Photo of Silent film/Vaudeville actor as woman in blackface from Hartsook Photo SF-LA

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Posted by Downhome

12 years ago

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Description

Alright, I have quite the odd one here - a very old photograph of a male actor dressed up as a woman in "blackface" from a very well known Photography studio back in the day - Fred Hartsook's Hartsook Photo out of SF & LA.

I went to a local auction around a year ago and this photograph of an actor in "blackface" came up and I got it for next to nothing. I collect old Hollywood and other photographs and I have found other vintage Hollywood photographs at the same auction before, and no one else usually seems to know what any of them are, so I get them at great deals.

Anyway, I have no clue where to start on this one. I assume the photograph is from 1915 to 1925 or so. This photo is from Fred Hartsook's studio Hartsook Photo out of San Francisco and Los Angeles. I imagine this is a press photo from the time period for some sort of silent film or a Vaudeville act of some sort, but I wouldn't even know how to go about figuring it out. I hope someone here can help me. I would love to be able to figure out at least who is in the photograph, and if it is from a specific film it would be amazing to be able to identify which one it was for as well.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Category Movie Stills/Posters

Condition Good

Date Period 1915 to 1925

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