If you, like me, thought that this (from a 2011 post) was the only picture you’d ever see of a monkey in the quad, well, we were all wrong:
I was frankly startled to find these this afternoon in a Sarah Lane Literary Society scrapbook. They’re dated March, 1956 and labeled “publicity for County Fair,” which seems to have been some sort of theatrical production:
So what do you think . . . same monkey in a different outfit?
You can see a description of what the County Fair was all about here. https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/66140/thr19560316.pdf?sequence=2
It sounds spectacularly wholesome. I’m not sure what an organ grinder with a monkey has to do with it, but hey, it was the 1950s and it was a big city. Probably wasn’t that hard to find.
Scroll down to page eight.
What was SLLS?
Sarah Lane Literary Society–in essence, a sorority. I’ll post about it soon.
I remember EBLS and OWLS. SLLS is a new one to me.
I’d remembered from old Campaniles that there were a number, but Pallas Athene was the only other one I specifically remembered by name. I noticed the Woodson has an online exhibit, and there were a lot more than I thought. If you’re curious, check it out.
The monkey’s owner in both photos looks to be the same man.
Nice flat tops also!
Pre-bookbags–note all the books in arms. And there were scratchy net or plastic screen-wire petticoats under those flaring skirts.
Ouch!
The girdles and foundation wear may have been more painful, and probably protected your skin from the scratchy petticoats.
In the picture of the girl with the monkey on her shoulders, what are those signs against the hedges in the background? And is it just my bad memory, or does the open area between the hedges and the colonnade in front of Fondren look much larger than I remember? (I attended between 1976 and 1982). In my Rice days, the area was paved with concrete with a pebble surface, just like all the numerous sidewalks around campus. This group looks like they are standing on something different, perhaps closely-mowed grass?
The signs may indicate that it was electioneering time.
The area in front of Fondren library during my years of decadence consisted of a packed non-grass surface, but NOT concrete.
The people in these shots, though indistinct — as is my memory — remind me of people around my years of 1952-56.
Parenthetically, many of my classmates often looked indistinct.
When I gave Sarah Lane, librarian extraordinary, a program of our “Rice Follies” of 1956, she was NOT aware that Rice had a Historical collection of Rice material — if it did.
I found a few mentions of a gentleman named George Feick, who apparently had a crank organ and a small crew of Capuchin monkeys. He could be found at fairs and shopping centers and the last mention I found of him was in a 1980 Texas Monthly. He was apparently one of three or four organ grinders still active in the USA.
Did you perhaps learn what years he was active in the Houston area?