The Drigo Mystery

In John Kobal's 1985 book Hollywood: The Years of Innocence, a chapter is devoted to the 'art studies' (i.e. nude photographs) of young actresses.  Although most of the photos in the book are supposedly by Evans (Kobal does a poor job of attribution), many of these 'art studies' are signed 'Drigo'.  Who was Drigo?  Kobal doesn't bother commenting on the photographer.  And he only identifies one of the women, dismissing the rest with an 'it doesn't really matter'.  Very helpful.

A search for Drigo on the internet brings back lots of hits, but no photographer by that name.  The only piece of information that I found was an ad for Drigo Art Studies in a couple of 1923 issues of the spanish language film magazine Cinemundial.  Offered for sale were photos of bathing beauties, movie actresses, and 'fotografias artisticas' (hint, hint).  The address given is 5617 Hollywood Blvd, which was just a few blocks east of the Evans Studio.

     
With the photos appearing in Kobal's Evans-centric book and an ad with a nearby address, was Drigo in fact Nelson Evans?  The answer finally came this week when I purchased this Drigo photograph:

Thanks to those ubiquitous windows, this is easily identifiable as an Evans photo.  Here's a photo of Louise Fazenda in front of the same windows.  Notice that the curtains are the same in both photos.

As for the identity of the young lady, she is possibly Alice Maison, one of Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties, but it's difficult to say with any certainty.  But unlike John Kobal, I think her name does matter.

So where did the name Drigo come from?  It's unknown if these photographs were sold before 1923, but if not, it's possible the name was not Evans' own invention.  Perhaps after his death the studio decided to market the photos under a pseudonym to hide their origins.  If so, one hopes that the money from any sales went to the charity that the studio gave all of their profits to at the end of the year. 

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who came out last Tuesday (4/14) to the meeting of the Clintonville Historical Society for my presentation of "Nelson Evans: From Clintonville to Hollywood".  I appreciate the interest and enthusiasm that was shown for one of Clintonville's native sons.  One of the goals of my research is to make Nelson better known in his hometown and this was a big step in meeting that goal.

For those who were not there, here's a rundown of my presentation:

• Overview of Nelson's life and career
• Nelson in Clintonville
• Nelson's film exchange business
• His work with Mack Sennett/Bathing Beauties
• Fan magazine appearances of his photographs
• Other uses of his work, including fan photos, post cards, and advertising
• Selections from my collection

I would love to give the presentation again.  And as my research continues, the presentation will probably expand.  In fact, I found some interesting information just hours before the meeting and came across some more a couple of days ago.  Who knows what the next presentation will be like! 

Thanks again!

Is it an Evans? Part Two

I came across this curious photo of Carmel Myers on EBay recently.  I found it curious because, even though the signature of Apeda of NY is in the bottom right corner of the photo, it had appeared in the August 1918 issue of Motion Picture Magazine with a very prominent Evans signature on the bottom left corner, as well as the June 1917 Photoplay with credit to Evans.  So, what gives?

A closer examination of the 'Apeda' version shows evidence of the Evans signature having been covered over.  Clearly, whenever Triangle added their code to the photo, they also changed the signatures.

 Apeda/Triangle version

 Motion Picture Magazine version

 The reason for the change may be tied to Evans' employment by Mack Sennett as the head of his Stills Department.  When Evans started working with Sennett in March 1917, Sennett's Keystone Studio was part of the Triangle Film Corp.  However, in a few months Sennett split with Triangle and left the Keystone brand with them.  The new Mack Sennett Studio continued with the same personnel minus any Triangle management that had been on the lot.  Evans stayed with Sennett until he entered the Army in October of 1918.  Because Sennett's leaving of Triangle was anything but amicable, it seems very likely that Triangle removed Evans' name from the photo because he was an employee of Mack Sennett.