|
Ziegfeld Historical Photos | |
 | Really? It doesn't look like 1907 to me. The girls' makeup and costume appear to be from a much later date. Of course, I've been known to be wrong before ... |
 | So is the place this pic came from :) For now I only have the EXIF info to go on. Perhaps I'll find it somewhere else and we'll know for sure... or for not so sure. |
| I've looked through all my reference books and searched online and through all the image sites I know of and haven't been able to find a similar image yet, G. Will keep looking on and off and hopefully something will turn up eventually. |
| June 2: ID'd this pic. Was previously named as Ben Ali Haggin tableau Lady Godiva with no year and no show attributed. See pic for more info on who is in the pic. |
 | In the first row, the second person from the right is my great aunt, Margaret Morris. She marked the photo in the Farnsworth book, but I can tell by looking it's her. |
| This is another picture in the Farnsworth book that my great aunt (Margaret Morris) marked with an X under the fifth person from the left. However, I don't think it looks like her. Perhaps she also marked the photos of a good friend? Some that she's marked I can tell are definitely her, but others I'm not sure at all. Can anyone help? |
| Wow, fantastic, Betty! Thanks so much for identifying her! |
| Sorry, Betty, I have no idea who it is. The image isn't very good so the features are vague. Perhaps it will turn up as a regular photo in the future and we'll be able to see more clearly then. |
| I sure hope so. Margaret had a very distinctive profile and I can tell so easily with some photos. |
| Now I wish I had gone to Claremore when we lived in Oklahoma and visited the Will Roger's museum. At least I think that's where it is. :) |
| I just saw another copy of this in a book on Will Rogers in the Follies and it's dated from the 1912 Follies (Billy Rose Theatre Collection). At first I thought that would be more accurate than Farnsworth but looking at it, there's no way it could be from 1912. Or could it?
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a better scan of it from that either. I'll try again though.
|
| I just looked and yep, that's where it is... Claremore/Oolagah, Oklahoma. What is there, like 8 people living there hahaha! Oops, I just insulted a whole town.
I'll post a better (maybe) scan of this and some new scans for this album when I return. I'm not really here :)
|
| Jane, What's the title of the book on Will Rogers? |
| Betty, it's Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies by Wertheim. I looked it up on addall.com and found a like new hardcover copy in a brand new brodart for 3.95 on half.com. Can't beat addall.com!!! |
| Thank you, Betty, for adding so much info. I've tried to rescan but nothing better on this. Trying again this morning. Will post these scans later today and if I can manage something with this it will be included.
And sorry to be so far behind on my emails! Paperwork in Priority Envelope outside the door waiting to be picked up by postal worker!!! I'm sure there's much more to come but whew, am I glad that's over with!!!!!!!
|
| Oops, Betty, my mistake. Sorry! That's what I get for relying on my memory. I just went to rescan it and it's not in the Will Rogers book. It's in another book I was scanning from at the same time, mostly text, and the image is very small so I can't get a better copy of it.
That book is: Ziegfeld Girl: Image and Icon in Culture and Cinema by Linda Mizejewski.
|
 | delis wrote on Jun 22, '08 |
| This must have been so wonderful to see in person! Thanks so much dear carmen :) |
 | Hi all, I just found this FABULOUS site today....My grandmother was, according to lots of family stories, in the follies sometime between 1914 and 1917 or so....I'd love to verify this somehow. Her name was Lillian McInnes, but she went by Lillian Ott I believe (because her father put her and her 3 sisters up for adoption when her mother died, and the Ott family took them in. Matthew Ott apparently had show business connections, and she was in a group called the Kinkaid Kilties at one point, and also the follies. I haven't made the connection yet between the two....My aunt wrote me recently and said: "Mother came in contact with lots of famous Follies members, not "good
friends" but rather nodding acquaintance, I would say. She always said
she helped hold up the scenery, but I heard many famous names mentioned
by her. Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Fannie Brice, Billie Burke, etc.
There was an article in the paper long ago about Helen Morgan (she was in
the original movie of "Show Boat") and Ann Pennington, a dancer, I
believe. I've always remembered a quote from it, "Ann Pennington
would've traded her dimpled knees for Helen Morgan's racehorse ankles."
I remember my mother saying she'd met both of them in the Follies.
