In anticipation of Christmas present — and in honor of Christmas past — today’s Friday Flashback reprises one of my favorites, from several years ago.
Taken from “Westport … A Special Place” — the wonderful photo book written and compiled by Eve Potts, and designed by Howard Munce — it shows Christmas 1888, “at the seaside estate that became Longshore.”
I wrote then: “I have no idea who any of these people are. But all have stories.
“What are their relationships with each other? Why is the plump guy at the lower left not looking at the camera? Is there an infant in the carriage? How come they all seem so solemn? (Even the “Merry Christmas” sign looks stern.) Are the kids on the top step planning something? Is the boy at the far left slyly pointing to the statute? Whose dog is it? Who knew that people in 1888 even had pets?”
The post drew a number of comments. Among them:
“Folks during the early days of photography had to sit still for a long period of time before the photograph could be taken, so it’s common to see people in images from bygone eras with serious expressions. I like to think this is the case here, and that they were actually in a jovial mood and broke into gales of laughter once the shutter had closed.” (Jimmy Franco)
“There may have been a recent death in the family. The wreaths on the windows and the garland around the ‘Merry Christmas’ sign seem far too dark (even in black and white) to have been greenery. And given that it’s the holidays and all the women are in black during an era when women’s clothing was often colorful.” (India Van Voorhees)
“There are theories as to why people didn’t smile in old photos. They range from the long exposure times to the fact that smiles were quite gnarly prior to dentistry and orthodontia. But most experts believe that smiling for photos simply wasn’t the style at the time – if you smiled in a photo, you looked silly. Portraits were considered serious affairs rather than mean to entertain. Smiling in photos didn’t begin until the early 1900s.
“I went back to Eve Potts’ book to take a closer look at this wonderful photo. I noticed the smallest hints of a smile on some of the faces. Perhaps it’s better stated that a few of the faces looked ‘pleasantly relaxed’ rather than stern.” (Wendy Crowther)
So: Any more thoughts? What else do you notice, or wish to add? Click “Comments” below.
And — 135 years after this photograph was taken — we will add the same wish: “Merry Christmas.”
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