Fancy dress cycle race. 1928.

I was doing a bit of aimless browsing through the archives over the weekend and this article caught my eye. I thought the photo was quite a nice one, it is from a 1928 publication after all, newspaper photo printing in those days can leave a bit to be desired so I appreciated the clarity.

Really though, the reason this article made it anywhere near a post was the caption. When I do a search what I first see is a small section of the text, then I make the call as to whether I want to look at the article in its entirety.

In this case the text bought an unusual combination to mind ;

FANCY DRESS CYCLE RACE. All kinds of cycles the tall “penny farthing” type of our grandfathers’ day to a juvenile tricycle were used in a burlesque race at the fancy dress sports held on the University ground on Saturday morning.

.

Yep, burlesque cycle race.

What sort of person would I be to not immediately click on this article to see what on earth a burlesque cycle race would look like?

This article again proved to me yet again that the use and meaning of certain words has changed over time.

——

bur·lesque/bərˈlesk/

Noun: A parody or comically exaggerated imitation of something, esp in a literary or dramatic work.

Verb: Cause to appear absurd by parodying or copying in an exaggerated form. 

—–

This was clearly the way the word burlesque was used in this article….. blah….

I was kinda hoping that the picture would be a row of scantily clad, Dita Von Teese-esque women desperately pedalling inappropriate cycles, and, really, who could blame me.

So disappointing….

The Argus 30 Jul 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3932861

And then the ground opened up, and men spilled forth. 1928.

Western Argus 14 Aug 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34434434

Imagine the scene. There you are in a peaceful graveyard, perhaps laying some flowers at the headstone of a loved one.

There is a noise, as if stone was scraping against stone.

Suddenly, one of the nearby pavers lifts up and men appear, blinking in the light.

I expect that you might well run screaming too!

This article is very Indiana Jones isn’t it?  Visiting the catacombs, being separated from the group then losing their way in the labyrinth of dark passages. They should have been pursued by Nazis or something.

Just as well the glow of the outside world could be seen just when they needed it. I wonder how many other unseen glimmers they had stumbled past before the tapers gave out?

I think it is unlikely that the poor woman they terrified while she was tending the grave at the Campo Verano cemetery would ever be able to find peace there again!

Drunken New Year. 1928.

Western Argus 10 Jan 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34423847

These people in 1928 were celebrating New Years during the prohibition era in New York, so the ‘boose’ was probably something home-made, the ingredients of which were probably something you would not want to drink!

Of course it doesn’t take poisonous alcohol to cause drunken brawls, I am sure there will be quite a few of them at New Year’s festivities around the world over the weekend.

Enjoy your New Year’s whatever form your celebration may take!

Boxing Day meaning. 1928.

Cairns Post 26 Dec 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40652160

The kids asked me why it was called Boxing Day and I was ashamed to say I didn’t know. I knew enough to say that, contrary to what they were seeing, it didn’t mean the day I spend throwing all the boxes from yesterdays gifts into the recycling bin, but I didn’t have a real answer.

I am not the only one who didn’t, so here is an article answering the same question.

I am shallow enough to have had a laugh at the ‘promiscuous charities’ that received the boxes for donation. I know that it meant indiscriminate charities, but the way we use that word today has changed the way we think of it. Now it sounds like the description the sort of charitable organisations that would support unemployed sex workers or suchlike….

Hope you all got plenty of toys for Christmas, regardless of your age!

Cornerstone Frog. 1928.

Geraldton Guardian 17 May 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67164170

Another suspect tradition. Imprisoning an innocent creature in the foundation of a new building. I know that various versions of throwing a human sacrifice into a hole before you started constructing a dwelling over the top of them had historically been thought to be standard building practice, but I didn’t think that this scaled down version of it would still be practiced as recently as the late 1800’s.

Usually when a frog or similar creature is found encased in stone the speculation is as to how it got in there. People aren’t usually aware of its presence and curious as to whether it is still alive.

I know that frogs can hibernate for extended periods of time, but 31 years? If the frog was placed in the cornerstone you would expect that would mean there was some type of opening for air and possibly water to keep the frog going. Although the revival of the frog sounds like the behaviour of an animal that is emerging from a period of hibernation I am doubtful that the frog was really there all that time.

If you have any stories of extended hibernation that might show me how wrong I am, please let me know!

Elizabeth Street flood. 1928.

We have had a fair bit of rain in the last few days. I have put in this extra post today as there is not any point saving it until tomorrow. Melbourne weather being what it is, there is every chance it will be bright and sunny, regardless of the forecast, causing a rainy day article to be entirely inappropriate!

The Herald-Sun newspaper website has a few photos of inappropriately attired office workers caught in the rising waters on Wednesday on the corner of Williams and Lonsdale streets. This article is from 1928 with a photo of the floodwaters in Elizabeth Street, just a few blocks from there. The skyline is very different these days!

The caption reads: This photograph, taken during a flash of lightning from the steps of ”The Argus’ office, shows the flooded state of Elizabeth street at the height of the storm. The tramcar could not proceed owing to the flood water.

The Argus 20 Jan 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3905045