Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/11

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Friday Fillies
From: lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:22:36 -0500

To continue on my horse theme - here are some horses of a different timbre.


Upstate New York, in the area around Binghampton, is considered the
"Carousel Capital of the World." There are six original classical carousels
in the area, donated by George F. Johnson, owner of the Endicott-Johnson
Company early in the 20th century. These carousels were donated with the
express stipulation that they would never charge admission for anyone to
ride them. Apparently when Mr. Johnson was a child he was frequently too
poor to ride the local carousel and he vowed this would never happen to
another child in the area. Mr. Johnson had plenty of money to spend. The
Endicott-Johnson company was the largest shoe manufacturer in the world for
about 50 years and made the bulk of the boots worn by the U.S. Army in WW1
and WW2.


Here is a sprightly pair of hand carved horses just raring to go:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Carousel+horses.jpg.html


Most European carousel horses are relatively static in posture. American
figures are more flamboyantly active with tossed manes, expressive eyes and
mouths. Many were superbly made in the early 1900s by skilled craftsmen
taking advantage of excellent and cheap carving wood such as Appalachian
white pine, basswood, and yellow poplar. This filly may well be the last of
its kind since carving horses is not regarded as a growth profession. I
believe that there is only one family living in Washington State still
making wooden horses.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Carousel+horse.jpg.html

Larry Z


Replies: Reply from hewthompson at mac.com (Hugh Thompson) ([Leica] IMG: Friday Fillies)
Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] IMG: Friday Fillies)
Reply from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] IMG: Friday Fillies)