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You might recall "They Shall Not Grow Old", the WWI feature-length movie that came out a couple years ago based on colorized wartime film clips with dubbed sound.
You might recall "They Shall Not Grow Old", the WWI feature-length movie that came out a couple years ago based on colorized wartime film clips with dubbed sound.
I saw that documentary in the theater. It was a packed house and as it ended the theater was quiet except for the sounds of a few who were quietly sobbing. But nobody left their seats for at least 60 or 90 seconds and everyone shuffled out without the usual chatter afterward. Very somber.
As for old photos of street scenes, there are some that look relatively empty, but it probably depended greatly on the time of day the photo was taken and how big the city was. Here's several photos from the 1900s and 1910s showing a variety of crowded and derelict streets: 35 High Resolution Photos of USA Cities From 1900’s and 1910’s | Designbeep
Notice how bigger cities like NYC were always more crowded and although none of them are as crowded as they are today, I wouldn't say they are all are as empty as there being nothing in the way of the street cars and only one car per block.
Look at the dates. The pictures from 1905 show exactly what I have been saying. Relatively empty streets with only streetcars and horse drawn wagons, and lots of pedestrians on the sidewalks. Virtually no automobiles. The 1910s is a whole nother story. Automobiles started taking over after 1910. By the 1920s they were jamming up the streets.
The hairstyles seem consistent with the time periods to me. There are a few clips in the third video that say they are from the 1920s and 1930s.
It may have been somewhat staged - they may have advertised when they would be filming and encouraged people, especially with automobiles, to come out and be a part of it, and car owners may have looped around to get on film as much as possible. But it doesn't mean it's not from that time period and doesn't mean we can't learn a lot from it, or that the producers were being deliberately deceptive.
As for old photos of street scenes, there are some that look relatively empty, but it probably depended greatly on the time of day the photo was taken and how big the city was. Here's several photos from the 1900s and 1910s showing a variety of crowded and derelict streets: 35 High Resolution Photos of USA Cities From 1900’s and 1910’s | Designbeep
Notice how bigger cities like NYC were always more crowded and although none of them are as crowded as they are today, I wouldn't say they are all are as empty as there being nothing in the way of the street cars and only one car per block.
Look at the dates. The pictures from 1905 show exactly what I have been saying. Relatively empty streets with only streetcars and horse drawn wagons, and lots of pedestrians on the sidewalks. Virtually no automobiles. The 1910s is a whole nother story. Automobiles started taking over after 1910. By the 1920s they were jamming up the streets.
Yes, there's more automobiles in the later dates but I was commenting more on the crowdedness. You commented on "how relatively empty and uncongested the streets were. The streetcars, or cable cars had the run of the streets and nothing to get in their way." - Look at the one of Grand Central Station and Hotel Manhattan 1903 - there's lots of pedestrians and horse and carts in the streets, in the way of the streetcars. And there's several other photos from before 1910 that are similar.
A couple from Chicago: 18. Life in Industrial America | THE AMERICAN YAWP - the top one from NY is obviously an exception because it's a street market. But the next one of Chicago in 1907, very crowded street. And the next photo (not the illustration) is again from 1900-1910 in Chicago, and again, fairly crowded.
Yes, there's more automobiles in the later dates but I was commenting more on the crowdedness. You commented on "how relatively empty and uncongested the streets were. The streetcars, or cable cars had the run of the streets and nothing to get in their way." - Look at the one of Grand Central Station and Hotel Manhattan 1903 - there's lots of pedestrians and horse and carts in the streets, in the way of the streetcars. And there's several other photos from before 1910 that are similar.
A couple from Chicago: 18. Life in Industrial America | THE AMERICAN YAWP - the top one from NY is obviously an exception because it's a street market. But the next one of Chicago in 1907, very crowded street. And the next photo (not the illustration) is again from 1900-1910 in Chicago, and again, fairly crowded.
When I showed some to my wife, her first remarks were "Nobody's fat" and "nobody's wearing shorts" --- even in Manila.
Exactly! LOL!
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