Today's vintage Knott's Berry Farm images are cool because they feature subject matter that you don't often see in photos.
Like this one, showing the interior of a print shop, complete with printing press. It's fun looking at all the details, like the visors hanging on the wall (I can't tell if they have green eyeshades), the old portraits, a can of ink, and so on. That press is a cast iron beast; I'll bet it still works!
Now we're at the blacksmith's shop (I've never seen an interior of that before). Our smith wears a sort of clip-on microphone, presumably as he explains the art of making horseshoes. "You get this metal super hot and hit it like a crazy person! Any questions?". How many places needed to employ a full-time blacksmith in 1960? Lucky for him, Knott's had lots of horses and mules, and even a few burros.
The print shop photo is a beauty. I remember in junior high or high school it might've been, I had taken a shop class related to printing and in the classroom there were these trays and boxes filled with type like seen in this photo. It was our assignment to write articles then construct them with the type pieces in the tray including putting together a headline and then operate the printing press to create a final product. I loved that class. That was all but forgotten, but this photo just helped recall that long lost memory. What an awesome post today. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteThese are very much unusual views. Personally, I think every theme park should employ at least one, genuine blacksmith-!
It kinda looks as if the "microphone" in the 2nd image is just that. Perhaps a Shure #520 or 520B, "Green Bullet" Harmonica Microphone, around since 1949. Or perhaps its precursor, the #152, 10 years its senior.
Thanks, Major.
I got a horseshoe nail ring made by a blacksmith at Knott's Berry Farm when I was a kid. I think I still have it 20 + + years later!
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, my grandfather was in the printing business; we still have a few nice fine art books that he and his partner published many years ago. After he passed away, we found quite a lot of metal type out in the garage, along with large books of fonts and other paraphernalia. I wish I had spoken to him about his life in the printing biz, darn it. Your class sounds like it would have been fun, I’m sure I would have loved something like that!
ReplyDeleteNanook, did you just happen to know all about vintage clip-on microphones? Is there anything that you don’t know about?! ;-)
Monica, very cool, I’m glad that you still have your ring! What a neat keepsake.
Major-
ReplyDeleteAs I'm fond of saying: I know 'just' enough about a lot of things to make me sound smarter than I am, and/or get me in big trouble.
I think we can say with some certainty that IS a microphone he's wearing. It may not be manufactured by Shure, as other manufacturers produced similarly-shaped microphones. However they would have had a threaded stem for attachment to a stand, etc., and that doesn't seem in evidence here. Heck, maybe it's just some odd switching or signaling device. Now - let me tell you all about that anvil he's using...
I also think it's safe to say the combined knowledge of the those who follow/comment within this blog is quite staggering. We may not be able to recite Pi out to the 1 million + digits range (although I wouldn't bet on that one), but we sure have tons of practical information.
Knice!
ReplyDeleteNanook, yeah, I was pretty sure it was a microphone (what the heck else could it be?). And you are right, the GDB readers know a whole lot of stuff!
ReplyDeleteKenneth Lane, ouch!
Waterloo Village (more of a Historic Williamsburg than Knotts) employed a full-time blacksmith as late as the 1990s. As the guy who founded the place as a historic village got caught up in mismanagement, that blacksmith was briefly installed as the head of the foundation that ran it.
ReplyDeleteDean Finder, I'm sure that there are still a number of full-time blacksmiths around, even today! Those jobs must be hard to come by though. Never heard of "Waterloo Village", so thanks for mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteCan you stand another story? When I was five years old, my family went to Genesee Country Village, which is a recreation of an early 19th-century pioneer settlement. Our tour group went to the printing shop, and I was just fascinated by the press. I stood up against the rope that separated the tourists from the press and watched all big-eyed and rapt through the whole presentation, and at the end, the printer (kind of a gruff old guy) made a souvenir page and gave it to me. A woman behind me asked if she could have one for her kids, and the printer said, "No! I'm not gonna stand around here! printing them all day!" Ever since then, my mother has teased me about charming the old-timey printer!
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