Wendy Summers, Stripper by Gene Laverne

Technically this is not a photograph, but a halftone. A halftone is an image made by a series of dots, varying in either size or distance from each other to create the illusion of an image. I used to make halftone negatives at the photo lab where I worked, all the time. They were used primarily for newspaper advertisements. Gene Laverne was a photographer from Buffalo, New York who specialized in glamour, and theatrical photography, was well known for his portraits of strippers. This image is captioned, "WENDY SUMMERS, BALTIMORE" I did a web search for Wendy Summers, and couldn't find anything about this lady.

Jane Marshall, Stripper

With all of the interest in classic burlesque out there; in a world were many nice, middle class, well educated young ladies are putting on pasties and joining burlesque troupes, you'd think I'd be able to find some biographical information on Jane Marshall. Not so. Identified by name, with type in the border, that I've cropped for the scan. Stamped on the back, "WILL GROFF THEATRICAL AGENCY 211 S. MARSHALL ST. YORK, PENNSYLVANIA." Jane Marshall and Marshall Street, I'm guessing, is just a coincidence.

Burlesque Portraits

I was told that these two photos had come from the estate of a former Burlesque theater owner. They look like old lobby photos, displayed so that patrons could see who would be performing that night. The full length portrait is labeled "Polly Anne." A play on Pollyanna I would guess. No name on the head shot. The photographer's mark, "Bloom Chicago" is too vague to get anything from a Google search, but James J. Kriegsmann gave some interesting results. Kriegsmann was born in Vienna, Austria on January 1, 1909. He studied photography in his native Vienna before coming to the United States. He opened up a studio, on Broadway, in 1929, and specialized in theatrical portraits. He also did the portraits for the New York Transit Authority's Miss Subway promotion for thirty years. I'm a great fan of the Gene Kelly movie, On The Town, which has, as a plot point, Kelly's pursuit of Miss Turnstiles, obviously a play on Kriegsmann's Miss Subway pictures. Kriegsmann died on April 29, 1994. He was 85. His son James J. Kriegsmann, Jr. is also a commercial photographer specializing in theatrical portraits.

Burlesque Show

I bought these negatives at a thrift shop. They were labeled "burlesque show." Burlesque was more than just strippers. There was also music and comedy. I'm guessing that this performer, with her (his) interaction with the band was probably more of a comedian than stripper. So why the "his" in parenthesis? Take a close look at the picture in the bikini top. That's either a photo of a very boyish looking woman, or a very slim young man.

Two From Maurice Seymour

Maurice Seymour was a Russian immigrant who opened a photography studio in Chicago in the 1920's. He specialized in theatrical portraits. The seller told me that these two images were of a stripper, and taken during the 1950's. There was type on the bottom, Pat Windsor. I've done an Internet search, and couldn't find any trace of this lady.

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Time for a correction. According to the comment left by Mr. Charles Rosenberg, Pat Windsor, also known as Pat Windsor Mitchell was a singer. The dealer who sold me these photos was wrong about her being a stripper.