Tag: commercial art

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Hollywood, Broadway & More! Memorial Miscellaneous Sex Symbols

Keith’s Theatre, 5/10/25

(Silent star from the past materializes out of thin air!)

As someone matures, they start a mysterious rewinding process, much like birth-in-reverse, and ghosts from the past leap out of every nook and cranny.

This week, I was visited by the spirit of the former Ziegfeld Follies and silent screen star, Olive Thomas, who appeared out of thin air with former husband, Jack Pickford, close by her side.  To be perfectly frank (as well as very prima-donnish), the entire experience was completely overwhelming, and I shan’t recover anytime soon.

Olive Thomas, unfortunately, met an early demise in Paris, France in 1920, after swallowing poison, which ultimately resulted in her death on September 10th.  Her beauty had been the inspiration for artist Alberto Vargas’ work called “Memories of Olive,” and the piece was prominently displayed in the lobby of a New York Ziegfeld theatre for years, before being later sold to an art collector.

“Memories of Olive,” 1920 by Alberto Vargas

 Olive Thomas had once been married to actress Mary Pickford’s brother, Jack, and many believe her husband’s drinking, drug use and philandering drove her to take poison (mercury bichloride) in the early morning hours of September 6, 1920.  Also vacationing with the couple in Paris at the time of Thomas’ death on September 10th, was her close friend, actress and former Ziegfeld star, Mae Murray.

Jack Pickford was best remembered for his starring role in the 1917 silent version of Tom Sawyer, as well as its 1918 sequel, Huck and Tom.  He eloped with Olive Thomas in 1916 and by most accounts, their relationship was tumultuous until Olive’s eventual death from ingesting poison on September 6, 1920.  That death, incidentally, was eventually ruled accidental, but many consider it to be suicide.

Olive Thomas, the great beauty of the silent screen
Olive Thomas & friend
Olive Thomas’ husband, Jack Pickford, brother to Mary Pickford

So felt Mae Murray, who’d been in close contact with Olive at the time and implicated Jack Pickford for Olive’s death.  According to the Michael Ankerich book, “Mae Murray, the Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips,” Mae later wrote, “I tried to feel tolerant and understanding toward Jack, who had broken my friend’s heart because he had been himself and therefore was unlike what she wanted him to be. But I could not trust myself with him. No matter how humble and remorseful Jack would have been – and I’m sure that he was intensely so – I could not risk hurting him more.”

Mae Murray in a revealing negligée
Mae Murray, 1924, as “Circe the Enchantress”

Frances Marion, who was a popular screenwriter during the silent era, said of the Olive Thomas and Jack Pickford relationship, “I had seen her often at the Pickford home, for she was engaged to Mary’s brother, Jack. Two innocent-looking children, they were the gayest, wildest brats who ever stirred the stardust on Broadway. Both were talented, but they were much more interested in playing the roulette of life than in concentrating on their careers.”

Kind of sounds like my shenanigans as I terrorized San Francisco during the 1980s and 90s… don’t ’cha know.

Until next time…

Categories
Hollywood, Broadway & More! Memorial Miscellaneous Sex Symbols

Keith’s Theatre 5/4/2025

(More artists from the past appear out of nowhere!)

As someone matures, they start a mysterious rewinding process, much like birth-in-reverse, and ghosts from the past leap out of every nook and cranny.

This week, I was visited by the spirit of artist, Alberto Vargas, who’d suddenly returned to life. 

I’ve always liked this artist’s work, yet the gallery chain where I worked for many years, Dyansen, handled several commercial artists but not Vargas’ art.  Alberto Vargas by this time had achieved worldwide notoriety and was attracting the attention of art collectors worldwide.

Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez was born on February 9, 1896, in Arequipa, Perú, the son of a well-known Peruvian photographer.  Vargas, considered one of the leading pin-up girl illustrators and artists, perfected the use of watercolors, often in combination with the airbrush, during his lifetime. 

From January, 1941 “Esquire” magazine

Vargas had been employed early in his career by showman, Florenz Ziegfeld.  Vargas painted one of Ziegfeld stars, Olive Thomas, and the work was prominently displayed in the lobby of a New York Ziegfeld theatre for years, before being sold to a private collector. 

“Memories of Olive” by Alberto Vargas, 1920

Olive Thomas, in addition to being a Ziegfeld Follies star, had once been unhappily married to actress Mary Pickford’s brother, Jack, and many believe her husband’s drinking, drug use and philandering drove her to take poison in the early morning hours of September 6, 1920.  Also vacationing with her in Paris at the time of her death on September 10th, was her close friend, as well as former Ziegfeld Follies star, Mae Murray. 

Olive Thomas, Ziegfeld Follies star
Jack Pickford, Mary’s brother
Former Ziegfeld Follies star & friend of Olive Thomas, Mae Murray

Vargas later did work for several Hollywood studios creating movie posters, and one such design was for the 1933 film, The Sin of Nora Moran, starring Zita Johann.  Johann, an Austrian American actress is best remembered for her role opposite Boris Karloff in the 1932 film, The Mummy.

