Say Prunes?

 

Simon & Augusta Fritzemeier - Randy's great grandparents - 1905

Say CHEESE! It's the ubiquitous expression when we're trying to get everyone to smile for a photo.

But say PRUNES? That's a new one for me!

Photographers have relied on the magic of cheese for decades — just mentioning the word is enough to turn up the corners of our mouths into a picture-perfect grin. But the earliest photographers utilized a different food to help purse their subjects’ puckers: prunes. According to Christina Kotchemidova, a communications professor and researcher, British photography studios of the past encouraged people to say "prunes" in an effort to tighten their lips, a look that was more socially preferable than a wide smile.

My great-grandparents with their first three children, including my Grandpa Shelby Neelly

I saved the information from Interesting Facts last week. With Easter coming up, I figured there would be photo opportunities. And there were. On Easter, I took several photos at church of my sister and various combinations of their family. 

My sister, Lisa, and her husband, Kyle with their eight grandchildren.

And I knew I'd be taking plenty of photos of Kinley and Brooke during a post-Easter visit to Topeka. So I suppose the article peaked my interest. 

Brooke & Kinley during our trip to the Topeka Zoo on Monday.

These days, we are all smiles when it comes to photos. But most 19th- and early 20th-century photos show subjects with a solemn expression, a look that’s often attributed to the long exposure times of early camera. Holding a neutral expression for several minutes was easier than maintaining a smile.

My grandparents on their wedding day

But social norms also played a big role. Stern faces remained popular even after photo technology had improved well enough to easily capture smiles by the late 1800s,. Some historians say that smiling was once considered improper. 

Randy's grandma Laura Russell and her sister Mildred Russell - undated

Beauty standards of the time called for mouths to have a subdued appearance. Kotchemidova’s research suggests people were expected to have "carefully controlled" mouths with small pouts. 

I guess the little boy in this undated photo - Randy's uncle Alvin - didn't get the memo, though his grandparents, Alvin & Laura Ritts did have pleasant expressions. I also noticed that his grandfather gave a small smile in their undated wedding portrait.

Alvin & Laura Ritts - undated

According to one study of nearly 38,000 high school yearbook photos from the 1900s to the 2010s, smiling in photos became more popular by the mid-20th century. That may be true, but here are my Great Grandma and Grandpa Neelly in their 50th anniversary portrait in 1950. They look pleasant, I suppose, but still no big smiles were evident.

1950

Some historians believe the switch was influenced by two factors: dental care and home photography. Without widespread access to dental care, missing or rotten teeth were common a detail many wouldn't wanted to feature in their portrait. Dentistry became a more established field in the early 1900s, the same time period when Kodak was marketing its amateur cameras as a way to capture life's happier, spontaneous moments - smiles included. 

Randy's dad, Melvin, and Melvin's little sister, Gloria, were smiling in this undated photo, so perhaps the tide was shifting for children by the 1930s and '40s. 

 Nowadays, Grandma Kim can be counted upon to document activities with plenty of photos. No saying "PRUNES" on my watch! So far, the girls are still cooperating.

 

Kinley, Brooke & Summer the Labradoodle

Does it look like the dog is smiling, too?

My, How Times Have Changed? Or Have They?

My mother-in-law Marie, Jean Newell Fritzemeyer & Marjorie Giedinghagen

In an old scrapbook, this photo was labeled "3 cooks for cattle round up day."

I didn't wear my apron or my crisp cotton dress for our latest cattle round up day. I may have been the cook, too, but I was breathing in more than soup from the slow cooker ...

Like dust from an old barn's alleyway ...

... and eau de toilette (I know lots of consumers are into "organic" these days. This was organic all right! That's what happens when you're trying to push baby calves into the trailer!

While the trio of cooks from the 1950s were busy putting together a meal, the fellas were rounding up and sorting the cattle.

L to R: Clarence Fritzemeier (Randy's Grandpa) Milton Giedinghagen, Ben Fritzemeyer, Melvin Fritzemeier (my father-in-law) & Harve Fritzemeier. Yes there are two different spellings on Fritzemeier - it's not a typo!

My, how times have changed!

I'm certainly not denigrating the role my mother and mother-in-law fulfilled as farm wives and partners back in the 1950s during the early days of their marriage. The times were different. And I've had reminders of that as I've been reading the final book in my book challenge - a book written in my birth year - 1957. (I'll talk more about the book challenge in another post, but just to name a few differences - making phone calls in a phone booth and a $90 weekly salary as a secretary.)

But even though gender roles during the cattle sorting, working and moving process may be different in 2018 than they were in 1958, for example, some things never change.


Mamas protest from Kim Fritzemeier on Vimeo.

Mama cows still protest being separated from their babies ...

... even if it's only for a short time and even if it's for their baby's own good!

Back when Melvin and Marie were first starting out, they raised horned Herefords.

Today, we still have Hereford blood in our herd, but it's provided by two polled Hereford bulls.

And we've added Angus genetics to our crossbred herd as well.

We still sort the baby calves from the mamas, but it's no longer a men's club doing the separating ... hence the organic matter on my jeans!

Some mamas form "picket lines" and protest when their babies leave for their doctor's appointments.

Mother and calf, 1952

They were just as glad to be reunited then ...

... as now.

 A woman may be the person handing the ear tagger and syringes to the chief cattle "worker" these days. But at many farms, it's probably the woman doing it all herself.

But some things on our Kansas farm haven't changed during the five different generations that have been living and working along the Stafford/Reno County line.

 

And that's the desire to do our job to the best of our abilities and to make a difference in our community - man OR woman!

***

And, this morning, it's time for more of that hands-on cattle work. We're moving heifers and bulls. Wish me luck! And Happy May Day!