Wish we'd gotten more information from her, and I always cringe inwardly
when I think of all the pictures lost to us. ". I've been going through all these LOVELY photos today looking for someone who looks like family...I only have ever seen 3 or 4 pictures of my grandmother so I'm not sure what I'm looking for exactly. Does anyone know if there was ever a complete list of who all the chorus girls etc. were in the shows from the mid-teens? Thanks so much! |
| How wonderful to meet you, Laura (hope you don't mind me using your first name here... it's a small group (purposely) and I try to keep it personal when I can remember who is who, forgetful thing that I am :) So nice to have you on our site and part of our group!!! Thanks for such nice words about the site too. So glad you're enjoying it! There are no experts here. We all learn, share and work together. Everyone pitches in. I just run it... sort of in my own disorganized way :) How wonderful that your grandmother was in the Follies! Betty's great aunt was also in the Follies and Midnight Frolics too (daydreamnworld). Her great aunt was Margaret Morris. Fortunately she left behind photos and mementos which seems to be a rarity. I'm way behind in helping her with them, much to my dismay. Some pics have already been posted but eventually she'll have her own album here. So you have no photos, nothing at all? How sad. It is the usual case though. I love that you posted all this info on your grandmother and your memories of things she said. How fantastic to read all of this! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us. I browsed quickly through the theatre programs I've already posted from 1914 through 1917 but didn't see a Lillian Ott listed. That means nothing as: 1.) I don't have every show program. 2.) Chorus girls often weren't listed by name, just as "the girls" or in a group number name (unfortunately!) And, to the best of my knowledge, there is no complete list of who all the chorus girls were in the shows. How I wish such a list existed!!! I checked ibdb.com and Lillian Ott is not listed there which also means not much since their database is incomplete. I have a text site as an addendum to this site which gives tips & links for searching for info on relatives which you might find helpful. It's at: http://dakotacom.net/~tjrasa/If you can think of anything I could add there that would be helpful, please say! I'll be adding a list of recommended books as soon as I have time as well. I'll search a few more places that I can think of off-hand and let you know if I come up with anything. Feel free to message me if you have any questions you'd rather not ask on the site. I do prefer that people ask on site so that everyone can benefit though. No stupid questions here! I have plenty of them myself :) And I just *love* that Ann Pennington said that about trading her dimpled knees!!! Again, so wonderful to have you here. Please do feel free to add any and as many comments as you like everywhere :) Best, jane |
 | Hey, Possum. how cool to have Follies ancestry!!!! I'm jealous. Even if you don't turn up more details about her, your research will be fruitfully fun anyway, won't it? Aliases, or stage names were common for these performers. Could you find out what your grandmother's was? That might be a trail to follow. Also, looking into the names of others with whom she may have worked. I turned up nothing searching on Kinkaid Kilties (well, an Indiana theatre marquee listing them among others, and a Scottish guy doing his own geneology research). But did find this site that offers a list, however incomplete, of dancers (some of whom your grandmother may have worked with), that includes their time period, alias, etc., as well as all sorts of information on types of dances and other points of Follies interest, with lots of hyperlinks. Maybe you could turn up something there.. I wish you best of luck. |
| Hi sweet :) What a great message for Laura! Can you give a link for that site you found with the list of dancers? Would be great to add it here. I wish you the best in your search on the Kinkaid Kilties. I have nothing on them as well. Did you manage to save that theatre marquee pic? If not, here it is. Just double click to get the full size pic:  |
| Dear Jane: I can be so dang dumb sometimes, sorry! Thank you for pointing out my "missing link" .. and here it is: http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2zgrls1.htmThank you for the Indiana marquee shot .. .boy, you have this HUGE inventory of information in your head. How do you do that? You must have spectacular memory skills. |
| Oh, hahaha, I do that sort of thing here all of the time. John usually has to remind me to go back and add the links and stuff :) Thanks so much! Oh streetswing! Aren't they great! I should have added them long ago. Duh!!!
You're welcome for the pic. Good old SnagIt! I've been using it forever :)
Oh I used to have fantastic memory skills :) As a kid I used to memorize whole textbooks right before exams for subjects I hated (like geography) just so I wouldn't have to read or study them all year long hahaha!
Now, forget it... burned out many a brain cell during my party years hahaha!
The way I manage now is that I have no common sense! I mean I only exist on some sort of intellectual plane. Everyday things baffle me. I never know what day it is, sometimes don't even know what month it is because that would take up memory I have to use for other things... like this stuff and other photos, silly information that I think is important, technical data, etc!
So I can't keep an apartment in order, can't balance a checkbook, can't program a phone or remote, but I can build a computer, id a pic or a photographer usually fairly quickly, sort out the most complicated stuff by research, etc. Anything cerebral.
