My husband was 3 years old when his father died of a ruptured appendix and peritonitis. We have a couple of old scrapbooks that he kept. He had a good voice and sang in the Atlanta Light Opera for a few seasons. He also sang in a chorus in the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In one scrapbook are programs and newspaper clippings about the performances including pictures of him. In the other scrapbook are pages of photos of girls he knew (I don't know why my mother-in-law let him keep those though probably most of them were in the productions he sang in).
I have been planning some time to make a scrapbook of these things, some letters that he wrote, some old photos, etc. I finally got started yesterday.
The things that he had saved were just glued into the old scrapbook. Some were already loose, but many were not. My husband gently ran warm water over them and most of them came off pretty well. A few had some tears. I plan to scan them all. This is going to take some time
He was a handsome man.
You can see what I have to work with.
The photo in the middle is Irene Dunn. I don't know for sure if she is the famous Irene Dunne, but after checking her biography on the net, I believe she was. She was born a Dunn but later added the "e" to her name. She was in several of the operas that he was in.
Oh my goodness, that DOES look like Irene Dunne. She was one of my favorite actresses (well, still is) when I was a crazy movie buff in my teens. I LOVED her in My Favorite Wife. And I Remember Mama, and Life with Father. Oh, what a great actress. She was one of the few moral Hollywood ladies, too. I had once read that she studied opera before becoming a Hollywood actress.
ReplyDeleteI wish you well in your photograph/scanning ventures. I scanned a lot of the old photos I have, too. Old tin types and everything. Such amazing things, aren't they?