# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/121 "2010-07-15T13:33:11Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It is very [obviously posed](http://atlanticcitylibrary.info/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=watermark&catid=2&id=7&Itemid=974), but those ladies are hot! > 🙂 [These ladies are too!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12680134&postcount=104) ---
**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 16, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/122 "2010-07-16T23:13:00Z")
Another [awesome photo](http://www.shorpy.com/node/8528?size=_original) from the same beach… Check out the kid doing the kung-fu/boxer move for the camera. Plus, this one shows a woman with _gasp_ bare legs…right side with her backside toward the camera. Directly above bare-leg-girl’s right shoulder is a woman in a chair with her hands to her mouth in an obvious display of shock over the sudden exposure of unclad female legs in public. About a third of the way from the left side is a woman in a bonnet looking straight at the camera with a pleasant smile. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/123 "2010-07-16T23:46:15Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Another [awesome photo](http://www.shorpy.com/node/8528?size=_original) from the same beach… > > Check out the kid doing the kung-fu/boxer move for the camera. > > Plus, this one shows a woman with _gasp_ bare legs…right side with her backside toward the camera. > > Directly above bare-leg-girl’s right shoulder is a woman in a chair with her hands to her mouth in an obvious display of shock over the sudden exposure of unclad female legs in public. > > About a third of the way from the left side is a woman in a bonnet looking straight at the camera with a pleasant smile. I see a zombie lumbering towards the camera! :eek: ---
**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 17, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/124 "2010-07-17T00:30:12Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Plus, this one shows a woman with _gasp_ bare legs…right side with her backside toward the camera. That’s the 1906 version of mooning. 😃 Is that a young Peter Falk front left? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/125 "2010-07-17T02:11:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Is that a young Peter Falk front left? Oh, One More Thing…It might be Tony Shalhoub. ---
**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 17, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/126 "2010-07-17T02:11:59Z")
The guy behind and to the right of Columbo has a surprisingly modern looking hair cut—looks shaved on the sides. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/127 "2010-07-17T02:18:38Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Check out the kid doing the kung-fu/boxer move for the camera. Pew! Pew-pew! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/128 "2010-07-17T02:27:01Z")
**Siam Sam** - I think it looks like Paul Michael Glaser (Starksy, from _Starsky & Hutch_. StG ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/129 "2010-07-17T02:29:00Z")
Did you see the one guy that’s practically wearing a Speedo? That was sort of shocking, given everyone else’s attire. StG ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/130 "2010-07-17T05:35:05Z")
> [@rolandgunslinger](#): > > I see a zombie lumbering towards the camera! :eek: I’m a bit disturbed that it’s the first thing I thought of too. (the second is that zombie kid looks like a teenage Haley Joel Osment) With a likewise sick mind like yours, I think you should join our 2nd [horror movie game](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566974). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/131 "2010-07-17T15:03:48Z")
What struck me about the photo linked to in the OP is that if you replaced the turn-of-the-century beach garb with modern garments and set all those people down at the beach right now, the vast majority wouldn’t get a second look. Their appearance/hairstyles aren’t radically different from current ones (excepting stuff like the Harold Lloyd glasses the young guy is wearing). What I found eerie was a group photo I saw on the wall in a restaurant recently. It was a wide-angle shot of a teachers union banquet in Chicago, circa 1948. I have never seen so many people apparently determined to give the appearance of not having any fun. Grim-faced schoolmarm types predominated. Apart from the air of no-monkey-business, it was also creepily reminiscent of those group shots on the wall of the Overlook Hotel in _The Shining_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/132 "2010-07-17T15:11:12Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Their appearance/hairstyles aren’t radically different from current ones (excepting stuff like the Harold Lloyd glasses the young guy is wearing). Nowadays they’d be called ‘Harry Potter glasses’. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/133 "2010-07-17T15:29:02Z")
Notice how the “zombie’s” right arm blends perfectly into the leg of the guy walking behind him- it’s almost like an Escher drawing. Speaking of the guy behind him, it looks like he’s wearing a rug, plus I expect he’s already been advised two or three times that “You’ll feel more comfortable at Chicken Bone Beach… now!” I wonder if you had to own swimwear or if you could rent it. It had to be relatively expensive for the time and something you’d rarely use in a time before closets were standard and one helluva pain to wash (all the sand) that I’m guessing there were rental shops. I wonder how much a woman could show before the cops got involved. Or a man for that matter- could a guy go shirtless? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/134 "2010-07-17T15:40:15Z")
What’s up with the scowling mustachioed dude wearing a girly sunbonnet (arms crossed, near the center of the pic)? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/135 "2010-07-17T16:21:39Z")
In that photo, not only are there no fat people, but many people also seem really toned. Still a sausage-fest, though, and what’s the deal with the men strolling along the sand wearing full-blown suits? ---
**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 18, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/136 "2010-07-18T03:23:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Is that a young Peter Falk front left? > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It might be Tony Shalhoub. > [@StGermain](#): > > I think it looks like Paul Michael Glaser (Starksy, from _Starsky & Hutch_. Hmmm, has anyone ever seen all three of those people together at the same time, or any combination thereof? ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/137 "2010-07-18T09:25:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve never been to Atlantic City and know little about it other than “NJ shore beach resort now with casinoes and not too far from NYC”. Does anybody know if the two buildings in the background (left with the minaret like towers and right with the more Gothic look) are still there? That’s the Steel Pier, built in 1898. Most of it is gone now, hurricanes and series of fires. It’s biggest claim to fame for much of it’s life was the diving horse (literally, a horse and rider than dove into water). My mom’s family brought their personal camera to the shore (they had a house on Ocean City, one island south of AC), and there are hilarious pictures of my great-grandparents, grandmother, great aunts and uncles, etc, all horsing around on the beach in their 1920’s-40’s bathing wear. You can be assured that burying your little brother up to his neck in sand was as hilarious 80 years ago as it is today. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/138 "2010-07-19T07:33:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder how much a woman could show before the cops got involved. Or a man for that matter- could a guy go shirtless? Is it just me, or are the two guys towards the left of that picture, seated in the sand/water - friends of Dorothy? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/139 "2010-07-19T08:04:15Z")
I like "Rasputin"on the far, last right. He had to have taken orders. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183/140 "2010-07-19T09:51:54Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Another [awesome photo](http://www.shorpy.com/node/8528?size=_original) from the same beach… > > Check out the kid doing the kung-fu/boxer move for the camera. > > Plus, this one shows a woman with _gasp_ bare legs…right side with her backside toward the camera. > > Directly above bare-leg-girl’s right shoulder is a woman in a chair with her hands to her mouth in an obvious display of shock over the sudden exposure of unclad female legs in public. > > About a third of the way from the left side is a woman in a bonnet looking straight at the camera with a pleasant smile. A bit left of center, in a striped tunic, I see Lucius Vorenus glowering at this infernal image taking device as if it were an offense against the gods of the State. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-1905-really-did-laugh-a-timeless-photo/546183.md?page=8)