This week's photo prompt at Sepia Saturday is "Crowd at a Football Match." The closest I have to a public crowd is this image of my parents, younger brother and myself in a bleacher crowd. What the event was, I don't know. I don't have any memory of sitting in the bleachers on that sunny day. My brother who is two years older probably took the picture because I know he was with us. (He doesn't want to be on public media, so I won't mention his name or include him in any pictures.)
It might have been taken during our trip to Philadelphia PA in the summer of 1965, but wherever it was taken it is a wonderful example of the styles at the time, from my father's hat to my mother's cat-eye glasses and her scarf and hat combo. The lady in back of us seems very interested in my brother taking the picture!
But this scene I remember very well, in a photo taken in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I remember it because after we had toured the Hall, my father told me "Go stand by the guide. I want to take a picture." In my mind, I thought, "Noooo!" I was ten years old, and very self-conscious about doing things out of the ordinary in public. Nobody else was having pictures taken with her. There was no arguing with my father however. I dutifully stood in place, holding my ditty bag purse which was all the rage then in my neck of the woods, and barely managing a smile. I'm laughing now at the position of my arm, contorted in angst, as I was thinking, "Oh please hurry up Dad, everybody's LOOKING AT ME!!! I'M DYIN' HERE!!"
Here again I think I look similar to the other two photos, and we have a date to clue us in: the infamous "long after the actual date photo development stamp" which shows that the film was developed in Feb of 1966, during the winter, contrasting with the summer clothes. And I have lots of photos of that year showing my hair at shoulder-length.
So there we are, amidst the crowds at Philadelphia, with me being mortified, Mt Vernon perhaps, and bleacher in an unknown place, which last phrase could be the title of an Outer Limits episode.
Ah, Philadelphia. I visited Independence Hall when I was chaperoning a high school history trip. We also went into the old Congress Hall where I tripped over a student and almost fell into a marble fireplace cutting my arm open! Boy - you talk about medical service! Quickly on the scene they were, taking pictures, bandaging me up lickity split! The poor arm did ache, though. So later I took a stroll down to Penn Station along the river where my ancestors arrived from Britain at the behest of William Penn. From there, I took a ferry across the river to Camden, N.J. to visit their brand new aquarium. It was quite a day!
ReplyDeleteFrom an ignoramus in Scotland - what is a “bleacher crowd”?
ReplyDeleteHi Sue! Bleachers, as in the seats people sit in at sports events. What do they call them in Scotland?
DeleteThat definitely was not George's home in Mt Vernon. His columns were square and overall the house is modest by comparison to the building in your photo. At least you got to pose with a real person. I had to stand next to statues and monuments.
ReplyDeleteHaha - I should count my blessings! Thanks for the tip re Mt. Vernon. I hope to visit George's home sooooon. I've put it off too long!!! Being a gardener, I can't wait to tour the grounds.
DeleteA very nice match for the theme. It's funny how memory is altered by photos. Sometimes they correct mistaken ideas, and other times they prove things that we don't remember. I'm certain that I'd have no memory of my life from age 1 to 18 if it wasn't for my dad's camera recording our family's events, people, and places. Now it all seems a blur except for what I can recall by seeing his photos.
ReplyDeleteGreat collection of photos. The last time I toured Philly was with my young kids as we moved from CT to FL in 1969. There were lots of photos of the kids in front of various sites, just like yours.
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