Friday, September 16, 2011

All Aboard!

You can board this train, but only if you weigh less than 50 pounds and can fit into a Speed Racer wagon. Oh, but wait...the cars seem to be occupied by wild animals in cages.

This is a children's parade from Jarvis School in Binghamton, New York's First Ward in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Although I can't be certain, I think this is John Korinek, my father-in-law, below.


The kids have constructed cages for each wagon to hold various wild animals. A giraffe helps them to pull the train.


Here are some additional close-ups.




Be sure to check out Sepia Saturday for more old pictures and great stories.
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28 comments:

  1. LynetteSeptember 16, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    Fantastic!

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  2. Bob ScotneySeptember 16, 2011 at 6:22 AM

    I agree! For a moment I thought this ws going to be a post for Sepia Saturday (ckeck out http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/09/sepia-saturday-92-saturday-17-september.html )

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  3. Little NellSeptember 16, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    Old pictures of children doing traditional things like dressing up just seem to show that children never change. ipads are not needed when you can make your own train to house your menagerie!

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  4. TrishiaSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    This photo seems to capture that true childhood innocence, a time when cardboard was magical:)

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  5. TrishiaSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:44 AM

    PS Christine, did you see my "epitaph" post yesterday? I thought you would really appreciate it:)

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  6. PostcardySeptember 16, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    That looks like it was a lot of fun.

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  7. DougVernXSeptember 16, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    Wow so amitious they were!. Thanks for pinpointing some of the parts of the photo. Looks like they all had fun. Thanks for visiting my crazy blog!:)

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  8. Lisa BSeptember 16, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    wonderful!

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  9. KristinSeptember 16, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    I thought the kids look sort of pensive. Not wildly overjoyed. I hope they were having more fun than it looks like! Wonder what teacher thought the parade up and over saw the making of it.

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  10. AnnSeptember 16, 2011 at 2:03 PM

    omg..this is wonderful!!! wonder how long it took for the kids to do this? i wonder if it was a "just because" or if it was some kind of celebration?

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  11. Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.comSeptember 16, 2011 at 5:36 PM

    I love kids being kids! Wonderful.

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  12. Brett PayneSeptember 16, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    The cowboy in the last image is wearing an outfit very much like the one I had at that age, although I'm not sure if there are any surviving photographs of it. Sounds like a wonderful class project - I count just over thirty of them. I wonder if the zoo had recently visited town? Thanks for sharing such an interesting image.

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  13. Archie TechtSeptember 16, 2011 at 9:46 PM

    Looks like they are trying to make the most of what they had available for fun during tough times- if that is indeed my father, this image was probably taken within a year of the market crash of 1929, assuming the boy is 4-5 years old. Looking at this image, I can't help thinking of the Little Rascals/Our Gang episode where they built a similar train that was out of control on a big hill- hilarious!

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  14. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2011 at 11:50 PM

    This reminds me of earlier today and a discussion I was having with others about our childhood radio flyer wagons(which both of us still have!) The guy I was speaking "the handle on mine is bent, and I remember how that happened, we were making a train and hooked them all together and then someone had to pull them and they were to heavy and the handle on mine was bent as a result" and I saw your photo and thought of the long wagon train! aweee what a fun photo/postcard!

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  15. HowardSeptember 17, 2011 at 4:57 AM

    Looks like a lot of work has gone into that, and a lot of fun too

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  16. Coloring Outside the LinesSeptember 17, 2011 at 5:53 AM

    What a neat photo Christine- I bet they were having a good time until someone made them stop and pose for a picture. I love their hats!

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  17. Sheila @ A Postcard a DaySeptember 17, 2011 at 7:04 AM

    Some of them look more enthusiastic than others! At first glance I thought the chilldren had been herded into the carriages too.

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  18. Liz StrattonSeptember 17, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    Wow! What a really great postcard! Didn't see a Flexible Flyer in the group - what a trip down memory lane that is ...

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  19. Postcard RoundupSeptember 17, 2011 at 6:27 PM

    Wonderful photo....right out of Little Rascals!

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  20. Alan BurnettSeptember 18, 2011 at 2:40 AM

    Another fascinating tour around an old photograph, another blogging tour-de-force.

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  21. viridianSeptember 18, 2011 at 6:30 AM

    Wonderful view into the past! And look at the effor t put into some of those paper hats.

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  22. Oregon Gifts of Comfort and JoySeptember 18, 2011 at 7:18 AM

    Christine, omg ... a circus train! What a wonderful idea for a parade entry. I love this post.

    Thank you so much for your input about my pictures being from Joshua Tree National Park. I added that info and a link into my post. Current photos show the trees grown up, but things look very familiar.

    Hope your week is great!

    Kathy M.

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  23. North County Film ClubSeptember 18, 2011 at 10:18 AM

    The second photo looks like there could possibly be a real live dog in the wagon. I don't think those little kids could have had much to do in the making of this pretty complicated "art piece". I think it was a complete adult creation. Whoever made it - it's fantastic!
    Barbara

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  24. Tattered and LostSeptember 18, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    I hope some of this survived. What an incredible piece of folk art. I imagine the animals were paper mache which means they probably are long gone.

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  25. Mike BrubakerSeptember 18, 2011 at 8:01 PM

    My mother grew up in this period and became an elementary school art teacher, inspiring future children (and myself too) with these same extravagant activities she had enjoyed as a child.

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  26. UnknownSeptember 19, 2011 at 5:43 PM

    Very cute. The pointy hat shot of the two boys looks like they might have been to a birthday party? What a great time the children had doing this. So much more activity for them and so much creativity on display.

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  27. GadgetSponge.comSeptember 20, 2011 at 8:35 PM

    Archie Techt said it first -- definitely reminiscent of Little Rascals. Really great photograph.

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  28. Cheryl AnnSeptember 28, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    What a wonderful photograph! Even better that it includes a family member. We weren't that creative as children. But I do remember a friend and myself pretending to be Mary Poppins with our umbrellas. We'd jump off the top of our swingset, umbrella in hand, and try to fly.
    ....never got very far! Thanks for the post.

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