Despite Prohibition, the '20s was the decade of jazz, flappers and hip flasks. While some took their vote and joined the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement, others, well, took liberties. Compiled here for the first time are more than 200 publicity stills and photos of some of America's first "It" girls—the silent film-era starlets who paved the way for the cacophony of Monroes and Madonnas to follow. Accompanying these iconic images are the stories behind them, including accounts from surviving Ziegfeld Girls, as well as ads featuring them that helped perpetuate the allure of It girl glamour. When rare and striking portraits of these women surfaced on the internet in 1995, author Robert Hudovernik began researching their source. What he discovered was the work of one of the first "star makers" identified most with the Ziegfeld Follies, Alfred Cheney Johnston. Johnston, a member of New York's famous Algonquin Round Table who photographed such celebrities as Mary Pickford, Fanny Brice, the Gish Sisters, and Louise Brooks, fell out of the spotlight with the demise of the revue. A sumptuous snapshot of an era, this book is also a look at the work of this "lost" photographer.
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Editorial Reviews
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“This sumptuous book features more than 200 publicity stills and photos of America’s original “It” girls, as well as the “secret’ nudes discovered on photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston’s estate after his death.” ~The Globe and Mail
About the Author
Robert Hudovernik is a freelance writer, photographer and scriptwriter. He wrote and produced a documentary funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities entitled Circus Echoes on the golden age of circus entertainment during the Art Deco era.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a longtime admirer of early celebrity portraiture, this book brings to light the works of a nearly forgotten master. Although I own over 40 books and numerous original images covering photography of 1890s-1930s, I have seen very few of the images in this book reproduced elsewhere. The text is accurate enough to give one a sense of the historical background in which Johnson worked, with one very minor error regarding Theda Bara and Bill Tilden. However, the text is brief and the book is just loaded with wonderfully reproduced images of stunningly beautiful women. Many are clothed as Ziegfeld Showgirls, the predecessors to today's Vegas Showgirls. Some images are of early film actresses. All are captured in Johnson's signature style which certainly influenced Clarence Sinclair Bull, George Hurrell, Harriet Ruth Louise, and other great movie studio photographers. If you appreciate early 20th Century photography, early film and American Theater of the period, you will love this book. And if you just like to admire beautiful natural beauty (not surgically enhanced), this is the book for you.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Terry Norman
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
As one who enjoys movies from the 30's, this book helped me to enter the world of early Ziegfeld and movie beauties and their way of life. Of the photographic books I have, this one has to rank at the top. The first 62 pages (and few at the end of the book) contain text with photographs. Photo collections with text usually bore me, but this one was so interesting with details of the stories behind the women and that era, that I was dissapointed when the text ended. I have one other photo book containing women of the 20's but the photography, poses, and beauty of the women in this book surpasses the other book by a long shot. The strict physical characteristics that Ziegfeld had for his women are evident in this collection. Included in this collection is Miss Universe from 1926. I wondered to myself if they stripped her of her crown for posing nude? This book also provides excellent examples of the use of lines when posing the female subject. The book refers to it as the "Line of Beauty". If one enjoys the history and images of that era, this is a must have book that won't dissapoint. A superbly bound hardbook with mainly full page images of excellent quality.
My one sad point of the book was to learn that there are boxes full of more of Johnston's images that someone is holding on to with plans to sell individually and deny the world to see them as a collection.
My one sad point of the book was to learn that there are boxes full of more of Johnston's images that someone is holding on to with plans to sell individually and deny the world to see them as a collection.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By T. Mose
Format:Hardcover
I purchased Jazz Age Beauties for the beautiful photographs. Alfred Cheney Johnston brought an aristocratic air to classically posed black and white nudes. The photographs from the 1920s illustrate that beauty is timeless. However, as I read through the text, I gained an insight of life passing from youthful beauty to adulthood and often the troubles that followed. The text brought the photos to life. More than just a book of excellent photographs, Jazz Age Beauties offers the reader a glimpse into another time, not unlike our own.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a delightful book for any photographer or photo enthusiast as it showcases the feminine mystique so eloquently captured by Alfred Cheney Johnston, but my one quip about this book is that some of the images have obviously been re-sized for print. There are not many of them, but as a photographer, I was horrified to see distorted pixelated photos of what could have been some very beautiful pieces. Perhaps this was an oversight by the author, but if you're going to make a book about photography, at least be aware of the aesthetic and final product as a whole
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Not only does this book contain some of the most stunning photography from the jazz age but is also full of wonderful stories about some of the people pictured. I've been studying the 1920s for years now and some of this information came as a delightful surprise. This is a treasure from anyone who loves great history and fine art.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Manny Gomez
Format:Hardcover
I'm a photographer and also a big jazz fan, so when I saw this title it caught my attention. I found it to be an interesting mixture of text, photography and history. I'm a big fan of vintage photography and often buy quality images and negatives at garage sales and flea markets whenever I can find them. I'm always amused by what was once considered daring, and risqué' and always interested in seeing the vintage clothing styles and backgrounds including the furnishings and automobiles as well as the subject of each image.
