NEWFANE — Childhood memories of the cattle, the freak shows, and the girlie shows stayed with Charles Fish of Dummerston so much so that, in 1998, he published a book of photographs, with text, entitled Blue Ribbons and Burlesque: A Book of Country Fairs.
An author and photographer, Fish will exhibit 72 of his photographs at the Crowell Gallery of the Moore Free Library in Newfane beginning Saturday, May 7. A reception with the photographer will be held that day from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit will remain at the library until May 28. Fifty five of the photographs have not been shown before, while 17 of the images were printed in his book.
“I just love going to fairs,” says Fish. “It pleases me so much to be there. The camera helps me concentrate and view the scene more intently. I'm a watcher, watching people watch what they see at the Fair. The exhibit begins with that theme - visitors at the fair.
“There are informal portraits - twin babies in carriages, a man with many piercings - and then they move along to the things people do at a fair, ringing the bell with the big hammer, shopping, looking at the displays, riding the Merry-Go-Round. Then there are the freak shows, the banners proclaiming a man who can drive nails into his skull, and another man who can eat broken glass.”
Freak shows, defined as “an exhibition of biological rarities,” were popular all over the United States between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries.
“There was a lot of fakery too,” says Fish. “I remember hearing a story about a set of Siamese twins, who were supposedly joined at the hip, who had an argument on stage and walked off separately. Even their manager hadn't known they were fakes.”
There were also burlesque shows - a strip tease that had an element of artistry to it, with dancing and performing, and often featuring elaborate costumes.
In Blue Ribbons, Fish wrote, “Now and then a stripper was so vibrant and healthy looking that she seemed miscast in this charade of beauty and desire. More appealing than the artists' fantasies [on the strip show banners], she made me wonder what had brought her here. Perhaps she was like the stripper in one of the bigger shows who said she had studied ballet and had earned a B.A. in fine arts but liked the 'traveling fair life as well as the monetary rewards it offers.' Her manager said his girls 'can earn as much in a day as most people earn in a week,' still a far cry from the $10,000 Sally Rand was said to have netted in one day at the Iowa State Fair.”
“The feelings of the public changed about freak and girlie shows around the 1970s,” said Fish. “A minister who checked out a show was reported to have said in 1973 in the Rutland Herald that 'some things in the new morality I can take - but not this degenerate show.'”
Fish said that “during one of the many interviews I did for the book, a man told me, 'If you went to the barn to get hay for your horses, you had to be careful where you put the pitchfork.'”
Another said, “They wouldn't let you into the Tunbridge World's Fair unless you had a bottle in your pocket and your neighbor's wife on your arm.”
Other photographs feature other themes, including pig races, cattle and oxen judging, horse and ox pulling, horse racing, landscapes, and overall views of Vermont fairs.
“One of them is a picture of the fairgrounds with a church in the background. I like the contrasts between the two,” says Fish.
Fish is also known locally for a book he did with Wayne Carhart, On The Job: The Brattleboro Public Works Department, which also features his photographs. Currently, he is putting together an archive of digital photographs of the Winooski River, which he hopes will eventually turn into a book.
He is doing the work in conjunction with a group called Friends of the Winooski River. “In some respects, this is an outgrowth of my book, In the Land of the Wild Onion: Travels Along Vermont's Winooski River, ” Fish says.
“I like making my own prints, not just taking pictures. Not every photographer enjoys that work, but I do. I find it very interesting to work on an image and decide the contrast, the tone, and color. There is a craftsmanship there,” he says. “I like the whole process, from beginning to end.”
While no books or photographs will be available for sale at the exhibit, Fish hopes that people will come and enjoy this special piece of Vermont nostalgia.
“These were mostly agricultural fairs in my youth,” says Fish. “Now, they are at a professional level that keeps the fairgrounds open and busy for many months of the year, with a band stand, and huge speakers, and national level performers. Some fairs are professionally overseen with a top flight manager and several full time employees. That changes the character of a fair.”
Fortunately for the public, Fish has captured the spirit of Vermont's old-time fairs on film.