ALFRED CHENEY JOHNSTON+ COFFEE TABLE BOOK

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALFRED CHENEY JOHNSTON *Alfred Cheney Johnston was a New York City-based photographer known for his partraits of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls.In approcimately 1917. Johnston was hired by famed New York City live-theater showman and producer Florenz Ziegfeld as a contracted photographer. and was affliated with the Ziegfeld Follies for the next fifteen years or so."

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Dorothy Graves, Zegfeld Follies Girl, Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston. Dorothy also appeared on Broadway in Jubilee (Oct 12, 1935 - Mar 07, 1936)

- Performer: Dorothy Graves [Ensemble]; Let 'Em Eat Cake (Oct 21, 1933 - Jan 06, 1934)- Performer: Dorothy Graves [Lady's Ensemble]; Dorothy Graves Of Thee | Sing (Dec 26, 1931 - Jan 14, 1933) - Performer: Dorothy Graves [Ensemble] Musical Ballyhoo of 1930 (Dec 22, 1930 - Feb 21, 1931) - Performer: Dorothy Graves [Ensemble].

#DorothyGraves #ACJ #ZiegfeldFolliesGirl #FricPic #Colorized #CoffeeTableBook

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Marion Davies, 1925 (1897-1961). A former Ziegfeld girl who became a comedic actress and mistress to tycoon William Randolph Hearst. She starred in "Ziegfeld Follies of 1916," when she met Hearst and became his mistress for the next 34 years, until his death. Her motion picture career spanned two decades, from 1917 to 1937. Davies shined as a comedian, but Hearst wanted her to be a serious leading lady, and his grousing at the studios brought her career to a premature end. She retired in 1937. Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston in 1916.

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Burke, Katherine: [ACJ] Katherine Burke performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925 and 1931 and in Ziegfeld's musicals ‘No Foolin'(1926), Rio Rita (1927-1928), Rosalie (1928), Whoopee (1928-1929), and Smiles (1930).

#KatherineBurke #Whoopee #ZiegfeldTheatre #Alfred Cheney Johnston #FricPic

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Virginia Biddle (1910-2003) was an American revue performer and showgirl. Biddle was a regular performer in Florenz Ziegfeld's "Follies" shows until 1931.

In July 1931, Biddle sustained burns to her feet and ankles in the explosion of Harry Richman's yacht Chevalier II. Her friend and fellow cast member in the 1931 Follies, Helen Walsh, was killed. Although she played the benefit performance of the Follies in Walsh's memory, Biddle ended her career on the stage in the wake of the accident, and her injuries also forced her to abandon dancing. She sued Richman for $50,000 damages but received only $50.

Biddle married twice and had three children, later forging a career as a realtor in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. In 2003 she suffered injuries in a car accident and died shortly afterwards. Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston

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Dorothy Flood was born in 1912 and attended Children's Professional School in New York. Early on, she was a ballet dancer with The Metropolitan Opera Company.

She became a Ziegfeld Girl and was in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. After her Ziegfeld career ended, she did modeling jobs, including for Dobbs Hats and Whitman's Chocolates.

Other career highlights include:

In the musicals Hot-Cha!, Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 and Midnight Frolic, and Smiles one film, Resurrection (1931), playing Princess Hasan dancing with Racine in Swan Lake as the Black Swan (understudy) -she was chosen for her wonderfully expressive hand movements. A ballerina in Ziegfeld's production of Whoopee!, and serving as understudy for Ruby Keeler (going on for her when Ms. Keeler was injured). Apparently, Dorothy was asked to go to Hollywood to be in the movie version, but her parents wouldn't allow it.

She was also in a show with Maurice Chevalier when he sang in the Rainbow Room. She and Bing Crosby used to drink tea backstage together at rest breaks during a show they were doing together. Dorothy counted among her many friends Buddy Ebsen (whom she had worked with in Whoopee!) and his sister Vilma. She was in a few Marx Brothers movies (but said her scenes usually ended up on the cutting room floor!). During her later years, she lived happily as a housewife on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

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Alberto Vargas (1896-1982) was born in Arequipa, Peru, in 1896, the son of a successful photographer, and was educated in Paris and London. Arriving in New York in 1916, he was determined to stay in America and pursue what became an illustrious career. His name has become synonymous with pinup girls, but in the early 1940s, he was hired by Esquire magazine to replace George Petty. Vargas had his own distinctive, delicate watercolor style developed when working for Florence Ziegfeld follies and Hollywood Studios in the 1920s and 30s. emerged. His wide-eyed beauties were from his personal connections to many stars and starlets of the time, even Betty Grable as the ultimate pin-up girl of World War II.

