Friday 25 April 2014

Sepia Saturday 225: Photomatic in the Antipodes, the original Selfies


Sepia Saturday by Alan Burnett and Marilyn Brindley

I'll use the coin-operated jukebox in this week's Sepia Saturday image prompt to post a follow-up to the article on Photomatic booths and photos that I wrote a year ago.

Image © and courtesy of The Powerhouse Museum
Original Photomatic photo booth, Machine No. DP 3
Image © and courtesy of The Powerhouse Museum

Based on an advertisement in Wellington's Evening Post dated 23 January 1940 and a battered instruction plate in the Tauranga Museum collection, I have deduced previously that at least one Photomatic photobooth, such as the well preserved original shown above from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, was exported to and operated in New Zealand.

Image © and courtesy of Margaret PakesImage © and courtesy of Margaret Parkes
Catherine & Errol Morton, Wellington, New Zealand, January 1940
Silver gelatin print in crimped metal frame with printed card backing
Taken by Photomatic (Wellington) Ltd.
Images © and courtesy of Margaret Parkes

I now have direct evidence of that. Margaret Parkes kindly sent me these images of two Photomatic portraits of her parents, probably taken on the eve of her father's departure for service overseas in the Second World War, possibly at the Centennial Exhibition.

I have a pair of prints of my mother and father taken in Wellington before his departure to WW2. To the best of my knowledge they were taken early in January 1940 as the troops boarded the ship on the 5th. My parents Errol and Catherine Morton were living in Taranaki so the time she was most likely to have visited Wellington was for his departure, although I see that the Centennial Exhibition was on at the time.

Image courtesy of Papers Past
Advertisements from Ellesmere Guardian, 19 November 1937,
and Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, 16 November 1937
Images courtesy of Papers Past

A detailed search in the online newspaper archives of the period shows that Photomatic Limited was formed in May 1937, shares in the company quickly being listed for sale by brokers in Auckland. In November that year, the department store of Hay's Ltd in Christchurch advertised the new Photomatic as the only one of its kind in the South Island, "a wonderful machine ... takes your photo, develops, prints, and FRAMES it ... in ONE MINUTE."

Image courtesy of Papers Past
Advertisement from Evening Post, 2 July 1938
Image courtesy of Papers Past

Between 11 June and 6 August 1938 Photomatic (Wellington) Limited were seeking "smart young ladies" and "smart youths" to apply in person for positions as attendants for Photomatic portrait-taking machines. The advertisement for 2 July 1938 described the booth as being located in Selfridge's Department Store, Cuba Street.

Image courtesy of Papers Past
Advertisement from Evening Post, 23 January 1940
Image courtesy of Papers Past

Then there is nothing until early 1940, when the company appears to have operated a Photomatic booth at the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington. Various trade directories show the company operating from premises at 315 Cooke's Building, 58-60 Queen Street, Auckland Central in 1937-1938, from 182 Featherston Street in 1941, and at 23 Waring Taylor Street in 1948-1949, both in Wellington.

Which leaves us with a few questions that I hope we'll be able to answer some day. Why are there so few references to Photomatic booths in New Zealand? Were the booths hired out, complete with operaters, to franchisees in the various locations, or did the firm maintain control of each one? How many were there? Where did the instruction plate in the Tauranga Museum Collection come from, and where is the rest of the booth? How long did the firm remain in business? Were they really still going in 1948? Where are all the portraits taken in these booths? There must be many remaining in private collections, but I haven't been able to find any in public collections listed online.

Images © and collection of Brett Payne Images © and collection of Brett Payne
Bud Payne, Durban, South Africa, 4 April 1968
Photomatic photobooth portrait (65 x 68mm)
Images © and collection of Brett Payne

There are few signs of Photomatic booths being exported to other parts of the world, but I found evidence that they were, somewhat bizarrely, in my own family photo collection. This photobooth portrait of my father was taken in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa in 1968, which is pretty late in context of the heyday of the American Photomatic. Although the silver card backing has no identifying marks indicating that it emanated from a Photomatic apparatus, the metal frame, card type and apparent method of manufacture are identical. It has occurred to me that it may have been produced from a refurbished Photomatic machine after the demise of the business elsewhere.

Image Collection of Donald Lokuta and courtesy of Rutgers Today
Mystery Photobooth Portraits
Image Collection of Donald Lokuta and courtesy of Rutgers Today

Lastly, I thought I'd direct readers to an article that appeared recently regarding an exhibit titled "445 Portraits of a Man" currently on display as part of "Striking Resemblance: The Changing Art of Portraiture," an exhibition showing at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Jersey until July. It's an extraordinary collection of Photomatic images, all of the same man, taken over three decades from the late 1930s until the 1960s. The man's identity and why the portraits were collected, remains a mystery.

If you haven't had enough of coin-operated machines after that, you may well find a few more among the remaining Sepia Saturday contributions this week.

