Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Friday, April 13, 2012

Sepia Saturday # 121 - Where Eagles Flew

WELCOME TO SEPIA SATURDAY

Where a glimpse into yesterday may not be what you think it is.



When do you suppose this photo below was taken?

Do you believe it's an authentic Pennsylvania Central airplane?


Does anything look Photoshopped to you?

At the Library of Congress photos division they describe it as being taken on August 31, 1937 with Lois Beal (Michigan's Peach Queen) delivering a basket of fruit to the White House from her home town of Romeo, Michigan.



It appears staged to me, but I may be wrong.




While Sepia Saturday is flying into the topic of "Flight/airplanes" we'll be gliding through something else.  Please come soar with me!



We begin with this photo -
Greetings from Lieutenant Bill Wilson (holding a Jerrican)posing by an airplane with a group of local people, Dijon, France 1944 - Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. and photo by Wilson R. Wilson on mount.

It was Little Nell who gave this theme to Alan at Sepia Saturday.






But..... our eagle has done more than land.



He's mysterious like that and he has taken a bit of a detour and landed elsewhere this Saturday.  I hope you don't mind.


Once upon a time, long ago or not so long, you must be the judge....a photographer happened by.



Out at the Ozark Mill, Charlie Burton a nine year old lad, grew tired of his "sweepin' job" at the other mill so his mother got him a new sweeping job pictured here. His sister (pictured quite happy) was 14 years old and she had been spinning for 6 years, making 50 cents a day. The boys were making 60 cents a day (of course) at their first sweeping job. They never mentioned if they got a raise with their new job.

Photo was taken at Gastonia, North Carolina, in November of 1908.

Do you believe this was really taken in 1908?  Pretty much so, although what do you think about Charlie's (extremely) white shoe laces, and is the siding on the house, questionable?


What about this photo?  Recent or from the past?



Truthfully, it was an extremely "hot" day, and this is not a doll, she's my daughter, quietly sitting on my lap, in August of 1988 just a week before her baby brother was born.  Our photo was taken from the Old-Time-Photo Shop at Valley Fair Amusement Park.






What do you think about this one?

Even when something appears to be what you believe you are looking at, it isn't always the case.

Hint: I shot this photo a couple of weeks ago....

So, YES!  It's a remake of another time of  "child pin setters" back before they were replaced by automatic pin setters.



Do you suppose they got to bowl for free?



I can tell you this is a photo taken on December 20, 1909 by Lewis Wickes Hine, of boys working in Arcade Bowling Alley, Trenton, N.J. and on file at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Prints and Photos.



Another photo I took while passing by a local restaurant in Edina, Minnesota.

I just knew where I could find another photo just like it.

This "Library of Congress" photograph was taken, at the Trenton Bowling Alley in New Jersey.


Absolutely, the mystery of when and where the photos I recently took were answered by the photos on file at the Library of Congress.

Truth be told, I could hardly wait to pull up the photos from the Library of Congress. As I snapped each photo I just knew where they came from!



Last, I'll say straight away, that this photo was taken sometime in the 1990's.


....and just so you know, it had been a wild and crazy day of extreme rides!


Valley Fair, a few years later, with my daughter and my youngest son, again at the Old-Photo-Shop.

Beware fighting against this boy!

If you want to fly your own plane go right ahead. Bring them here.

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2012/04/sepia-saturday-121-flight.html

Do stop by Little Nell's blog too, she sponsored the airplane-flight theme and can be found here

http://hangingonmyword.blogspot.com/2012/04/two-alberts-memorial.html

32 comments:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Hi Karen ... this was such a fun post. Your daughter looks much happier in the picture WITH her brother than the one WITHOUT him. Its a good thing that he came along, even totin' a gun, lol.

Great pictures. Dang, those little kids having to set up those pins; what if they slipped when they jumped up to the wall, would they get hit by a heavy ball? Oh, my.

Kathy M.

Thanks for all the nice things you said on my blog!

Kristin said...

I am reading a memoir of a man who used to have a job setting pins in a bowling alley a bit after 1908.

The siding looks ok to me. the laces could be string. the first photo looked all right. I mean it looks posed but not photoshoped.

Kalei's Best Friend said...

De4finitely staged, but so what? lol.. I like it... BTW love your new header photo!. :-)

Galen Pearl said...

My son has a whole series of old time bandit photos taken at the fair every year for the last 10 years.

As for the airplane, my did was a pilot for Delta when the company was called Chicago Southern and had three airplanes! So maybe it's a real photo!

Christine H. said...

Hmm, first one looked staged but not photo shopped. I wonder now if I'm missing something. It does make these photos even more interesting though if you look at them closely for clues.

North County Film Club said...

I think the first photo is staged with a fake plane. It's so lumpy and bumpy looking.

I love the photo with you and your kids. Such fun.
Nancy

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi Karen, this was a fun post; it is not easy to judge which is which unless something gives it really away. It was enjoyable to muse about the prints, feel sorry for the chimney sweep boys and also for the kids in the bowling alley, the girl spinning all day long for 50 cents; and they thought it was the land of milk and honey!

