Miniature Golf

I like to think that this little girl is a kindred spirit.  I like to think that her parents told her that if she'd put on her nice clothes, go to church and behave, they'd take her out for ice cream and a game of miniature golf.  My mother didn't try and bribe me into religion.  It was accept god's love or the back of the hand.  It was a lousy choice.  I asked for the slap and still was forced into the pew.  Eventually, my mother gave up and accepted that I was going to Hell.  Oh well.

On another note, I'm 57 years old and I've never played miniature golf, shuffle board or been bowling.  Is that weird?

Dated, "SEP 69"

Two Stylish Ladies

Written on the back, "Modilta & Kate"  Best guess, from the thirties.

The Los Angeles Proof Sheet

What I'd do to own these negatives!

This is what I imagine when I see these four images.  A young couple drive their old jalopy across country to seek a good life in southern California.  The  first thing they do is  drive around the city and take pictures of all the things they've  dreamed about.  I did the same thing about forty-five years or so after these photos were taken.

But What Are They Building?

When I first picked up this postcard, I thought they were building a factory.  But then I pulled out the magnifying glass and saw what looks like decorative window frames and thought church.  Another mystery in an old photograph.

Two-Up

This is a very small print and was probably cut from a longer strip.  At least I've run across some other strip images that have about six or seven frames.  I'm told that they were made in a camera, specially made to make multiple images on a glass plate negative.

Big Prediction

Time for a prediction.  The Pittsburgh Steelers will win the Super Bowl.  Now it's true that I grew up 50 miles from Pittsburgh and always pick the Steelers.  It's also true I've been right 6 out of 46 times.  Cleveland Browns fans can't say that!  Wave that Terrible Towel!

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.