frames are sure to go.

The Sims 2: Nightlife, the new module for the popular Sims series, features a photobooth as part of its nightclub environment. The game, recently released for a variety of game consoles as well as Mac and PC computers, lets players take their characters out on the town. “Whether they’re dancing until dawn, romancing that special someone, or striking out at the bowling alley, it’ll be an unforgettable night! Let your Sims loose to enjoy their favorite after-dark activities as they pursue a life of pleasure.” If anyone has the game and can send us a screen capture of the Sims’ photobooth, we’d appreciate it.

Apparently, The Sims 2 is not the only video game to feature a photobooth. In a list of hints concerning the game Zoo Tycoon, a Tycoon fan writes, “Don’t use the photo booth. It competes with your gift shop/stand unnecessarily as the photos count as souvenirs. If a guest has a photo, he won’t buy a gift and vice versa. Gifts cost more, so encourage that.” Point taken.

In his NBA Draft preview article on FoxSports.com, writer Randy Hill talks about two players from the New Orleans Hornets this way (and forgive us for doing a double take — there’s a team called the New Orleans Hornets? It’s been a long time since we’ve followed basketball, I guess): “The point guard situation seems less of a disaster, although Speedy Claxton is only dynamite as a backup and Dan Dickau couldn’t guard a rhino in a Fotomat booth.”

I’m not even sure what that little illustrative statement is supposed to mean. I take it to mean Dan Dickau is a poor guard, but really, how is a rhino going to fit into a photobooth anyway? And it seems like it would be dangerous even trying to fit into a photobooth with a rhino, even figuratively. I think it’s probably best not to dwell on this one too long. 

A black-and-white photobooth in Eureka, California is up for auction this week on eBay. The booth is described as a “Gorgeous Vintage 4‑Strip B&W Photobooth,” and has an unknown reserve as well as a $5000 “Buy It Now” price. The current high bid on the booth stands at $521.

The booth, which dates from 1968, has a bright blue exterior and new floor (both courtesy of the seller, along with a dollar bill acceptor, as well), plus a terrific island motif interior. The booth is in working condition, and comes with a few months worth of chemicals.

Check out some recent eBay listings for photobooths and related material we’ve been following.

According to an article in today’s Guardian, author and media darling Jonathan Safran Foer spent $2,000 in a photobooth “trying to get the right picture” for the dust jacket for his first book Everything is Illuminated. “$2,000 is a bit of an exaggeration,” he corrected, but apparently, he searched long and hard for just the right photobooth in Manhattan (I wonder which one he chose) and then did what it took to get the photo just right. We understand. I’ve read the book but I’ll have to revisit; I don’t recall the photo, but I was also in my “pre-photobooth-aware” days.

We cover the tough stories here at Photobooth.net, like this one, about Jai Rodriguez of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” fame, who apparently took photos of himself kissing a woman in a photobooth at Fran Drescher’s “Living with Fran” party this weekend. That’s about all there is to the story, actually. 

This image, found in the May 2005 issue of Real Simple magazine, takes the cake for the most ambitious faked photobooth yet. The booth is real, I do believe, but the metal delivery chute has been moved (in Photoshop) from the side of the photobooth mechanism (camera, darkroom), to the side where the subject sits. For this configuration to function, either 1) the person sitting for their picture will have to slip the picture in the chute (then step outside and retrieve it) or 2) the picture must be beamed via an as-of-yet undiscovered technology to the metal chute. Perhaps this is a booth from the future.

Also worth noting is the signage that was most certainly removed (again, with the help of Photoshop) to make room for the article title and lead-in.

The article gives 14 tips on how to look great in a snapshot. Some highlights include: how to avoid the dreaded double chin (keep below the level of the lens), avert a fake smile (don’t say cheese, think of something funny), and evade the evil red-eye (dilate your pupils by looking at a bright light).

A lengthy photobooth session led to a major altercation at a Massachusetts Chuck E. Cheese’s this past Sunday, the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise reports. Three girls, all cousins, aged 21, 18, and 14, were arrested and charged with “assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot).”

Apparently, the girls sat in the photobooth taking photos for at least half an hour while a family waited outside to use the booth. When the girls finally relented and let Eduarda Silveira, her husband, and their six-month daughter in to use the booth, the girls continued to insult and abuse the family. The abuse escalated into a fight in which “one teen allegedly began pulling Silveira’s hair, punching her, and eventually knocked her to the ground and kicked her.” 

We love photobooths, but come on, people, they’re not worth fighting over. Especially when the fighting involves punching, hair-pulling, and assault with a shod foot. 

This is not the first time a photobooth has been in the middle of an incident involving assault and Massachusetts law enforcement officers, though. A few years ago (and if anybody knows when, I’d appreciate the info), photobooth artist Paul Yates was assaulted and detained by rent-a-cop security personnel at the BostonBowl photobooth as he was taking photos, some of which happened to involve no clothing. The Boston Phoenix’s story on the incident is worth a read.

UPDATE, Thursday, April 28, 2005: According to a report in today’s Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise, the photobooth was a digital “Photo Sketch” model.

Domino, billed as “the shopping magazine for your home,” is the latest offering from the Condé Nast empire. The debut issue features a story about three mother-daughter duos and their decorating similarities. Each duo is pictured in a black and white photostrip. Check out the online preview here. more…