Comments on: Children’s Costume Parade, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, 1961

By: pg

pg — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:20:56 +0000

I thinks the kid is feeling hard-boiled by now!!This pic is hysterical!!More of these funnies, Charles. Thanks!

By: Caya

Caya — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:42:59 +0000

When I think of things like gruesome Nursery rhymes and whatnot, I always think of a certain Grimm’s fairy tale that horrified me as a kid. There is a family; a father, mother, a girl about 12 and a young boy. The mother dies, the father remarries. The stepmom is evil of course. She doesn’t like the young boy in the house for some reason, and convinces him to lean over a chest with apples in it. She brings the lid crashing down and kills him. She makes blood pudding out of him and serves him at dinner that night, but the girl weeps and has a suspicion it is her brother, and doesn’t eat any, and saves all the bones. She buries them under a tree. By and by, a magical bird (who is the brother, of course) comes and sings in the tree. The girl loves to hear it sing- “tee-wit, tee-wit, what a beautiful bird am I!” She comes out to listen, and the bird drops a beautiful pair of red shoes at her feet. The father comes to listen, and the bird drops a gold chain around his neck. The mother dreads the song and hates it, but she comes out to listen. The bird drops a millstone around her neck and kills her. The bird then changes back into the little boy, of course, and they all live happily ever after. Horrifying story- Stephen King could have written it, I think. Many of Grimms’ stories are like that, I don’t read such things to my kids.

By: Valerie Weich

Valerie Weich — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 01:50:27 +0000

Hmmm, more tragic nursery rhymes? How about these gruesome ones from Mother Goose?

“Tell Tale Tit,
Your tongue shall be slit;
And all the dogs in the town
Shall have a little bit.”

AND

“Goosey, goosey, gander,
Where shall I wander?
Up stairs, down stairs,
And in my lady’s chamber:
There I met an old man,
Who would not say his prayers;
Take him by the left leg,
Throw him down the stairs.”

And just what was that old man doing in my lady’s chamber?

By: Buz Carter

Buz Carter — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:47:15 +0000

Agreed, Catherine!

The best part is — we know exactly what’s about to happen, it’s right there in the Nursery Rhyme!

Mom, who tanked up the car and herself on the way, encounters pothole. “Oh, darn, my new white high-heels — scuffed”. The ill-fated tug ensues and the next morning County Child Services …

Not since Scout was trussed-up as a Country Ham (chick wire & paper mache) has a more doomed costume been assembled. (Thank you, Boo)

The only event I know of that somewhat captures this spirit today is Pasadena’s Doo-Dah Parade. If you like this shot and have never attended the DooDah, you owe yourself. It’s billed as “Pasadena’s Other Parade”, and truly is the antithesis of that flowered event.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:14:27 +0000

This is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.