Vintage Stage Actress Sarah Bernhardt

These images were probably taken in 1848. We see here French stage actress

Sarah Bernhardt as Marguerite Gautier in La Dame aux Camelias, written by Alexandre Dumas II. The dramatic expressions are almost cinematic.

 

All images source: Gallica

Gloria Swanson: Life in Key West (1909)

Queen Kelly - Gloria Swanson and Walter Byron

These days I am reading this great book “Swanson on Swanson”, an autobiography of the great actress that I am enjoying so much. Of course it is written in a way that becomes almost present time, and the details make me want to do some research. One thing I read was something that happened in her life when she was still a little girl, ten years old in fact, and how vividly she remembers in her book that horrible day of October 1909 when a very dangerous hurricane left Key West, (she was living at the army base then) in a very poor condition. Browsing online the site dedicated to the history of Florida (Florida Memory) I have found a few images that evoke those moments after the hurricane and its devastation along Key West.
I will add what she says about it while posting these photos. I was hoping to see a young Gloria by chance, but of course, to no avail. Maybe her mother appears but nobody knows now. Well maybe not.

“In March of our very first year in Key West, however, which was not the season for hurricanes, the sky looked so threatening one morning when the buckboard came to take me to school that Mother said she didn’t want me to go and sent the driver away. Within an hour the gusting wind built to a roar. Outside, the trees were bending and we could see things flying through the air. Then we could  hear the ocean washing under the house, and floating logs smashed against the floor with a frightening thud. I screamed for Daddy, even though I knew he was on the base. Mother grabbed me and I clung to her. She held her hands over my ears so I couldn’t hear the awful sounds outside. Water was coming through the floorboards and the roof. We held each other tightly and prayed that the house wouldn’t float away. Suddenly Mother said she heard Daddy’s voice. Then I could hear him too. We saw him holding on to the banister at the top of the stairs, soaked to the skin. The three of us huddled together and waited, as the kitchen chimney came down with a crash. Daddy said we had to stay away from the windows, because roof slates were flying around like feathers. It was afternoon before the wind finally died down and Daddy dared to say he thought the storm was over. Only then did I realize how brave he had been to fight his way to us. He had also been right about our house; it had ridden out the hurricane. We all smiled at each other. We even laughed, and I realized what a joy it is to live through danger and come out safely on the other side.
That freak hurricane was the worst anyone could remember. Church steeples were down, stores were full of sopping merchandise, and the public market was washed completely away. The only thing that had kept us alive, Daddy said, was a cement causeway that had been built by the Florida East Coast Railroad to connect the Florida Keys. It had prevented tidal waves from sweeping over the land.”

Later on she speaks about the evacuation that took place, how school was suspended and that a few days after a boat arrived and both mother and daughter left for sometime to go to New York and then Chicago, to spend some time at the grandparents.
Here is a collection of that disaster that stuck Kew West on October 11 1909.



Thanks to
Florida Memory
Swanson on Swanson. An Autobiography
Random House, New York. 1980

A Festival of Love

Vintage Valentine’s

Every year on Valentine’s I just received a phone call from a far distance. Then, I waited for the roses to come, and then I looked at the vintage images that took me to my mornings in a Caribbean island where an old lady would explain me the meaning of St. Valentine’s and I would listen mesmerized while she would prepare coffee and milk for us to have with breakfast. And missing the company of my companion I now don’t have to, but yet these memories that are of longing for the beloved one become as well nostalgic and filled with love from friends and acquaintances. I want to include here Tom, if you know what I mean, I remember the “At least Tom loves you” for Valentine’s! :D

Thus I agree that Valentine’s is also a day for friendship, as I miss those times as well. The lovely Valentine’s without my Valentine. Tomorrow I will receive roses, love cards, and we will have a romantic dinner. At last, after all this time, my first Valentine’s as it should be. Happy Valentine’s and Happy Friendship Day!

Here is a collection of images that I loved sharing on a day like today:

Whitney Houston, Say No To Drugs 1963-2012

Peace in your soul, we love you Whitney.

All images by Corbis.com

Vintage Photography: Marilyn Monroe 1956

Cecil Beaton: The New York Years

Marilyn Monroe, 1956
Courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby's

 

Thanks to the Museum of the City of New York

Hans Zatzka (1959-1945)

These beautiful paintings take my breath away...

Biography  credit e-vint.com

Hans Zatzka, also known as P. Ronsard,Zabateri, Pierre de Ronsard, Joseph Bernard and Bernárd Zatzka, was born March 8, 1859 in Vienna, to a builder and his Viennese actress wife, Hilde Sochor.

Zatzka showed an early interest in painting. From 1877 to 1882 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, studying under Christian Griepenkerl, Karl Wurzinger, and Carl of Blaas. In 1880, at the age of 20, he was awarded the Golden Fügermedal; the golden decoration for services to the city Vienna.

After several trips to Italy, Hans worked in the style of his predecessor, Hans Makart, as a free-lance painter in Vienna, painting ceiling frescoes in stairway houses and residential buildings, numerous murals for altars in churches, and portraits. It was during this time that he developed as special interest in academic genre paintings of idyllic women and cupids.

From these representations, Zatzka turned to painting guardian angel images, elves, sensuous female figures, genre scenes, allegories and other popular motifs. He was a greatly influenced by the operas of Richard Wagner and considered ground-breaking in the production of “bedroom pictures” or “towel format”, a term used to describe a format that fit the low ceiling and cramped spaces. By the 1920′s this style was the size of choice for most European homes.

By the turn of the century, Zatzkas’ pictures turned to picture postcard sales in the galleries of Viennese artists, and ultimately sold to other publishers. In 1906, Zatzka gave precise orders for mass production on a trial basis. By 1914, the first of Hans Zatzkas’ bedroom images were distributed.

Hans Zatzka did not make his living from postcards but from his religious frescoes in churches, altar paintings, and other large commissions such as hospitals in Vienna during the 1920′s. He lived in his home studio, never took in students or teaching jobs and painted until the 80th year of his life.

Hans Zatzka died December 17, 1945.

By 1980, demand for Hans Zatzka paintings in the United States enjoyed great popularity and significantly increased the value of his work. Zatka’s work is now sold internationally in galleries and auction houses, fetching large sums of money. In 2004, Somalia published special stamps with four motifs of images Zatzka: harem dancer, nymphs, spring goddess, and night sky.