Barum Festtival, 1949, pt. 1, by Vincent Frazzetta, Sr.

This is the first segment of four reels of 8mm film taken during the first year of the Barnum Festival in Bridgeport, 1949. This segment begins with a long shot of the stature of P.T. Barnum located at Seaside Park. The photographer pans from the statue toward Long Island Sound where a strip of beach with sunbathers and park visitors strolling along a walkway are visible. As the camera faces east looking across the Sound toward Stratford, the Bridgeport Harbor Lighthouse is visible for a few frames. Pleasure Beach: roller coaster; speed boat sign; Bridgeport Progress Exposition, 1949; Bridgeport Model Gift Home Seaside Park: large crowds of spectators sitting on grassy banks in park; boys’ track race and jumping contest; Emergency and information tent; Boy Scouts; Parade – boys in red/white uniforms, probably shool band; Ethnic dances in costumes children and adults; Mayor Jasper McLevy and other polititians standing and chatting, McLevy giving speech; children’s band; people seated at tables in food area where men are working at stoves and grills with policement standing in background; Parade Preparation Area: wagons, floats, early automobiles, spectators and police are lining up for parade. Many local businesses such as the Radio Center, Liberty Furniture, Malin Shoe Store, Lowe’s Poli Theater, Leavitt’s, Amsel Dental Lab, Lyman E. Katz Furniture, Main Shoe Store, and a drug store can be seen in the background. A clown walks through the throngs of spectators and speaks to children; Parade: Military band, probably Marines, marches on Park Avenue; Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts; Jenny Lind; Barnum Festival King and Queen, people in Native American dress; Multiple horse riders; Marchers in Costumes, University of Bridgeport