we are at the ARC a week or so back....find a funky looking unframed picture of some clowns for $7.50...a little rich for me...wanted to buy it but couldn't justify that kind of money for the picture...walked out of the store with no picture...strolling down the sidewalk.......plou finds a 50% off coupon in her pocket book....I grab it and run back to the store...buy the art work for $4.25 (and snag a set of green handled steak knives just for fun). We check out the picture...name on the back says something like from the photo studio of Seymour Mednick...a few days later we get the picture framed and I take it to work and hang it on my wall there.....still thinking it is a great funky black and white picture...wish I knew more about it.......more googling today...find a CD cover with thatPICTURE on it:
still wish I knew more about it...but it is a great black and white 12" x 18" picture....may have to buy the cd: Tiny Voices - Joe Henry.
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the plot thickens...I found a phone number on the internet for Seymour Mednick Studio in Philadelphia.....called it yesterday and left word. The voice machine sounded like a home not a business. Today at 7:15 PM philadelphia time, I get a phone call. I am laying down and too lazy to get up. A few mins later, I check my machine and there is a phone call from that same number identified as "Seymour Med Stu" with no message. I called and left word again. Waiting to hear back to unravel the mystery of the picture.
got in today from work...message on the machine...call from Seymour Mednick...left his home number and asked me to call him back. Called and talked to him for about 15 - 20 minutes...he said the picture was titled :" Second and Delancey Street"...he took it in 1949 and was covering the mummers parade. He said they were just part of the parade...you are free to take pictures at public outings..He said he has worked for Time magazine and several other publishers...taked about the picture, the place, the building and when he took it. He said he gave the cd people one time permission to use the photo for their cover. He said these were memebers of the mummer parade waiting for more memebers to meet up...he said back then the mummers wore costumes more like minstrels and vaudaville people....all the costumes were hand made and not bought........not like the parade today. He was very nice to talk to and seemed very sharp. I asked about other albumn covers and he said he had done a few for Tony Bennet. I asked if he still had a studio in Philadelphia...he said yes...I said I would like to visit it sometime and see his work. He said come by and call him ahead of time and he would talk with me there. He asked where I was now and I told him Colorado...he said I sounded kinda 'western". I mentioned that I has spent a few years in Florida and only relocated out west in the last few years. Very nice conversation.
Hi - I just stumbled upon your blog while googling "clowns Seymour Mednick." I bought the same photo about 5 years ago for probably a buck or two... can't even remember where. Just happened to come across it today and thought I'd try looking for info. You found much more than I was able to find... so thank you! Mine is stamped "Studio One #361 Seymour Mednick" on the back and it's mounted on really thick "cardboard," and the same size as yours. Thanks again for posting this info.
Ribhard said...
I also emailed the record company
..and my email got forwarded to Joe Henry in Japan...he said he found the picture at a yard or street sale...just like we did..he called Seymour and got permission to use the picture. He thought it was very neat too!
I own this photo, and another one of an old man walking through a waist-high grassy field with a small bunch of flowers in his hand. Both are black and white photos -- cardboard-mounted -- issued by a company called "Studio One". I purchased them in 1969 or 1970 in my college bookstore for my dorm room (University of Rochester, NY). Studio One produced a whole series of black and white photos, cardboard-mounted with wooden blocks on the back that adhered to the wall. You took the photo out of the box, peeled away the protective covering, and stuck 'em up on the wall...
I love the clown picture. I'm pleased to know it's title. Thanks...
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