Snapshots of the Past

Wavey hands mean hello from ZaSu Pitts / Tom Fizdale, Inc., New York City. – Historic Print

Wavey hands mean hello from ZaSu Pitts / Tom Fizdale, Inc., New York City. — historic photograph
Wavey hands mean hello from ZaSu Pitts / Tom Fizdale, Inc., New York City.. Historic photograph from the New York City collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Wavey hands mean hello from ZaSu Pitts / Tom Fizdale, Inc., New York City.. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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Wavey hands mean hello from ZaSu Pitts / Tom Fizdale, Inc., New York City.

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ZaSu Pitts, the silent and early sound film actress known for her wistful, comic timing, is the subject here, shown in a publicity portrait with a playful gesture: her hands waving in greeting. The print was issued through Tom Fizdale, Inc., a New York City studio that handled publicity photographs for performers, and it dates to about 1940, when studio portraits like this were circulated to newspapers and magazines to keep stars in the public eye. Pitts had built a long career playing sympathetic, slightly flustered characters, and an image meant to read as friendly and informal shows how studios shaped an actor's public persona during the Hollywood years.

Medium1 photographic print.
Notes[1940]
SubjectsPitts, ZaSu,--1898-1963.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,279 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-186059

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