This cabinet card photograph features actress Alice Vivian and it is number 74 in a series of photographs distributed as premiums for the purchase of Newsboy tobacco products. This image is certainly risque for the era that it was produced. She is certainly displaying a lot of leg. Miss Vivian appears to be one of the pioneers of early burlesque. She is holding a stringed instrument which I believe to be a mandolin. A stamp on the reverse of this photograph indicates that it once belonged to Culver Pictures, which was located at 60 First Avenue in New York City. Culver loaned photographs to media companies to utilize in their publications. Culver charged the companies for one time usage of the images. Preliminary research uncovered no information about Alice Vivian. To view other photographs by Newsboy, click on the category “Photographer: Newsboy”.
ALICE VIVIAN: THEATER ACTRESS SHOWS A LOT OF LEG IN NEWSBOY PHOTOGRAPH
THEATER ACTRESS HENRIETTA CROSMAN (PORTRAIT BY SARONY)
Henrietta Crosman was a renowned American stage and film actress and she is captured beautifully in this cabinet card photographed by Napoleon Sarony. To learn more about Sarony, a famous celebrity photographer, click on the category “Photographer: Sarony”. Sarony’s subject, Miss Crosman was born In West Virginia. Her father was a civil war Major and her mother was the niece of composer Stephen Foster. She was educated in several locations as her father was stationed in a number of posts while pursuing his military career. She began acting in New York City when she joined a local theater company in 1883. Her next experience with a theater company included a national tour. In 1889 she performed Shakespeare for the first time. She performed at the Daly Theater. In the 1890’s she joined Daniel Frohman’s stock company. She excelled in adventure romances and popular drawing farces. By 1900, she had reached stardom. Her appearances included roles in such plays as “As You Like It” (1902), “Sweet Kitty Bellairs” (1903), and “The Real Thing” (1911). Crosman avoided motion pictures until 1914. She then signed a deal with Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players. Her husband, Maurice Campbell became a noted director. Crosman appeared in both silent films and “talkies”. She was in a total of 22 films between 1914 and 1937 including “Charlie Chan’s Secret” (1936),
STAGE ACTRESS NANETTE NIXON IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
This cabinet card features stage actress Nanette Nixon. She is wearing a flower pattern dress with a lace collar. Nixon’s photograph appeared in The Sunday Telegraph (1898) and the text describes her as “soulful and able as an actress”. The brief article reports that theatre goers in New York were looking forward to her upcoming appearances there. Interestingly, the photograph in the Telegraph was taken by the same photographer who produced the photograph appearing on this cabinet card. The photographer of this image is William Mckenzie Morrison whose studio was located in the Haymarket Theatre building in Chicago, Illinois. Morrison was a well known and successful celebrity photographer. The reverse of the photograph is illustrated with medals from the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), Photographers Association of America (1894), The Cotton States and International Exposition (1895), and various other competitions. To view other photographs by Morrison, click on the category “Photographer: Morrison”.
PRETTY WOMAN WITH CURLS IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA (PORTRAIT OF AUSTRIAN THEATER ACTRESS JOSEPHINE WESSELY)
A pretty woman poses for her portrait in the studio of Dr Szekely in Vienna, Austria. The woman has an unusual hair style. Her hair seems to be straight on top of her head and she has beautiful curls on the side. The reverse of the photograph identifies the subject as Austrian theater actress Josephine Wessely (1860-1887). Wessely was born in Vienna and the daughter of a shoemaker. She began drama school at age fourteen and had her debut in “Intrigue and Love” in 1876 at the Leipzig City Theater. In 1879 she became a member of the Burgtheater ensemble. She was known for playing juvenile tragic roles and gained recognition for playing Gretchen in Goethe’s “Faust”. Wessely died at 27 years of age. The cause of her death is suspected to be leukemia. Printing on the reverse of the card reveals that Dr Szekely won medals for his photography in exhibitions in Vienna (1873) and Paris (1878). To learn more about Dr Szekely and to view more of his photographs, click on the category “Photographer: Szekely”.
ACTRESS HOLDS THEATER MASK ALOFT IN NICE, FRANCE
This cabinet card photograph captures a young woman holding a theater (carnival) mask. It is very likely that this smiling woman is an actress and that she is wearing a theater costume. Her dress is very unique and interesting. Hoperfully, some of the fashion informed visitors to the cabinet card gallery will leave commentary about the subject’s attire. The cabinet card gallery is fortunate to have so many visitors willing to leave interesting and educational comments. This photograph was produced by A. Regis who operated a gallery in Nice, France.
