Featured Antique Alaskana Photographs

"Little Egypt" was very famous -- even I've heard of her.

Congratulations on the find!

 

Thank you so much. It is hard to go to bed now I'm so excited about all of it.

It took a bit of investigation and lots of serendipity. It is so cool that these are colored photos too. You can see shades in the ones online, but they are so much nicer with a little color.

I wouldn't be opposed to having some copies or something made. I don't know what the processes or costs would be, but just guide me and be patient if you are interested.

 

How wonderful that you finally found her!

No need to be sorry about posting along as your research progressed. You're not the first, nor will you be the last. It happened to me last summer when I was working on a hard to find (in fact I was beginning to think impossible to find) 3X great grand aunt about whom I only knew her maiden name (born about 1805 on Long Island, NY) and that she "married a man named Rich." Found her outside Sacramento, CA and lo and behold there is even a picture of her, Mr. Rich and their only son in the collection of the CA State Museum!! I was so excited I needed to tell somebody.

 

Someone please explain which way Little Egypt was originally facing and why it is opposite in my print from the book. What does this tell you? I'm kind of photo illiterate.
https://books.google.com/books?id=p-0r30o8x-MC&pg=PA272&lpg=PA272&dq=fabruda manzar&source=bl&ots=SMST_JVEWR&sig=bjaT2ObKt6O5SiJEQcvIQtwzIk4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oD2MVLmMM83SoAT2goGQCA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=fabruda manzar&f=false


You do just get excited and want to tell the whole world! That is incredible family history research and existence. Congratulations bakersgma

 

Photos can easily be flipped, through several means. I am not a photographer, but I imagine back then the easiest way might be to print from a reversed negative? I'm not really sure.

As for figuring out which way it originally was, that would take some research. It seems that you like to do that.... so, finding more examples of the photo? Or finding the earliest print you can? Or perhaps contacting somebody who works with the collection listed with that book? Maybe that repository has the negative as well? Not sure...

 

Suppose I could have figured that out. I was getting kind of tired last night and my brain started to wander. I am still feeling pretty good about the results of my research. I don't get much free time these days, so when I make leaps and bounds it is just exhilarating.

Thank you so much for following along fig tree. You be the first one I notify if I can get these out of their new frames and scanned properly.

Here is another of mine. It is a biplane floatplane landing on the lake where I'm about to go to work. This had to be coordinated between pilot and photographer in my opinion.
The plane says Christensen. It almost looks like a warplane painted over.

 

I would have to (daily!) clean the drool marks off these.

 

Vern, you've got some really nice old photos there!

 

Nice photo of the plane! And I echo what Bakersgma said. We like reading about research and also helping with it. ... especially in this particular category (speaking for myself, that is).

 

M

My mother does bunko nights. She told me she has had to clean the drool from herself and friends off of it... Haha. It will be great when she has copies of these new photos and history to share.

I think I'm with Twain, I have a crush on Little Egypt now.

Thank you guys!

 

"Legend has said ( Not verified) that Little Egypt was to have scandalized and delighted visitors when she danced at the 1893 Colombian Exposition's Egyptian Theater for the infamous Sol Bloom, who was the entertainment director of the Expo and the person who coined the Misnomer " Belly dance," ( Correct term is Raks Sharki) which was known prior to many Americans as the Hootchy-Kootchy dance or " Danse du ventre." The song that made her famous was " The Streets of Cairo" and is said that that song gave rise to Hootchy-Cootchy. There were many "dancing girls" in this theater but " Fatima" aka "Little Egypt ( Farida Mazar - Spyropoulos)" was said to have stood out and outright "STOLE THE SHOW." Anthony Comstock tried to shut the Expo's midway dance hall down, but only made it more popular.

It is said that because of her infamous dance in Chicago, Little Egypt (Farida) changed Vaudeville into Burlesque with her "striptease," as many promoters tried to cash in on her ( Or its) popularity, although today, it is said (like Gypsy Rose Lee) she NEVER actually STRIPPED, only TEASED ( Also see Lydia Thompson.)

Farida started traveling the circuit and by 1897 was dancing on Broadway. At the late age of 62, Spyropoulos even danced as Little Egypt at the 1933 Century of Progress in Chicago. Many years later, many people would claim to be the famed "Little Egypt," trying to cash in on her fame, but they were not, and today, most agree it was Farida. Some have even went so far as to claim they were her daughters or even granddaughters, however Farida never had any children."
http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2egypt1.htm

If the video link doesn't work you should go to that site and watch her dance for Thomas Edison.

