World War One Soldiers Swimming

Amidst all the misery and horror of World War One, it's always so nice to get glimpses of the breaks the troops got from all of it. In this post, photos of soldiers swimming, bathing, and/or playing (usually all three) in the water during WWI. They look like they consider it the best thing ever, which, in that period of their lives, it probably was. I'm glad they got it.

Note: Most of these fellows were not at all shy about stripping all their clothes off for a swim, so there is some nudity ahead!

© IWM (Q 19041)

British soldiers splashing in the water at Corfu. Source

© IWM (Q 25257)

British troops in the River Tigris, Baghdad, 1917. Source

© IWM (Q 54298)

Piggyback wading (location unspecified).Source

Press Photographers at Play

Leslie Jones was a Boston photojournalist, working for the Boston Herald for 39 years in the early to mid-twentieth century. He (and his friends) also really, wonderfully, liked taking silly pictures. 

Photos from 1920s-1950s, with more specific dates when noted. 

More of Jones' (serious) work here. 

Boston Public Library

Jones and a young fellow photographer in just a normal handshake, 1936. Source

Boston Public Library

Jones getting action with a mannequin, 1935. Source

Boston Public Library

Jones and pal posing for the camera. Source

Friends Being Ridiculous, 1897

A quick, fun set! I don't have a tremendous amount of context for these photographs, which come from what appear to be two sets, in a collection held by a small Ontario museum. In one set, a bunch of male and female friends play around with bicycles, bonnets, and occasional musical instruments. In the other, a group of five fellows adopt silly poses in swimsuits, some of which are women's suits. All are taken in 1897, in Huron County, Ontario, by a professional photographer. What, exactly, is the story? Who knows, but they're great. 

Huron County Museum

Bicycles, instruments, bonnets... Source

Huron County Museum

Posing on Lake Huron. Source

Huron County Museum

A pile of friends and instruments in the park. Source

Australian Soldiers Playing in the Snow

Though it certainly does snow in Australia, and the country even has ski hills, the majority of Australians don't grow up with snow. Particularly in the days before long-distance travel was commonplace, a lot of Australians never even saw snow. So when Australian soldiers were posted abroad to places like Northern Europe, Canada, and Korea, they tended to have an awful lot of fun with it. 

Snowball-armed soldiers and their prizewinning kangaroo snowman at a Convalescent Camp in England, 1917. Source

Australian soldiers having a snowball fight at a camp in southern England, 1916. Source

Nurses and convalescent Australian soldiers have a snowball fight at a hospital in southern England, WWI. Source

Victorian Fun at the Beach

It's always delightful to come across photographs of nineteenth-century people having fun. We're so used to the image of the stern, still Victorians that as soon as you see them relaxed and smiling, they almost stop seeming like Victorians. Suddenly they look like they could be people we know, just in costume, and the gap between 2014 and 1894 seems suddenly a lot less. 

These stereographs, from the Atlantic City beach in the 1890s, have quite a bit of that wonderful "just people in costume" feel. 

New York Public Library

1894. Source

New York Public Library

1890. Source

The crowd shots are especially good when you use the NYPL's zoom-in feature: 

Going for a Swim

Folks going for a swim!

Canada. Dept. of Interior / Library and Archives Canada

The swimming pool at Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, 1930s. Source

George Eastman House

An autochrome of people swimming in Silver Lake, 1907-1932. Source

University of Washington Libraries

Tourists swimming at Sunrise Lake, Washington, despite the presence of snow, ca. 1927. Source

A 1920s Party of the 1950s

1920s parties seem to be especially popular lately, which, of course, as a wannabee flapper I couldn't be happier about. The look and popular culture of the era hold a strong appeal-- distant enough to romanticize but close enough to relate to. The idea of Prohibition is easily turned into pretend naughty fun. And who doesn't love sparkly dresses, stripey jackets, boater hats, and pearls? 

In fact, the 1920s party potential was already being seen by the 1950s. In these photos from 1954, partygoers have gone all out in their costumes (which, considering the decade only ended 24 years ago, are more than likely actually from it). Drinks are being sipped from teacups (though eventually many of the people give up and turn to cans of beer), a bathtub is used as a decoration/liquor holder, the ladies roll down their stockings and the men wear spats. I find it especially interesting to see considering that most of the people there were probably born in the 1920s, or slightly earlier.... it's the equivalent of a 1980s or even 90s party today!

Wallace Kirkland, LIFE © Time Inc.

Source

Wallace Kirkland, LIFE © Time Inc.

Source

Wallace Kirkland, LIFE © Time Inc.

Source

By Bicycle

Photographs of people with bicycles, from the 1890s to 1940s. 