ISABELLE URQUHART: COMIC OPERA AND MUSICAL COMEDY STAR (PHOTOGRAPH BY NEWSBOY)
This cabinet card features actress Isabelle Urquhart (1865-1907). She was an American stage actress and contralto who appeared in mostly comic operas and musical comedies. Urquhart was born in New York City and claimed to have been educated in a convent. She made her first stage appearance in 1881. She performed as a chorus girl at the Standard Theatre in New York City. She than appeared in a number of small roles. From 1882 through 1883 she joined Augustin Daly’s company and acted in productions including “The Passing Regiment” and “The Squire”. In the latter production she was only seventeen years of age but played a ninety-seven year old woman. She returned to light opera because of it’s better compensation although she stated she preferred legitimate drama to comic opera. She had much success in major roles in light operas including in the hit operetta “Erminine” which ran from 1886 through 1888 at the Casino Theatre. She also had success in other productions by luminaries such as Gilbert and Sullivan. In her leading lady role in “Erminine”, she started a fashion trend by not wearing petticoats in order “to accentuate her gorgeous figure”. Urquhart later appeared in vaudeville. Blue Vaudeville (2004) states that in a sketch at the Union Square Theatre, she “did little more than display her form in a handsome gown to the utmost advantage”. Urquhart also performed in several Broadway plays including “The Diplomat” (1902), “Arms and the Man” (1906), and “How He Lied to Her Husband”. This cabinet card was published by Newsboy and was number one i a series of photographs that were distributed as a premium accompanying tobacco sales.
ACTRESS IN VIENNA DRESSED IN EXOTIC JAPANESE COSTUME
This cabinet card photograph features an actress in an exotic Japanese costume. The photographer is S. Weitzmann whose studio was located in Vienna, Austria. Writing on the reverse of the image dates the photograph as being produced in 1907 and advertising on the reverse states that the studio won medals in exhibitions in Paris, London, and Grand Prix in 1906. The woman in this image is wearing gloves and an interesting hat. She is also holding a fan. Weitzmann is mentioned in Hitler’s Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold, And The Pursuit Of Justice (2011). The book states that Weitzmann was the foremost portrait photographer in Vienna and worked for the Austrian Royal Court before its demise in 1918. To view other photographs by Weitzmann,click on the category “Photographer: Weitzmann”.
MADAME BUTTERFLY IN KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA
This image features an attractive actress playing Madame Butterfly in a 1909 production. The preceding information comes from an inscription on the reverse of the photograph. The photographer is Hans Wanderer and his studio was located in Klagenfurt, Austria. Madam Butterfly is an opera by Giacomo Puccini. The story was originally written by James Long (1898). David Belasco dramatized the story for theater. The operatic version of Madame Butterfly premiered in Milan, Italy in 1904.
AGNES EVANS: THEATRE ACTRESS DRESSED IN QUITE RISQUE FASHION
Agnes Evans poses for this cabinet card (top) photographed by Newsboy of New York. Agnes Evans was a theatre actress who performed in the Broadway production of the Pit (1904). The actress is wearing a very revealing risque dress. Further research by myself or assistance from visitors to this site will hopefully further illuminate her life and career. Newsboy was a brand of plug tobacco and Newsboy photographs were given away as a premium by tobacconists and drug stores who sold the tobacco. The images were produced by the National Tobacco Works of New York. They were likely produced and issued in the early 1890’s. The bottom image features Miss Evans in another Newsboy cabinet card (number 8 in a series). She is wearing a risque costume that includes fingerless gloves.
EVA McGINLEY: CHARACTER CHANGE ARTIST
This composite cabinet card features Eva McGinley and is subtitled indicating that she was a “character change artist”. The central portrait on the card shows a prim and proper lady but the image is surrounded by other images displaying Miss McGinley’s versatility and talent to play disparate character roles. Eva McGinley was not a major actress which is apparent by the dearth of information readily available in my preliminary research. However, two newspaper articles were found pertaining to Miss McGinley. The New York Dramatic Mirror (1900) reported that “Eva McGinley’s voice failed her at Greenfield, Iowa last week” and she and her husband Bob went to Omaha to recuperate. A second article appeared in the New York National Police Gazette (1900) which proclaimed that Miss McGinley and her husband were enjoying themselves in Lakeview, Iowa and that she had shot and killed the largest pelican ever killed on Wall Lake. Imagining Miss Mcginley hunting pelicans with a rifle is distasteful to me but it certainly indicates that she really was quite a “character”. The photographer of this image is unidentified.
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 