history

Continuing our tour of Pittsburgh circa 1908. "Pittsburgh & Lake Erie R.R. station and Mount Washington -- Smithfield Street Bridge and Monongahela Incline." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Here is another picture of a carnival "Geek" eating a snake. I find it interesting the evolution of the word "Geek" over the last hundred years. Back in the day, Geek referred to someone who would entertain by biting the heads off live chickens or snakes, perhaps drinking the blood, and then eating them raw. Because of this egregious behavior, the word geek had an element of a social outcast, one who did not behave like others and did not fit in with polite society. Nothing criminal, just a misfit. By the 60's and 70's the term was used to describe a high school student who was good in math. It was equivalent to "Nerd" in some ways. In the 60's and 70's the word Geek was definitely intended to be an insult. It was a way to make kids who were good in math feel like outcasts. As computer technology came on the scene, the word Geek was used not just for those good with math, but also good with technology. Then a funny thing happened . . . some of those computer "Geeks" started turning out to be multimillionairs before they finished college and in some cases before they finished high school. All of the sudden "Geek" became a cool thing to be. So, the word went from describing a person who bit the heads off chickens to make a few dollars to a kid living in a mansion and driving a Ferrari around Silicon Valley.

I'm too young to remember Fanny Brice, but I was attracted to the photo's elegant composition and the possibilities of light and color. Repair and colorization to the original done in Photoshop using layers and blend modes. View full size.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1908. "Nixon Theatre, Sixth Avenue & Cherry Alley." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1908. "A group of skyscrapers." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1901. "Pere Marquette transfer boat 17." These steamers were operated on various Great Lakes waterways by the Pere Marquette railroad. View full size.

Today's picture shows a performance in a carnival side show. For entertainment, this gentleman would bite the head off a snake and eat it raw. The picture was taken in 1938 in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. In the 1970's I can remember seeing a "Freak Show" at the Texas State Fair where there was a similar act. I have to say that for a little kid, it was a pretty amazing thing to watch. I believe carnival sideshows are much more tame now-days. Wonder if anyone has seen a carnival sideshow recently and if they can share with us any acts like this still being done.

Circa 1904. "Manhattan, East River and Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn." Another grayscale view of an evergreen subject. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.

Washington Post staff photographer Hugh Miller in 1924, clowning with an item that, along with lampposts and mailboxes, used to be common piece of street furniture: the sidewalk horse-waterer. National Photo Co. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Lanza Motors Co. -- Greenwich Village Girls -- Metz Master Six." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Today we feature a photograph from the late 1800's. Pictured is a group of snake charmers in Morocco. If I had to work on this team, I would apply for the job of drummer. He is the furthest from the snake, and in a pinch the drum might be able to be used as a shield.

September 18, 1929. "Mr. & Mrs. Lindbergh." Aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, four months after they married, at Bolling Field en route to South America. Charles, the pioneering aviator, was probably the most famous person in America at the time; Anne would become an accomplished aviator in her own right, as well as one of the best-selling writers of the 20th century. Some three years after this picture was taken, the tragedy of their child's murder helped define the modern phenomenon of mass-media super-celebrity. From Anne's February 2001 obituary in the New York Times: "Nothing, not even Lindbergh's 1927 landing in Paris, had prepared them for the carnival of reporters, photographers, con artists, curiosity-seekers, vandals and crazy people who invaded their lives after their baby was kidnapped. Americans would not experience a similar flood of publicity until the O. J. Simpson murder trial of the 1990s." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

April 1924. Washington, D.C. "Miss Reese." No first name given, but Miss Reese seems to be a minimalist. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size.

Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1902. "Residences on Hasell Street." WHJ's Street View cam, a few yards upstream from this earlier view. 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

"Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, 1902." Landmarks in this view from the Treasury steps at 15th Street include the Capitol and Old Post Office. On the bill at Chase's Polite Vaudeville: Capt. Woodward's trained seals. 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Today's picture is from India around 1900. It shows multi-snake charmers. I believe if I were ever in charge of a roadside snake charmer operation, I would institute a "One Cobra Out of the Basket at a Time" policy. I feel that most snake charming disasters probably occurred from more than one snake out of the basket at a time.

"Tampa Bay Hotel, Florida, 1902." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

January 20, 1938. Washington, D.C. "Sen. [illegible], Theodore Vachon, Rufus Putney, Sen. H. Styles Bridges of New Hampshire. Sen. Bridges presented with deer." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Today's picture shows a Hopi Snake Dance. The picture was taken in 1899. I am not sure if venomous snakes are used or not in this dance. In either case, I do not think I would want a live snake in my mouth.

OK, I hate to bring up the dreaded "embargo" topic, but I only got two comments on yesterday's post (at the time I went to bed there were only two comments). Hey, I had a cool picture of a cobra and snake charmers, I threw in some information on the Black Mamba, the most deadly of all snakes, and I had a full color picture of Handsome Jack trying to impress Lovie. Now if that does not warrant more than two comments, I am not sure what does. 

Southern California ladies showing their wares in Pomona. View full size.