Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1889-08-09
BEFORE THE CAMERA.
FAMOUS WOMEN WHO ARE PHO
.ToGRA?HED IN & LONDON.

FAMOUS WOMEN WHO ARE PHO.
'ToGRA?HED IN. LONDON:
An Ingenious American Who Il Kept busy
on Drawing Room Day--Ladies Who
Want Handsome Pictures An Inteross
= tns hit OF History Of the artist, 3 VI VI
One finds so many world renowned
celebrities passing down Regent street on
q pleasant afternoon that he keeps bob
bling from one to another and often loses
all. "There goes. Lord Tennysonr
"Quick! The Duke of Portland was in
that carriage. wonder if that was Miss
Dallas. York with hint" There goes q
carriage with royal arnlsr' "Oh, wllere9
| did not see any OF thenl;" and SO on all
the time. WhileI was trying to push to
the front grand carriage drove up to
the sidewalk, then another and another;
red carpet was laid down to the door;
there wasa flash of jewels; some bundles
Of millinery quickly sprang out. ]
glanced to the coachmen and footmen;
they all had big posies and satin ribbons
in their buttonholes. Then l knew the
real reason Of the crowd. It was "draw-
ing room day" in Regent street. After
being presented at court the beauties
were coming to be photographed.
The London photographers usually re-
ceive no other customers on that day
Most Of the royalists go to Wander
Weyde now. 1t is singular fact that
Wander Weyde, with this old historic
Dutch name, is really an American, who
came to London penniless after the war.
As the carriages rolled up the crowd in
creased. Several ladies in the street tried
to 60 up, but were repulsed by the grim
servant in livery at the door. When the
Duchess Of Marlborough swept in the
excitement became tremendous and |
could stand it no longer, SO found my
self following yards and yards of black
brocatelle, tulle, lace, passementerie, jets
and feathers up the wide staircase to
the little Moorish waiting room.
The American Duchess of Marlborough
is not pretty, but she has hne presence,
and carries herself with grace and dig
nifty, and a little self consciousness or
exalted looks, perhaps. She was dressed
in court mourning. with the magnificent
family jewels, which were once the lau-
rels of splendid home. thought her
dressed in the best taste of any Of the
ladies in the gallery. Many portraits Of
Lady Randolph Churchill hang about,
from the simple American girl in white
muslin when she first came over to the
more mature woman of tho world in her
court dress, with the star Of India blaz-
ing on her bosom. The magnificent
Duchess of Leinster was there, with her
head lifted like great stag on the alert.
Her pictures do not do her justice. She
must be seen in the flesh to appreciate
her color as well as her form.
I heard one stout lady Of past 40 say:
"Oh, you naughty American boy, why
don't you make me look like Adelaide
Detchon or Dorothy Dane7" These are
two professional beauties that Wander
Weyde has made famous. A good deal
is expected from him sometimes. Most
of his pictures are taken by electric light,
and by the use of colored glass which
softens and subdues the lines of the face
and gives to the skin Of each woman its
loveliest natural color, and makes some
plain women look beautiful.
My hour lengthens to two or three,
then, when all the trains have departed,
I was taken to the studio, where the
work of the real artist is seen-one might
almost say he is photographer only in
play, an artist in earnest, for while he
often rushes down to pose some impor-
tant person he gets back to his painting
as soon as he can, and sometimes works
until after midnight, forgetting club and
society.
We had tea from some dainty cups of
egg shell porcelain, and asked him how
he became interested in photography. 1t
was by an Academia terrible accident.
He was Seventh regiment boy. In
tho war he was captured, and was in
Libby prison for more than two years.
He was always Of an inventive genius,
and could not be idle even amid the
horrors which surrounded him. While
there he conceived some inventions which
made him fortune when he came out.
Then he spent five years in European
travel, and visited many then little ex.
plored countries. A sudden change swept
away his fortune. He was in London
and wondering what to do; chance took
him into photographers. He was told
he could not be taken that day, it was
too foggy. Without thinking he said
"Could not ono be taken by artificial
Light" 'Thero would be a fortune 70,
the man who could invent one," the
clerk replied. That night lie went tc
work. His first idea was to collect the
rays of the sun in a gigantic burning
glass; at great expense he had ono con-
structed, hollow and filled with water.
The room for experiment was in north
light; had it been under the SUMS rays
the monster glass could have melted 9
man to a grease spot.
One day while he was working there
came a terrific explosion, the glass
burst, he was knocked down and deluged
| with water, one of the fragments pierc.
| ing his arm, pinned him 10 the floor and
severed an artery, while tho blood squirt.
ed to the ceiling. The inmates Of the
house, hearing the noise, rushed to the
room to find him senseless. He was
taken to bed and for months lay in q
raging fever. The room was locked
ard when he was at last allowed to
walk he opened the door and, found the
floor scattered with fragments of glass
and the blood stain on the ceiing-the
thought of his days of wasted labor was
too much. He tainted and had re-
lapse.
| When he recovered lie heard that a
new discovery had been made-the cleo.
trio light. This was what he had been
searching for. He hired poor photog-
rapher to work for him nights, and at
last perfected the invention for which
oil the court beauties thank him when
drawing room day is a foggy one.
The pictures produced by it are pecu.
liarly soft and suggestive without chang
ing the likeness Of the face, for they
need but little retouching. The great
advantage is that the light is movable,
go that when a pose is caught it can be
experimental with from every point
London Cor. Philadelphia Press.
|
| Iron W. Wooden Sleepers.
A few years ago the German railwa,
companies were convinced that irol
sleepers were superior to wooden ones
In 1866 there were laid on the German