[Minstrelsy & Vaudeville]
Collection of Original Signed and Unsigned Photographs
A collection of black and white publicity photographs of vaudeville and theatre performers, including four WWI era signed photographs of blackface and minstrel show performers and 27 other signed photographs, mainly from the 1920s, of various vaudeville personalities. Largest, 11 1/4 by 7 1/2 inches, many with pin holes and wear to edges, a few quite heavily chipped, overall good to very good.Contents include signed photographs from minstrel show acts Simms & Warfield, Minus & Bryant, Conroy & O'Donnell, and Seven Service Stars (apparently a war-themed show with five men as soldiers and two as black cooks); WWI-era vaudeville acts Lewis & Scott, Cornella & Adele, Taylor & Howard, the Dancing Kennedys, Peppino & Perry, The Four Renee Girls, and one other actress; and 1920's–1930's performers Johnny Elliott, Herbert Rawlinson, Kenneth Rogers, Natalie Cartier, John Rutherford, Richard Stuart & Claire Lea, Vera and Berna Deane, barbershop quartet the Dictators of Harmony, and several others signed only with first names: Charlie, Andre, Vic [?], Marion, Dorothea, Eduardo, Dan, Chichi, Joe & Sophie, Mitchell, Franklyn, and Jo. Some of the earlier photographs appear to have been inscribed to an orchestra member, while the later photographs are almost all inscribed to a Margaret, apparently also a performer. (10680)
Signed Photograph Theater