War Is Dull

Watch a war movie and you'd think World War 2 was non stop hell.  The reality was that most members of the military were support personnel and for them the conflict was more boredom than terror.   My father was a ninth grade drop out who could do complex mathematical computations in his head.  That skill got him four years in a darkened room breaking codes.  He was stationed in England so he was able to get out and about, but he still spent  most of his time on base.  In the Pacific, the island campaigns were about capturing islands with airfields.  The marines would land, fight for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months.  After  the island was taken, the air corp would move in.  For the air crews, there were missions over Japan.  For the ground crew, it was servicing the planes and waiting for the war to end.  If they were lucky a USO show might come through.  If not, they had to amuse themselves.  It looks like these guys decided to put on a show, and in the all male environment of a Pacific island air base, someone had to play the girl.

The Strange Career of Otto Sarony

Take a close look at this photograph and see a credit for O. Sarony.  There are tens of thousands of photographs credited to Otto Sarony, and he didn't take one of them.

Otto Sarony, 1859-1903, was the privileged son of famous photographer Napoleon Sarony.  The elder Sarony was born in Canada, but made his fortune in New York City.  A society photographer, Napoleon Sarony came up with an interesting business model.  Rather than waiting in his studio for the rich and famous to show up for a portrait, he paid sitting fees to his clients in exchange for the right to reproduce and sell their images.  Napoleon Sarony dressed flamboyantly, attended the parties given by the New York theatrical community and became every bit as well known as his celebrity sitters.  His studio sold cartes de visite, cabinet cards, and latter postcards of 19th century stage stars to anyone with a few pennies in their pocket.  Despite his public image, Napoleon was a hard working, successful businessman who made a lot of money.

 Raised by his father to take over the business, working as a studio assistant, Otto didn't share his father's enthusiasm for the photographic business.  It wasn't that Otto wanted to follow another profession.  He preferred yachts, gambling and parties.  Perhaps that's why Napoleon's will required Otto to run the business for at least fifteen years, and limited his weekly wages to $75.  To put it mildly, Otto was unhappy.  In 1898, two years after his father's death, Otto sold the studio to William F. Burrow, but remained as the public face of The Sarony Studios.  In 1901, Otto Sarony wanted even more money, so he sold rights to his name to Col. Theodore Marceau.  So, there were two competing studios in New York City producing photographs credited to Otto Sarony.  In 1903, Otto Sarony died of pneumonia.  For the next decade a series of law suits were filed as William F. Burrow and Theodore Marceau fought over who had the right to use the Sarony name.  Marceau managed to use the Sarony name into the 1910s.  Burrow's Sarony Studios closed in 1930.

Robert Edeson was a successful stage actor in New York and latter a well respected character actor in silent movies.  He was in a favorite silent movie of mine, The Clinging Vine, starring Leatrice Joy.  Highly recommended.  Edeson's career survived into the sound era.  He died in 1931.

Original Romanos Truppe

I think I'm going to pass on my usual habit of typing out every single word on the back of a photo with this image. The circus is identified as "Original Romanos Truppe" followed by an address for their next performance. Too, "Mme. Lydia Ritzen," followed by an address, and a telephone number for Hamburg, Germany. She is listed as "agentur." My German is pretty limited, but even I know that means she's the agent. Some German words are just too long, my excuse for laziness.

Dot Wenzel, World's Smallest Entertainer

In 1950, Dot Wenzel married Don Williams and began performing under the name Dottie Williams. Dot and Don were both members of Nate Eagle's Hollywood Midget Movie Stars troupe. She was a singer and dancer, billed as The Miniature Rita Hayworth. I did a search on IMDB, and couldn't find a single screen credit for either Dot Wenzel or Dottie Williams. If there are any recordings of her I'd love to hear them. Printed on postcard stock.

