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From the News Photo Archive comes this circa 1953 tableau of chlorinated Baby Boomers. No horseplay, running or girls allowed! 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.
No way my parents would have let me participate in an activity like this during the peak of the polio epidemic. For which I thank them.
Comparing that to similar photos from the 1930s or pre Great War, The Good Times Are a-Comin'. A lot more body fat around.
Reminds me of how my grandmas always complained all though the early 70's of how "thin" my sister and I looked. And we were not scrawny. Well, that was always good for a treat on the side.
A photo like this reminds me that in 1953, this would have been a "whites only" pool. These kids are innocent of it but the memory of such restrictions makes me sad.
The other thing is that with this many kids in the pool, the likely urine concentration would keep me on the sidelines.
Brings to mind the lines of the Canadian poet A.M. Klein:
O underneath these acrobatic fountains
among the crystal,
like raindrops a sunshower of youngsters dance:
small-nippled self-hugged boys
and girls with water sheer, going Ah and Ah.
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