National Library of Australia

Women with bicycles on an Australian beach, ca. 1900. Source

Deseronto Archives

Two men cycling on a dirt road, Ontario, Canada, 1903. Source

Library of Congress

Cyclist Joseph Fogler with another fellow in an awkward trying-to-stay-on-bicycle pose, 1913. Source

The Great Ferris Wheel

I've always found it just crazy that they (ie,  George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. and the folks who liked his idea) decided to build the first Ferris Wheel, they didn't stop to test small-scale versions of the idea or anything. No, they tried the idea of a giant spinning wheel by building it 264 feet tall with 36 40-seat cars. It blows my find that this actually had a happy ending. 

Photographs from the Ferris wheel's start and its happily ever after. 

Library of Congress

That original, at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Source

State Library and Archives Florida

Taos, New Mexico, ca. 1945. Source

State Library of Queensland

A Ferris wheel in Brisbane, Australia, ca. 1918. Source

On the Playground

Kids (and some adults!) on a variety of old playgrounds. 

Oregon State University

Teenage girls on a playground, ca. 1945. Source

University of Washington Libraries

A playground in Seattle, ca. 1910. Source

Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest

A packed playground in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1946. Source

Wing Walking

Wing walking, of course, is one of the crazy stunts pilots got up to in the earlier days of aviation. It is still done sometimes, but with wires and straps and thing to make sure the practitioners won't die. Back in the days these photos were taken, there were no such safeguards. Pilots would simply climb out of their cockpits and stand, sit, or hang from the wings or fuselage. This kind of thing was very popular in stunt shows of the 1920s, though it was being done for fun much earlier.

The majority of these photos depict an American barnstormer of the 1920s named Carter Buton, whose antics are documented in scrapbooks temporarily held by the San Diego Air and Space Museum. However, the albums of WWI pilots-in-training yield plenty of examples at least as daring, done just for the benefit of fellow pilots, and/or just for the hell of it.

If you're afraid of heights, you might want to click away now...

San Diego Air and Space Museum

Carter Buton, 1920s. Source

Deseronto Archives

RFC pilot and flight instructor Lt. Ned Ballough, known as the "wing walker", Ontario, WWI. From this album. Source

Deseronto Archives

Lt. Ned Ballough again, Ontario,WWI. Source

Forever Blowing Bubble Gum

Mid-century photos of people enjoying bubble gum!

Cornell Capa, LIFE © Time Inc.

1947. Source

Cornell Capa, LIFE © Time Inc.

1947. Source

Cornell Capa, LIFE© Time Inc. 

Andrew J. Paris, the "Bubble Gum King," the first businessman to mass produce bubble gum after WWII (apparently he even has his own documentary!). 1947. Source

Snowmen of Former Days

Whatever time period they live in, people are pretty predictable. Whenever it snows, the first thing they do is have a snowball fight. The second thing is make a snowman. 

Today, over a century of those snowmen! 

State Library and Archives Florida

Students at Florida State University, Tallahassee, pose around their snowman, 1958. Source

Library of Congress

Snowman stereo, ca. 1888. Source

National Library of Wales

A snowman in 1853 (salt paper print). Source

Sledding

Though it's officially been spring for a few days now, the weather in some places (such as where I live) hasn't necessarily caught up. So for those of us who verge on insanity every time they see it snowing-- again!--, a set of pictures to remind us that it can in fact be fun. And for those lucky folks who do have spring--well, they're good fun pictures anyway!

University of Washington Libraries

Obviously this is staged, and I have my suspicions it may in fact be a studio shot altogether (that mountain looks suspiciously painterly...). I love it either way. 1920s, Washington (State). Source

Peter Stackpole, LIFE 

Kids sledding in Central Park, NYC, 1954. Source

Library of Congress

People sledding in Central Park again, ca. 1910 this time. Source

On Golden Sand

Finally! I'm settled and Interneted once more, in a shiny new city ready to start a masters--in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, no less! 

But, more importantly, time for some photographs! How about starting with another visit to the beach?

From various archives-- see source links.

State Library and Archives of Florida

Kids playing on the beach, Sarasota, Florida, 1953. Source

National Library of New Zealand

People doing their best with a silver of beach, Oriental Bay, Wellington, NZ, c. 1930s. Source

State Library and Archives of Florida

A woman on Palm Beach, Florida, 1896. Source

Travel by Eurail

The adventures of young student backpackers with Eurail passes, 1970. (many thanks to commenters who've helped identify some of the unnamed locations!)

Photographs from by Carlo Bavagnoli, from the LIFE archives. 

Carlo Bavagnoli, LIFE © Time Inc.

American Eurail backpackers hang out at Amsterdam station, contemplating their next destination. Source

Carlo Bavagnoli, LIFE © Time Inc.

Waiting to get on a Norwegian train. Source

Carlo Bavagnoli, LIFE © Time Inc.

Passport check at the Swiss border. Source

Under the Sea

A nice silly post today. People doing stuff underwater!

From the State Library and Archives of Florida and the archives of LIFE. 

An underwater tableau, Rainbow Springs, Florida, 1953. Source

Underwater bicycling, 1947. Source

Part of an underwater beauty contest, apparently. 1959. Source