At The World's Fair

I  went over 80,000 page views a couple of days ago and thought it was a good time to revisit some images from the early days of The New Found Photography.  Nothing was written on any of these, but I was able to date them from the midget show visible in the background of the second photo.   A bit of digging and I was able to place it at the 1939 New York World's Fair.  Click on Worlds Fair in the labels section to bring up the original post if curious.  And yes, I bought these photos because the lady is good looking.  Hey, I've bought things for worse reasons.

Trains and Trainmen

Written on the back of the train picture, "1939 engine that went to worlds fair." On the border of the photo of the man on the box car, "Hanging on." I got these photos from the same source, so I'm betting that the three men in the final photo are either fellow trainmen, or friends of the man on the box car.

A Beautiful Couple, 1939

One of the problems of being a collector of old photos is in the dating of images. Sometimes, the photographer writes something down or the lab stamps a date on the back, but more often than not it's a matter of guessing about clothes and hair styles. In the second image from this series, the lady is leaning against a wall, visible in the background is Morris Gest's Midget Town. Also known as Morris Gest's Little Miracle Town. Gest was a theatrical producer who had a distinguished career in New York presenting plays by the Moscow Art Theater, Max Reinhardt, and Elenore Duse. Things slowed down for him during the great depression, and for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, he ended up putting on a midget show.

In looking at old photos, I often find myself thinking about historical proximity. In 1939, Japan had invaded China, and Germany was about to invade Poland. The gentleman in the first picture may or may not have ended up in combat. He may or may not have been wounded or died. His wife may have ended up building airplanes, or may have stayed at home. Of course, I can't tell what happened to them from these pictures, but I also can't help speculating. Whatever happened, it all changed.