Posted on 09/27/2018 7:05:53 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Elsie’s father, a keen amateur photographer who developed the prints, never doubted they were fakes, his wife Polly was a believer and in 1919 she took prints of the two photographs to show members of the Theosophical Society in Bradford where they were giving a lecture on fairy life.
From there things spiralled out of control, first through the enthusiastic belief of leading society member Edward Gardner, who used photography expert Harold Snelling to produce photographic prints of them to be sold at Gardner’s theosophical lectures in 1920. It was during 1920 that Conan Doyle, a committed and leading spiritualist believer, became aware of the photographs and wanted to use them for an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for The Strand Magazine.
Gardner and Doyle sought further expert opinions from the photographic companies, while Gardner met the Wright family and organised a camera and plates for the girls to try and capture more photographs of the fairies.
During the summer of 1920 the youngsters managed to “capture” three more images of themselves with fairies.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Life was quite different and we shouldn't judge people, who lived long ago, by the same standards; though many STILL fall for HOAXES today!
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE has many "true believers", though, of course, that's all just so much hooey; for example.
Iolanthe or “she certainly did surprising things..”
(from the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta Iolanthe “or Peers vs Peris”)
Though IOLANTHE was first performed in 1882; rather old for it to be referenced for a 1919 photo.
A+ for Gilbert and Sullivan reference!
Yes, they are.
I’d be willing to bet the hammer price is going blow away the pre-sale estimate.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! :-)
I agree; these photos are extremely well known and loved, for various reasons; subject matter, their fame, beautiful children, the age of the photos; etc.!
The Great War had killed so many young men and then the Flu came through and killed off even more. Entire families were all but wiped out.
We really can not imagine death on the scale they were dealing with. And Europe had already mostly driven out Christianity to the point where it was all form and no substance.
They pinned their faith on the new "science" and gadgets.
It proved a hollow reed.
No it was the post at 13 I was looking at...it sort of looks like how I’d always pictured Iolanthe.
Strephon:”She was my mother.”
Phyllis: “Yesss, a “Young” mother...!!
Strephon: “It’s true...”
Phyllis: “Wellll, she “wears well”...!!
“I heard Clinton remark...
She’d meet Foster after dark
Inside Fort Marcy Park and
“give him one”
A political parody based on a scene from Iolanthe!
Yes, I am a G&S fan of a most determined description...down to the feet!
….”and I’d never ever vote a Dem...
“what never....?
“No never!
“ what never...….?
“Hardly ever...….!”(”he’d never ever vote a Demmmmmm!”)
“Then give three cheers and one cheer more
For the hearty voter of Conservatiiiiiives”(long “I” vowel sound) (a parody send up of HMS Pinafore)
LOL! Doyle appeared in some episodes of the Murdoch tv series doing his spiritualistic thing.
Did you go to the doctor, see what he could give you?
He told me I’ve gone too far because smokin’ and trippin’ is all I do. I said, “yeah.”
I take it that you've never seen that operetta, nor any photos, drawings ( dear Gilbert's or anyone else's ), illustrations, or paintings of the show. IIRC there are many such on line and even on YouTube.
I have had the pleasure of seeing Iolanthe and ALL of the G&S operettas, many, many, many times over, except sadly, for the recreation of THESPIS; which I don't know WHY I wasn't taken to see ( the semi-professional troop that my parents belonged to did it ), but I wasn't.
And poor Strephon is only a fairy from the waist up; his bottom 1/2 is human. :-)
Great parody and I bet that Gilbert would approve! :-)
Great "catch", re "down to the feet"; since we're talking about Iolanthe & her son, Strephon. :-)
Oh I’ve seen a production of Iolanthe at the opening when they are dressed like that.I helped in the stage crew for that one....the humor of it was they threw in a few plump ones to sort of stomp around while the smaller ones were a bit more daintier in their opening...”tripping thithering”.(Produced a lot laughs when the fat ones came stomping through) A bit more lower cut and modest but still much like the clothing seen in posting 13. They used very shear and lacy material and flesh colored leotards or stocking for the legs. I don’t remember how they kept the wings on. This was Summer Savoyards “83 production of Iolanthe
I know Iolanthe very well, just listened to the Royston Nash 1972 D’oyly Carte version a couple of days ago.
Princess Ida is another favorite.
All fairies, except, of course, for the FAIRY QUEEN ( who is supposed to be dressed like a Wagnerian Valkyrie ) have always worn very floaty, sheer material, wispy dresses.
The VERY big deal, about the original opening, was that The Savoy was the FIRST Brit Theatre to use electric lighting, starting with this show AND the fairies had teeny electric lights twinkling in the crown the wore. Perhaps that is why Brits call tiny Christmas tree lights "FAIRY LIGHTS"; which we don't. :-)
Sounds like an interesting staging; though strictly speaking, non-traditional and not at all what Gilbert would approve of.
"Ida was a 12 month old, twenty years ago, I was twice her age, I'm told, twenty years ago....
LOL..now I'll have that song running through mu head all night.
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