Tony Manns at the Wintergarten

Does this qualify as a photographic postcard? The audience is clearly a photograph, but the act on stage might not be. The proportions are wrong. The performers might be a drawing or they might be a photo that has been drawn over for emphasis. - I've posted the back of the card because, while I think my translation is right, I thought I'd give actual German speakers a chance to correct my efforts. "Tony Manns, the familiar whistle virtuoso. April: Berlin, The Wintergarten. May 1-15: Koln/Rhein, The Wappenhof" June, July, and August, Swedish Tour. May 15, free. In Berlin: Above all, The Wintergarten!" I also wanted to show the stamp. I spent a lot of time on stamp web sites looking for a match so I could date the card. I'm fairly certain that it's a 3 pfennig, Paul von Hindenburg stamp from 1933. If so, that would be a very significant year in German history. In 1933, President Hindenburg would appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor. By 1934, Hitler would have absolute power over a one party dictatorship. The Nazis would be in power. - From the end of World War 1 to the rise of Hitler, Germany would have one of the most vibrant cultural scenes in the world. It's music, cabarets, theater, visual arts, and it's movie industry would make Berlin a rival to Paris as the cultural center of Europe. While we like to think that the artists of Germany fled Hitler and Nazism, most of them stayed put. Here is a list of some of those who either remained in Germany or who fled too late. Tony Manns was very likely one of them. - 1. G. W. Pabst. Known as Red Pabst by his friends and colleagues for his far left political views, Pabst directed silent classics, The Joyless Street, The Love of Jeanne Ney, Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl and co-directed The White Hell of Pitz Palu. He also made sound classics, Westfront 1918, The Three Penny Opera, and Kameradschaft. When Hitler came to power, Pabst accepted an offer to go to Hollywood. He made one film, A Modern Hero at Warner Brothers that flopped. Unhappy in Hollywood, he returned to Europe and made several movies in Paris. In 1939, he and his wife returned to Germany. According to his wife, she and Pabst had gone back to take care of family business, had intended to return to France, and had been trapped there when war started. Pabst made a couple of films during the war. After the war ended, Pabst wasn't able to get any film assignments until 1948. He continued to direct films into the 1960s. - 2. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, operatic soprano was an early member of the Nazi Party. In latter years, she claimed that joining the party was like joining a union, and meant nothing. She did, however, join the youth wing of the Nazi Student Association in 1935, where she was a Fuhrerin, a group leader, indicating a level of involvement in the party beyond mere convenience. Several years after the war, she married British impresario, Walter Legge, and became a British citizen, and eventually, a Dame Commander of the British Empire. - 3. Emil Nolde, painter, print maker and prominent member of the German expressionist movement, was an early supporter of the Nazi party and became a party member in 1934. Despite his party membership, he was declared a degenerate artist and more than 1,000 of his works were removed from public display. In 1941 he was banned from painting, even in private, though he did continue to paint watercolors, which he kept hidden for the duration of the war. He resumed his career after the war, and died in 1956. - 4. Werner Kruass, who played the title role in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, was an early supporter and enthusiastic member of the Nazi party. He was declared an Actor of the State by propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, and stared in the most notorious antisemitic film to come out of Nazi Germany, Jud Suss. After the war he made only three more films before his death. (The director of Jud Suss, Veit Haraln's first wife. the actress Dora Gerson, was Jewish and died in Auschwitz.) - 5. Renata Muller, tall, blond and the stereotype of the perfect Aryan woman, starred in a number of German comedies in the 1930s including Viktor und Viktoria that was remade as Victor/Victoria by Blake Edwards, starring Julie Andrews. She was also a singer and recording artist. Pressured by the Propaganda Ministry to promote Nazi ideals, she resisted, but was eventually forced to appear in the propaganda film Togger. She died in 1937. She was 31 at the time of her death. The official cause of death was epilepsy, but after the war, witnesses came forward and stated that she had been thrown from a building by Gestapo officers after refusing to give up her Jewish lover. Another theory is that she committed suicide. The true circumstances of her death will probably never be known. - 6. Charles Puffy, comedian and actor, is best known to fans of silent films as the rolly-polly gang member in Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. He was also in The Blue Angel. Puffy was born in Hungary, made a few films there and then went to Germany were he had a career in films and on the stage. From 1924-1927 he lived in the United States and made a number of films, mostly comedy shorts. He eventually returned to Germany and worked until he was forced out of the film industry because he was Jewish. He returned to his native Hungary, made a few films, and in 1941, after trying unsuccessfully to get back to the U.S., he and his wife fled east to the Soviet Union. After that, there are no reliable reports of what happened to him. One rumor is that he and his wife were arrested by the Soviets in Kazakhstan, sent to a prison camp where he died of diphtheria. Another unconfirmed rumor is that he was eventually released by the Soviets, made his way to China, where he was arrested by the Japanese and then died in Tokyo. - 7. Emil Jannings, born in Switzerland, but his family moved to Germany when he was still young. He established himself as a theater actor while still a young man, and quickly made the transition to film. He made classic silent films, Waxworks, Variety, Faust and The Last Laugh in Germany before accepting an offer to work in Hollywood. He won the first Academy Award for best actor for his performances in The Way of All Flesh, and The Last Command. (In the first year of the Academy Awards, actors were nominated for their work for the entire year, not just one film.) With the advent of sound, Jannings with his broken English and thick German accent found himself unemployable in the United States, so he returned to Germany where he made The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Jannings was an early supporter of the Nazi regime and party member. He was declared Artist of the State by Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, and spent the remainder of his career making films that supported the regime. He made his last film in 1945, and never worked again. - 8. Kurt Gerron. Actor, singer, cabaret star, writer, film and theater director. Born in Berlin, wounded in World War 1, medical student, Gerron went on stage for the first time, professionally in 1920. He would go on to originate the role Tiger Brown in Bertolt Brecht's Three Penny Opera. Gerron was in a number of silent movies, but is best known to film fans for his third billed role in The Blue Angel. Starting with short subjects, Gerron would go on to write, direct and star in a number of German comedies from the early sound era. In 1934 when all Jews were dismissed from the German film industry, Gerron moved to France and then the Netherlands were he continued his film career. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands he was arrested by the S.S. and sent to Westerbork transit camp. From there he was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration camp near Prague. In Theresienstadt, Gerron organized a cabaret theater, Kurt Gerron's Karussell. In 1944 he was ordered to write and direct a propaganda film, Hitler Gives a City to the Jews, that was meant to show that Jews were treated humanely by the Nazi government. After the film was wrapped, Gerron was sent to Auschwitz. He was part of the last selection and was gassed on October 28, 1944. He was 47 years old. The documentary Prisoner of Paradise tells his story and contains footage of Gerron performing in Berlin - I chose these eight examples of artists who stayed behind or who left too late to save themselves because, no matter what decesions they made, I admire at least some of their work. I love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, own a DVD of the film, and watch it three or four times a year. The fact that Werner Krauss was a Nazi, while disturbing, is something that, in my mind, does not detract from the film. I like the German expressionists and admire Emil Nolde. And if I had more money, I would be ordering DVDs of The Last Laugh, Faust, and The Blue Angel, even though they all star Emil Jannings.