Other well-known actresses painted by Vargas included Ziegfeld’s wife, Billie Burke, silent screen actresses Bessie Love and Nita Naldi, and 1950’s sex symbols Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe.

Florenz Ziegfeld’s second wife, actress Billie Burke
Bessie Love, silent screen star
Nita Naldi, also achieved silent stardom
Mamie van Doren, Marilyn’s competition
Marilyn Monroe

During the 1940s, Esquire magazine featured many of the Vargas pin-ups, some of which I’ve featured below.  In 1959, Playboy magazine magnate, Hugh Hefner, began using Vargas’ work, which will be featured in a separate Keith’s Theatre column.

Alberto Vargas died on December 30, 1982, in Los Angeles, California.

Wikipedia’s biography of Alberto Vargas can be found at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Vargas

Until next time…

From March, 1945 “Esquire” magazine
From November, 1945 “Esquire”
From February, 1945 “Esquire”
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Keith’s Theatre, 4/26/25

(Spirits conjure up memories of gallery daze, Erté & artist LeRoy Neiman)

What spirits have been haunting me lately?

Many! Read on to find out more…

As a person matures, they start a mysterious rewinding process, much like birth-in-reverse, and ghosts from the past leap out from every nook and cranny.

This past week, thanks to such forces, I relived my life in San Francisco during the 1980s and 90s.  At the time, I was employed in the commercial art world, installing art exhibitions at the Dyansen Gallery chain.  I traveled a lot on the West Coast between Beverly Hills, San Diego and Maui, where we operated four different galleries, but I was typically stationed at Dyansen Gallery in San Francisco, hanging our many Erté art retrospectives.  Erté had become the poster child for the Art Deco movement, was incredibly prolific and was well into his 80s at that time.

Installing Erté’s artwork was no small feat.  During his eight decades of life, he’d produced a plethora of original gouaches, a multitude of lithographs & serigraphs (silkscreens), as well as several bronze sculpture collections.  It was an incredibly lucrative business whereby many art dealers (as well as Erté) grew fabulously wealthy.

Arranging Erté’s bronze sculpture collections on their signature black lacquer pedestals became my favorite part, as well as the sculpture’s precision lighting.  This was still the era when halogen lighting was state of the art, and it predated the LED lighting that galleries currently use. 

Halogens were expensive to operate and generated a great deal of heat.  My favorite bulbs quickly became 50-watt PAR 36s which came in wide flood, flood, spot, as well as pin-spot versions.  These bulbs were installed in metal casings that plugged into tracks which were mounted in a steel framework known as Structura, manufactured by the Italian company, Targetti. 

Such track lighting was able to achieve dramatic effects on art which has never been equaled to date.  Structura by Targetti was and still is, the definitive method for lighting artwork, not yet surpassed.

Q50 MR16 halogen lights were the next gallery fad.  They were cheaper to use, and their burn time was significantly longer.  The problem with these bulbs – as they aged, they developed an annoying yellow cast, not at all flattering for showcasing art.  To combat the issue, General Electric developed their “Constant Color” which had a silver coating on back of the bulb, thus preventing the dreaded yellow glow that was toxic when selling expensive artwork.  As the GE brand was pricier, many galleries opted to put up with the ever-present yellow haze generated by the standard Q50 bulbs. 

My lighting memories (thanks to the invisible forces at work) morphed into recollections of some of my favorite exhibitions and artists, many of whom it was impossible to display in a negative light.  LeRoy Neiman, (1921-2012), was one such master, and his original paintings, pastels and line drawings once graced Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Clubs. 

Cigarette Girl, 1959
Zsa Zsa, 1983
Bunny Pool, 1963

I recalled in early autumn, 1989, about one month before San Francisco’s infamous October 1989 earthquake, when one of my most memorable shows took place.  It was the LeRoy Neiman exhibition of original Playboy Club art.

It was virtually impossible to display Neiman’s work in a negative light.

The artist was an imposing, impressive figure I might add, who towered above me at well over 6 feet and was always sporting his trademark handlebar moustache.  It was quite a sight and one I shall never forget.

Sinatra, 1967
Hef and Bunnies, 1963
Clark Street, 1955
Roulette, 1969
Mallet Man, 1964

Neiman’s works are pictured below from the book, LeRoy Neiman Five Decades.  A biography of Neiman can be found on Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeRoy_Neiman

I can feel more ghosts in the queue just waiting to confront me, including that of artist and humorist, Charles Bragg (1931 – 2017), that Dyansen carried exclusively for many years, as well as pin-up artist, Alberto Vargas (1896-1982) who we didn’t represent. 

Those are stories for another day.  I’m exhausted from communing with the dead and need a week’s rest.

Until next time…

Beatles, 1966, LeRoy Neiman