Tulip Day
Perhaps the most popular spring flower that only blooms in vases this early in January...
The tulip was the subject of Ulf Peder Olrog and his song "Buy a tulip or you'll get a sneer" which was apparently first performed in a Kar de Mumma revue in 1960. It was Lars Ekborg and Sven Holmberg who sang it, depicting two homeless people on the sidewalk trying to persuade passersby to buy the half-withered tulips.
An attempt as a flower seller.
Photographer Kristoffersson's pictures show the unemployed Stockholmer who in 1940 still makes every possible attempt to earn a living. He can be seen in one of the pictures at Medborgarplatsen, where he is selling tulips. However, they do not look half-withered and he seems to be managing to sell them.
Kristoffersson followed the young man from Arla's morning session, where he is pictured responding to an ad for a job. Later at the employment office, he passes the time waiting with a game of chess. When the tulip sales are finished, he jumps in as a snowplowman, which is really needed this winter.
The pictures were published in a photo report in Se no. 19 pages 22-23 1940 with the headline: An unemployed man fights for existence.
