Photographs, vintage postcards and other ephemera


Saturday 7 July 2012

Elephant riding

I've two photographs to illustrate this week's Sepia Saturday theme of elephants, both taken on a family seaside holiday in Scarborough c 1951.
Here's me and my cousin Roger standing in front of a mechanical elephant, about to climb on board and go for a ride. Judging by the look on my face, I'm raring to go but Rog looks slightly apprehensive.
We're up in the howdah now, travelling along at a stately pace and I'm enjoying myself. There's a 50s Pathe Newsreel clip of a mechanical elephant in action here.


More elephants over at Sepia Saturday!

8 comments:

Little Nell said...

That’s a first this week, I don’t think anyone else has a mechanical elephant. What a treat!

Bob Scotney said...

Although I know Scarborough quite well 1951 was before my time there. The mechanical elephant was not in evidence in the 1960s.

Wendy said...

Amazing! I've never seen such a ride before. I can see why it was popular as it seems very realistic.

Postcardy said...

I never knew that they made mechanical elephants that were used for rides. The elephant looks quite realist6ic--at least in the pictures.

Unknown said...

Welcome to the "Doing My Own Thing" club. Love it despite all the achy joints. Love SS to keep me entertained and learning. Nice post.
QMM

Carte Postale said...

Wow! I would have loved to have gone on a mechanical elephant! Love the photos. Great post.

Sharon said...

I enjoyed your post. That mechanical elephant was moving quicker than I expected.

Mike Brubaker said...

Which would be more trouble to keep in the garage, a mechanical elephant or a baby elephant? Given the choice of British engineering, an Elephant beats a Jaguar!