This is a curious photo of Ernest and Frances Hollinshead. On the back of the photo, Frances wrote: don’t you laugh now! - - - - 1924

The more I stared at the photo the more I was intrigued. For example, Ernest has a white shirt, tie and formal slacks but a casual sweater. Frances has on a rather expensive evening gown suggesting they are going out somewhere. But then they are sitting on the side of a hill in deep grass. And where in LA does one find deep grass and two people warmly dressed. When I looked closely at Frances, I saw the look of someone who just convinced her husband to do something usual, that is sit in the high grass in their good clothes. And when I looked closely at Ernest, it appears he decided to play along and pull up her gown as the photo was taken. I now see why Frances wrote: don’t you laugh now!

All appears to be a certain playfulness between them, a couple of years after their wedding. In an age of formalness and frozen photo smiles, their personalities come through. It is a photo to be cherished. Between this photo and her decision to leave family and friends in Chicago to marry Ernest, Frances projects what today one would call a free spirit. And of course, it was the early days of the flapper era and the photos and her clothes suggest she was part of those times.

For want of an approximate date, it may well be their 2nd wedding anniversary, July 8, 1924; though the warm clothes in LA tend to challenge that.

The Leonhardt family gave this photo to Dave Jordan in the late 1980s. Muriel Leonhardt was Margaret Jordan Graham's sister.

If you would like to add information about this picture, please contact Dave Jordan. Margaret Knowles Jordan Graham was his g-grandmother and Frances Florence Jordan Hollinshead was his great-aunt. The Picture Reference Number is 19220700a1.