But I need someone to come and pick up after me once a month and do my laundry, someone else to take out my trash and pick up my mail every weekend, and I used to have someone bring dinners by... or I'd just sit here living on donuts and thinking about "more important things" while things piled up around me and I turned into one of those people you hear about on the news :)
Best,
jane :)
|
| That was absolutely hilarious, Jane. I mean it. I'm still chuckling as I write this.
|
| Hahaha, sad but true! I could say more but enough said lol! |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Added from Ziegfeld Stars by Other Photographers album. |
| 08-14: Moved from Follies pics album #3 to this album. |
| 08-14: Replaced this with darker scan, oh my... my scans were really light! |
| 08-14: I think gremlins were here... put this album back in chronological order :) |
Comment deleted at the request of the author. Comment deleted at the request of the author. Comment deleted at the request of the author. Comment deleted at the request of the author. Comment deleted at the request of the author. Comment deleted at the request of the author. | Possum...I've been away on a trip and slowly catching up. How I wish I had asked my great aunt some questions when I saw her (which was rare due to family stuff I never understood), but I knew she was always happy to see me even though I was a child. She died when I was 21. I want to go back and do a little research. I understand she was married at one time and I'd love to know who and plan to write the NYC archives and see if there might be a marriage license. Also, the census. I was thinking you might learn something from the census too. I believe the 1919 census is available. I did some family geneaology years ago, but not since computers. One of these days I'm going to play detective. Anyway, welcome and maybe your grandmother and my great aunt knew each other! |
| Oct 11: Adding unattached comments:
stanwong27 wrote on Sep 11:
this is a neat photo!
However, I am sure glad for the 1939 movie, they a different face makeup for the scarecrow. If they had this face, I bet a lot of kids would have nightmares thinking of the scarecrow from the MGM classic!
ziegfeldgrrl wrote on Sep 12:
Yes it is! Incredibly rare too! It was very nice to meet the owner of this photo and to chat with him. Actually I gave him the correct info for it and then he found me! Hahaha! He googled Miss 1917, found the theatre program on this site and emailed me. Lovely gentleman and told me the most wonderful story about meeting Dorothy Dickson. He's also the biographer for John Barrymore!
LOL yes, you're right! If the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz in the MGM film had this face, many kids would have run out of the theatres screaming :)
|
| Re-adding comments: ohikkoshi wrote on Jan 11: Lilyan Tashman's smile? ;) http://img167.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=76281_Tashman_Lilyan_122_888lo.jpgziegfeldgrrl wrote today at 5:43 PM: Oh yes! Very much Lilyan Tashman which would make this c.1916-1917. Thanks so much, Vlad! Will copy these comments and re-add this image and hopefully it will zoom. Great I.D., Vlad :) Ah, I see readding this brought zoom back to the album. Fine :) |
| I've been looking around trying to find something on this one, but so far I've come up empty-handed. 1917/1918 strike me as more likely than 1907, though.
I can't make out the photographer's mark at the lower left of the shot -- what does it say?
I thought I had a match with a photo of "Rio Rita" from 1927, but the waistlines in that show were much lower than those here, and the shoes didn't have the bows that these do.
The game continues afoot! |
| Yes, I agree... much more likely. That's White Studios. They seem to have had the corner on most of the Broadway shots during that time, particularly the Ziegfeld shows.
I'll leave you to it, Sherlock!
Thanks, G :)
|
 | The best images of these costumes were taken by Edward Thayer Monroe, one of which is on Broadway Photographs under his name. |
 | digad wrote on Feb 25, '09 |
| Aren't these pages from Theatre Mag wonderful, Diane! Much thanks to Peter for sharing these. I love seeing the costumes from the shows and there is so much info here! So glad you enjoyed this!
Thanks!
jane :) |
| White is pictured in costume for her M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i number. I've seen footage of her performing it. Whether the airplane is on its way to Jackson cannot be determined from the evidence at hand. |
| Hahaha, I always love your comments Maestro... so drollllllll....... :) |
| First in line is Dolores.
ID'd from another photo of Dolores with Will Rogers and someone else whose name I can't remember at the moment and am too lazy to look for (will post those pics asap).
|
| Will Rogers and Dolores (Dolores was previously unnamed).
ID'd from another photo of Dolores with Will Rogers and someone else whose name I can't remember at the moment and am too lazy to look for (will post those pics asap). |
 | Wow! This could keep me occupied for 2 weeks! :^) |
 | The one in the middle is Frances White...I think.
john |
| Thanks, John, yes it is. One of the few I know. I have the list up there in the text:
From left to right: Margaret Morris, Ruby Lewis, Mae Leslie (99% sure), maybe Dorothy St. Clair, Frances White, maybe Mildred Roland, no idea yet though I'm sure I've seen that face 1,000 times, again no idea, and Marjorie Cassidy.