Vargas, who signed his Esquire work "Varga", had already achieved some notoriety for his Ziegfeld Follies and movie poster art. But Esquire made him famous, though he was underpaid paid and eventually quit on a contract dispute of unpaid royalties. Legal problems over ownership of the brand "Varga" which was a brand owned by Esquire/Hearst Publishing was resolved as owned by Esquire. But late in his life, Vargas was given a second shot at fame and fortune by longtime fan Hugh Hefner. His regular Playboy slot in the 1960s and '70s elevated Vargas. One of the true giants of American illustration, Alberto Vargas has created an art style so sensuous, so exquisite, that for the past six decades his magnificent paintings of women have come to embody the fantasies of three generations of women and men around the world.

His work also appeared in Harper's Bazaar, Theatre Magazine, and many Movie posters. He died in December 1982, 8 years after the love of his life, Anna May. They were married for 45 years. Nothing to do with Alfred Cheney Johnston.

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Betty Jewel, born Julia Baroni, on April 29, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska died in 1963. She has eight acting credits between the years of 1923 and 1927 - with three of them in 1927 and she disappears from the scene after that. Betty seems to have started in the biz as a Ziegfield Girl in her teens. B&W Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston, from Theatre Magazine, 1922 edition.

#BettyJewel #JuliaBaroni #ZiegfeldFolliesGirl #AlfredCheneyJohnston #FricPic #Colorized #TheatreMagazine1922 #CoffeeTableBook #Animated

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Dolores or Rose Dolores (born Kathleen Mary Rose; 26 September 1893 - 7 November 1975) was an English model. She is recognised as the first celebrity clothes model and has been credited with inventing the blank hauteur of the modern fashion model. Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. called her "the loveliest showgirl in the world" [She was known for her commanding stage presence and became the star of the Ziegfeld Follies from 1917 until her retirement in 1923. She lived the rest of her life in Paris and during the Second World War helped Allied airmen escape the German occupation.

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Ruth Etting was a Broadway and recording star who began her career as a chorus girl and made her Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. She starred in two further Ziegfeld shows, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 and the revue Simple Simon. Etting became known for her signature songs, including "Love Me or Leave Me," and transitioned to Hollywood with the help of her manager and husband, gangster Moe "Moe the Gimp" Snyder.

Early Career & Ziegfeld Follies

Origin: Born in Nebraska, Etting moved to Chicago at 16 to attend art school, which eventually led her to work at a nightclub.

Broadway Debut: After working as a chorus girl and singer, she was recommended for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 by Irving Berlin.

Broadway Success: Her performance in the Follies was a success, leading her to appear in other Ziegfeld productions and hit musicals like Whoopee! and Simple Simon.

Notable Songs & Later Career

Signature Songs: Etting introduced iconic songs such as "Love Me or Leave Me" and "Ten Cents a Dance".

Film and Radio: She became a popular recording artist and a radio star, eventually appearing in Pre-Code films like Roman Scandals.

Scandal and Retirement: Her career was complicated by her stormy marriage to Moe Snyder and a later scandal involving her second husband, pianist Myrl Alderman.

Legacy

"America's Sweetheart of Song": Etting was affectionately known as "America's Sweetheart of Song" for her popular recordings and radio performances.

Hollywood Adaptation: Her life story was dramatized in the 1955 musical film Love Me or Leave Me, starring Doris Day as Etting

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Ackerman, Jean: [ACJ] ibdb.com Jean Ackerman performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic of 1929 (April edition), and in Ziegfeld's musicals Rosalie, Whoopee (1928) and Smiles (1930). (Ref: Theatre Program).

#JeanAckerman #ZiegfeldFollies1927 #ZiegfeldMidnightFrolic1929 #Rosalie #Whoopee1928 #Smiles1930 #FricPic #CoffeeTableBook #IBDB.com #Colorized #MyArt

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Helen Morgan, who was studying music in New York, first took the stage in Ziegfeld’s production of “Sally” in 1923, before joining the Follies in 1931. Morgan is most notable for having played Julie in the original cast of “Show Boat” in 1927. Her work as a film actress included two film productions of Show Boat, while also continuing with the stage work, including a Broadway production of “Sweet Adeline.”

An avid drinker during Prohibition, Morgan ran into trouble with the law because of her involvement with nightclubs and speakeasies in New York. Her weakness for alcohol finally caught up with her, and at 41 she died from cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol abuse.

#HelenMorgan #AlfredCheneyJohnston #ZiegfeldProduction #showboat1927 #SweetAdeline #stageactress #ScreenActress #colorized #myart #fricpic #coffeetablebook #IBDB.com #Sally1923

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Helen Morgan, who was studying music in New York, first took the stage in Ziegfeld’s production of “Sally” in 1923, before joining the Follies in 1931. Morgan is most notable for having played Julie in the original cast of “Show Boat” in 1927. Her work as a film actress included two film productions of Show Boat, while also continuing with the stage work, including a Broadway production of “Sweet Adeline.”

