18.00 USD
Wow, does this one ever take me back! I can remember how, at Sunday social gatherings, when Father would ask, "Who wants ice cream?" she would wave her hand in the air, just like that, and shout, "Mi! Mi!"
That was really terrible, huh :) but If you can't even believe we just wrote that...how do you think we feel??
Great image though, of Mlle. Mimi Fritz, who, according to another listing of one of her images online, was a mistress of King Constantine I of Greece. He had a reputation for a wandering eye, true enough, and certainly, a number of Parisian artistes made the occasional royal conquest, but we have not been able to find any account of that relationship anywhere else, so If anyone has a link or two to help us out, we'd certainly appreciate it!
La Zinkarella? Probably from the Italian Zingara (Gypsy woman), and so the diminutive, Zingarella, would be Gypsy girl. The text on these old cards is notorious for frequent alternative phonetic spellings, and we just have to roll with it :)
In any case, a wonderful Gypsy dancer image by Louis Martin of Paris. Monsieur Martin is one of our favorite celebrity photographers.
Unlike Leopold Reutlinger, he was not often very playful with his images, and the cards were not often hand-colored either. He seems to have produced what were pretty much straight forward portraits of theater people, who were then identified by name and act in white text (just as we have here). So no frills, but very professionally accomplished portraits of often lesser known acts, which is just a lot of fun.
Doing what we do, we mostly encounter images of the top hundred, or so, stage personalities of the time, and we love it, but when Monsieur Martin throws us a curve ball, it's always a pleasure.
His studio was located at 52 Rue de Faubourg Saint-Martin, in Paris, which is a 10 minute walk from that famous red windmill, the Moulin Rouge, and about a 15 minute walk from the Folies Bergere, so he was certainly in a prime location at that time, for making portrait appointments with stage performers. Nowadays, according to hotel reviews, this is a culturally diverse neighborhood with lots of yummy ethnic restaurants and clubs. Wanna go? :)
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully insured, first class, shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!