By any measure Alfred Johnston was a great photographer, and in my view one lucky man. Firstly his images all give the models dignity, grace, and pose, and the nudes are done with exceptional taste. Image if you can being a photographer during that era and also being lucky enough to have access to a pool of models that included the stars, both real and wannabes, as well as the Ziegfield Girls! But Johnston does much more than just shoot pretty faces and bodies. The care given to each pose, especially the attention given the eyes and face, the makeup, the props, they're all first rate. All the images, especially the nudes speak volumes about this photographer's passion for producing quality images.
From a technical perspective, it's easy to pick at some of the work. Some of the lighting and shadows, and the extensive use of soft focus might give some a reason to critize. But there was no "Photoshop" software to edit these images; in fact the technology of photography was very crude by today's standards.
This is a first rate collection of vintage photos and the carefully written text makes it a great book for anyone with a serious interest in photography or the history of the craft.
By any measure Alfred Johnston was a great photographer, and in my view one lucky man. Firstly his images all give the models dignity, grace, and pose, and the nudes are done with exceptional taste. Image if you can being a photographer during that era and also being lucky enough to have access to a pool of models that included the stars, both real and wannabes, as well as the Ziegfield Girls! But Johnston does much more than just shoot pretty faces and bodies. The care given to each pose, especially the attention given the eyes and face, the makeup, the props, they're all first rate. All the images, especially the nudes speak volumes about this photographer's passion for producing quality images.
From a technical perspective, it's easy to pick at some of the work. Some of the lighting and shadows, and the extensive use of soft focus might give some a reason to critize. But there was no "Photoshop" software to edit these images; in fact the technology of photography was very crude by today's standards.
This is a first rate collection of vintage photos and the carefully written text makes it a great book for anyone with a serious interest in photography or the history of the craft.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Astonishing Work of Art!
Browsing through this book of incredibly gorgeous jazz age beauties is like entering an art museum of timeless classics from the art deco era. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Saxkat
5.0 out of 5 stars
Roaring 20's lovers will love this!
This is a fantastic book of pictures, great to have it, as a lover of the Roarin' Twenties, etc. I guess everything old is new again - my generation thought we were so cool going... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Elaine M. Coughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXQUISITELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
You will not be disappointed with the stunning photographs in this book!!! This is an absolutely beautiful collection of 1920's Jazz Age portraits of early Hollywood starlets,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ronnie Wade
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attention Museum of Modern Art!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY OH WHY was this photographer "lost" to history and never given credit for the incredible artistry of his photographs? Read more
Published 14 months ago by CRiley
3.0 out of 5 stars
Photo quality not great but interesting to look at.
Don't expect to be knocked over by the high quality of the photos in this book. They certainly do not match up to Albert Arthur Allen's quality work. But still a nice book to own. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Jimbo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Special
The pictures are extraordinary. Both from an artistic point of view and from a societial point of view. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Scott A. Citron
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible service + no product!?
First off, I don't write reviews. This company just happens to be so f'n bad they needed one. The company is based in uk so the books may take 5-8 days to receive, which is... Read more
Published on March 11, 2011 by J Joseph Maher
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor quality
The reproduction of the photographs and the sepia tone of all images do not match with the extreme quality of original prints. Read more
Published on November 17, 2010 by Gabriel Suau Rubio
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mesmorizing
This is a beautiful book. I bought it because I like the 1920s. The pictures in the book are good quality. Yes there is a lot of nudity but it is done very tastefully. Read more
Published on September 15, 2010 by Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful slice of history
There's so much to read in JOhnston's photos (and his personal story) that it's hard to know where to begin. Read more
Published on July 25, 2010 by wiredweird
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