Lucas & Pritchard Studio - Theater Production Publicity Still featuring John Emery 1940s AP1490
John who? Well to begin with he was Tallulah's husband. Her only one. But he had a real career, he carried the big parts all over America. and on Broadway, and the smaller ones in Hollywood. Of great interest to us is that this is the work of George Lucas, one of the preeminent photographers of the stage.
Measures 11" x 13 1/2". Some damage to a corner.
George W. Lucas
(1877-1942)
Born in Toronto and educated in Canada, George Lucas came to New York in 1904 where he was hired by Luther S. White, founder of White Studios, who had an exclusive contract on theatrical production photography with the Shubert organization. He possessed a thorough knowledge of photographic chemistry and a talent for technical invention. Lucas created the flash pan mechanism that enabled stage photos to be taken in theaters. His employer would claim to be inventor despite having nothing to do with the practical end of the studio. Flare photography remained the illumination method of choice for production shoots until the development of high speed film and the perfection of the electric flash bulb. For many years he served as chief photographer in the stable of production shooters maintained by White.
In 1936, when the lackluster Dexter White Studios assumed control of the studio, George Lucas and the studio's business manager quit and founded Lucas-Pritchard (later Lucas-Monroe). Lucas used his extensive connections in the Broadway world to keep his studio at 17 W. 48th Street viable. The studio's archives are preserved in the photography collection of the City Museum of New York. David S. Shields/ALS
Lucas photographed the best of the White Studio stage portraits. His earliest work 1905-1910 sometimes suffers from a rather schematic arrangement caused by slow shutter speeds. By the 1910s, faster exposures enable a looser, more spontaneous looking stage picture. Lucas did production stills of stage action taken usually dead center from the 10th row of the orchestra after the dress rehearsal. He also took to putting the camera on stage and shooting close up dramatic scenes, particularly in drawing room dramas. When leading his own studio from 1936-1942, he availed himself of hand-held cameras with high speed film and rapid shutters, so the pictures reflect the dynamism of stage action. He did not do portrait work.
John Emery (May 20, 1905 – November 16, 1964) was an American stage, film, radio and television actor.
Born in New York City, Emery was the son of stage actors Edward Emery (c. 1861 – 1938) and Isabel Waldron (1871–1950). He was educated at Long Island's La Salle Military Academy.
Through the late 1930s to the early 1960s he appeared in supporting roles in many Hollywood films, beginning with James Whale's The Road Back (1937) and ranging from Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound to Rocketship X-M.
Emery appeared on Broadway in John Brown (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1934-1935), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1935), Flowers of the Forest (1935), Parnell (1935-1936), Alice Takat (1936), Sweet Aloes (1936), Hamlet (1936-1937), Antony and Cleopatra (1937), Save Me the Waltz (1938), The Unconquered (1940), Liliom (1940), Retreat to Pleasure (1940-1941), Angel Street (1941-1944), Peepshow (1944), The Relapse (1950), The Royal Family (1951), The Constant Wife (1951-1952), Anastasia (1954-1955), Hotel Paradiso (1957), and Rape of the Belt (1960).
Peepshow was the first production in which Emery and his second wife, Tamara Geva, appeared together.
Emery was also known for his television work, appearing on programs like I Love Lucy and Have Gun Will Travel. In 1946 he starred in a radio program as detective Philo Vance. Emery married Patricia Calvert in 1926, ending in divorce in 1929, before his film career.
He married Tallulah Bankhead on August 31, 1937 in Jasper, Alabama (her only marriage), divorcing on June 13, 1941 in Reno, Nevada. The two remained friendly after their marriage. In 1942, Emery married dancer Tamara Geva, divorcing in 1963. Emery had started a long-term relationship with actress Joan Bennett in 1961, who cared for him through his final illness and death in 1964.
Due to their resemblance, Emery often was rumored to be the illegitimate child of John Barrymore. As a child, Emery roomed for a while with Barrymore and his first wife, Katherine Corri.