Scare Crows

Hand printed on postcard stock, but not printed well. The drop off on the right side of the print was either caused by the use of the wrong focal length lens or a variable condenser put in the wrong position. I've got several versions of this postcard, and of the three, this one is the one with the most image and strongest focus. One of the things that fascinates me about old photos is what they can show us about life so many years a ago. It's nice to see what kind of clothes people wore or what kind of cars they drove, but an image like this goes far beyond that. In a time before radio, television, and the Internet, if a person wasn't able to entertain him or herself, life could be very, very boring. People would get together and sing around parlor pianos, they'd form town bands, and amateur theatrical groups. I doubt that the Scare Crows were professional actors. These people probably did nothing more complex than getting together and working out some entertaining acts to amuse themselves. It looks like they preformed in a barn, and their audience was probably no larger than their own friends. Now, how did I entertain myself today? I surfed the web, watched TV, and listened to the radio. I really had no need to go out and interact with other people. And that brings us to the big question: Has our society, dominated by electronic communication mediums made us more isolated as people?

Not More Crossdressers !

According to the man who sold me these images, they were all torn from the same photo album (I hate when dealers do that!) and he grouped these four photos together because they were all pictures of people in costumes. Other than that, he couldn't really remember anything about them. Any names, dates, or locations were probably lost when the album was taken apart. Looking over these four photographs, my first guess is that they weren't taken at the same time. None of the people in the three individual portraits appear in the group shot. Too, some of the people in the group shot are not in costume, the hair-dos on the women and the ties on the men seem to be thirties or possibly the forties, the woman dressed as a male navel officer looks to be sporting a World War 2 era uniform, while the solo shot of the woman in the clown costume is wearing a very old type of lace-up, heeled boots that date back to an earlier age. Maybe the teens or before. But why the costumes? Were these pictures taken from the photo album of an actor? Was it a family partial to costume parties? Amateur theatricals? Because the album was dismembered, we'll never know.

Women of the Theater

This photo was very likely cut out from a bigger print. While it's possible that this might have been from a costume party, I think it's far more certain that it's a photo from a theatrical production at an all girls school or a woman's college. On age, my guess would be from the late nineteenth century or early twentieth. The seller told me that it was from an estate in Maine.

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.

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.

Lee Staford & Louise Lloyd

I wish I could make out the photographer's name on this photo. There were so many talented photographers who made these theatrical portraits, and this one is a nice one. The hand written inscription reads, " To Naomi May we meet again and soon-Lee Stafford and Louise Lloyd." I checked IMDB and IBDB and couldn't find any info on this pair. Probably dancers.

