JOE JORDAN PHOTO EXHIBITION - 1987

 

One of Retro Dundee's contributors, Joe Jordan, had a photographic exhibition at the Rep back in July 1987.

At the time, Joe (AKA The Bear), had just ended his lengthy stint as assistant at Dundee Photography Workshop where he helped organise exhibitions in Scotland and Russia.

So when the Rep asked Joe to present a solo exhibition, he didn't hesitate.

He also had a collection of 15 cameras, putting them to good use with images ranging from urban graffiti to Scottish scenery.

OBSERVATION BEE HIVE

A display that was introduced into the museum in the 60's, as a few of you have mentioned, was the Observation Bee Hive.
The hive was behind a pane of glass allowing you to have a wee keek inside and watch all the bees in action, going about their daily routine.
You can read about the idea behind it in more detail, above.
What I can remember about it was that they dabbed a bit of red paint onto the queen, to differentiate it from the workers, and it would take ages sometimes to try and spot it in amongst the hundreds of bees buzzing about.
It was like playing Where's Wally..!!

OLD MUSEUM ROOMS

You may remember in the old layout of the Museum in the 1960's & 70's, they had 2 house interiors from the late 19th century on display. They were next to each other to show the contrast in living conditions between the poor and the rich.

The image on top is the example of the grubby poor hoose which was called the Dundee Kitchen, the decor dating from around the 1870's. Although it's not shown in the illustration, I can recall this room also had a mouse running across the floor.

Next door to it was the shiny posh hoose called the Victorian Parlour, with decor dating from the 1890's. Again, not shown in the drawing but I remember in the room there was also a pedal organ.

Although the difference in the two lifestyles was plain to see, they did have something in common on display - the Wally Dugs on the mantelpiece!

The illustrations were done by Margaret J Webb in 1970.

THE BAXTER PARK DISPLAYS

On one summer weekend each year in the 60's and 70's, Baxter Park put on a display that attracted hundreds of visitors. All the entertainment and action took place in front of the Pavilion, and around the edge of the cordoned off square, they had Army vehicles, Air Force tents, food stalls, ice cream vans and so on.

Performing in the square would be things like motor cycle stunt teams, a dog handler's obstacle course and the highlight would be the Red Devils sky-diving team. They would drop from the sky wearing their smoke flares and land dead centre on a cross marked out in the middle of the square.

I remember one time in the late 60's they ended the show with an old fashioned biplane that flew extremely low over the pavilion, over the crowd and off down across the Tay. A few people in the crowd even ducked by instinct, but it wasn't as low as that!

(By the way, in the late 60's, psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane released an album called "After Bathing At Baxter's" and had an image of a biplane on the cover.
However, theirs wasn't about a trip to the park, but more to do with a trip on LSD..!!)

Anyway, one of the quirkier side show attractions was a 6 ft robot that claimed it could answer any question you asked it. I wish I had asked it how it worked!

The above photo was taken on 22nd July 1976. Not much of a crowd for this one though compared to earlier shows. The sky-divers on this occasion are from the Golden Lion Team. The 2 guys are, Jim Conway from Mid Craigie and Mike Colligan from St Marys.

Below you can see the original Red Devils in action that may bring back a few memories of this Baxter's annual event, although it wasn't filmed there.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG