The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
Mr.. ROOSEVELT HARD TO POSE
A TRIAL TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER
BEFORE THE CAMERA.

BEFORE THE CAMERA.
Gets In the NrOns Position. ThruSts His
Chin Gu and F1dgets Mckinley and
Arthur Good Subjects Cleveland Was
Averse 20 Having His Picture Taken.
WASHINGTON, May 25.-~Mr. Roosevelt
Is q hard man to pose,' said a Washington
photographer who has aimed the lens at
all Of the Presidents from Grant to the
present incumbent. Hes what we call a
rigid subject.
SITS impossible for him TO fall easily
and naturally into a desired posture. He
has TO be bent, twisted and generally forced
into the position. He unconsciously
Involuntary fights the photographer.
when in the chair for a bust picture he
has a way Of thrusting his chin away too
far forward, in a grotesquely aggressive
way which in a picture would make him
appear to be saying to the beholder OF the
portrait, What's that you say2 Say it
again! I dare you to say 1t again'
Moreover, he has the fidgets II seems
to be a positive misery for him to stick
to one position for more than two seconds
at a stretch.
sThe very low cut rundown COLLAR that
he always wears seems TO bother him con-
stantly, and he has a way Of necessarily
grabbing at the front of the collar with his
right hand as IL he wanted to yank 1t OF
and toss il away. His hands are going
all the time, anyhow. / never met a mai
With less repose. 1 often wonder how
he sleeps at night-how he gets to sleep,
that is.
'The last time 1 photographed him he
was sitting back in a deep chair beside a
table. 1t took me a good eight minutes
to pull and tug him about in the chair 30
that he'd look natural, and he's so un-
yielding that it was like moving a sackdul
Of steel billets. And he would persist in
sticking his chin forward in that challeng-
ing way, despite the fact that l pulled his
head bach half a dozen times,
s'Mr. President l finally said, 4 am
all for peace. hope have not said or
done anything to cause you to look that
way--as II you had q chip on your shoulder
and were waiting for me to knock 1t of,
and once again l pulled his head back.
He laughed good naturally, and then
l sneaked the prongs Of a headrest up
to his back hair, although / knew that he
didn't like headrests.
IL you guob leb yOui hSoN obNN
this l started to say as / essayed to fix
the zach Of his head to the prongs, you'll
have the right position, and
"'No, no. no! Take that thing away!
Take it away by all means at once!' he
broke out as soon as he understood what
/ was doing, and he shot his head forward
away from the prongs, and / had to move
the headrest of the scene. III hold my
L-zI Ill -sNhA . L. rwana IN H1ICt M
ahead
He did pull his mead back a bit then,
but he Immediately began to drum on the
table with the fingers Of his right hand.
Il requested him to Delay that while
I was focusing him, and then he began to
beat the devils tattoo on the armchair with
the fingers OF his left hand. He smiled
very broadly when / asked him not TO do
that, and by this time he was huddled
all in a bunch in the chair again. and once
more l had to take hold Of him and unravel
some OF the knots from his rigid position.
FINALLY / got the snap at him. but the
picture wasn't satisfactory to me, although
he seemed to like It. He was profoundly
bored, apparently. by the time / got through
pulling him around in the chair, and when
Mr.. Roosevelt is bored his expression is
sardonio.
sHis lips curve away from his teeth in the
picture, and there is a most contemptuous
expression in the eyes. His expression in
that picture seems to cay. Il wish this in
fernal imbecile OF a photographer would
hurry up and let me get out OF here and,
as a matter Of fact, he's always in a most
terrific hurry to get out Of a Photographic
studio.
~For all OF this, l think Mr.. Roosevelt
likes to be photographed-likes. at least,
to see the finished pictures. He always
wants proofs Of all the plates. and he always
ends by ordering some copies from every
one of the negatives.
@Of late years he doesn't care much TO be
photographed full length or three-quarters,
for he is growing ~undeniably stout in spite
Of all his tennis, horseback riding. wrest-
ling and 30 on. About eighteen months
ago by dint Of immense effort and dieting
he took of some fifteen pounds. When
he came TO my studio for some new mega
tives ! noticed his decreased girth.
s'You don't want to get too thin, Mr..
President | said to him. Folks won
recognize your pictures il you do
"He seemed immensely pleased.
81 am pretty we'll down, don't you think?'
he asked me, and he patted his waistooat
with manifest delight. But it's a fight
it's a fight and his teeth suddenly came
together with a click.
Then ] told him that story about the
late Tom Reed, and IL he hadn't heard 1t he
at least let on that he hadn't. When Tom
Reed. a few years before his death, weighed
something like 2so pounds, one OF his ohum-
mics asked him how much he weighed,
1.-TWO hundred pounds was Reeds
solemn reply, without batting an eye.
Tut, tut, Tom. don't tell me nonsense, :
said his friend Why, anybody with half
an eye can see that you-
MY friend cut in Reed. maintaining
his solemnity. no gentleman ever weighs
more than 200 pounds
And Reed was right-everlastingly
right was MIR. Roosevelt's comment when
| told him the story. l was tempted to
ask him II he thought Mr.. Taft would agree
to any such proposition. but / didn't.
Il once asked Mr.. Roosevelt to allow me
to photograph him without his eyeglasses.