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Applause, applause. They're taking their show on the road. Hope you enjoyed the show.
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And they all had a jolly good time!
ReplyDeleteThe End
Gosh that was fun! This photograph is at a level worthy of high art or at least a New Yorker magazine cover. And this was one of your best deconstructions. I'd even say number one. You really made us feel that we were there too. Towards the end I began to see how some of the pieces fit together, but without the boxtop the puzzle was quite a mystery. Now my fingers are all sticky from melon rinds and marshmallows.
Perfect ending, Mike.
DeleteSo glad you enjoyed this one. I love the photo and when I saw it I had to have it. I knew deconstructing was the only way to go.
DeleteWell... at last. Such a fun idea. Nice to see the whole thing the relation of the bits you published. Can't wait to read Mike's caption.
ReplyDeleteDo you know anything at all to explain this photo? Clearly this was posed with people asked to do something silly. What year do you think this would be?
I know nothing about any of it other than the photographer's stamp on the back. I tried to find information about him or her, but found nothing. So it's open to speculation. I'm hoping someday to find at least where the photographer was located.
DeleteGlad you liked my captions, Ted. You had a good storyline going too, channeling a Ray Bradbury fantasy idea. I wonder what this group would think to see how we interpreted their entertaining photo. Sort of a double entendre joke separated by a century.
DeleteIt is a shame that we will probably never know anything about these fun loving folks. I wonder what it was like for the little girl. I'm thinking later in life she wrote a book about her childhood with the First City Comedy Troupe: An Insiders Perspective.
Deleteterrific! Thanks for the close-ups, and helping us to "see."
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. It's just one of those shots so full of life that it deserves to be broken up into parts. So many fun people.
DeleteI think you're right. I think this is a comedy troupe. The white number in the lower right corner, made by writing on the negative with black ink, would not be found on a print made for private use. I would, however, be common on a photo made for commercial use, and are almost always found on theatrical lobby photos. No doubt F. W. Smith received a telegram from the stage manager, "Will be in Kansas City on the tenth. Please send fifty copies of print 22612 to the Belasco Theater."
ReplyDeleteI figured this wasn't your normal family get together. They really seemed to have planned much of this. I like the idea of them all defending on Kansas City at once.
DeleteFound him!
ReplyDeleteFred W. Swift, photographer Rochester, New York.
Listed in the 1892 New York Census for Rochester, Fred W. Swift, age 36; photographer
Agnes T. Swift, age 34; housewife
Listed in the 1891, 1892, 1893 Rochester City Directories as Fred W. Swift, photographer. Only home addresses, no business address or business listing under photographer so likely he was employed for another studio. In the 1888 directory his occupation was salesman, and he is no longer listed in 1894.
Did he know Mr. Eastman aka Mr. Kodak?
I'll work on finding the comedy troupe next.
I did find a story about watermelons in an 1887 NY newspaper that described "plugging" a watermelon with champagne or other intoxicating beverages. (I don't know if syringes were commonly used for this)
Mike, this is fantastic! Now we have a location and a basic time period. Can't wait to see if you find out more.
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