Skip to main content

Say, "Cheese!": The 1940s Brought Us the Polaroid

A picture's worth a thousand words, and in family history research, few discoveries bring more excitement than finding an ancestor's photograph.


Early tin prints usually featured solemn-faced, formally dressed individuals.  As required exposure times decreased and cameras became more accessible, photos increasingly showed smiling subjects and captured scenes from everyday life.




The 1940s brought at least two photographic milestones: the introduction and subsequent mass-production of the Polaroid Land Camera Model 95, and presumably the coining of the phrase, "Say cheese."

The Polaroid eliminated the waiting game that defined photography in the pre-digital era.  No longer did one have to send film out to be developed and returned as prints; the camera magically produced a print in less than a minute. 

The Model 95, introduced in 1947, became commercially available in 1948.   I don't know what year my grandparents bought their first Polaroid, but I have great memories of Grandma snapping photo after photo, replacing film and burned-out flash bulbs, and waiting impatiently to see the results.  Grandma could find nothing too trivial to snap.





The phrase, "Say cheese" pre-dated the Polaroid by a few years at least.  No one seems to know precisely when the phrase originated, but the answer might be January 20, 1943.  On that date, an article titled, "Need to Put on a Smile? Here's How: Say 'Cheese'," appeared on page 2 of the Big Spring Daily Herald, a Texas newspaper.  The article described how to obtain an "automatic smile" by following this step:  "Just say 'Cheese.' "

The tip must have spread like a Texas wildfire, because generations of Polaroid owners have captured smiles by having their subjects say, "Cheese!"

Thankful thought:  Thanks for photos, from tin types to Polaroids and beyond!

Disclosure:  As part of the 1940 Census Ambassador program, this blog post enters me into a drawing for an Amazon.com gift card.  Please consider helping with the census indexing project by visiting the1940census.com.  You could also help spread the word by writing your own blog post!

Comments

  1. Although we never had one, I remember thinking Polaroids were so cool when a friend of the family had one. Watching the picture develop before your eyes was great...something that's been lost with today's digital pictures.

    My posting was about technology that we use today: hypertext.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Conversations are so much nicer when more than one person does the talking. :-) Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

  Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another

Ten Things of Thankful: December is Here!

  A small snowflake ornament made of clear melted beads hangs on a Christmas tree The rhythm of time passing should not surprise me--after all, that is our experience here on earth--and yet I find myself constantly amazed at how another week/month/year has come and gone. In a blink of an eye, we are now in December and the Christmas season. I love Christmas!  1. I'm thankful for decorations. The tree is up, lights are hung, nativities adorn the house. Stockings are hung in anticipation of little ones visiting. Someone asked me this week what my tree looks like. I'm a sentimental tree decorator. I didn't even realize until not that long ago that some people have themes for their trees that are anything other than "a hodge-podge of ornaments made and collected over the years, each with a history that brings memories flooding back." At this point in my life, I have more ornaments than tree space, so not every ornament goes up each year. I always find room for the sma

Ten Things of Thankful: Even in Times of Uncertainty

  A railroad switch point on the tracks at the Golden Spike National Historic Park There is a lot I don't know. I don't know who will lead the United States for the next four years (at the time I'm composing this post, that hasn't been determined yet.) I don't know when covid cases will stop rising in my state and start decreasing. I don't know how challenging situations will turn out. There is much uncertainty in life. Living in limbo-land is hard. It's emotionally exhausting. It can be immobilizing. My body seems to think chocolate is the answer, but I know that isn't a long-term solution. What do I need in times like these? I need to REMEMBER . 1. R esilience. People are resilient. I am resilient. I'm thankful for resilience. 2. " E ach Life That Touches Ours for Good." So many people, both those I know in "real life," and those I have only met virtually, have taught me, encouraged me, and been examples to me. I'm thankful