Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: ropes

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of at the playground . Five girls pose on playground equipment in Mayo Park, Rochester, Minnesota, circa 1910. Caption on the front of this real photo postcard: "The Playground. Mayo Park. 143." Printed on the other side: "Bert Crowell, Rochester, Minn." Postmarked in Rochester, Minn., May 14, 1910, and addressed to "Miss Hilda Swanson, #85 Cambridge Ave., St. Paul, Minn. Macalaster Park, c/o James Beddie." Handwritten message: "Rochester, Minn. Dear Aunt Hilda, I have not heard from you for a long time, but I had a card from Myrtle today and she said you had gone to St. Paul to live. Mama has been sick all the time lately. She seems to have a cold all the time. She has been lying down all morning. I hope she gets better. How are poor little James and William. Mama says that she wishes you would write soon and tell her. With love and kisses, Beth."

The rope of a lasso surrounds a tiny toy horse. For more information, see another detail from the same photo along with the original version .

A woman poses for a photo and pretends to sing as she holds the sheet music for A Signal from Mars: March and Two Step . For more information, see another detail from the same photo along with the original version .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of over the shoulder (something or somebody) . Everyone in this puzzling photo is holding something. The man on the left is holding a cane over his shoulder, and the second man has a rope wrapped around his left hand. Both men are watching the woman in the middle, who's holding sheet music and singing. The woman on the right, who's seated in a chair, is holding a lute and is playing it to accompany the woman who's singing. The woman standing beside the singer and both of the men are all holding rolled-up papers of some sort. A closer look at the photo reveals some curious details. First, the sheet music that the woman is holding is entitled A Signal from Mars: March and Two Step , which was published in 1901 (hear a piano version on YouTube). Since the piece is an instrumental "march and two step" without any lyrics, why is the woman pretending to use it as she's singing? Secondly, the rope that the second man is holding extends down to the floor where it's coiled around a small horse pull toy . Why did the man lasso a tiny toy horse? I don't have any answers for the questions that this photo poses. Although the painted backdrop and patterned floor covering suggest that this picture was taken in a photo studio, I wonder if this might be a scene from a theatrical production. There was a popular comedic play with a similar title— A Message from Mars —that toured the United States between 1903 and 1905. As far as I can determine, however, A Message from Mars was not a musical, and there was no connection to the sheet music for A Signal from Mars .

"To Alan, Best wishes, Lorett." When I visited the sideshow at the York Fair in York, Pa., in the mid-1980s, I purchased this card from a tattooed woman, "Lorett," who also autographed it for me. Years later, I was able to identify her as Lorett Fulkerson, and I discovered how lucky I was to meet her. As Amelia Klem Osterud explains in her book, The Tattooed Lady: A History (Speck Press, 2009), p. 2, "Tattooed ladies graced sideshow and carnival stages until 1995, when the last performing tattooed lady, Lorett Fulkerson, retired from the carnival circuit at age eighty." Lorett Fulkerson was at least seventy years old when I met her at the York Fair. Sadly, she died in 2007 at the age of ninety-two. When I posted this over on Flickr , one of Lorett's grandchildren added a comment, and another person even provided some more recent color photos of Lorett.

"J. C. Stodart, Margate." In this CDV, a boy looks somewhat uncomfortable as he perches on a studio version of the top of a sailing ship's mast. I'm not sure why a mast mockup like this was used as a studio prop, but perhaps it was popular in a seaside resort town like Margate , Kent. In any case, similar depictions of boys on masts appeared on advertising trade cards, postcards, and other media in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A baby carriages photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For some other amusing photos, see my Baby Carriages and Strollers album. A real photo postcard showing a girl, her three dolls, and a baby carriage.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of my old pal—depicting friends, buddies, pals enjoying each other's company . Sign: "We don't care if we never go back." Banner: "Indianapolis." An unused real photo postcard of two friends pretending to be in a hot air balloon as they pose for a souvenir photo in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Noko stamp box on the other side suggests that it may date between 1907 and 1929. I have other cards with photos of the fellow on the left that were postmarked in 1911. See also I Don't Care If I Never Come Back .

"Hi Bill! Does the foreman know about this?" "He ought to, it's dropped on him!" A comic postcard with pasted-on heads that were cut from photos.

"B. Fürth, Vienna. Made in Austria." Cupid uses a spyglass to peer down from his hot air balloon on this matchbox label.

An airship photo for the theme of photographic tricks and amusements during the free-for-all week of Wild Card Month in the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See also the full version of this real photo postcard.

See also the cropped version of this real photo postcard.

Posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park group for "rattan/bamboo/wicker" theme week. Although the photo is obviously contrived, the gondola--with attached ropes and sandbags--looks like a real wicker basket similar in appearance to those used for hot air balloons. A real photo postcard addressed on the back to: "Mr. and Mrs. J. [Paules?], Oakryn, Pennsylvania, U.S. America." The message on the back: "Sept. 22nd, 1910. We are spending the afternoon at Zurich on our way home from Switzerland, had a lovely drive. The lady in the balloon with us is the one we have been staying with at St. Gallen. Love, Leslie and Ethel."