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This was taken in Provincetown, Massachusetts. All I know about it is the year and location. Scanned from the original 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.
This auction house appears to have sold some of the artist's portraits. Note the tall R in his signature.
Possibly Richard Miller?
[According to his sign, his name is Wheeler. -tterrace]
Murdered? What did that mean in slang terms then? Now the kids all "Murder Out their Ride". *Paint the vehicle matte black everywhere including rims and trim. But then, in Pastel?
[Ruin, butcher, mangle. For example; "The tone-deaf singer murdered the song." Another joke by the caricaturist. -tterrace]
1936 seems a little early for a dune shack to have electrical air-conditioning. Flow-through ventilation looks to be more likely.
"In 1945, Robert Sherman of Lynn, Massachusetts invented a portable, in-window air conditioner that cooled, heated, humidified, dehumidified, and filtered the air. The idea was subsequently stolen by a large manufacturer. Sherman did not have the resources to fight the big corporation in court and thus never received any money or recognition. He died in 1962."
[The AIR CONDITIONED sign is an early humor app known as a "joke." - Dave]
The caricature in the cowboy hat is the then-current U.S. Vice President and prominent Texan, John Nance Garner.
I'm D_Chadwick and I'm not a "was" yet I'm still an "is".
As a matter of fact I'm getting better. I think I'll go for a walk.
I think this is supposed to be Duke Ellington, the monocle a visual pun on his aristocratic nickname.
Who 'D_Chadwick' was.
[It is this person. -tterrace]
Glad I have the time to repent at leisure
Maybe Charles Evans Hughes instead of G. B. Shaw?
What, possibly, in 1936, could the artist mean by the threesome labeled Faith, Hope, and Charity? Was the artist a socialist?
[I believe it's called "satire." -tterrace]
This was the artzy, bohemian and rustic Provincetown. A Provincetown where you could escape the city for the summer or live all winter on a dime. Many writers and artists sought refuge in this accepting fishing village at the end of Cape Cod.
In recent decades the wealthy have invaded. They like living in art colonies but have little tolerance for edgy characters that are a staple in any art colony. They have been driven away making the town safe for big spenders.
Today it is a real estate investment. Houses cut into a half dozen condos at 400k each, big city rents, parking meters that take credit cards and very high taxes.
Those fading character sketches can still be found on display in the Mayflower restaurant on Commercial street.
Just above and right of the door looks like Snuffy Smith's wife, Loweezy, from the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip. Copyright laws then must not have been as protective of such characters as they are now.
Top row: Garbo, W. C. Fields (?), Eugene O'Neill, George Bernard Shaw.
Middle row: John L. Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rudy Vallee, Joan Crawford.
Third row: George Arliss (?), Katherine Hepburn, FDR.
And of course the great Schnozzola!
Here are my guesses:
Top row, left to right: Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler. Left door: top row, ? and Mark Twain; second row, Little Richard(?) and Rudy Vallee; third row, ? and Katherine Hepburn; bottom, Jimmy Durante. Right door, from top: George Bernard Shaw(?), Joan Crawford, Ed Wynn(?)
[A teensy bit early for Little Richard. -tterrace]
Garbo, Jean Hersholt, Cab Calloway, Lionel Barrymore, Rudy Vallee, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Durante, Tallulah Bankhead, Ed Wynn, and at the top are Joseph, Benito and Adolph. The others I can't recognize.
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