Original doubleweight black-and-white richly printed silver gelatin photograph, ca. 1946, inscribed in blue ink "To Paul / Best Wishes" and signed "Ethel Merman" to, respectively, the rear of the famed white motorbike and Merman's fishnet-stockinged right leg.  8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm). Ink stamped on the verso “Photograph by Vandamm Studio, 130 West 57th St., New York, N.Y.” and "Salute" and inscribed in pencil by the studio "Ethel Merman starring as Annie Oakley in 'Annie Get Your Gun' Imperial Theatre."A few blocks of nearly imperceptible toning or silvering, light show through from pencil writing along bottom edges, edges lightly dinged, overall fine. 

Ethel Merman created her legendary role of Annie Oakley, the celebrated sharp shooter and star of Buffalo Bill’s traveling show, in the Irving Berlin Broadway musical which includes some of his most famous songs. The show played for 1147 performances at the Imperial Theatre between May 16, 1946 and Feb. 12, 1949.

An exceptional image by the visionary photographer and portraitist Florence Vandamm who lent her talent and name to the studio, first opened in 1908.  With a career spanning over five decades, Florence Vandamm was one of the most prolific and widely published female commercial photographers of the early 20th century.  In October 1911, an article in the Greater London Illustrated began: "…she has won medals and prizes at most of the leading exhibitions... she is one of the few who use their camera as an artist can use his brushes... a creative instinct and the wonderful light and shade effects which are so characteristic of her work distinguish it at once in a group. She has not unjustly been called one of the Rembrandts of Modern Photography."

From the collection of Paul McMahon, a critic, photographer and artist who worked for more than 13 years touring with Marlene Dietrich as the icon’s stage manager, announcer, dresser, secretary and escort, and later spent 25 years as an arts and entertainment reviewer and photographer with Gay Community News, Esplanade, Tommy’s Connection, The Mirror, Bay Windows and other publications.