Last Gorbals Boy Dies, An image which captured Glasgow's optimism Options

[CopperLamp]

Aye its sad but good piccy, I have piccy of me and my bro 1956 In the Gorbals my bro was born there, I was born In Campsie Stirling

[**Sally**]

RIP TO THE YOUNG LADS IN THE PIC ...

My mother grew up in the Gorbals , and she would tell me about her school Adelphi Terrace, (I think). Her name was Sally McGugan, now Sally (Sarah) McMahon, born 1948, the same year that pic was taken.

Does anyone remember her ?

[Rabbie]

Sad news, those two boys could have been so many of us back in the day.

Poverty can be defined in many ways. I didnea feel a sence of missing out on anything, other than big boys got to stay oot later!

There was certainly nea poverty in the way folks used to be selfless and helped each other out and the love and care oor parents gave us.

I dinnea miss some of the manky closes and the like but I do miss the close, unselfish family community we used to have.

RIP.

[Alec05]

I remember the photograph when it was in the newspaper, but not when. I would travel to Castlemilk around 1955-56 as i was just about finishing my bricklaying apprenticeship with the "corpie" before going to do my N.S. The auld gorbals was still there with very little or no changes and we all thought that things were on the move for the better ! Were they.

[Mathieson]

Just read about this. That picture will forever be an iconic Glesga picture and never failed to cheer me up when I saw it.
RIP Les Mason and his wee buddy George Davis who went before him.

[*yopal*]

A great photie of Glasgow and like everyone says, it will always be there as a glimpse of the social and communal history that is now gone (almost) forever.

[ashfield]

May I also give my condolences to the family of Mr Mason and his friends.

I agree with those who don't recognise this as depicting poverty, it could have been taken at any number of locations across the city and there would have been another two little boys in similar dress. The photograph is a testament to the talent of the brilliant Bert Hardy, who worked for the Picture Post for many years, it is hard to tire of looking at his photos.

In "The Gorbals boys", he was clever in getting down to their level and that made it all the more appealing. Sadly, it s the sort of shot which would be impossible to take now for fear of the potential repercussions.

[bilbo.s]

I think I have just coined a word - paedophiliaphobia ! Or maybe just plain old paranoia !

[Melody]

I agree with so many of the posts above. Indeed poverty has many faces but this photograph isn't one of them. The joy of life and friendship on the faces of those lovely weans it just a treasure. You can't help but smile inside when you look at them. Shame that we don't see those same expressions in weans today just enjoying each others mischievous company. It's sad to think that weans today don't seem to be allowed to have that same wee bit freedom, it's so vital to learning all sorts of social skills, not forgetting the pure fun in life. God Rest them all.

[ashfield]

I think I have just coined a word - paedophiliaphobia ! Or maybe just plain old paranoia !

I agree...............I think

[bilbo.s]

I agree...............I think

Cogitas ergo es !

[**KANDY**]

A wonderfully iconic picture of the times.

Having grown up in Maryhill, at the same time and having an identical background I am immediately transported back nearly sixty years every time I see this photograph.

Poverty is relative and what was instictively important to us was the love and support of families and neighbours - not that we understood this in these terms.

These boys would have spent much of their time as we did out of doors safe in the knowledge that all the local adults would be there for them.
I still see school friends from primary school, all who have done well - some spectacularly so - and we all value the childhood we enjoyed and would not have had it otherwise.

It's sad that they have gone but it is comforting to know that they enjoyed what appears to be a happy and productive adulthood. Equally important is that they represent the spirit that made Glasgow great.

[GG]

I found the following in a Herald article by William Hunter from 1995:

Bert Hardy's pictures from around the world are classics of photo-journalism, but his Glasgow shots were favourites, says William Hunter. Old Glasgow did no mean number of favours to photographer Bert Hardy, who died on Monday, and had all of them returned.

His pictures showed the harsh optimism and the struggle for decency of Gorbals people after the Hitler war. With his camera, he refocused the stereotype image that the city's southside was populated only by gangs and drunks.

Gorbals saw him as a nosey visitor, but one who knew what it was like to be poor. They accepted him. Slum doors opened. "Nobody took much notice when I started taking photos," Bert Hardy said later.
His assignment was to complete a series of conventional pictures of urban misery taken earlier by a colleague on Picture Post magazine. Hardy was handed the job of capturing the human side of poverty.

He took shots of ragged kids using a graveyard for a playground. A big wifie bathed her body from a basin on the kitchen table. Most memorable was the street scene with the two scallywag pals, all dirty skint knees and strong cheeky faces, who took the photographer back to his own poor London boyhood. "My favourite picture," he said.

"This reminds me of what I was like when I was a kid. In this story I concentrated on the children, and how they kept their spirits up in conditions which were often dreadful," he recalled in his memoirs, My Life.

His Gorbals sequence in l948 won the first Encyclopaedia Britannica Award.

It seems that the image reminded Bert of his own childhood in the east end of London, where he grew up in conditions not too far removed from his Picture Post assignment in the Gorbals.

GG

[Chrissie]

This picture got past me. I don't recall ever having seen it but I did now, thanks to the boards. Like these kids, I didn't know I was poor till I started work and realized everyone didn't get paychecks on Friday and have nothing left by Monday or Tuesday.

[lindamac]

God rest their souls in the arms of the angels Bless their families too at least they have this picture as a gentle reminder of their relatives reality in life still two happy wee boys faces despite their poverty.