 |
| My paternal grandfather with camera circa 1940 click to embiggen |
It's
tradition at Willow Manor to hop in the old green Land Rover and head to the
Franklin County Fair Grounds the Friday after Thanksgiving for the season
opening of the Scott Antique Show. Hundreds of vendors
set up their booths once a month, from November through March. They happen to
have a show in Atlanta, as well, for those of you who live in that southern
neck of the woods. I love to
pull my red vinyl two-wheel cart along behind me, in search of buried
treasure.
I
picked up a sweet little Brownie Flash Six-20, a 1940 variation of the
quintessential American camera for $2.00. The first Brownie was introduced by Eastman Kodak in February 1900, as a
very basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that took 2 1/4 inch square pictures on 117 roll film. The Brownie introduced the concept of the
snapshot, intended as a camera that anyone cold afford, leading to the popular
slogan, "You push the button, we do the rest." The camera was named after the popular
cartoons created by Palmer Cox.
