September 18, 2012
This past weekend I attended the LA County Fair in Pomono, CA. It was bloody hot and within half an hour my vintage dress was sticking to me. Not exactly the prettiest of pictures, but it was still quite fun and one of the nicest (and cleanest) fairs I've ever been to.

New York County Fair 1940s

A couple of months ago I watched State Fair with Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. It was such a sweet and nostalgic movie and this weekend's past visit to the county fair inspired me to do a vintage photo post about it.

These vintage photographs were shot by Alfred Eisenstaedt at the Batavia, New York County Fair in 1941. I love these candid photos of the dancers and performers of the fair. I especially love the photo of the women ironing what appears to be a costume bolero and I absolutely LOVE the photo of the acrobat on the man's head while he drinks coffee and reads his paper. SO RAD!

I wonder what conversations these women had... what love interests there might have been, what secret rivalries there were... vintage photographs tell so many, many stories.

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img sources: LIFE Magazine Photo Archives

9 comments:

  1. Very cool pictures! I love that one where the women are all standing together, it's amazing how they dressed, such style!

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    1. Isn't it wonderful? Even in casual wear they still look miles more elegant than we do now... *le sigh*

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  2. These are so great. Love the laid back feeling of them waiting around. And the movie State Fair is a fav of mine. I actually was in a theater version of it in high school! ;-)

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    1. That is so RAD you were in a theatrical production for State Fair, I adore the movie so much! Who did you play?

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  3. Interesting photos! I love effortless style captured in each photo.

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  4. Ahh SO cute! Thank you for sharing :D

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  5. I love these photos. They are very inspiring. I am writing a fictional vintage swing novel (www.girlinthejitterbugdress.com) and I have the characters going to an amusement park, but a fair would be cool too. Do you think there might have been swing dancing at the fair?

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Thank you for taking the time to leave me a little comment, I do try to respond back as often as I can. Have a lovely day! xoxo - Rodellee