Life Comes At You Fast

Alberto Vargas Joining the Ziegfeld Follies

   Alberto Vargas joined the Ziegfeld Follies as an artist for them. He would paint the portraits of all the stars that were a part of the Follies. This was Vargas’ first real work coming to the United States from Peru in 1916. He was forced to come to the United States by his father Max Vargas because of the war that raged across Europe. Vargas’ original plan of going to Paris was on halt, because the war added certain travel restrictions. The Ziegfeld Follies were a group of women that performed in New York on Broadway that was run by Florenz Zeigfeld Jr. There were many that wanted to be a part of this group, but out of the 15,000 women that would try out yearly, only about 3,000 were chosen. When Vargas first walked through New York, he fell in love with one of the Zeigfeld Follies right away, her name was Anna Mae Clift. She let him paint her free of charge, and this led him to doing work for Floerenz Zeigfeld Jr. who was the owner of the Follies. He was hired to paint showgirls for announcements and signs that would be at the theater entrance. He worked for the Follies from 1919-1930, as this was his first real work in the United States, and he was able to start making a name for himself as a recognized painter. He eventually married Mae Clift, and they moved to Hollywood for bigger opportunities for Vargas as a painter and Mae Clift as a model. 

Citations

“El Andar: Spring 2000.” Www.elandar.com, www.elandar.com/back/spring00/stories/story_obsession.html. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.

Inc, M. Shanken Communications. “The Real Vargas.” Cigar Aficionado, www.cigaraficionado.com/article/the-real-vargas-6097. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023. 

Actors Equity Strike

   This strike lasted nearly a month in the summer of 1919 in New York City. It happened for the reason that the theater industry had harsh working conditions for the actors. In 1913 a union with all the actors on Broadway was created, and with many years of negotiations that failed to gain a proper working environment. This led to them going on strike and walking out of the theaters, they held parades through the streets and did shows for the public. This all happened across Broadway as the Ziegfeld Follies were performing at the New Amsterdam Theater during this time period, which was just down the street. The strike itself was led by former Zeigfeld Follies comedian Ed Wynn, who at the time was a part of the Lambs Club, which was a social club that involved individuals within the theater industry. The Follies at the time did not participate in the strike, but I don’t believe that this means they didn’t agree with the reason why the strike was occurring. There has to be something wrong with the behind the scenes actions when they are paying these individuals lots of money to work for them but many are still leaving. In 1918 they had the highest paid showgirl in the World, Jessica Reed who was originally from Houston. The average salary for a showgirl was around one million dollars, which is a large amount of money especially back in the 1920’s. These individuals made more than enough but still continued to leave the Follies to pursue roles in other theater groups around the United States. 

Citation List

Fitzpatrick, Kevin C. “Actors Strike of 1919 and the Lambs | the Lambs, Inc.” The-Lambs.org, 6 Aug. 2019, the-lambs.org/actorsstrike1919/.

Simonson, Robert. “When Actors’ Equity Staged Its First Strike.” AMERICAN THEATRE, 1 Mar. 2013, www.americantheatre.org/2013/03/01/when-actors-equity-staged-its-first-….

The Tragic Death of Olive Thomas

   The woman painted in this picture is Olive Thomas. She had a tragic death on September 10, 1920, she was only 25 years old. Thomas died by mixing up sleeping pills for her husband's syphilis medication, which was mercury chloride. It was night time and she couldn’t read the labels of the pills in the bathroom, leading to her taking the wrong one. Thomas ended up dying 5 days later at a hospital in France, and the death was claimed as an accident with no one being punished for it. There was a lot of hypothesizing in the press, with there being many different stories. A story that came out after her death was that she was having an affair with Florenz Zeigfeld Jr, who as I stated earlier was the founder of the Ziegfeld Follies. This was nothing new for Ziegfeld, in which he had many affairs with women a part of his Follies group cheating on his wife at the time, actress Billie Burke. This story about Thomas’ affair didn’t come out until after her death, and there is no speculation that her husband Jack Pickford knew what was going on between them. The thought that Pickford knew what was going on and set up his wife Thomas to be poisoned had to be a potential possibility,  but it didn’t lead to anything and in the end it was inconclusive. Thomas was very popular for her modeling and broadway shows with Zeigfeld Follies, while many younger girls idolized her wanting to achieve her level of attractiveness and confidence.

   The reason that I offered that background concerning those three events is because it helps me to explain what “Memories of Olive” was doing socially/culturally and/or politically when Alberto Vargas created it. The significance of the event of Vargas coming to New York and joining the Ziegfeld Follies is that if this never happened then many of these famous paintings would never be created. Although New York wasn’t his first option of places to move to, everything happens for a reason, and this leads to him finding his true passion and true love. The Death of Olive Thomas gives insight for this painting because of it being named “Memories of Olive” it gives a representation of what Thomas was most known for, which was nude acting and posing. The painting was post dated after Thomas death, leading to this as a memorabilia of her. Then the strike by the actors gives awareness of what was going on in New York within Broadway with the working conditions of the theater industry and how it affected them mentally and physically negatively. This contradicts everything that they show when on stage or posing, because it is difficult to tell how these individuals are doing on the inside. They are always putting on an act and there are times that they don’t know how to make a call for help sometimes when it is needed. These events helped me learn what was going on socially with these individuals and possibly make my own conclusions with why certain events happened. Then culturally I was able to learn about the norms of this time period because a painting like “Memories of Olive'' wouldn't hold any value to me, but learning the background information and everything that happened it shows me why this is such a treasured and popular piece among the public during that time period. I interpret this painting differently now, since I’ve learned about these events. They all happened for a reason and these events happening directly and indirectly affecting what led to this artwork being made.

Citation List

Garner, Bianca ’Bee’. “The Illustrious Life and Mysterious Death of Olive Thomas.” In Their Own League, 15 Mar. 2020, intheirownleague.com/2020/03/15/the-illustrious-life-and-mysterious-death-of-olive-thomas/. 

Gary, Holly. “What We Know about the Death of Olive Thomas, One of Hollywood’s First Scandals.” Grunge, 1 Apr. 2022, www.grunge.com/819287/what-we-know-about-the-death-of-olive-thomas-one-…. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.