George hurrell photographs of animals

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Hurrell’s mother, Anna Mary Eble was born in Germany, but had moved with her family to Cincinatti as a child.

Hurrell came from a large Catholic family and had four brothers and a sister. She had her friends over from Hollywood – Ramon Novarro among them. Meets and marries first wife, Katherine Cuddy, who was a beauty contest winner from Seattle (divorce in 1942).

Hurrell’s vintage prints from the late 1920’s through the late 1930’s are especially sought after by museums and fine art collectors. So, he could not use any of the usual Hollywood photographers in town – or anywhere else for that matter.

Pancho had an idea. The photograph is accepted into the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

However, Novarro showed the photos that Hurrell took of him to his best friend back at MGM who was having problems of a different sort. She later re-invented herself in the 1940’s and 1950’s as the owner and hostess of the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club, which was a dude ranch, restaurant and hotel on what is now the site of Edwards Air Force Base.

He agreed. The studio needed to have, in hand, the shot by that evening so that it could be processed and on its way to New York by morning. So this role would greatly change her image, and also give her the opportunity to show others that she was a skilled actress, capable of playing several kinds of roles. By the way, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress as a result of her portrayal in that film.

It was early October 1929, and Hurrell was offered a job as portrait photographer at MGM.  At first he hesitated, thinking that he’d play ‘hard to get.’  Also, he was an independent type person, and didn’t immediately warm to the idea of working for anyone — even if it was MGM.  But then in late October, the stock market crashed.

Pancho remembered that her artist friend and painter, George Hurrell, owned a camera. He made her look beautiful. In fact, the achievement was famously celebrated at the Happy Bottom Riding Club.

At the time this photo was taken in 1929, Pancho’s best friend was Ramon Novarro – who was the biggest movie star at MGM, and also the most famous silent movie star in the world.

Then as he is heading toward the edge of his small studio, he accidentally trips over his light stand…. In 1925 he moved to California, where he discovered that his photographs sold better than his paintings; he cultivated a reputation for his photographic portraits. Rediscovered during the 1970s, he enjoyed a brief second career, and his work was the subject of several monographs, including The Hurrell Style: 50 Years of Photographing Hollywood (1976) and Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits: The Chapman Collection (1997).

Hurrell revolutionized Hollywood portraiture between 1925 and 1950 through his ability to capture and create the glamour, allure, and celebrity of his subjects.

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