Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a well-dressed couple
camping prompted me to take a second look at the lowly folding chair. In
particular, I remembered this one:
The woman is unknown, possibly one of my maternal
grandmother’s cousins. It doesn’t matter. The point is the CHAIR. Much like the
one in the prompt photo, it was wood with a canvas seat and back. Today such
chairs are known as “Director’s Chairs.” Of course! In every movie about the
making of a movie, the director is sitting in a chair with canvas seat and
back.
I suppose lots of people fussed and complained about
those wooden chairs getting loose and wobbly over time. Then the canvas wore
out or ripped from dry rot. Enter Fredric Arnold. In 1947 he saved the day with
his invention of an aluminum folding chair with fabric strapping for the seat
and back. For years that chair has been the mainstay in most households across
America.
Sunday picnics, family reunions, graduation parties,
birthdays – if it is outside, there is a folding chair involved.
 |
| Leota Sullivan Racy, Grandma Lucille Rucker Davis, Pearl Sullivan Strole, Floral Sullivan Merica, and Elta Sullivan Farrar |
In the mid-1960s, the Sullivan cousins came to town and
gathered for a cook-out at the home of their sister Elta Farrar. Such
an occasion called for LOTS of folding chairs.
About that same time, our family hosted SOMETHING in the
backyard but I do not know what. We must have expected a crowd because my dad
brought over the more substantial porch furniture from my grandmother’s house
next door.
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| What a nice collection of classic aluminum chairs with green and white webbing! Our backyard on Gillis Rd, Portsmouth, VA There's my grandmother and my sister. Momma has her back to us. |
 |
| Me in my Dorothy Hamill haircut and Jordan just growing hers |
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| Folding chairs with traditional webbing and with the longer-lasting wood slats. Low chairs were perfect for the beach. Bottom right is a peek at the then-NEW lounge chair with vinyl straps. We thought they were great but boy were they heavy and did they rust! |
The folding chair may not be as charming as the
wicker chair
 |
| Grandaunt Helen Killeen holding her nephew John Holland Left and right: my grandmother Julia Walsh and Mae Killeen Holland |
or as comfortable as the Adirondack,
 |
| Steve and Cat Barany at their home in Washington DC |
but folding chairs have demonstrated their staying power
when it comes to outdoor living.
 |
| Wendy and Barry on the dock Smith Mountain Lake |
Thank-you, Fredric Arnold!
Grab a chair and enjoy more fun reads at Sepia Saturday.
Wendy
© 2017, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
The folding chair in the second photo -- we used those when I was a child and I still have them! I love the wood and canvas and the fact that they fold front to back (unlike true director's chair which fold side to side). We also had some aluminum ones but we all fought to get the wood and canvas ones. They were much more comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI love your ingenuity in matching family history photos to Sepia Saturday themes, Wendy. Well done!
Yes, the wood and canvas chair is comfortable. We had 2 that I rescued from a yard sale. We tightened the screws and had new canvas seats and backs made. Eventually the frame got loose and wobbly and we put them on the street for someone else to love.
DeleteWe don't have outside folding chairs, just the regular lawn type furniture and additional plastic chairs for more company if they are over, but we do have folding chairs for inside. Used them with a folding table for close to 2 years before we finally bought a dining room table with "real chairs". I do remember those aluminum chairs with fabric, a blast from the past! Friends of ours have Adirondack rocking chairs. I'm afraid to get any for the backyard. I may never get out of them, excessive heat and all!
ReplyDeletebetty
I have my grandaunt Helen's old card table and matching folding chairs that I use when we have a crowd. I hear ya on the Adirondacks - they are the best for comfort.
DeleteI grew up sitting on big low wooden chairs that my grandfather built and didn't know until I was an adult they were officially known as Adirondacks. They were just 'PopPop's backyard chairs'.
ReplyDeletePopPop knew a thing or two!
DeleteFolding chairs of all sorts and descriptions and sizes, I've sat in comfortable and uncomfortable ones. Deckchairs are a nightmare!
ReplyDeleteMy brother-in-law did some work for a hotel that was getting new pool furniture so he was allowed to take what he wanted of the old. He gave me one chair. Steel frame and vinyl webbing. It had a nice bounce, so I really liked it. But HEAVY. Oh my. HEAVY to the nth power.
DeleteI never thought of the chairs when I chose the picture, but such is the inventiveness of Sepians. You have stirred quite few memories for me of picnics and garden gatherings with folding chairs. Of course the best picture is the last one - Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI now have the "stadium chairs" I think these canvas ones may be called, which fold entirely into a tube carrying device if you want. They are great for taking to outdoor events and store easier in the trunk of my car. Yes, having back support when sitting outdoors is something I look forward to these days. Excellent take on the promt!
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a fair number of stadium chairs too.
DeleteFolding chairs never occurred to me as a prompt, so congratulations on your inventiveness. I could have come up with several images if I had thought!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the opportunity will swing back by again and you can use those old pix.
DeleteVery clever! Though heavy and bulky, those old chairs were durable and easily repaired if the canvas or wood broke. Cheap aluminum chairs can fail with dramatic effect, as can plastic. The newer origami type fold up camping chairs are the best seating innovation.
ReplyDeleteWe have an old aluminum chair that has macrame seating and it's very comfortable. I bought it in the 1980s. The curve of the frame JUST failed this summer but we found a guy that actually welds aluminum. Fixed.
DeleteGreat idea. I slammed my fingers in similar chairs often, trying to get them put away in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteI love your Dorothy Hamil haircut and always get a thrill out of seeing my name on your grandaunt. Coincidentally, I'm off today to see my own grand and great grand nephews and nieces.
Oh slammed fingers - forgot about that little feature!
DeleteWhat a great take on the prompt! I never would have thought of folding chairs and yet over the years we've had a slew of all different styles. Presently we like the aluminum framed akin to director's chairs with a little snack 'table' that lifts up on one side. Good show with the folding chairs featuring some nice shots of family sitting in them! :)
ReplyDeleteI've seen those chair-table combos. Great invention. A glass of wine does not stand up well in the cup-holder pockets of today's folding chairs.
DeleteThe aluminum chairs with webbing are a real classic, but they don't seem to be sold much nowadays.
ReplyDeleteNo, not as much as the "origami" chair, as Mister Mike put it.
DeleteWhat a great collection of folding chair photographs! One photo in my post includes one too.
ReplyDeleteI saw it! Great minds.
DeleteGreat timing. We had a family get together last night with some extra friends which necessitated the need for MORE CHAIRS! Of course since we have grandkids involved in sports, everyone has a chairs like the red one you are sitting in for sporting events. They sure came in handy last night.
ReplyDeleteI know! The strap on the sleeve makes it easy to sling that chair over your shoulder and keep moving.
DeleteWe just bought some "camp chairs" much like the one you and hubby are sitting on at the end of your post. I felt a little like Goldilocks as I tried out first one chair and then the other to determine which one was the most comfortable. ha ha. When did we get so picky?
ReplyDeleteI will say that my parents kept those chairs with webbing around for a long long time and when they wore out, they bought new webbing and re-webbed them. Today's chairs don't offer any such option.