Note: All items pictured on this website are in the personal collection of Frank W. Reiser. Please contact me if you wish to discuss displaying the collection at your institution or need additional information about the topic.
As a young man, Charles F. Conly (1846 – 1892) left his hometown of Milford, MA, for Boston, envisioning a career on the city’s stage. It did not work out well. Conly faced continuous rejections following many interviews and auditions. Dejected and needing cash, he spotted a sign at Warren’s Photographic Studio while walking up Washington Street: “Boy Wanted.” Despite being older than a boy, he applied and was hired at the unexpectedly low salary intended for a youth. Soon, he learned the craft of photography, and with that talent, he excelled. Conly returned to Boston’s theater district as a photographer and, with a camera, opened the doors; his acting could not. Charles F. Conly found success among the rich and famous, whereas his acting could not. A place he soon extended to the glamorous world of New York’s Broadway.
A cabinet photograph of an unknown sitter by Charles F Conly in 1886. Taken on a 6×9 inch Stanley sensitized glass dry plate. Contact Print made by J. B. Hunter. The photo of an unnamed person, including details of its making, was created by Conly as a promotional testimony to the quality of his work. Studio Portrait Albumen print mounted on cardboard, 6×9 inches by C. F. Conly, Boston, Massachusetts
Albumen silver print mounted on cardboard, 6×9 inches by C. F. Conly, Boston, Massachusetts
The chief operator of Warren’s Studios, Sumner B. Heald, promptly began as Conly’s photography mentor. Due to the studio’s high demand, Conly swiftly transitioned from maintenance around the studio to assisting in setups and printing. When Heald left in 1874, Conly became George K. Warren’s chief assistant and took his place behind the camera, where he could fully express his visual artistry.
While Conly advertised photographically-based crayon portraits, his main focus was capturing images of posed performers in front of hand-painted backgrounds – what he termed illusionist settings. He transformed the studio with an assortment of hanging-back paintings, a prop wardrobe, a solarium with tropical plants, and even paper rock formations. His subjects always appeared in distinct gestures, seemingly in performance mode. By the 1890s, Conly excelled in creating children’s portraits alongside his theatrical work.
Conly’s reputation was built through his pioneering work in theatrical photography. In 1885, he lit up the Bijou Theater’s audience using electric lights. Despite the wiggles, he nailed it and gifted the thrilled attendees with their very own keepsakes and also a clever advertisement for his studio. Fast forward to December 1890, Conly captured the magic of Boston’s “Soudan” on its 100th performance. His lens also immortalized icons like Frederick Douglass and Helen Hunt Jackson. In 1894, at the age of 46, Conly succumbed to complications of consumption. His wife, Jane A. Harris, inherited the Conly Studios and assumed a managerial role.
Cast member from the James T. Powers acting company depicting a scene from the musical play A Straight Tip, 1891. The John J. McNally show opened at the New Park Theater in New York. The photograph illustrates the painted backdrops and props that Conly had available for composing photographs and the theatrical style of the images he created.
A Ghost Image of Otis Skinner
The cabinet card titled A Quartette of Tippers was apparently stored with another having the image of the famous actor Otis Skinner. The two cards were in contact for a very long time. The silver salts from Skinner’s photo migrated to the back of the Tippers card, creating the faint, ghost-like mirror image of Otis Skinner. What is interesting is that Otis Skinner’s signature is a negative image. The ink did not transfer. Instead, where ink was on the photo, it sealed the silver beneath it, creating a gap in the ghost image. This also indicates that the signature was added by hand after the photo was printed, rather than written on the picture’s original film negative as it might be if the photo had been reproduced in large quantities for mass distribution. There’s also a secondary ghost. The ghost image of a lovely blonde woman is also visible but too light to tell who she is.
The transferred image serves as a reminder of the sensitivity and delicacy of old photos. In this case, three pictures share their stories by leaving clues about their history. However, they also underscore the crucial need to follow proper storage protocols to preserve antique images. What was transferred to the back of one cabinet card was equally lost from the other, demonstrating the potential damage that can occur from careless storage.
How to footnote this page: Reiser, Frank W. (2024) Charles F. Conly – Photographer of Theater and the Famous. Available at permalink https://wp.me/PaLJ0g-1ht
Reference: Boston Globe (15 Dec 1894) Obituary: Charles F. Conly
_obituary_in_The_Boston_Globe_on_15_December_1892.jpg){kind=link}
Return to Table of Contents https://antiqueslides.net/