# People in 1905 really did laugh—a timeless photo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183 "2010-07-10T03:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/1 "2010-07-10T03:06:47Z")
Have you ever seen a photo from the B&W ages of the late 19th century where people didn’t look like they were attending a funeral? Granted, slow film speeds made it hard to be spontaneous, but one still gets the feeling people were way too serious then. [The Jersey Shore circa 1905. “On the beach, Atlantic City.”](http://www.shorpy.com/node/8487?size=_original) ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/2 "2010-07-10T03:16:49Z")
How long would they have to hold a pose for in 1905? Love the guy who’s got his girlfriend in a vise grip - people in 1905 really \*did \*abuse their spouses! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/3 "2010-07-10T03:20:16Z")
The ladies’ swimwear is crazy. I mean, wow, even thick tights?? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/4 "2010-07-10T03:30:54Z")
That’s not the Jersey Shore I’ve been hearing about, is it? ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/5 "2010-07-10T03:38:27Z")
Well, sure, people smiled for photographs, but – as this photo clearly demonstrates – only when the photographer brought along a professional Smiler to grab them by the face and force them to do so. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/6 "2010-07-10T03:51:13Z")
> [@sco3tt](#): > > Well, sure, people smiled for photographs, but – as this photo clearly demonstrates – only when the photographer brought along a professional Smiler to grab them by the face and force them to do so. With that package in his shorts, I’m surprised he had to force \*anyone \*to smile. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/7 "2010-07-10T04:01:03Z")
Check the dental hygiene on those two ladies on the right and you can see maybe _why_ more people weren’t smiling in old photos. (Looking for gap-toothed smiley…) ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/8 "2010-07-10T04:03:42Z")
The guy on the far left is really, really creepy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/9 "2010-07-10T04:06:01Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > . . . one still gets the feeling people were way too serious then. Back then, a photo was very serious, like posing for a portrait. I have a photo of my mother’s family, circa 1910s. You can see tears running down the cheeks of one of my aunts. My grandfather had caught her smiling and had slapped her face. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/10 "2010-07-10T04:19:33Z")
By this time cameras had begun to be affordable for if not everybody then at least the middle class and better, so this is possibly not one of the flash powder and “Hold still for the next minute” pics but a pic taken with a personal camera on a bright day. It’s amazingly clear for its age. I love the guy who looks like Teddy Roosevelt as Uncle Fester on the far right. That’s beachwear I could pull off. (I wonder what colors it came in?) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/11 "2010-07-10T04:21:40Z")
There’s an older man on the far right of the photo whose clothes are very unlike the other men’s swimsuits. I wonder why? The three young people in the middle look like they’d be a lot of fun to know. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/12 "2010-07-10T04:28:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > By this time cameras had begun to be affordable for if not everybody then at least the middle class and better, so this is possibly not one of the flash powder and “Hold still for the next minute” pics but a pic taken with a personal camera on a bright day. Good point. Kodak introduced the [Brownie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_%28camera%29) camera in 1900. (Although the photo caption says 8x10 dry plate glass negative. Which wouldn’t be from a Brownie.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/13 "2010-07-10T04:29:13Z")
The guy holding the girl’s face reminds me of the ill-fated [Leo Frank](http://www.resist.com/updates/2008/DEC_08/FrankLeo-Before.jpg) (who’d have been 21 at the time, though I don’t think it’s him obviously). Not one of my favorite versions of what’s not one of my favorite songs from what is one of my favorite musicals, but how often is it relevant? [Atlantic City from RAGTIME](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpo1Dv9REuk&NR=1) (set the same decade of this picture). “Well overnight things change I guess… I’m in New Jersey… wearin’ even less…” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/14 "2010-07-10T05:33:47Z")
Is that Willem DaFoe’s grandfather behind the kid in the polka-dot hat? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/15 "2010-07-10T13:21:25Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Is that Willem DaFoe’s grandfather behind the kid in the polka-dot hat? Could be. I think that’s Charles Durning at the far left- this being 1905 he’d have been in his late 30s, but already appearing in every 4th moving picture produced. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/16 "2010-07-10T15:40:02Z")
The guy smiling in the center between funny guy and head holding girl is really cute. I’d go for him if I was there. Too bad my morbid self can only think of him and the others all being dead now and just a bunch of bones in the ground. I like the picture though. Seeing them smiling makes me want to know more about them. It’s weird there’s been a whole lotta life before I ever came into this world. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/17 "2010-07-10T15:43:59Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > The guy smiling in the center between funny guy and head holding girl is really cute. I’d go for him if I was there. He reminds me of Edward Norton. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/18 "2010-07-10T15:46:54Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > There’s an older man on the far right of the photo whose clothes are very unlike the other men’s swimsuits. I wonder why? He is a time traveller. Notice the cell phone in his hand? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/19 "2010-07-10T15:53:31Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > The guy on the far left is really, really creepy. How about the guy on the far right dressed as a monk? (Actually, I know someone now who looks like him.) One of my grandmothers was born in 1905. She lived to be 89 and would have been 105 next Thursday. I have a photograph of her father, my great-grandfather. They were Arkansas hillbillies, and he’s posing with his squirrel rifle and hound dogs, powder horn strapped to his chest, looking like Jed Clampett’s best friend. A wonderful photo, he was smiling just a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/20 "2010-07-10T15:54:32Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > The ladies’ swimwear is crazy. I mean, wow, even thick tights?? Well you wouldn’t want to be some boardwalk Jezebel showing an inch of skin at the calf and turning boys into sexed up dope fiends. I can’t tell if Ma over on the right standing in front of Fester Roosevelt is missing teeth, just has big gaps or if it’s the lighting. I wonder how many of the boys in this served in World War I and, if they did, if they thought of this moment when they were in the foxholes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183.md?page=2)