Description: a tad smaller than 8x10" Witzel L.A. Studio Photograph SINCERLY YOURS WILLIAM FARNUM (most likely a stamped signature) has corner bend, edge/corner wear Jsb202 Info from Wikipedia William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American actor. He was a star of American silent film cinema and became one of the highest-paid actors during that time. Farnum was born on July 4, 1876, in Boston, Massachusetts, but he grew up in Bucksport, Maine. One of three brothers, Farnum grew up in a family of actors. He made his acting debut at the age of 10 in Richmond, Virginia, in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character. He portrayed the title character of Ben-Hur (1900) on Broadway. Later plays Farnum appeared in there included The Prince of India (1906), The White Sister (1909), The Littlest Rebel (1911) co-starring his brother Dustin, and Arizona (1913), also with Dustin. In The Spoilers in 1914, Farnum and Tom Santschi staged a classic film fight which lasted for a full reel. In 1930, Farnum and Santschi coached Gary Cooper and William Boyd in the fight scene for the 1930 version of The Spoilers. Other actors influenced by the Farnum/Santschi scene were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in 1923 and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in 1942. From 1915 to 1952, Farnum devoted his life to motion pictures. While becoming one of the most popular actors in Hollywood, he also became one of the highest-paid, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures Drag Harlan (1920) and If I Were King (1921) survive from his years contracted to Fox Films. Nearly all of Fox's silent films made before 1932 were destroyed in a vault fire in 1937. ----- Witzel Studios was founded in Los Angeles by photographer Albert Walter Witzel (1879–1929) in 1909 and within a few years had become one of the city’s foremost portrait studios. The rise of the business paralleled the emergence of the film industry following its relocation from the east coast, and Witzel was soon in demand from Hollywood studios seeking to create interest in movies by circulating promo shots of their stars. Distinguished by moody lighting and dramatic poses and settings, Witzel’s photos soon set the tone for Hollywood studio photography and from the mid-1910s they featured frequently in fan magazines like Photoplay, becoming an important promotional and publicity tool. Witzel occasionally worked on assignment for the big picture studios, photographing many silent film luminaries including Theda Bara and Charlie Chaplin. Witzel’s business began to decline in the 1920s, by which time the relentless publicity machine had resulted in movie studios employing their own teams of photographers. Witzel Studios folded following Albert Witzel’s death in 1929.
Price: 50 USD
Location: Arlington, Massachusetts
End Time: 2024-09-30T12:35:30.000Z
Shipping Cost: 6 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Original/Reproduction: Original
Object Type: Photograph
Industry: Movies