I guess she was pretty famous. It seems like colored photos are fairly rare for this period. I imagine the state or someone would be interested in a scan of these.

Some of things are pretty nice to have, but they don't pay rent and they weigh on my conscience in a way that makes me feel like I need to share them with the right hands so that they don't get lost in history. I suppose the best way to do that with some of it would be to find the right collection and sell to it. The photos are nice though because I can share them without giving them up.

 

Well, research does reward you!






She is Vivian. Wow. So on my colored print you just see the edge of the negative at the bottom that looks like static at the edge of film and distorted. You also don't see the detail that this one has. Maybe that is because of the aging? Maybe the process for making these large prints was different? Help me out.

I hate to show this photo pre reframing because it still has the old glue from the previous matting. The print is not torn and the glue came off easily like hot glue without damage. You can see how the bottom just looks like negative bordering and how the print paper was crudely cut.




I found this out at the Dawson City Museum archive. I also found Little Egypt there, but they don't know who she is on the website. Imagine. I'm going to give them a call tomorrow and update them on my research.
http://www.dawsonmuseum.ca

 

I did notice they may be two shots of the same pose or it is the coloring by the artist, but in mine she is smiling and in the black and white her mouth is just a grin...

 

I have a question about the name Vivian that is on the one you just found, and also a different photo you found elsewhere. I have not read all of your references, but do you know why the name Vivian is listed?

The reason I ask, and I don't want to throw a monkey wrench into things, is that I was wondering whether the two photos you originally showed were two different people. I know that others said they looked like the same, and I didn't speak up... but I wasn't positive (although they could be). So, is there any corroborating evidence that Farida Mazar-Spyropoulos would ever have been referred to as Vivian?

Also, I wanted to say that it's great that you include citations and links to sources. I work at a university library, and always appreciate knowing where people got their information.

 

I'm sorry that the previous framing damaged the picture. At least when framed it looks fine! And since they are going to be kept, it shouldn't make any difference.

About the loss of detail in yours, there could be more than one reason. Exposure to light will generally cause photos and prints to fade. Also, the printing process for yours may have been different from the one you found online. I can't really tell for certain.

 

Hm. So your "Vivian" ('as Bosse A Texas Steer') and the "Vivian as 'Beatrice Carew' An American Citizen" are for sure the same person and, from the notations, some sort of entertainer/actress. It might help to search newspapers of the time to see if there are announcements or reviews of the performance of a play with a character named Beatrice Carew.

(BTW, that "Texas Steer" reference brings on the giggles. )

 

Well, that was easy. Beatrice Carew is a major character in a novel called An American Citizen by Madeleine Lucette Ryley, published in 1898.

https://books.google.com/books?id=S...CEUQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=beatrice carew&f=false

So we're not looking for a play per se, but some kind of vignette? performance in which "Vivian" is dressed and staged as well known (for the time) characters in popular culture?

 

There is no damage to the photo. What appears to be rips are actually just the layer of matting that stuck to the glue. The photo paper is more like a fabric. The glue did not stick to it. I was able to simply peel it off like warm hot glue. It left no trace. Again, not damage, just a photo before I removed remnants of glue and matting. I had not thought that Vivian could be one of Spynopolous's stage names yet. The rabbit hole goes deep here. Most of the other girls heavily photographed had their full names in Dawson City. She is obviously an actor. The main stage, courthouse, and everything in Dawson City were at the Grand Palace. I saw some photos inside it but I couldn't distinguish a specific thing happening, just a mass of people in tiered building.

I think these may have been posters or souvenirs of the event that were sold by Larss and Duclos before or after it. That is my gut instinct. To spend the time to color them they must have been for sale or advertisement.

 

I think your gut instinct about the original purpose of these photos is correct. But I have serious doubts about Little Egypt and "Vivian" being the same person.

 

I can not tell either way. You women are all different people from one day to the next to me…. I do think people in the town would get tired of the same hootchy dance after a while, but i don't know what else she did with her time before she went back down to the lower 48. If she did do other acts what were they. Seems like they had incredible costume design and hairspray. Some of the places I found these photos don't even know whom they are, some do. Tying something like her under that stage name together would crack the foundations of that lonely Yukon Museum…. I'd get free admittance for life for if and when i ever drive the Alaska Highway again.

Vivian could be of Syrian or Greek descent… She seems to have olive skin and dark features like Little Egypt. I have the feeling they are not the same person, but I want to believe they are.