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November 1917. "Rock & White." The vaudeville duo of William Rock and Frances White, who at the peak of her fame around 1920 was making $3,000 a week. 5x7 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.
The first thing that struck me about this photo was her expression. Finally, a real expression in a photo!
I'd love to know what color both of their costumes are, I bet it was a riot of color.
There's also one of these lying on the table.
The second $100 dollar bill in Mr. Rock's right hand appears to be a Series 1882 Gold Certificate. Money was much more interesting in those days.
I'd get a haircut like that too!
In 1917 the $100 bill had only been in circulation for 3 years as a Federal Reserve Note as opposed to any other form of issued currency such as Treasury Notes, this came into effect after the 1913 Federal Reserve Act which created a central banking system which the US hadn't had since the collapse of the Second Bank of the United States in 1836.
What the heck is Rock holding in his left hand!?
[More of what he's holding in his right. - tterrace]
[It does look like a strip of tickets. - Dave]
In November 1917, Rock & White were performing as headliners in the popular musical revue "Hitchy-Koo," which had 220 performances before it finally closed on December 15. That would identify the locale of these photos as White's dressing room in the 44th Street Theater. The show was a great popular success but not hugely profitable except for its well-paid stars, who also included Leon Errol, Grace La Rue and Irene Bordoni.
The then-famous performers are pretty happy counting their $100 bills, which by the look of things are about 50 percent bigger than today's currency.
[Currency then was 44 percent bigger, to be exact. - Dave]
Plus, Miss White didn't even have to move out of her chair, compared with her recent previous Shorpy photo.
Wow! That's $34,697 a week in today's dollars.
Not just in the amount made, but also in the size of the actual bills back then.
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