Time Travel with Louise Millmann and G. W. Pach.
Louise is our neighbor in Bradley Beach on the Jersey Shore. From Van’s cottage in Ocean Grove, a walk down Delaware Avenue takes you to her house.
Sitting in her bucolic backyard, near the garage (which is like a grandfather’s) and vegetable garden, we sipped seltzer near a Japanese maple tree. Louise mentioned how the previous owner of the house once visited, wanting to see the tree where she played as a girl.
Louise told us about an outfit from her collection dating from circa 1864, which had been stored in an attic for over a century.
She had rinsed it carefully, removing years of dirt. I asked her if I could see it. Moments later, she laid out the garments on the yard table.
The remarkable outfit is complete with cape and hat, embellished with passementerie of jet beads. The dress was black, elaborate in its many details—knife pleat edges and black embroidery—and luxurious silk fabric. The label on the cape reads Biefeld’s, an extant 19th-century clothing store on the Ladies Mile. Louise showed me a removable hem that goes with the skirt—hems were replaceable because they were supposed to drag.
I spontaneously put on the cape and Louise placed the hat on me carefully. She styled me a bit, got her iPad, and photographed me using a ‘tin type’ app. I stood still in front of a hedge, holding a fan from Casa de Diego in Madrid, which Bubi gifted me a couple of years ago.
The resulting picture mesmerized me—Louise teaches photography and Photoshop at Jericho and St. John’s high schools—brought to life a piece of an imaginary story.
Louise is an enthusiast of antique clothing, passionate about creating still images and films in faithful keeping with the aesthetic of a variety of eras. (Check out her Instagram here.)
When Van’s house was built, it was the only one on the block in Mt. Tabor Way. Now it’s surrounded by East Lake houses built in the later 19th century, and Sears Roebuck houses built in the yard of a nearby Italianate mansion in the early 20th century.
Van has a xerox of a stereopticon of the house, photographed by Gustavus W. Pach, founder of the New York-based Pach Brothers Studio, the most successful photography company to emerge after the Civil War. In the image, one can see Reverend Wood, the original owner of the house, and his friends on the porch.
Gustavus was the inventor of the "flashlight" method of illuminating scenes—using magnesium powder, alcohol, and a blow torch—the prevalent method of lighting theatrical production shots until 1905.
I feel connected deeply to Reverend Wood and the cottage and was thrilled to wear clothes from nary a few years after it was built.
Louise says we need to do historically-correct photographs on the porch, with proper clothing in place. The idea is a perfect extension of my etheric memories of being in the house through time and space.
Photos: 1, 3. Louise Millman. 4. G. W. Pach