Friends on the Moon
January 16th, 2007 by Susannah
Featured Gem 10
Real Photo Postcard
‘Friends on the Moon’
Date: Unspecified
People: Unidentified
Studio: Unidentified
Postcard Back: Blank
(has been trimmed )
Notes: I once read that if you have three or more of anything you have a ‘collection’. So it’s official, I now have a collection of vintage paper moon images (well okay I have three!). Rummaging through a box of old photos in an antique store, I came across this gem.
It’s a shame there are no details on the back! I wonder if they’re friends or sisters. Where they at an event or a fun fair? Their dresses and shoes are fabulous!
This style of image was often shot in portable photographic studios at carnivals and fairs, so they’re often not the best quality — sometimes out of focus and so on. I think that this adds to their charm. The one of the two ladies in hats (below left) says on the back: “Whitney Bros ‘Electric Postcard Studio’ Souvenir, Bendigo Easter Fair, 1913. Australia”. The faces are a little out of focus and there are scuff marks from swinging feet below the moon…but it’s a special piece of history.
NB: I have had some feedback regarding the copyright attribution of the vintage photographs on my website. All of the digital files are copyrighted to me and have been taken from original images in my collection. Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like to inquire about image licensing or obtaining larger image files. The watermarks were put in place because of some previous issues with image theft. I am temporarily trialling the copyright information below the large clickable image file only, so that the images can be enjoyed watermark free. Please don’t spoil it for everyone else by reproducing the image elsewhere.
January 23rd, 2007 12:20
these are the sweetest,most interesting old photos, i love your collection!
March 1st, 2007 19:44
Oh, I LOVE the one of the little kids sitting on the moon! would you consider letting me use it in one of my resin works?
November 7th, 2007 02:21
I was enchanted when I saw these vintage photographs of the people sitting on the moon. I am an artist and I did a moon series of paintings and am considering expanding them. I did an old woman sitting on the crescent moon stitching stars, a little girl swinging on a tire swing from the moon (sold), a little girl stting near a moon with a face and the last one was a child with a book sitting on the moon reading stories. It is lovely to see other images with the same feeling and theme.
February 29th, 2008 10:10
Hello there! I just happened upon your site and saw these great old photos. I have a similar postcard of a young man sitting on a moon! The one I have is horizontal and has a note on the back & it is dated, as well. If I can dig it out, perhaps you might like to see it? I could scan it & send it to you. Would I be able to send it to this website somehow?
Thanks!
Gloria
November 3rd, 2009 19:12
Hi there. I was searching for information on the Whitney Brothers when I cam across your story and photos, they are great. My great-grandfather worked for the Whitney Brothers in America and in Luna Park in Melbourne, where he operated the famed “Electric Photo Studio”. To my knowledge he worked there until around 1916 when Luna Park was temporarily closed. So the photo/s from 1913 could have well been something he may have worked on. From what I have been told, there were several backdrops that were used, the moon, Romeo and Juliet, a plane, a car etc.
If possible, could you please send me copies of your images. I’d love to have these saved to give me a brief idea of the kind of things my great grandfather did.
This would be great.
Kind regards.
November 16th, 2009 03:45
I have a photo taken in the early 40’s of my mom & a boyfriend sitting on a paper moon. PS – the boyfriend is NOT my dad.