An avid drinker during Prohibition, Morgan ran into trouble with the law because of her involvement with nightclubs and speakeasies in New York. Her weakness for alcohol finally caught up with her, and at 41 she died from cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol abuse.

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Florence O'Denishawn, 1921 (July 21, 1897 - March 15, 1991). Her real name was Florence Andrews but he took the artistic surname from the “Denishawn" dance academy, one of the most prestigious of the early 20th century. Among her students the Gish sisters or Louise Brooks and a Ziegfeld Follies Girl in 1921.

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(L) Fleming, Susan (aka Marx, Susan): [ACJ] (February 19, 1908 - December 22, 2002) From Wikipedia: "Susan Fleming was a Hollywood ingenue known as the "Girl with the Million Dollar Legs" for a role she played in the W.C. Fields film Million Dollar Legs

(1932). Her big stage break which led to her Hollywood career was as one of the famed Ziegfeld Girls in the Ziegfeld Follies. She later ended her Hollywood career when she married Harpo Marx on September 28, 1936 with whom she adopted four children." While Susan Fleming does not show up in ibdb as having been in any Ziegfeld productions, there is a photo of her in the HRC Florenz Ziegfeld Collection and she is obviously dressed here for a Ziegfeld production "Rio Rita". She performed in films from 1931-1954.

(R) Goddard, Paulette: [ACJ] (June 3, 1910 or 1911 - April 23, 1990) From Wikipedia: "A former child model and Ziegfield Girl, Paulette Goddard was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s.

She became a fashion model as a teenager, and a member of the Ziegfeld Follies at the age of 13 in 1924. Her stage debut was in the Ziegfeld revue production ‘No Foolin' in 1926." According to the theatre program, she also performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925 (Jan 1926, Forrest Theatre, Phil PA). She Performed in Ziegfeld's Production "Rio Rita" (1927-1928). She also performed in films from 1929-1972. Edited from Wikipedia.

#SusanFlemming #PauletteGoddard #RioRita1927 #ACJ #ZiegfeldTheatre #FricPic #CoffeeTableBook

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Performer Ethel O'Dell c.1928-30

Photographer: Alfred Cheney Johnston (1885-1971)

#EthelO'Dell #AlfredCheneyJohnston #Performer #Colorized #FricPic

Performer Ethel O'Dell c.1928-30 - Photographer: Alfred Cheney Johnston

(1885-1971)

Ethel O'Dell was a performer, likely a chorus girl or showgirl, active on Broadway during the late 1920s and early 1930s. She was photographed during this period by Alfred Cheney Johnston, a renowned photographer known for his portraits of the era's stage and film celebrities.

Ethel O'Dell: Broadway a performer, while details of O'Dell's full career are sparse, her credits from the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) place her on the New York stage during the specified time frame:

• Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929-1930): O'Dell was in the chorus of this successful musical comedy.

• Ziegfeld Production "Hot-Cha!" (1932): She was part of the ensemble for this musical.

• Hold Your Horses (1933): O'Dell was credited as a showgirl in this production.#EthelO'Dell #AlfredCheneyJohnston #Performer #Colorized #FricPic #Ziegfeld Model

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Pauline Garon, 1922n Born: ( Sep 09, 1901 Montreal, Quebec, CANADA, Died: Aug 30, 1965, San Bernardino, California, USA - Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston

Preformed in : “A Lonely Romeo” (Jun 10, 1919 - Nov 10, 1919) - Performer: Pauline Garon [Francois, Sadie Little]; “Buddies” (Oct 27, 1919 - Jun 12, 1920) - Performer: Pauline Garon [Babette] and “Lilies of the Field” (Oct 04, 1921 - Feb 1922) - Performer: Pauline Garon [Doris Carter].

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Marjorie King [ACJ c. 1928, Ziegfeld Follies Girl, and she was the Inspiration for The Margarita.

Legend has it that she is the eponym for the famous Margarita cocktail. The original version was invented in Southern California in 1948 by Danny Herrera at his Rancho la Gloria bar near Tijuana. King became a friend and visitor of Danny's and claimed that she was allergic to every liquor except Tequila but couldn't drink it straight.

Herrera experimented with a new cocktail for her. When she approved of his concoction of 3 parts White Tequila, 2 parts Cointreau, 1 part Lemon Juice, shaken and served with ice in a glass rimmed with salt, he named it Margarita (the closest Spanish equivalent to Marjorie) for the actress.