Family Portrait Gallery #5

Here's a portrait which has had a rough time, at least lately. I bought this one in a sandwich bag, which is why I still have the cracked corners and a few other tiny chips from the card. I'm not an artistically knowledgeable guy, really. But I think the cracked stucco wall behind the soft face of this young lady makes for a nice contrast.

The break makes it hard to parse the name of the photographer, but it is apparently "Saettele." According to this list here, there were quite a few different members of the Saettele family who worked as photographers, several of them on either 6th or Franklin Ave in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1972, this portion of Franklin Avenue was renamed after Martin Luther King, but that didn't stop the decay of that part of town. Since 1995, the former location of this portrait studio is home to Edward Jones Dome, which is home to not only the St. Louis Rams, but also the 2011-2013 FIRST World Championship Competitions.

When I was working on my previous blog, a now-defunct MP3 blog, I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the legend of Stagger Lee, based on a real 1895 murder in St. Louis. Because I am nothing if not curious, I plugged in the address of the murder into Google, and it's just four blocks from this portrait studio, and probably less than a decade away in time. (Billy Lyons, the murder victim, would have walked within spitting distance of the studio from his home to the bar where he met his end.)

Family Portrait Gallery #4

Here's a whole family!


Father's glasses and slight squint make him seem not only unhappy, but perturbed. Mother at least looks like she's trying to smile. The three daughters, whose names are written above their heads, all look straight on at the camera. It's pretty obvious that, unlike all the previous portraits I've posted, this one didn't happen in a studio -- this was probably outside the kitchen door of Mother and Father's house, where the three sisters grew up. The cake is also pretty clearly homemade.

But wait, what's this? There's information written on the back of the card? Glory be!



In addition to the writing, there's also some ghosting of other handwriting I can't make out. The next-to-bottom line starts with "58 J" but other than that I'm at a loss. (Fiddling with the contrast in my editing software isn't much help, either.)

I'm so used to having to extrapolate whatever I can from the actual picture that it's almost crippling to have so much to go on here. It feels like any of my guesses actually weaken the effect of the picture, so I'll just say this: Grandma and Grandad Hicks were married 95 years ago, and for the two of them to live to see a golden wedding anniversary was remarkable at the time.

Family Portrait Gallery #3

Here's a lovely couple, photographed in Brooklyn many decades ago (after 1915, which is the only year I can nail down). The cardboard frame was stained and watermarked (which, as you can see, my scanner brought out very nicely) during the picture's long life. As with the previous two entries in my family portrait gallery, there are no notes or information written on the photo or frame so I have no information about the featured couple here.

I'd like to speculate if I may, and then we'll get to facts later on. The woman in this picture is wearing two rings, one on each ring finger. The man appears to not be wearing a ring, but we can't see his right hand -- perhaps they're Orthodox? Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about clothing styles could speculate a year for us, based on the cut of his suit, or even the style of her veil?

So here's what we do know. Roubian Palmisano (if that is indeed a first name) ran a portrait studio in Brooklyn. The front of it looked like this. Previous to the Palmisano studio, another portrait photographer worked in the same place, but J. Palmisano (Roubian's father?) opened his place in 1915. Some time after this portrait was taken, Palmisano expanded his business into the adjoining storefront, and then took this picture. And then later, that building came down. Here's what 262 Columbia Street looks like today.

Another family portrait

Here's another family portrait.



Like the first portrait I shared, I have no information on the subject of this lovely photo (click to embiggen). And there's nothing to help on the back of the card. I can learn a few things about the studio where this was taken -- Julius Hebbel's studio was located at this address during the last years of the 19th century. Which means it's been over a hundred years since this young girl put on her best dress to have pictures taken.

The approximate site of the photo studio is now home (in what is presumably a new building) to a doggie day care. (I'd link you to the official site, but apparently they've been hacked this week.) The question is, has sometime Baltimore resident Richard Belzer boarded his own babies there?

My favorite thing I've ever found.

Look at this lady:


She used to be someone's mother, or wife, or favorite aunt. She used to hang proudly over a fireplace, or in someone's hall. You can't tell it from my picture (sorry about that -- I'm an amateur), but the colors appear hand-tinted, which means someone took a lot of time and effort to get this picture to look so beautiful.

I found her in Goodwill, among all the framed posters of Michael Jordan and inspirational quotes and paintings of Noah's Ark. There she was, in her unassuming frame, abandoned. Her husband/child/niece had died, and the family members cleaned out the house, threw everything away or donated it. This picture was deemed not worth keeping.

Sadly, the photo paper is fused to the cardboard backing, so if there's anything on the back I can't see it. I've tried a few times over the years to give this lovely lady a name, but nothing sticks. It should, obviously, be a name fitting to her golden time period, an old-lady name, but a pretty one. (Edna just won't do.) I like Grace, or Eleanor.

This wonderful portrait has inspired my collection of old family photos, of people I've never met and am not related to, which I'll be posting here from time to time.