HAVE YOU SEEN ME?
A lady’s name appears in the paper three times: when she’s born, when she marries, and when she dies. Even in 1899, that was an old saw, but there was still a certain amount of currency to the idea that any female with pretentions to ladyhood had best keep herself out of the yellow sheets. Unless she was the Princess of Something, or her name was the by-line – which was still a bit suspect -- a lady simply did not make a public matter of herself.
Singers, though, are by necessity a different art form (pun fully intended!), and a certain amount of respectful attention is required if one is an artist. And so, Ella Shane finds herself posing for the occasional carte de visite.
In the days before glossy celebrity magazines, cartes de visite were the way people got to see their famous favorites. Slightly larger than our modern baseball cards, they would feature a picture of anyone from a revered writer – to a “professional beauty” – to, yes, a singer. Usually, because photography was still serious business, the subject was sitting there trying to look important and soulful. It’s no wonder Ella hates the things.
But they were madly popular, and people collected them like baseball cards. There are hundreds in the NYPL Digital Collections, mostly extremely dull shots of people whose names we no longer recognize attempting to impress posterity. If only they knew.
Cartes de visite figure several times in A FATAL FINALE. Ella’s unfortunate Juliet, who dies onstage after drinking real poison (Accident – or murder? You’ll have to read it to find out!) has a collection. The young woman’s cards, kept in a box that is an important clue of its own, tell us about her aspirations: beauties, actresses and famous singers – including one of Ella as Romeo. Plus, more than once, Ella and her singing partner Marie grouse about having to pose for new pictures for their coming production.
Despite her complaints, Ella does have an advantage. Her cartes de visite feature her in costume as Romeo, or another heroic male character, so she has little need to worry about anyone recognizing her as her offstage self. She doesn’t anyway, really, because in 1899, we’re still well before the age of celebrities. People might look twice at her in the street if they recognized her, and perhaps offer an opinion on a recent show if they were very bold, but she doesn’t have to contend with screaming followers – not that most opera singers inspire such adulation, anyway.
The few people who do recognize her generally let her be, unless they’re very young and starstruck. In A FATAL FINALE, little Betsy Martin recognizes Ella from the Romeo carte de visite she uses as a bookmark and asks for an autograph, which our diva is happy to give, even if she has to borrow a pencil from her reporter friend Hetty. It would never occur to Ella to travel prepared for autograph-signing, because it’s a rare event.
And yes, while Ella truly HATES the way she looks in these cards, she’s still well ahead of most of the world…especially poor Marie Aimee in that card you saw earlier, who may be quite the singer, but sure doesn’t quite have the look. Ella, in case you need to push that out of your mind’s eye, is tall, strawberry-blonde, a bit slimmer than fashionable in 1899…and her costumer Anna would never put her in that awful satin suit! Just sayin’!
Got an idea for a Throwback Thursday post? Tell me in the comments!
Singers, though, are by necessity a different art form (pun fully intended!), and a certain amount of respectful attention is required if one is an artist. And so, Ella Shane finds herself posing for the occasional carte de visite.
In the days before glossy celebrity magazines, cartes de visite were the way people got to see their famous favorites. Slightly larger than our modern baseball cards, they would feature a picture of anyone from a revered writer – to a “professional beauty” – to, yes, a singer. Usually, because photography was still serious business, the subject was sitting there trying to look important and soulful. It’s no wonder Ella hates the things.
But they were madly popular, and people collected them like baseball cards. There are hundreds in the NYPL Digital Collections, mostly extremely dull shots of people whose names we no longer recognize attempting to impress posterity. If only they knew.
Cartes de visite figure several times in A FATAL FINALE. Ella’s unfortunate Juliet, who dies onstage after drinking real poison (Accident – or murder? You’ll have to read it to find out!) has a collection. The young woman’s cards, kept in a box that is an important clue of its own, tell us about her aspirations: beauties, actresses and famous singers – including one of Ella as Romeo. Plus, more than once, Ella and her singing partner Marie grouse about having to pose for new pictures for their coming production.
Despite her complaints, Ella does have an advantage. Her cartes de visite feature her in costume as Romeo, or another heroic male character, so she has little need to worry about anyone recognizing her as her offstage self. She doesn’t anyway, really, because in 1899, we’re still well before the age of celebrities. People might look twice at her in the street if they recognized her, and perhaps offer an opinion on a recent show if they were very bold, but she doesn’t have to contend with screaming followers – not that most opera singers inspire such adulation, anyway.
The few people who do recognize her generally let her be, unless they’re very young and starstruck. In A FATAL FINALE, little Betsy Martin recognizes Ella from the Romeo carte de visite she uses as a bookmark and asks for an autograph, which our diva is happy to give, even if she has to borrow a pencil from her reporter friend Hetty. It would never occur to Ella to travel prepared for autograph-signing, because it’s a rare event.
And yes, while Ella truly HATES the way she looks in these cards, she’s still well ahead of most of the world…especially poor Marie Aimee in that card you saw earlier, who may be quite the singer, but sure doesn’t quite have the look. Ella, in case you need to push that out of your mind’s eye, is tall, strawberry-blonde, a bit slimmer than fashionable in 1899…and her costumer Anna would never put her in that awful satin suit! Just sayin’!
Got an idea for a Throwback Thursday post? Tell me in the comments!
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