The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-25
BOWERY PHOTOGRAPHS.

BOWERY PHOTOGRAPHS.
East Side New York Life as Recorded ~
the Camera,
The photographers show cases
along the Bowery are source OF un-
failing interest to strangers in that
locality. AS studies Of life they are
more interesting than any of the
shop windows up town, for they re-
fleet most Of the important epochs in
the lives of the persons portrayed.
1t is still the fashion in this part of
town for the bride and bridegroom
to be photographed together. Not
all the brides wear wells, and those
that are seen in the photographs in
the show windows are neither rich
nor handsome. Most of the women
can afford no such luxury. They
stand awkwardly arm in arm with
the bridegrooms, staring out of the
pictures with such poorly concealed
interest as to look as if they really
believed in the infantile fiction that
little bird was to come out of the
camera. The occasional variation
from this pose is not always as sue
cessful as the artist probably intend
ed. In one of these bride dressed
with unusual elaborateness was
standing a few feet in front of her
husband, who was the only bride
groom between Canal and Houston
streets that boasted frock coat. He
was holding out to her letter,
which the wife refused to take. The
artist had evidently posed the two
with the idea of lending some vari.
ETY. to the succession of staring cou-
Piles that clutched each others arms
desperately, but the most that he
had accomplished was what looked
like scene between the villain and
the heroine at the Peoples theater.
There are groups that express 9th
er emotions than those of recent
marriage. "reminiscences of east
side balls are there in the form of
young couples dressed in the cheap,
fantastic clothes of the masked balls
that flourish during the winter
months unknown to any but the
persons who belong to the particu-
lar "club" or association that gives
them. There are many pictures of
this kind, and among them like
nesses of women predominant. Gen
orally they are tricked out in the
cheapest fnery, and some make
pitiful pretense at gayety that ac-
cords poorly with the poverty of
their dress.
In one of the gallery windows is
the photograph of large woman
wearing an ordinary waist and a hat
which any woman might wear on
the street, but from the waist down
she is attired in tights. She leans
against fence feebly affecting
iauntiness of pose such as she has
seen in the picture of some actress
There are scores of short haired
young women in scant skirts of the
kind seen in the east side concert
halls, and alongside of them are
photographs of young fellows from
II to 25 dressed for some Of the va
riety acts seen at the museums on
the amateur nights, - at which fu-
ture comedians find an opportunity
to exploit their budding talents in
public and are moderately sure of
protection from theaudience. These
are in pairs-teams they would
doubtless call themselves-and in
attitude they initiate their more IA
nous prototypes. 1t would not be
possible to say what budding gen.
fuses were among those unpromising
faces. From among such as these
came Weber and Fields, and one re-
minder of that fact survives today
in faded picture of the two come
dams which hangs in one of the
Bowery establishments. But this
theatrical phase of the pictures is
only ugly, cheap and disseminating.
1t is in the sentimental significance
of the photographs that their chief
interest lies.
Apparently it is the Italians who
form the majority of the patronage
of the shops They are there in the
uniforms of their navy as we'll as in
the best Sunday garments of Mul-
berry street. Two or three pictures
of old women standing stifiy by ia
bles have evidently been taken to
send back home as an evidence of
prosperity, although there is little
enough Of it to be seen, judging by
ordinary standards. In several
places there are pictures Of two
friends holding each others hands,
and two or three cooks not ashamed
of their profession have been proud
ly taken wearing every sign of their
calling, from the white cap to the
apron, and doing it so seriously that
there could be no suggestion of their
being OH masquerade Infant prodi-
gies clasping the musical instru-
ments which made them distinguish