This cabinet card features an alluring woman lying on a divan in a very provocative pose. Note the leopard skin on the divan. This woman is likely an actress. She appears to be dressed like she is part of a harem. Rather than an actress, she may be a member of a circus act. The photographer is the famous celebrity photographer, Jose Mora. This image is risque for the time that it was made. To view other photographs by Mora, click on the category “Photographer: Mora”. ADDENDUM: An informed visitor to the cabinet card gallery has identified the subject of this cabinet card as being actress Jeffreys-Lewis. See the comment below to learn the interesting details.
RISQUE PORTRAIT OF AN ALLURING WOMAN IN NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK BY JOSE MORA (ACTRESS JEFFREYS-LEWIS?)
PAOLA MARIE: FRENCH OPERA STAR, NEWS OF HER IMPENDING DEATH PROVES FALSE
Paola Marie was a well known and talented French opera star. She was the sister of opera star Irma Marie. The publication “Every Saturday” (1874) tells an interesting tale about the performer. She was appearing in Bordeaux, France when an oversight or practical joke occurred in the printing of a notice advertising that her engagement was about to come to an end. The sign said that “Mlle Paola Marie was expiring on “friday next”, and there would be only four more performances of “The Perichole”. The notice should have said that the performance of the opera was about to expire. Upon reading about the star’s impending death, her faithful fans came out in mass, carrying many bouquets of flowers, to pay their “last homage” to the popular actress. The photographer of this cabinet card, Mora, was a celebrity photographer located on Broadway, in New York City. To see other photographs by Mora, click on the category, “Photographer: Mora”.
CATHOLIC CLERGYMAN PORTRAIT (BROOKLYN CATHOLIC PHOTO COMPANY)
Sarony, Falk and Mora were photographers known to specialize in photographing famous theatre personalities. Eisenmann is a photographer associated with portraits of circus and sideshow performers. A. & G. Taylor was on of several British photographers known as “Photographers to the Queen”. This cabinet card represents the work of a photographic studio that claimed “Clergymen’s Photographs a Specialty”. The reverse of this cabinet card has an elaborate back stamp of the “Brooklyn Catholic Photo. Co.”. The front of the cabinet card indicates the photographer was Robert McElligott and that his studio was in New York City, New York. The relationship between McElligott and the Brooklyn Catholic Photo Company is unknown, and research has not yet been fruitful in obtaining additional information. Hopefully, the vast unpaid research department of the Cabinet Card Gallery knows, or can locate relevant illuminating information about the studio and photo company listed on this cabinet card. This cabinet card image presents a portrait featuring a priest in his religious garb. Perhaps the subject is not a priest but instead someone who holds another type of religious role in the church?
Beautiful Opera Star: Emma Abbott (1850-1891)
Emma Abbott was an American opera star and impresario. She began performing as a child and was encouraged by Clara Louise Kellogg to pursue an operatic career. She studied in New York, Milan and Paris and later worked at the Royal Opera in London. In a different company, she had her contract cancelled for refusing to perform in Verdi’s La Traviata on moral grounds. She had her American debut in 1877 and in 1878 founded her own opera company which received great public tribute but did not impress many opera critics. She died suddenly at around 40 years of age from pneumonia. This cabinet card was photographed by the celebrated photographer Joses Mora.
Osmond Tearle: English Theatre Actor
Osmond Tearle (1852-1901) was a very successful English stage actor and ran a professional theatre company. This Cabinet Card image is from the studio of Jose Mora, famed celebrity photographer of New York City.
Rose Coghlan: Stage Actress
Beautiful stage actress, Rose Coghlan (1851-1932) is the subject of this photographic portrait by celebrity photographer, Jose Mora. Coghlan was an Irish actress who began her theatrical career in both England and the United States in the 1870’s. The IBDB reports that Coghlan appeared in 21 Broadway productions beginning in 1872. These plays included The School for Scandal (1909) and Vanity Fair (1911). She also appeared in Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance (1893) which was not on Broadway. In 1902 she became a naturalized American citizen. In addition to theater, Coghlan raised livestock on her ranch in Montana. The reverse of this card has a pencilled note indicating that this photograph was taken while Rose Coghlan appeared in “Jealous Wife” (1878).
ALICE LINGARD: BRITISH STAGE ACTRESS
This Cabinet photoograph is of Alice Lingard (1847-1897) a British stage actress and singer. She performed in both London and New York. She was married to mimic and music hall star Dickie Lingard and the drama of their marital problems was well reported by the press. The cabinet card comes from the studio of Jose Mora of New York, famed theater star photographer. You can see other cards from Mora by clicking on the Category listing, Mora.
William Cullen Bryant: American Poet and Journalist
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a noted American poet and journalist. He also was a long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. Bryant was born in Massachusetts. He attended Williams College and later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1815. Bryant became interested in poetry in his early life. At about the age of 14, he published The Embargo, which was a critical attack against President Thomas Jefferson and the publication quickly sold out. By the 1830’s he was considered America’s leading poet. Bryant supported his family with his law practice but became disheartened with the legal system. In 1825 he was hired as the editor of the New York Review and then of the United States Review and Literary Gazette. He then was hired by the New York Evening Post, a newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton. Within two years he was editor in chief and owner of the publication, a role he maintained for fifty years. He made a fortune in this venture and also wielded a great deal of political clout on a local, state and national level.
Bryant had progressive views and in time he joined the Free Soilers which later became the core of the new Republican Party. In 1856 he campaigned for John Fremont which made him a powerful figure in the Republican Party. In 1860, he was one of the major Eastern supporters of Abraham Lincoln and was the person who introduced him at Linclolns famous address at Cooper Union which propelled Lincoln to the Presidential nomination and eventual election.
Toward the end of his life, Bryant worked on translating Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey. He also became one of the leading authorities on homeopathy and as a hymnist for the Unitarian Church. He died in 1878 of complications after an accidental fall at a Central Park ceremony which was honoring Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini.
This Cabinet card photograph of William Cullen Bryant was photographed by famed photographer Jose Maria Mora. Mora’s photographic studio was on Broadway in New York City.
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 