Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
POPLAR PHOTOGRAPHS.

Pictures of Humanity and How They
Sell to the Publie-Cash Paid for New
Faces-Great Men Ignored, but Great
Women in Demand.
Clearly the most interesting develop
ment in life, says the New York Herald. is
the human feature. Hence daguerreotypes
and photographs. Twenty-Five years ago,
when cartes de visite were all the rage,
every man, woman and child. no matter
how humble their means, owned an al
bum, in which tiny pictures were pre-
served. At that time the three chief pic
ture takers of this country were Brady,
Fredericks and Quincy. Mr.. Brady, as
the files of the Herald abundantly dis
close, began collection Of local, national
and universal celebrities, which, shortly
after the breaking out of our CIVIL war, he
removed to Washington, whence, as a
base of operations. he sent with every
great army corps his representatives to
preserve in pictorial form records Of the
great battles of the day. with portraits OF
the men who participated in them. That
vast collection is somewhere stored, but
at present makes no figure in the public
eye.
Some years ago a new style Of picture,
GaAlEu bAE AAnllELldis " DIS lHAAOuuNGus az
first il found but little favor. as there were
no albums large enough TO contains pic
lures of that size. Other artists followed
and as art and science kept pace with
capital new galleries were formed, until
to-day the entire city is sprinkled with
frames containing portraits, pictures Of
various kinds and all sorts and sizes,
done for miraculously small sums OF
money. Instantaneous photographs are
hofa rlffa
cupY the time of others, groupings utilize
the eye OF this expert and fancy portrait
ure enlists the talents of that.
WHAT AN OLD-TLMER SAYS.
In an interview with we'll known pho
tOgrapher yesterday he said: ''Ihe first
popular demand, in my experience, Oc-
Cured along about the time when Beech
er, Wendell Phillips. Garrison and their
friends were prominent in the public eye,
but the sale Of photographs TO any eX-
tent, so far as my experience goes, did not
begin until along about 1855. The first
women for whose pictures there was any
noted demand were Fanny Davenport,
Clara Morris and Adelaide Nelson. Very
few pictures were sold of RistOri, but
thousands were sold of Miss Davenport
and other thousands of Miss Morris. al
though the greatest faYOrite of early
times was Adelaide Nelson. l never shall
forget the first time she sat for me. She
was dressed in her magnificent Juliet
costume, and, as she turned quickly, one
breadth of her exquisite dress caught the
charcoal on a frame behind and by it was
absolutely ruined. Throwing up her hands
and her eyes at the same time she said:
on, dear, what shall l do? Ny dress is
ruinedn l suggested, after examination,
that all she would need was a single
breadth, whereupOn she became Quieted
L.
Of thousands of which were sold"
"DO you still sell pictures of Neilson?''
Yes, many thousands and thousands Of
them"
Did you pay her anything for that
Certainly not. The first person I ever
paid was Sarah Bernhardt.''
How much did you give her:7
Fifteen hundred dollars at first, and l /
sold thousands and tens of thousands of |
her pictures on European as well as local /
orders. 1t is a singular fact in connection /
with this sale Of photographs that IN /
Europe as soon as a celebrity dies the ord /
ars for his or her pictures increase mar !
yeIOusly, while here it is exactly the re- /
verse;"
DEATH THE LENELER.
For instance:"
"Well, take the case of Horace Greedy.
a AC " AnoANuo PA Ol " Ills OtdLu his PIC"
lures sold very rapidly and the presses
were kept going all the time, but as soon
rs he died the demand fell off, and now we
iOn't sell one picture Of his to where in
)thef days we sold a thousand. The same
5 trge of Farragut, who at one time was
Tery popular, but now we rarely, if ever
indeed, are asked for one Of his pictures"
"HOw about Patti!'
''Oh, Patti sells enormously, and VIII
M 81 "a "a 81 4
ully, and makes very fair portrait as
vel as a pretty picture"
Did you have to pay her anything for
ne priyilege?"
sob, yes; $1,000. But one of the great
- cards OF recent years is Mrs. Langtry.
y have sold so many, riotlnlres Of her l
hould really be afraid to make an esti-
nate, but scores Oft ciuassae.GGds or Ter pho
Ograpns are sold every year"
did you pay her anything for the priv
lege?"
'sYes: $1,000, of which 81, 900 were paid
n cash and $500 in works of art"
But these are all women. Don't you
.ver sell pictures of menu
Yes; but men, as rule, don't sell as
veil as women, if they are great popular
hem off. A popular actress, successful
inger attracts admiration as we'll as
and everybody appears to want
o have her picture, whereas man, as
'ule, nobody cares anything about. The
wO great exceptions were Montague,
ormerly of Wallack's, and George Rig
lOld, who, you remember, played here as
Henry " Why, il was with difficulty
We could keep pace with our orders.
school girls from all over the country,
-eung women everywhere, wanted their
pictures. The craZe-l can hardly call 1t
anything else-Of admiration for those
people reminded me of the admiration
hat in olden times followed Lester Wal
ack and George Jordan, the two hand
soonest meu in the city"
THE DEAR OSCAR CATCHES on.
Did you ever pay percentage to any
man%'
"Yes, paid Oscar Wilde a percentage,
and tor a time his pictures sold with
rapidity; in fact, it would be
to know how many photo
graphs of that man were taken from one
enc of the country to the other. Perhaps
the greatest fayOrite that we have evsr
known, however, vas Mary Anderson.
Her pictures in every style, in every posi-
ton, meet with instant popular favor on
both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe she
sells fast. and here it would be impossible
TO eXaggerate the demand"
"Well, opera bOutfe singers, as a rule,
are not pretty women. While they are
here and their names are in the papers
svery day, we have a steady sale, but
nothing of consequence, nothing at all to
with the sales Of Adelaide Neil
son or Mary Anderson"
"HOw is it with the local actresses, the
members Of stock companies
There is a regular, constant trade in
hem. but nora.n- Of any consequence.
N fact. pretty-faced chorus girl or a
lTetty-faced anything sells better than
.nybodv. unless there is some special rea-
,On for their temporary or prominent pop
llaritv. Take the case Of Maud Brans-
comb. for instance. Why, scores and
scores. thousands and thousands OF her
pictures have been taken in eveo--v con- |
seivable attitude-prayi~r.S supplicating,
crying, hanging t. eae cross, looking this |
way, looking that way, doing this thing,
doing mat thing-nothing comes amiss to
that face, and in no other way is Miss
Brauscomb known to the world"
''Do Presidential candidates, as rule,
sell wel?'
lone of the greatest sales we ever had
was the Garfield series. During the Presi-
Dental struggle subsequently, when he