I blab so much hard to see anything hahaha!
I'm guessing this may be from the Midnight Frolic of Nov 26 since that's the only program/playbill I have showing all of the 'knowns' performing in it at once.
You have stuff on Mediafire :)
|
 | I row, left to right: Billie Dove, Emily Drange, ?.
II row, left to right: ?, Leon Errol, MM, Alta King. |
| Hi vlad :) It's similar to the Apeda pic of her that profdash has on his site but different also. It does look like her. I'll send it off to her relative (can never remember how anyone is related to anyone :) to make sure. Thanks!
|
| Thanks vlad! You'll be saving me lots of time if you've started on these hahaha! Yes, I agree with all of your ids and have no idea who the other two are... yet. Maybe when I redo the pics in groups as I've started with the 1915 Follies I'll have a clue. Or not!
jane :)
|
| ohikkoshi wrote on Mar 23, '10, edited on Mar 23, '10 Elizabeth Meehan, Janet Megrew... Floradora, of course.
Thanks, Jane. |
| Any idea on the Marilyn Miller/Gladys Bowie situation?
And thank you for posting the other pic that id'd them!
jane :)
|
| Your ideas on ids are always better than mine but I don't see her as Marilyn. Again of course, I really have no idea. I keep looking at the Marilyn pics but I might as well be looking at the wall hahaha! Thanks, vlad, will check this again when/if I get more with it :)
Of course, you're right lol. I just don't see it yet.
jane :)
|
| So it's really true!!! You don't ever sleep!!! :)
Funny, was just looking at this again earlier and here you are bringing it up again.
The entire description from the Trib is incorrect? Odd for them.
So you are sticking with Marilyn Miller then?
Great to see another copy of this pic and to know the photog. Thanks!!!
jane :)
|
| “So it's really true!!! You don't ever sleep!!! :)” ;) 11-53 AM in Ukraine. “The entire description from the Trib is incorrect? Odd for them.” Yes, unfortunately, they call the first cast for “Sally”: Shirley Vernon, Freeland, etc. “So you are sticking with Marilyn Miller then?” Honestly, after I saw this http://img228.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=35660_MarilynMillerfgcd_122_450lo.JPG I changed my opinion. This can be and GBowie. “ Thanks!!!” Thanks to you. |
 | francofilly wrote on May 14, '10, edited on May 14, '10 I'd swear that's Rosalind Russell 5th from the left! |
| This was: ZF Follies as was shown in the book. Now corrected to Miss 1917, scene noted.
|
| This was: Probably Midnight Frolic. |
| Gladys Bowie was Marilyn Miller. |
| Gladys Bowie was Marilyn Miller. Drat, forgot to add that this is by Monroe. Will fix. |
|  Readding comments from Group Site, thank you all! kittyinva wrote on May 24: Here's Marcelle Earle's description from her book, "Midnight Frolic": Act 1, Scene 1 was "The Follies Salad" number. The curtain went up to reveal a gigantic salad bowl. Eddie Dowling, as chef - standing on a stepladder next to the bowl with oversized salad tossing forks - began to sing "The Follies Salad". As each ingredient's quatrain was sung, a girl representing that ingredient danced out on stage. May Hay was Chicken; Edith Hawes Oil; Doris Eaton (aka Lucille Levant) Paprika, Kathryn Perry Sugar; Mildred Sinclair as Lettuce and the Fairbanks Twins as Salt & Pepper. When Eddie sang, "With the other things you mingle You must add a touch of spice There must be a tiny tingle Not too naughty - clever - nice " I appeared as Spice. I kicked, twirled in a peppery dance and ended with a dash up a little ramp to jump into the bowl." Marcelle lists the girls in the above pic from left to right as: Below, Doris Eaton, Edith Hawes, Kathryn Perry, Mildred "Goldie" Sinclair, Mary Hay Above, Marcelle Earle Hope this is helpful, Kathie ziegfeldgrrl wrote on May 24: Yes!!! Wonderful, Kathie! So nice of you to post Marcelle's description of the scene. What fun!!! ohikkoshi wrote on May 24: Wonderful! Thanks, Kathie! "Doris Eaton (aka Lucille Levant)" Doris Eaton (as Lucille Levant) by ACJ: http://www.imagebam.com/image/ea6f1781840553 |
 | Well Jane, here I am - I actually found this with your help! So to reward you for your services to humanity (Me), I give you an excerpt from Funny Woman; the Life and Times of Fanny Brice by Barbara W. Grossman.