References

Relevant advertisements and share price listings appeared in several New Zealand newspapers on the following dates:
Auckland Star: 15 May 1937, 17 Jul 1937, 11, 18, 22 & 23 Feb 1938, 2, 11, 15 Mar 1938
Ellesmere Guardian: 16 & 19 Nov 1937
Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser: 16 & 19 Nov 1937
Evening Post: 11 & 21 June 1938, 2 Jul 1938, 6 Aug 1938, 23 Jan 1940

Auckland Libraries Photographers Database, entry for Photomatic Wellington Ltd.

Payne, Brett (2013) Andy Warhol looks a scream, Hang him on my wall, on PhotoSleuth, 3 May 2013.

Verbanas, Patti (2014) Mystery Photobooth Portraits Baffle Historians, Rutgers Today, 27 March 2014.

28 comments:

  1. Fascinating, I'm sure you will get answers to some of your questions now they are 'voiced', and I do hope someone recognises the man in the 445 photobooth images.
    I enjoyed reading this, thanks.

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    1. Actually, I have already had a fantastic response, and enough material for another follow-up, so watch this space.

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  2. In the 1950s & '60s our local Woolworth's in El Cerrito, CA (S.F. East Bay) had a photobooth though I haven't any idea what the company name was. Nor did we get a portrait done up in a metal frame. Our 'portraits' came 4-frames-to-a-strip which I'm sure you're familiar with as well. I think the strip of 4 cost 50 cents & they were good quality as I've been able to enlarge them quite well on my computer from the original 1 1/2" x 2" frames. And there were no 'attendants'. Ours were strictly a do-it-yourself deal resulting, oft times, in several people trying to cram into the small booth to take group shots. A little red light came on briefly to warn you your picture was about to be taken so you could change poses in between shots. I'm sure there must still be some around somewhere, but sadly, Sonora doesn't have any.

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    1. Yes, I'm familiar with that style, which was probably the more common type the world over, and are worthy of several articles all on their own. However, I've long had a fascination with Photomatic and their art deco styled booths and metal photo frames.

      There appears to have been a resurgence in the popularity of photobooths recently. My nephew hired one for the guests at his wedding a few years ago, and it was great fun.

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    2. Oh how fun - your nephew's idea for his wedding with the photo booth. Better than disposable cameras left on reception tables I think. We did that for our daughter's wedding & some of the pictures we got back should never have been printed! Too much champagne I guess?

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  3. Next time I see a photo booth, I want to try it out and see what I get.

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    1. I don't see them very often these days, but perhaps we should all be doing that.

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  4. I have one of those strips of group pictures made when I was in College. Believe it or not there is a modern version of the booth in a mall near me.

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    1. So perhaps you could post it on your blog for Sepia Saturday ...

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  5. I have a memory of a photo booth at our local shopping centre quite recently but Indooroopilly has undergone a re-vamp so I suspect the photo booth has been done away with. I shall check it out the next time and like Postcardy, I think I might just have a go and see what comes out ;)

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    1. Yes Alex, and we'll expect you to post it on your blog for all of us sepians to comment on.

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  6. That's interesting, especially the anonymous man. Nice one of your Dad - are you going to grow a beard like that? :) I remember photo booths. We used to have fun with them but I don't think we have any of the photos from that time.

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    1. I've had a beard ever since the age of 18, but it's never been quite that long.

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  7. We have a few photobooth photos from the 50s and 50s. I think I might have a metal frame one of my dad taken in Dublin! Will have a look.

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    1. It would be great to see it if you find it Jackie!

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  8. I can understand your fascination with these magic photobooths. They have an ephemeral quality that is unlike other kinds of photographs. The story on the "445 Portraits of a Man" is quite a photo mystery and collector's tale too. Could be the title to a country music hit.

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    1. Yes, an intriguing story, and perhaps it will be solved one day, with crowdsourcing on the web being such a growing industry.

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  9. I can remember having photos taken in a photobooth but none of them have survived. Interesting

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    1. Sad. I'm not sure if I ever had one taken in a booth when I was young.

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  10. "Photo-Sleuth" has been included in the A Sunday Drive for this week. Be assured that I hope this helps to point even more new visitors in your direction.

    http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-sunday-drive_27.html

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  11. I have a copy of a photo strip of my 2nd granduncle and his girlfriend used as evidence in my 2nd grandaunt's divorce case. Obviously they were having fun, but then they just looked silly and rather pathetic in the light of day.
    The photo booth at the mall looks similar to the one in your post. But it doesn't require a smart young girl to operate it. Love that ad!

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    1. That's quite a back story, Wendy. Perhaps not the one they would have chosen to be remembered by, but important nevertheless.

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  12. I did the photo strips when much younger, but never saw any with metal frames. Thanks for an interesting post.

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    1. I think they disappeared in the US in the 1950s.

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  13. Definitely the original Selfies, my recollection of them is at main railway stations, and I probably still have a strip of photos squirrelled a way somewhere.

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    1. Yes, in my original article I included a photograph of a Photomatic booth in a railway station waiting room.

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  14. Photo booths were an important part of my teen-age years.
    There was one outside the Thrifty drug store on our main st. of Pomona, Ca. You always had to go there with whoever was your latest boyfriend. I even have some photos taken there later with my husband and baby. I think I have lots more taken later. I'm off to look them up.
    Barbara

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    1. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Barbara. Perhaps you will share them via Sepia Saturday one day?

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