The Rebel Maid

These photos of a theatrical production have "The Rebel Maid" written on the backs, in pencil. Stamped, "J.W. DEBENHAM Photographer 182, ROUNDWOOD RD., WILLESDEN, N.W. 10 PHONE; WILLESDEN 5718." Without a date, and with everyone in period costume, it's difficult to know when these were actually taken. The Rebel Maid was a light, romantic opera written by Montague Phillips with lyrics by Gerald Dodson. It made it's premier at The Empire Theater in London on March 12, 1921. I've found several references to J. W. Debenham on the web, the earliest is a credit for a photo taken of school children celebrating the silver jubilee of Queen Mary and King George V at the Chamberlayne Road School, May 1935. I looked up The Empire Theater in London, and it's still there, though now it's a movie theater. I looked up a site that gives movie listings and found a theater on Chamerlayne Road, listed as being 4.6 miles from the Empire. These photos could have been from a revival of the play, though the close locations of Willesden, Chamberlayne Rd. and The Empire increase the likelihood that these are from the 1921 production run. If these photos are from the original production, then The Rebel Maid is played by Clara Butterworth. I've gone to http://www.npg.uk.org/ and ttakena quick look at a photo, from 1923, of Butterworth. The third image has a couple, standing in the rear, right in front of the painted backdrop. The lady looks like the British National Portrait Gallery photo of Butterworth, the same jaw line, at least, but I can't write, with certainty, that they are one and the same.

George and Louise

Probably from the 1920's.

Sixties Hair

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm old enough that a lot of images that show other eras, are from my lifetime. When I was a kid, a lot of high school girls wore their hair this way. Clearly a school portrait from the mid 60's.

Woman With Pearls

From Morrison Studios in Chicago and Milwaukee. Comes in a folder. Probably from the 20's or 30's.

Two More From Maurice Seymour

I'd love to know who this woman is. Taken by Chicago based Maurice Seymour, this is another post of theatrical portraits from one of the most talented commercial photographers I've run across. To pull up some more Seymour portraits, go to the labels section at the bottom of this post and click on Seymour's name. Stamped on the back of both prints, "Chicago Herald-World S. BJURSTROM", and "THANKS FOR CREDIT MAURICE SEYMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS."

High School Portrait

She looks like a high school girl from the World War 2 era. Maybe a college girl, or someone out in the world for the first time. A studio portrait. No identification or date.

Hobe Jewelry 1940

Well, you certainly learn a lot when you collect old photos. When I ran across this old photo, labeled "Hobe jewelry advertisement 1940," I assumed that it was from a forgotten, local jewelry store in some small town. When I ran a search on Hobe Jewelery, I discovered that Hobe was a major maker of fine costume jewelry. The original Hobe was Jacques, a French jewelry maker from the mid 19th century. He had three sons, and one of them, William, became the sales rep for a German theatrical costume maker. While in the United States, he made a large costume sale to theatrical producer, Florence Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld wanted jewelry to go with his new costumes, and William decided to go into business, following in his father's footsteps, as a jewelry maker. Starting in 1927, William built Hobe Jewelry into one of the largest, and most famous, makers of fine costume jewelry. Hobe shut it's doors in 1992. His pieces are highly sought after by modern collectors.

Another From Maurice Seymour

Yet another theatrical portrait from Chicago photographer Maurice Seymour. As I noted in my two previous posts (published 8/7/09, and 6/22/09) of Seymour photographs, he was an immigrant from Russia who opened up a studio in Chicago in the 1930's. Until his retirement in the 1970's, he specialized in society and theatrical portraits. No name, dates, or any other identification on this photo.

A 19th Century Wedding

I've always had a tendency to collect things, and when I was working in the photo lab, The collection of old photos, with my access to high end lab equipment really accelerated the old photo collection. I picked this image up in an antique mall, and had the people in the digital dept. clean up the image and make a neg for me. The black & white grey scale image is the end result. Printed on the back of the original cardboard mount, "Coules Palace Studio 351 S. Broadway Los Angeles, Cal. Duplicates furnished in Carbon, Platinum, or Platino. CHILDRENS' PORTRAITS A SPECIALTY. DO NOT HAVE THIS PICTURE DUPLICATED. THE NEGATIVE IS ALWAYS PRESERVED FOR FUTURE ORDERS."

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.

Three More From Maurice Seymour

As I've noted before, (Two From Maurice Seymour, posted 6/22/09) Maurice Seymour was a Russian immigrant who opened a photo studio in Chicago, in the 1920s, who specialized in theatrical portraits. There is a stamp on the back of the photo of the dapper gentleman in the wild, print shirt, "THANKS FOR THE CREDIT MAURICE SEYMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS." There is no other info on the print. On the back of the man and woman, "JACK HOLLAND, JUNE HART" I found two movie credits for this couple on http://www.imdb.com/ One for Dance band, from 1935 and Rubinoff and his Violin, from 1939. Also, I found info that they were a ball room dancing team that worked the night club circuit in New York City in the 1930s. On the two ladies sitting on the drum, hand written on the reverse, "Ray and Geraldine Hudson (The Hudson Wonders)" A web search found a theater credit on http://www.ibdb.com/ for Ray, Geraldine and Helene Hudson appearing in Star and Garter, a musical revue that opened on Broadway in 1943. The only interesting thing is that Ray is listed as a male performer. Either this is a picture of Geraldine and Helene, or Ray's sex was misidentified on ibdb, or Ray was a drag performer, or it's all a coincidence, and these two have no relation to Star and Garter.

Photographs By Zoltan S. Farkas, Inc.

Women are far more interesting photographic subjects then men. There aren't many men who can, or would, present such a variety of looks. These photos, probably from the fifties, are credited to Zoltan S. Farkas, almost certainly a commercial photographer doing advertising photos for a department store or fashion house. I couldn't find anything about him on the web.

Bicycle Touring

These photos have to come from either a commercial studio, perhaps for an advertisement, or a newspaper, maybe a story about a ladies bicycle touring club. Stamped on the back of the photos, "KLOSS PHOTO." Sorry about the weird formatting, but I've tried typing this in five times now, and the web site keeps breaking up words. What a stupid way to run a business.

John E. Reed Hollywood Glamour

Young actresses, desperate to make it in the movies, have been commissioning glamour photos, to show how sexy they are to casting directors, since the silent era.

John E. Reed was a Hollywood photographer who specialized in this type of photography. While a fair number of the famous walked through his studio doors, plenty of hopefuls, like this young lady, also had their pictures taken by Reed. It looks like, from the hair styles, that these were taken in the 1940s. The war era, would be my best guess. The last photo of the lot wasn't taken by Reed, but it came with the others, so I've included it. In that image, taken in a night club, the woman looks a little tired, whether from a late night, or a career that wasn't going anywhere...hard to tell.

If anyone out there can identify this woman, please leave a comment.

Twins by Murray Korman

Murray Korman was a theatrical and portrait photographer active in New York City. I haven't been able to find exact dates for when he started his studio or his retirement, but I have found references to him having shot silent movie stars. Too, at one time he did the mug shots for Joliet Prison. I haven't a last name for these two ladies who look enough alike, that they could be twins, or at the least sisters. When I scanned this photo, I cropped the borders off, and lost part of the inscription. It reads, "To Eddie, Will never forget the grand time in Las Vegas-thanks to you! Best wishes always Jeanette" If they were playing in a Las Vegas showroom, they were probably there in the 1950s.

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.