In the days when California suburbs welcomed the Helms’ Bread truck and the Ice Cream van cruising the neighborhood to the tune of their company jingle, it was not uncommon to see a pony being led along the streets by an traveling photographer similarily looking for a little business from the housebound housewives.
My mother and aunt remember the photographer and his pony who had a regular route through their Anaheim neighborhood. For a small fee, he would hoist excited children to the back of his patient pony and snap their photograph. Mothers could order prints to be delivered at a later time, and no doubt many were tempted to buy the deluxe versions hand-colored and enlarged in the photographer’s studio.
Frances and Susie Brown, Anaheim, about 1938
On Wednesdays I am featuring favorite posts from the The Family Curator archives. Enjoy!
I know that our local dairy used a cow! I have my photos taken with one.
Loved seeing this hand-colored pony photo. I have a pony photo (Sioux City, Iowa, ca. 1936) in my collection, as well as another, odder take – a wooly ram pulling a little cart, in which a small child could sit for a photograph (Sioux City, Iowa, ca. 1917). I wonder what other animals were used for these photo shoots!