" Variety's Sime wrote ' She caught the house from her first entrance of the evening' with a song about Nijinsky, the brilliant Russian dancer, and 'later walked off with the comedy-hit of the show while singing two songs in one, 'The Hat' and 'The dying Swan'. The New York Herald reported that 'her songs and impersonations set the audience roaring' to such an extent that 'it almost spoiled the act of the sensational slack wire dancer, Miss bird Millman, who followed.' " page 93.
So this could be from one of two numbers where she parodied ballet. Kathie |
| It really does look like her, doesn't it? Kathie |
| That's Marcelle Earle next to Mary Hay. Kathie |
| Isn't that Marion Davies lower left? Kathie |
| Obviously Ann Pennington upper right. kathe |
| Ann Pennington next to Marion. Kathie |
| Ah, sorry Kathie! I haven't worked on this album in ages so the links to the super sized pics are still in the text of the album (along with the names). I'll add them to the pics also now since you've done all of this work because you didn't see the links here.
At least you'll be able to view the huge pages and check your ids :)
Sorry!
jane :) |
 | This picture is on the cover of the book "Ned Wayburn and the Dance Routine: From Vaudeville to the Ziegfeld Follies" by Barbara Stratyner. It says it's a scene from Ned Wayburn's Symphonic Jazz Revue, 1924. It also references the book Ned Wayburn: The Art of Stage Dancing (1925) p.93 |
| This picture was used in an advertisement for the Midnight Frolic in the Century theatre program (Century Girl) dated Nov 6, 1916. You have the program posted on this site. So, this not from 1917, but probably from mid 1916 |
| Adding unattached comments:
kittyinva wrote on Jul 9, '10:
Could "Unknown" be Mary Eaton? She's listed in the program, and it looks like her. Anyone? Kath
ziegfeldgrrl wrote on Jul 9, '10:
Could be, Kathie, thanks! Will see if I can come up with a photo of her closer to this time period.
Appreciate your input :)
Best,
jane
|
 | I have this same picture. The copy I have is an original print from the white studio it is 11" x 14" |
| Ah lucky you, treesfree! I love the costume photos and of course Margaret Morris is special here :)
Thanks so much for your nice comment. So glad you're enjoying the photo.
Best,
jane |
 | Hi. Is there a date for this article? I'm hard at work on a novel about Olive Thomas, and it would help me in my timeline. Thanks! |
| My aunt identified the chorus girl to Will Roger's left in the back row (i.e. right by his left arm) as my grandmother Lillian Schmidt (although she went by her foster name Lillian Ott at the time -- the Ott family was in show business in Boston) to my cousin out of the Farnsworth book also. It's lovely to have a title & a date -- now I can go look for her in other photos from that time. My cousin had said she thought it was from 1917, but apparently not.....! Only wish the image was bigger/clearer and that my grandmother hadn't pulled her arm up so high in front of herself! |
| Sorry I should be clear -- her maiden name was Lillian McInnis, her foster name was Lillian Ott, and her married name was Lillian Schmidt. I have spent 8+ hours today going through all your lovely photos -- I didn't even stop to eat --- etc. and trying to find any other pictures that might possibly include her...I got all fired up again when my cousin sent me the info about the Indian Fox Trot photo with Will Rogers..... and goodness, THANK YOU JANE!!! I did find a copy online of the "Kilties with Fred Stone in Jack o' Lantern in 1917" - NY Tribune Rotogravure section, Dec 1917 - that you mentioned in a note to me. I almost fell off my chair -- the costume is an exact match of the one that I have two photos of my grandmother in (that I sleuthed out several years ago) --- although I'm not sure she's actually one of the girls in the photo yet (have to ask some other relatives what they think. My grandmother died when my mother was a little girl, so I only know her from ~ 4 photos and a painting --- and 2 or so of the photos were ones I found from searching for the Kinkaid Kilties online --- I got in contact with a fellow whose great-aunt had danced with the Kilties and who had kept a scrapbook with names & photos and a trunk full of costumes etc. (My grandmother had also saved these, but they were destroyed in a flood long before I was born). He graciously sent met two photos of her from 1916 I believe -- she would have been about 16 or so at the time. The Kilties photo if anyone is interested is at: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1917-12-23/ed-1/seq-54/;words=Stone+Fred?date1=1914&rows=20&searchType=basic&state=New+York&date2=1917&proxtext=fred+stone&y=12&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=2 |
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“So it's really true!!! You don't ever sleep!!! :)”
