Women, Thumbnail

For those too young to remember film, or those not photographically inclined, proof sheets are the thumbnails of conventional image making.  In a nutshell, a roll of film gets cut into strips, laid on top of a piece of photographic paper, a sheet of glass, turn on a light, and biff, bam, boom, you've got a quick reference print of every frame of film.  Someone cut out this very tiny frame from a proof sheet.  No doubt, from a commercial photo shoot.

Amateur Glamour, Dodging and Burning, and Man Drag

Look at old newsreels, and you'll notice that when the average person was interviewed they stood stiffly and spoke in a monotone. Today, everyone knows how to perform for the camera. I think the same is true for photography. Once the necessity of standing absolutely still to compensate for slow shutter speeds was no longer an issue, professional photographers could pose their subjects in a greater variety of positions. It didn't take long for the amateur to emulate the pros. This photographer may not have realized that he was emulating someone like Louise Dahl-Wolfe or Cecil Beaton, but he was. The side profile and angled horizon line of the first and second shot in this collection have been used by every fashion photographer in history. Take a look at the third image of the group. Notice the light area around the subject. Dodging and burning is a method that printers use when there is detail in the negative but the shadow areas print too dark and that detail goes solid black, or the highlights print too light and what little detail that prints through seems to be floating in a sea of pure white. To burn is to selectively increase exposure in an area of the print. The printer would make a general, over-all exposure, and then make a second exposure on the paper while obstructing light in those areas that would be considered properly exposed. Dodging is when the printer makes a single over-all exposure while obstructing some of the light in the shadow areas that would print too dark, turning black, with no visible detail. Even though this image was taken in direct sunlight, our photographer could have avoided the need to dodge and burn by using a flash to balance the light. And now for the final image from our photographer. Today, if someone is in drag, it's a man in a dress, but it wasn't that long ago that a woman dressed in male attire would have been just as out of place in the general scheme of things. Written on the backs of the second and third image, "Fairgrounds 6/47" On the back of the cross dressing photo, "3/28/43"

Robert Pierce

These photos were taken by Robert Pierce, a professional photographer from Michigan at a local camera show sometime in the middle or late 1960s. (Love the imitation Peter Max backdrops.) While I don't know what kind of show it was, it's pretty probable that it was an equipment show geared towards pros and advance amateurs. Most pro photographers, if they had a studio portrait business, would have used a large format camera that would take single exposures on either 4 x 5, or 8 x 10 sheet film. For location work, perhaps a Speed Graphic, Busch Pressman, or a medium format, twin lens like an old Mamiyaflex. I suspect Robert Pierce was trying out a 35mm, shooting some local models supplied by the show sponsors. 5 x 7 is a format that works well with 35mm, with minimum cropping. Printed on fiber base paper. The models in these photos are probably in their late fifties to mid sixties now, and very likely still alive. If you're out there, or if she's your mother, leave a comment.

The Merry Widow Hat

The Merry Widow was an operetta written by Austrian composer Franz Lehar (Libretto by Victor Leon and Leo Stein) that premiered in 1905 and soon became an international sensation. It also inspired a fashion craze for large, oversize hats for women. I did a Google search for I. Grollman, the publisher of this card, and didn't find anything about Grollman, but I did find page after page of Grollman cards for sale, many of them built around the Merry Widow theme and all novelty cards.

Prims USA

I found a lot about this company. In 1530 in Aachen, Germany, goldsmith Wilhelm Prym began manufacturing household goods of brass and copper. In 1642 the Prym family moved the business to Stolberg, Germany. Jump ahead to 1924 when company president, Hans August Prym set up William Prym, Inc. USA as an exclusive importer and sales agent for Prym products in the United States. In 1939 the American branch of the company moved its headquarters to Dayville, Connecticut. In 1946, Herman Koehl, working with Hans Prym, invented the cover your own button and buckle. In 1988 Prym acquired the Dritz Corp., a major maker of sewing notions, sewing gadget and beaded hand bags. Now Prym Dritz Corporation, the company, with it's factories in North Carolina, became a major manufacturer of sewing notions. After several other aqusitions, the name of the company, in 2005, was changed to Prym Consumer, USA. There is a lot more out there, both on the Prym website and from other sources, but way to much for me to transcribe. There was a press release pasted to the back of the horizontal photo of the model, "QUICK-CHANGE BELT combines the quaint charm of Lucy Locket pockets with the practical efficiency of G.I. money belts. Prims cover-your-own slim buckles at each side reiterate cheery red of bright plaid pockets; are readily adjustable to insure snug fit over either slim or gathered skirt. Prims cover-your-own halo buttons are used for fashion as well as function, repeating the gay yellow of the belt's all-purpose cotton. FROM: Press Release, Inc. 220 East 42nd Street New York, N.Y. For: William Prym, Inc. Dayville, Conn. WILLIAM PRYM, Inc. 350 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 1, N.Y." I found it a little strange that a company involved in women's fashions would advertise something as being like a G.I. money belt.

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.

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.