[TRAVEL - WOMEN]. PECK, Annie S[mith].Biblio.com
A sensational archive documenting the exceptional career of a Flushing NY professional ice skater during World War II and afterwards encompassing 300 silver gelatin photographs studio photos over 100 clippings ice show theatre programs and other ephemera. She performed and starred with Sonja Henie’s Rockefeller Center ice shows as well as 100s of ice shows from 1941 through 1948 on and off Broadway often appearing twice a night at the Iridium Room at the St. Regis or The Bowman Room at the Biltmore. The photographs clippings and documents reveal she was not only an excellent ice skater but also professional fencer skier and by the age of 20 had earned her pilot’s license with the intent to become a charter pilot after the War.
194155330Flushing NY & Beverly Hills CA: Sharlee Janet Munster Blow Raymond Blow 42-20 Kissena Blvd.; 9168 Beverly Blvd. 1941-1968. Two vols. Thick 4to. 163 mylar sleeves with 300 silver gelatin photographs sized from 2.5 x 3.5 in. up to 8 x 10 in. 35 of the photographs are signed or dedicated either to Sharlee or Ray many have photographer’s stamp on versos or embossed photographer’s stamps some have lengthy explanatory location and/or identifying annotations on versos several are sleeved in nightclub portfolio sleeves 10 colour transparency slides & 20 snapshot negatives in photo lab sleeves over 100 newspaper clippings magazine clippings articles printed certificates brochures theatre programs etc. Recent 3-ring binders with stamping on front covers. This amazing photo and ephemera archive offers an invaluable visual record of a young Flushing NY ice skater performing at Rockefeller Center with Sonja Henie’s ice shows off-Broadway cabaret and night club venue during World War II and post-War New York. Munster 1924-2016 was one of the thousands of young girls inspired to become professional ice skaters by Sonia Henie’s ice skating movies ice shows glittering costumes and production numbers. By 1941 Munster was appearing in “It Happens on Ice†which ran for 386 performances and included such ice skating performers as Dorothy Allan Jo Ann Dean Paul Castle Edwina Blades and Mary Jane Yeo. Photos in the archive show her early practice sessions as a teenager in Flushing Queens NY signed photos from Betty Atkinson Paul Castle and other stars who appeared in the production along with newspaper clippings and program. Within two years she was appearing in the Iridium Room Ice Shows which were twice nightly affairs and designed for before & after Broadway shows featuring a 20 foot square ice rink and often elaborate sets. She would perform in the “Newfangles†Ice Show at the Terrace Room alongside Carol Lynne Rudy Richards Dorothy Lewis Bob & Peggy White; “Ice Capers†at The Bowman Room in 1944 at the Biltmore Hotel; the “Circus Haze Ice Review†at the Hotel Roosevelt; and finally the long running “Hats Off to Ice†which ran for 889 performances from 1944 through 1946 and was Henie’s most popular show also represented in this collection by the souvenir Center Theatre Orchestra Seat Stub for the first performance in June 1944. The Iridium Room and other New York supper club ice shows featured live music during and after the war often featuring Freddie Miller Cab Calloway -- represented here in the archive with a signed photo showing Cab and his band dedicated to Sharlee The Harmonicats -- another signed photo all signed by the trio Gus Martel and others thriving through 1947. After a cabaret tax was imposed by the city on the supper clubs offering live entertainment hotels across New York eliminated the very popular ice skating shows. Of additional interest are the many production photos showing performance practices publicity shots while dressed in elaborate costumes the chorus lines of male and female ice skaters and the tremendous stage backdrops for such productions as Hats on Ice. Some of the photos show Sharlee Munster and her future husband Ray Blow in skates in costume along with many of their costars in these large productions. Sharlee had tremendous drive and in addition to her passion for skating and performing was inspired to become a pilot and at 18 years old began flying lessons 2-3 times a week weather permitting often working around her show and social schedule. There are photos of her at the Bendix airfield her standing beside a Piper J-3 Cub in which she had purchased a half-interest and successfully completed her first solo flight at Lime Ridge Airport in Poughquag NY August 11 1944 with Norman Sylvia as her flight instructor. She joined the Women Fliers Club and began studying and taking the tests for a commercial pilot’s rating intending to become a charter pilot after the War. Following the closing of most of the ice shows in New York Sharlee and her cousin Ray Munster became ski instructors fencing instructors and performed in ice shows at at the famed Concord Resort Hotel in the Borscht Belt part of the Catskills. In January 1948 she marries one of her fellow skaters Raymond Kenneth Blow 1924-1992 who had also appeared in many of Sonja Henie’s productions at Rockefeller Center as well as the Roxy Theatre and as a couple continued living in the family apartment on Kissena Blvd. through 1950 while Ray performed. By 1952 the young couple and their son Greg had moved to an apartment in Beverly Hills CA with photos showing the family frolicking and fishing at the California beaches visiting Palm Desert in 105 degree heat the opening of Disneyland and more. See: Laura Jacobs Sonja Henie’s Ice Age Vanity Fair Feb. 11 2014; Ryan Stevens Inside Edges in the Iridium Room Skate Guard The Ultimate Archive of Figure Skating’s Fascinating and Fabulous History July 2 2018. Sharlee Janet Munster Blow, Raymond Blow, 42-20 Kissena Blvd.; 9168 Beverly Blvd., unknown
Zephyr Used & Rare Books · États-Unis4 500,00 $US≈ 3 807,45 €