FilipBlog said...

Nice to see these old pictures. How do they invent this the Michigan's Peach Queen. I assume this no longer exists.

Greetings,
Filip

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

as always Karen...LOVE all the OLD (and sepia colored, not so OLD) photos...AND the stories behind each!!
YES! i think the photo of the fruit delivery to the White House was a staged picture. she just looks way too relaxed to have just hopped off that plane!!

and YES! i think the boys got to bowl for FREE after the business was closed for the day!!

karen...i LOVE the OLD photo shop pictures of you & your kids! so authentic looking...you are a beautiful family!!

Bob Scotney said...

Romeo, Romeo. I've been to Romeo, Mi.

Thoroughly entertaining and teasing post. I'll never trust you photos again!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I wonder too sometimes whether a photo is real or staged. Some are really hard to tell the difference. Great post!

21 Wits said...

Thanks Kalei's BF Thanks so much, also for liking my new header photo. You're the first to mention it!

21 Wits said...

Christine, thanks! It has been through your posts that I have learned to really look at photos! So many times we stumble upon really great photo shopped photos and never realize it! Besides, who doesn't love a good mystery!

21 Wits said...

Barbara and Nancy, thanks! I agree there is something perhaps the wheel in the bottom, the window it just looks like a plane I would question being very safe to fly in!

21 Wits said...

Bob, Oh no, really?! ha ha!!! I had a feeling you might have been to Romeo, on a visit to see your daughter! Are they still famous for their peaches?! My cousin was Miss Heart of Michigan once too! From Grand Haven, Mi!

21 Wits said...

Filip, I don't know, but they might still run them. Some little towns around Michigan and even here in Minnesota carry these traditions on forever. My cousin was a Miss Heart of Michigan and was in their parade riding on a float. I may post one of her photos sometime! I will google it for you!

21 Wits said...

Thanks so much Laura, I always appreciate your kind words! I think my family and I need to take a few more of those photos! I don't know what part I enjoy more, picking out the costume, adding guns and etc. or taking the picture!

Unknown said...

“In 1937 Lois Beal became the first Romeo girl to win the peach queen title. Only 16 years old at the time, Beal worked both as a clerk at the D&C store and a cashier at the Juliet movie theatre. In the two weeks prior to the Labor Day weekend, she went on a publicity tour, traveling to Chicago to speak on the National Farm and Home Hour radio program. From there she flew to Washington, D.C., to present peaches to a representative of President Roosevelt. When she arrived back to Romeo, Mayor Charles W. Ellsworth presented the queen the key to the village.” (from Images of America – The Romeo Peach festival, D. McLaughlin, 2006).

21 Wits said...

Rob, thanks so much for the extra info! I just enjoy these kinds of moments in a person's life. We need more of them! Thanks again!

Wendy said...

I would guess the first photo is staged with a fake backdrop. I guessed correctly on the Old Time photos since my family has some of the same! The child pinsetter photos are fascinating. What a great job for a kid!

tony said...

Setting Pins Must Have Been Dangerous.You Would Have To Be Nimble!
Ummm..the top photo is a tad staged,but probably not photoshopped(?)
some Great Photos Karen!

Little Nell said...

So much to enjoy here. You have me doubting my own eyes with your teasing questions, and wonderful pictures. The one of you and your daughter looks so like the pictures I have in a book of ‘National Geographic Greatest Portraits' - had me fooled, but what fun! Great post, and thank you for the mention.

Postcardy said...

I don't know about the plane, but I don't think the basket of fruit doesn't look like it's really being held.

Tattered and Lost said...

The first shot, obviously staged, reminds me of a shot I bought years ago of a group of people standing on the steps for a flight. They all look so happy and for some reason I figured they had to be important. Nope. Just regular folks going on a trip together. I was contacted by the grandson of the photographer who told me about the work his grandfather did taking photos of people at airports, making them feel special.

Alan Burnett said...

A lovely romp pf a post and yet another perfect example of themes leading to flights of fancy which fascinate all the rest of us.

Bruno Laliberté said...

While I'm glad bowling got automated, I must say these pics were fun. And if I may say so, you look good in vintage. Sepia becomes you.
:)~
HUGZ

21 Wits said...

Ticklebear, Thanks, you're super sweet for saying that!

21 Wits said...

Postcardy, you are right, I looked so much at the plane I didn't give much notice to her or the fruit!

Unknown said...

That is one different Penn Central; you really did take us on a flight from ground level to the ideas beyond, bowling pins to vintage looking photos. A great fun array, each photo enticed me to keep scrolling, to see what next...

Mike Brubaker said...

A super post and full of surprises. All great photos old and new. My favorite is the porch photo. I live not far from Gastonia, NC and though the mills are long gone, many of the worker's houses are still around. The white shoelace is probably a replacement string from a flour sack.

Rek Sesh said...

A great sepia post, and these are truly slices of our past, good or bad, a life different and yet similar in so many ways.

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