Zooming In on the State Fair: The Midway, the Cotton Bowl, and the Octopus — ca. 1950
by Paula Bosse
Another visit to the fair… (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
When I see old photos of the State Fair, I always look at the people. Let’s take a closer look at this great photo by Squire Haskins, taken around 1950. (See a BIG scan of this photo at the UTA website, here.)
Here are a few magnified details from Haskins’ photo (all are much larger when clicked):
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Top photo by Squire Haskins, from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, Special Collections, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries; more information can be accessed here. (Other photos from this collection which were taken around the State Fair Midway at about this time were taken in October, 1950 — this one is not dated, but it seems likely it was taken at the same time.)
See other photos I’ve zoomed in on here.
Click pictures for larger images!
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
I did not know that they had screen printed t-shirts then – thought they were all white.
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Steve,
If i had to take a guess, I would say that guy’s shirt is not an actual t-shirt. If you look closely, it has a wide bottom band on it, and is fairly fitted. from my time selling vintage clothing, I would say it was probably more of a polyester fabric. The one I’m trying to explain is more of a soft, semi-scratchy polyester fabric from the 1950s/60. Since printed t shirts didn’t really come into public use until late 50s early 60s, I’d bet this was polyester instead.
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The crowd is great in this photo. Another detail that caught my eye was the sign for chameleons and turtles: http://i.imgur.com/6kgySwb.png
They still had these when I was a kid.
As you mentioned there are other photos of the Midway taken in 1950 at the UTA digital archives. This search includes other good crowd shots and a few aerials: goo.gl/Xk0Ajt
Here is one of the aerials with the location where the posted photo was taken marked: http://i.imgur.com/JAPR5ae.png
Also there was a photo of the Sally Rand show: http://i.imgur.com/5BQbRvz.jpg
I find it interesting that it made the most money of any of the Midway shows that year: https://goo.gl/ZxAA7A
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I need to check out the UTA archives!
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Also, I love the magnified details: thank you!
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Thank YOU!
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