Brown McDowell 12 year old usher in Princess Theatre. Works from 10 A.M. tp 10 P.M. Can barely read; has reached the second grade in school only. Investigator reports little actual need for earnings. Location: Birmingham, Alabama. (LOC)

Hine, Lewis Wickes,, 1874-1940,, photographer.

Brown McDowell 12 year old usher in Princess Theatre. Works from 10 A.M. tp 10 P.M. Can barely read; has reached the second grade in school only. Investigator reports little actual need for earnings. Location: Birmingham, Alabama.

1914 October.

1 photographic print.

Notes:
Title from NCLC caption card.
Attribution to Hine based on provenance.
In album: Street trades.
Hine no. 3793.

Subjects:
Boys.
Ushers.
Motion picture theaters.
Hours of labor.
Motion picture posters.
United States--Alabama--Birmingham.

Format: Photographic prints.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Part Of: Photographs from the records of the National Child Labor Committee (U.S.) 2004667950

General information about the Lewis Hine child labor photos is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.nclc

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/nclc.03934

Call Number: LOT 7480, v. 3, no. 3793

Comments and faves

  1. Posteriormente, Pascal Mbuyu V., AMTER, Romeo Del Mar, and 40 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. jojonas~ (3 months ago | reply)

    I added the subjects and year the photograph was shot to the tags here. I'm thinking it would benefit people searching :)

  3. EmBee's Web (3 months ago | reply)

    "Investigator reports little actual need for earnings." He does need earnings to save up so he can later get books and tutoring once he is emancipated from the adults who pay for his other needs. They don't really care about him or they'd be giving him a basic education somehow. Plus if he gets ill or injured there wouldn't much work he'd be able to do being illiterate and disabled. [Added subjects in case they are desired.]

  4. artolog (3 months ago | reply)

    One of the things Lewis Hine did to get his photos was to engage in various pretexts. Obviously, if he said he was there to shoot children working during school hours he would be told to go away.
    Photographers have the same issues today when they want to shoot factory or slaughterhouse conditions.
    Here perhaps he told the staff that he wanted to take a portrait of them, then cropped almost everything out but the usher.

  5. swanq (3 months ago | reply)

    www.imdb.com/title/tt0229373/
    is the IMDb entry for the film showing. Dated September 30, 1914.

  6. This photo was invited and added to the Ticket booth group.

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