A joyful but anonymous chorus line in Gertude Lederer’s collection. It may include Laura Vail (3rd from right) and Gertrude Lederer (4th from right), performers in Frank W Healy’s San Francisco Opera Company, in 1906-7.
Several years ago, I purchased a small group of photographs that came from the estate of a Gertrude Lederer in the USA. I was told that Gertrude M. Lederer had been born in Illinois, USA, in 1884. She appears to have been a very young performer in Frank W. Healy’s San Francisco Opera Company from early 1907 and amongst other things she collected a number of photos of fellow performers. Through changing ownership, the collection found its way to an online auction. Having purchased them, it occurred to me that while I love them, the collection needs to be available online for US theatre historians. So here are some of them. Most images have been cropped to fit.
Many of the photos are signed and dedicated to Gertrude, who appears not to have pursued a long term stage career.
Photos of some of these performers can also be found in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs at the University of Washington Library.
In any use, please make an attribution to forgottenaustralianactresses.com . Please note that copyright may still be held by third parties.