I bought this view of 1890s humor from Patty Warren's shop off First and J Streets. In the 1990s, I'd go there after work about once a week, translate Russian --Cyrillic script-- and buy stereoviews. I now have hundreds of them. This particular view has always intrigued me. What were Bottomley and Longshanks quarrelling about? Let's guess.
Longshanks: You, sir, have no right to court my sister!"
Bottomley: Nor have you, sir, any right to object. You know what I mean. Shall I say it, dog?
Longshanks: True, yesterday I chased my wife up a tree --but that's no business of yours.
Bottomley: And was it not your editorial in the Holland Evening Sentinel that read "...it took many rabbits many years to write the Talmud"?
Longshanks: That was a printer's error. It happens!
Bottomley: Is that why, next day, your newspaper assigned you an article on "How to Stretch Your Shoes At Home" ?
Lonsghanks: It would appear I'm arguing with one who's looking for a tizzy to be thrown into.
Bottomley: I must agree insofar as cacoethes.
Longshanks: Which is?
Bottomley: A sudden urge to do something inadvisable.
(enter Carl Jung) Jung: As far as we can discern, the purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.
Bottomley and Longshanks: Profound and true! Bring in the stereographer!
Stereographer: Fists up! Brows knit! Flash! Well done all!
Such a display of rowdiness....I note that one woman was completely overcome and fainted from the excitement. Different days.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Delores, she makes excellent use of the fainting couch. No parlor should be without one.
DeleteThat was a fun interpretation of the picture. I used to love viewing the pictures in the stereopticon. They were still plentiful in the 50's.
ReplyDeleteHolmes Stereoscopes have been around since the 1860s and are still being sold as antiques and in reproduction --one of the most elegant 3-d viewers.
DeleteGeo, less is more big time. We only have one true image of Miss Dickinson, yet thousands of meaningless images of so-called celebrities that are quite soon forgotten. My four broken ribs are on the mend. You know where to find my diary. I miss your wise and witty words big time. Remain true...
ReplyDeleteDylan
Thanks, Dylan. You are quite right about images. True art can make do with a well-used minimum. I wish you speedy rib recovery.
DeleteSeems like the woman on the couch got "the vapors". Great backstory!
ReplyDeleteShe's certainly suffering a loss of mental focus --but severe cases were marked by back of wrist resting on the forehead.
DeleteYou did this...No, I didn't, you did!...No, you did that...
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Rare photos are the most cherished.
Susan, you're quite right. The long popularity of stereography gives us a special insight into the past.
DeleteThe photographer, (stenographer) as director! Such influence on history.
ReplyDeleteThey really dressed for parties in the 1890's.
Yes, there was definitely a market for melodramatic tableaux. Good thing too, for modern hobbyists.
DeleteMr. Bottomley IS rather, isn't he?? Bottomley, I mean.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember those optical illusions that were popular in the 80's or 90's - two images side by side and if you relaxed your gaze and let your eyes cross you could see a 3-D image? It works with your last photo above, too!
Your back story is funny - and this line "I'm arguing with one who's looking for a tizzy to be thrown into" rings a very loud bell with certain people . . .
Yes, Jenny, the two 3-d novelties shared the same principle. Holmes's stereoscope is really a device to help sober people see double. Freeviewing the older stereo cards takes practice --you must have good eye-muscle control.
DeleteGeo:
ReplyDeleteBeautiful essay! I also read back to where you had some sort of surgery. I hope all is well and that you are feeling back to normal! I apologize I was away for a while. Just melancholia.
PipeTobacco
Thanks, Prof. Some things just demand a new normal.
DeleteI like the woman on the right of the picture, she seems unimpressed and those skirts (I believe) are hiding a much better fighting stance. Also, tizzy is such a great word, it deserves more usage.
ReplyDeleteI also critique street fights which is why it's best I stay home.
Dear Lisa! I was waiting for a martial arts expert to chime in and your skill in Tae Kwon-Do certainly qualifies you. I think we are suspicious of tizzies --I have been thrown into swimming pools, rivers, the mighty sea itself, but I avoid tizzy-throwers like anything.
DeleteAre you certain the young lady has swooned? Maybe she's just overly intoxicated. Either way she's missed the gentlemanly fisticuffs.
ReplyDeleteUnable to be certain, Tom. It depends on which finishing school she attended and how they taught swooning.
DeleteI love your play-by-play account. (Maybe you missed your calling?)
ReplyDeleteWith the unusual names and the melodramatic image, I wonder if this might not have been an illustration for a book. If not, it still manages to tell quite a story. (With a little help from a friend...)
Dear Susan, thanks. Much of old photo humor exploits the human comedy of melodrama and is fun to look at. I began collecting during a rough spot a little over 20 years ago and was pleased to learn some history from the inside out. Might be time to revisit some of those old articles.
DeleteThis was delightful, Geo! I love old stereoviews. My great grandmother had a viewer and some stereoviews in her front parlour, but I can't remember what they were of. Nothing so scandalous ~ she was a proper Baptist lady and head of the Temperance Society. I wonder where they ended up. I come across historical stereoviews online when I'm researching certain things, and they are always fascinating. They can be expensive to collect! I hope you share more!
ReplyDeleteDear Louise, some views may have easily ended up in my files. I stopped collecting when other business precluded my historical articles, but back then they were not so expensive to collect. My chief source, in the mid-1990s- was Patty Warren, daughter-in-law of former California Governor and US Chief Justice Earl Warren. She collected antique ephemera well into her 70s from broad travels and sold to eager youngsters like me. She retired after an unfortunate occurrence at an estate sale --involving gunfire. She was ok, but I told her she probably knew too much, and she moved on.
DeleteI have the slide before this in the series. In it, Mr. Bottomley is playing his variation on Fantasia, and Miss Longshanks is taking far too much interest in him. She cannot be seen in this later slide.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the description! The view pictured is the only one I have of that series and it's always been a favorite. Most kind.
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