Historic Hood River
Winter Fun
12-4-2017
Notes
Mary Shafer is enjoying some winter fun on a frozen lake in 1921. Her note on the back says:
Why so tickled? Well I just had planted myslef upon my props again after taking a “set down”. I should have my breeches on but the sad case is that I can’t bend in them. I wonder why? (162 lbs.)
For some reason I thought the focus on weight was a modern day affliction. I guess I’m wrong.
Charlott
Appears that she has "spats" on over her shoes. My guess is that she is carrying a camera case, maybe for the camera that took this great winter photo.
L.E.
My mother in law, born in 1912, was very focused on weight. She was a very kind person, but did not have a lot of tolerance for fat people.
Her mother loved to talk about her 18 inch waist when she got married.
Remember, corsets weren’t invented for comfort.
Kyle
That leather case is just exactly the right size for 6×9 (cm) folding camera. It looks a lot like the cases that came with the Contessa Cocarette, but it could’ve been any of the popular 6x9s from the 1920s. They weren’t too hard to use, and they were much more portable than previous designs, so they got fairly popular for a few decades until Leica popularized the 35mm / SLR-style camera film format we all remember a little better. They even shot this vertically, which is how those cameras’ controls were oriented.
http://www.mwclassic.com/product/contessa-nettel-cocarette-110-6×9-on-120-folding-camera-with-10-5cm-f6-3-conastigmat-lens-in-dervqal-shutter-original-instructions-leather-case/
Jeff Bryant
Sled designs have not changed much since then.
L.E.
Kyle, I remember some discussion of cameras and cases with the Davidson photo #358.
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=358
Kyle
Good memory, L.E. – same kind of camera cases there too.
Barbara Parsons
My dad used to pull us behind his car on my mother’s childhood
Flexible Flyer that was about five feet long. Our mother would ride with us, holding a tether that wasn’t tethered to anything. When we came to asteep downhill, Dad would pull to the side, Mother would drop the rope, and we would slide past the car and down. There is one steep slope not far from the Idyllwilde, called Yeck Hill, maybe? And we really enjoyed that one. He was pulling us up and down Prospect in front of our house one day when we saw the Silberbergs, Paul and Lucia, out for one of their walks. She was retired from teaching English and French and Latin at HRHS, and he was a dashing white- haired German aristocrat. The two of them waved at us, and we called out, "want a ride?" By golly, she did,
And we shoved over and made room for her. He stood and waited for her in his French beret and overcoat, smiling and waving, as though she went sledding regularly. I am embarrassed now, at the age of 80, to remember how amazed I was that such an OLD lady could be such a good sport. I bet I am older now than she was then!