Featured Betty Grable 1938 photograph

From my collection, a rare find. A 1938 Betty Grable photograph, Ross Verlag, Berlin, Germany.

 

Beautiful! Years ago, my husband found an entire truck of celebrity movie starts in Fairbanks, Alaska, that had been bought by a dealer at a show as having belonged to a Californian. I sold many, kept and framed 14, have a few more. What can you tell me about the numbers/letters on some of these

 

Am assuming this means it was a Fashion shot? If so, what's this? Sorry that my photo quality on this one is so bad, but I think it can be made out. What I think I have (unsure), are a half sheet b/w movie scene shot of George Raft & Sylvia Sidney, a full body shot (SC2/369) of Fera Prue ("369-4"), a scene shot of Anita Stewart in "The Yellow Typhoon," a silent film, two full body fashion shots of Esther Ralston ("Fash-208" and "Fash 209"), and a scene shot of Irene Rich ("P.B. 6") in 'Powder my Back' with Andre de Beranger that originally came from Kenneth G. Lawrence's Movie Memorabilia in Hollywood???

 

I can't say I am an expert, I usually consult a couple people I know when I am unsure beyond my expertise. I know studios used to code the negatives, hence the numbers & letters. I think prior to the 1930's-ish movie photos etc did not have this on them. I assume this was a type of scene and movie star filing system used by movie studios & photographer's.

 

Many thanks, Vintage Maven. I'm certainly a novice to ephemera; more of a bead and jewelry nut. But years ago, I ran a cinema and before that, worked for Universal Films, so love these things. Generally, how can I tell an original photograph from a print? All my images are very clear; some have a fabric sort of backing. Most are on shiny photographic paper, but some are thicker than others. ?

 

A clearness to the image is most certainly a good indication of a first generation print, the further along, of course you lose some of that. A fabric back print is a good indication of an antique print, in particular if it’s an albumen photograph, fabric backed photos are mostly used from I believe around the 1800’s till early 1900’s, but I’ve seen some appear during the 1920’s and 1930’s which not common does occur in the antique world. Gelatin Silver became popular somewhere before the 1920’s and is used into modern times (shiny glossy photos).All that said, you need to know the characteristics and how these photos generally age; as well as thickness of photo paper etc (older albumen prints were thin paper hence fabric backing, for example and some gelatin silver prints are thin as well as what is known as double weight which is a bit thicker photo). It sounds like you may have some vintage photos that could be up for some serious consideration there!

I hope that makes some sense at all, I can get a little “photo-geeky” lol VM

*one final thought I edited in, movie studios also did prints to promote an actor or movie, many first generation ones I’ve come across may have a photographer’s stamp or movie studio stamp, pls credit so and so, something like that, but I have seen first generation prints made the year of the photo taken without it, which is a little tougher to determine authenticity.

 

Thank you so much! You've confirmed several things for me, but I didn't know the fabric-backed ones could date that long ago. Here's one for some thoughts, of Irene Rich and Andre de Beranger filmed by Warner Bros entitled "Powder my Back," a 1928 silent film stamped Kenneth G. Lawrence's Movie Memorabilia Shop of Hollywood. Shiny b/w, great clarity (gorgeous gown!0, with "P.B.6" in white in the lower right hand corner. Whoops; how do I overcome the "file too large" issue?

 

The file too large, I take you mean to upload to this site. When I come accross that I use an app called Quick College, I size my photo in freestyle, crop a little then its good to go!

 

Here we are:

 

Such a sweet face! How did you do that?

 

All I can say.....I love this!!

 

The Yellow Typhoon by Kathy Anderson posted Aug 26, 2019 at 3:20 PM

 

Just posted another. Anita Stewart and an unnaed actor in "The Yellow Typhoon," 1920, a Louis B. Mayer film. He apparently wants a favor for a necklace.

 

I'm learning.

 

Beautiful photos Kathy!