Kaufman’s Brooklyn: May 19: Two photos from the ‘Having fun’ collection

May 19, 2020 Phil Kaufman

Photos courtesy of Phil Kaufman

Share this:

My father, Irving Kaufman (1910 – 1982), was a professional photographer who started in Brooklyn in the mid 1930s working for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. He captured thousands of images of Brooklyn through the 1950s. I have recently digitized a great many of them. My father’s profile can be found here.

This week’s theme:

This week’s photos are all about “Having Fun.” There are lots of different ways to have fun. What’s fun for one may be torture to another (Running — on purpose?; Monopoly — you must be kidding!). Indoors, outdoors; young, older; physical, cerebral; alone, with random others or with special others.

Today’s photos:

Today’s two photos have an obvious similarity. Not only do they have dancing in common; they both picture couples social dancing. But apart from that, they probably couldn’t be much further apart — in generation, music, style, and energy.

Jitterbugging in the aisles, undated

This undated photo from the big band era shows teenagers doing the jitterbug in the aisles during a concert. This was quite a fad for a while back then. The energy of the music matched the energy of the kids. The aisles weren’t big enough for all the jitterbuggy moves, let alone for all who wanted to do them.

Dancing in the dark, c. 1940

About as elegant as it gets. Well, not quite Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in gown and tux, but still, pretty up there. The roof of the Hotel St. George (our second but by no means last visit there), under the stars (and lightbulbs), soft music, gentlemen in suits, ladies in hats.

An index of Kaufman’s Brooklyn posts may be found here.

Irving Kaufman’s profile may be found here.

I invite you to submit comments, memories, images of Brooklyn, and especially any additional background information you can supply about the photos posted here to [email protected]. I’d also be glad to supply information about buying prints of any of the images seen here. Many of my father’s images are also available for viewing and purchase at http://yourartgallery.com/irvingkaufmanstudios. All prints purchased will be the product of professional scanning and editing.

Weekly collection 3: Photos from the ‘Having Fun’ collection