Who Was Marina Marshal?

This is one of those really frustrating collections. Clearly this woman had some level of success in the theater, but I'm unable to get any real information on her. The two photos that appear to be the oldest, show her in a train compartment. On the back is written, "Mary Shuck Arnahenstr 15/I Muenchen." Checking http://www.imdb.com/ I found a listing for a film from 1937, Die Stimme des Herzens, with a Mary Shuk as a cast member in a very small part. The film was produced by Bavaria Films, and of course, Munich is in Bavaria. And that's as close as I've come to any real info, and it might not even be the same person. Most of these photos have German language stamps on the backs. There are some images of Marina Marshal AKA Mary Shuck where she is wearing a pin striped pants outfit that are stamped "Copyright Presse J Hustrationen ( ) Berlin SW G8, Kochstrasse 10 Tel. 19 6508-3" On the back of the one where she is standing in a group and shaking hands has, hand written on the back, and in English, "Marina Marshal as Diana in "French Without Tears" 49 West 11th St. NYC Gramercy 5-9259." French Without Tears was written by Terrance Rattigan and first produced in the late 1930's. The photo where she is sitting in the Tuxedo wearing gentleman's lap has, hand written on the back, "Marina Marshal in The Circle by Somerset Maugham" with the same address and telephone number. Also a sticker that reads, "THE CREDIT LINE MUST NOT BE OMITTED ALTERED OR ABBREVIATED ATLAS PHOTOS This photograph is released for one reproduction only and must not be used for trade or advertising purposes, copied, loaned, or syndicated without written permission. ATLAS PHOTOS 45 WEST 46TH ST. NEW YORK CITY" I did find The Circle on http://www.ibdb.com/ from a 1937-38 Broadway production, but Marina Marshal is not listed in the credits, and in any case, it seems she was still in Germany at the time. Most of the other theatrical pictures have stamped on the back, "Foto-Schreyer, Berlin -Steglitz Zimmermannstr. 12, Telephon G2 Steglitz 1243" On the shot of her standing, wearing furs, stamped on the back of the picture, "VERVIELFALTIGUNG NUR MIT ANGABE ANTON SAHM MUNCHEN COPYRIGHT BY ANTON SAHM, MUNCHEN." Sahm was a successful German studio photographer. I've found a nude by him, entitled "Sitzender Akt" dated 1925 that has a resemblance, though as a profile it's hard to be certain, of Marina. Written on the back of the photo of Marina in the long dress, with her leaning on a cabinet, hand written on the back, "Marina Marshal 127 W. 52nd St. NYC CO5-8981. Size 12 wt. 115 Ht 5'8" Reddish brown hair. Grey-green eyes." So, it seems that a German actress, with a fairly successful career on the German stage ended up in the United States, possibly before or after the Second World War. With no credits on either imdb or ibdb, at least not under the name Marina Marshal, it doesn't look like she had much luck in the United States. And did the name change come before or after she ended up in America? Lots of questions, and no answers.

A Black Face Minstrel Show

Well, you don't see one of these everyday. Printed on a very heavy paper, this appears to be a lobby card for a minstrel show. Primarily a 19th century entertainment, minstrel shows didn't die out until the early 20th century, making it very difficult to date. The costumes would have been pretty much the same for the history of this type of show. Performed mostly by white people in black, burnt cork, face makeup, the entertainers would tell jokes and sing songs lampooning African Americans. Sort of a precursor to Amos and Andy.

John E. Reed, Hooray for the Girls

This the second post from Hollywood glamour and theatrical photographer, John E. Reed. Written on the back, "Marian Ryan in Harry Howard's Hooray for the Girls." I tried both http://www.imdb.com/ and http://www.ibdb.com/ for Marian Ryan, and came up empty. In ibdb I found two references to shows produced by Howard, one in 1940 and one in 1945. From the January 1945 issue of The Juggler's Bulletin I found a reference to Ben Berri appearing in Harry Howard's Hooray for the Girls, playing in Wichita, Kansas.

WPA

This is a strange one. The signs around the necks of the actors reads WPA. The Works Progress Administration was from the great depression, but the hair styles would suggest the 1950's. Too, the actors look like they are from high school. The black face make-up on the MC is also unexpected from a WPA arts project play.

Hollywood Dwarfs

From the days when I worked at the photo lab. The original, the sepia toned print, is a small 4X5 theatrical print of a dwarf act. I put it up on a copy camera, made a negative, and then made the black and white print, also posted here. The image is credited to Peralta. Fed them name into Google, and couldn't find anything helpful.

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.

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.