18.00 USD
Herbert Shakespeare Gardiner Williams, London born stage magician and designer of arcane illusions, along with his wife, Julia Ferret (who hailed from Dorset and was also a stage magician known as Okita), moved with their children to Paris in 1892 where they opened a magic shop.
We may love his decorative English name, but onstage Herbert went by Charles De Vere (sometimes Devere).
One of his daughters, Constance, calling herself Elise, also used the De Vere pseudonym when performing as a dancer and singer at the Folies Bergere, just a short distance away from her father's magic shop. She was soon a very popular music hall performer in Paris and became quite the postcard queen!
She would later marry Frank Goldsol, the son of a tailor from Cleveland, Ohio and a different kind of magician. Frank was a high octane confidence trickster, often one step ahead of the law, who was for a time, later in his life, the vice president of MGM.
The De Vere family is fascinating. The more you dig, the wilder it gets :)
This is a lovely image by Leopold Reutlinger, published by SIP. At this time she was performing at the Marigny. How we love those ruffles :)
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 not charge for 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!