Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
Line 1:
'''Jerome Zerbe''' ([[July 24]], [[1904]] - [[Aug. 19]], [[1988]]) was one of the originators of a genre of [[photography]] that is now utterly common: celebrity [[paparazzi]]. Zerbe was pioneer in the 1930s of shooting photographs of the famous at play and on-the-town.
Zerbe differed from the common paparazzo in a major way: he never hid in bushes or jumped out and surprised the rich and famous that he was photographing. Zerbe often traveled and vacationed with the film stars themselves. As one biographer stated, he never rode in a rented limousine and his coat pocket always had an engraved invitation to the high society events.
Line 17:
After graduation he went out to [[Hollywood]] to try his hand at drawing portraits of the famous residents. He was befriended by a young [[Gary Cooper]]. This led to quickly becoming friends with [[Hedda Hopper]], [[Cary Grant]], [[Errol Flynn]], [[Randolph Scott]], [[Marion Davies]] and [[Paulette Goddard]]. It did not take long for him to put down his paintbrush and pick up a camera, and he photographed numerous stars in Hollywood’s Golden Age.
During the [[Depression]], Zerbe landed his first major job, as art director of ''[[Parade (magazine)|Parade]]'' magazine, which was headquartered in his hometown, [[Cleveland]]. This was where he began his career of setting up portraits of the upper crust. He persuaded the wealthy local residents that it would help them to be photographed at their parties, which was simply not done at the time. He convinced them that it would assist the charity balls and fundraisers the leading society matrons were hosting. This paid off. He shot hundreds of debutantes, brides, newlyweds and formal dinners in North America and Europe.
Soon after, Harry Bull, the editor of ''[[Town & Country (magazine)|Town & Country]]'' magazine in New York, saw some of Zerbe’s society photos from Cleveland. He made him an offer to photograph ritzy parties in the Midwest. This led to his photos getting a wide audience, and offers of work from the capital of glitz -- [[Manhattan]].
When Zerbe arrived in New York, he was in the right place at the right time. [[Prohibition]] had just ended and the nightlife was booming. The city had seven daily newspapers and three press associations. They all needed society photographs. Zerbe got himself hired by the [[Rainbow Room]] – on the 65th Floor of 30 [[Rockefeller Center]] – to set up fashionable dinner parties and photograph the guests. Zerbe was shocked that at the height of the [[Depression]], unemployed readers craved to look at photos of high society types dressed in evening clothes and drinking [[champagne]].
Line 36:
Today, little is known about his vast collection, which a biographer estimated had 50,000 images in 150 scrapbooks. Perhaps it was donated to a college, but at the moment, it is missing.
== References ==
Brendan Gill and Jerome Zerbe, ''Happy Times'' (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1973).
''
The New York Times'', Aug. 23, 1988, Jerome Zerbe, 85, Photographer Of Cafe Society and a Columnist, pg. D19.
[[Category:1904 births|Zerbe, Jerome]]
[[Category:1988 deaths|Zerbe, Jerome]]
[[Category:American
[[category:Visual journalism]]
[[Category:American authors|Zerbe, Jerome]]▼
[[Category:People from Ohio|Zerbe, Jerome]]
[[Category:People from Cleveland|Zerbe, Jerome]]
[[Category:Yale alumni|Zerbe, Jerome]]
[[de:Jerome Zerbe]]
[[eo:Jerome Zerbe]]
| |||