Just today, when researching the Robert Johnson photographs, I read an anecdote about Walt Disney. In his old Disneyworld office in Florida in a photographic portrait showing him sitting or leaning on the edge of his desk, and looking very satisfied with himself. Reflected in the glass desktop is a cigarette in his hand, but his hand is empty in the direct view.
The old pictures we're seeing now are mostly re-released versions rather than the archival copies. It's bad timing that my copy of "The Art of the Great Hollywood Photographers" compiled by John Kobal hasn't yet been unpacked from storage since my home was renovated. If it was I'd have a fair chance of finding an early version of the Bette Davis photo, as well as which it's a sumptuously printed book (Stonetone gravure printing, yum yum)and I'm hankering to browse through it again. It's becoming evident that cigarette smoking is often being retouched away as the new commercial users seek to distance themselves from smoking. The Johnson picture from which the postage stamp was derived is seen as much without cigarette as with it, e.g. http://g.sheetmusicplus.com/Look-Inside/covers/5449537.jpg is a sheet music cover. I'd have thought musicians would be more forgiving of bad habits than most people, and one of the last bastions of smoking. It's almost enough to make me take up smoking ;-) Regards, Anthony > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > AlunFoto > Sent: Tuesday, 14 October 2008 6:03 PM > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: OT - Govt Agency doctors photograph to sanitize history > > Anthony, > > What struck me when going through those web archives was that so few > of her portraits featured a cigarette. Makes me wonder how extensive > the history rewriting is... Somehow it's difficult to believe that > they've systematically removed every little fag they could come over > just because public attitude has shifted away from smoking. It would > be very scary indeed if they did. > > Jostein > > 2008/10/13 Anthony Farr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: AlunFoto > >> (snip) > >> Now it looks like the artist has "improved" the shot to hint at her > >> smoking habit. (snip) > > > > Agreed. It seems to me that the artist, with access to the unaltered > > original (which we haven't found on the web), has omitted the cigarette at > > his client's (US Postal Service)request, but changed little else. The > > earlier airbrush retouching seems more invasive in order to resolve the > > 'empty hand' effect that just erasing the cigarette creates. I suspect that > > the postage stamp rendition is more authentic than the "Bette Davis Speaks" > > version of the picture, within the limitations of political correctness. > > Apparently the postage stamp artist wants us to know that the cigarette is > > missing, but the biography artist wanted to conceal the fact. > > > > Regards, Anthony > > > > > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > PDML@pdml.net > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > > > > > > -- > http://www.alunfoto.no/galleri/ > http://alunfoto.blogspot.com > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
