STEP RIGHT THIS WAY: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty      Product Description From the Publisher Each summer, Edward J Kelty, a Manhattan banquet photographer active from the 1920s through the 1940s, would load his enormous camera into a small truck and follow the circus, first up and down the East Coast and eventually throughout the United States. His extraordinary photographs captured the spirit and atmosphere of the big top, and with a "poof" of flash powder preserved mesmerizing images of the horse wranglers, acrobats, ticket-takers, candy butchers, teeterboard tumblers and sideshow exotics that populated the colorful world of the traveling circuses. Kelty was the Cecil B. DeMille of circus photographers, at times assembling as many as 1,000 circus performers for spectacular group shots. Particularly popular were his annual "Congress of Freaks" photographs, which gathered together the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus sideshow attractions -- from Ajax the sword swallower to Eko and Iko, the "ambassadors from Mars" -- for a "class picture." He sold these group photos as well as prints depicting individual performers, circus lots, and big top interiors, to circus owners, performers and fans. Here, for the first time, a representative sample of the enormous body of work by this largely unknown photographer can be seen together in one volume. In Step Right This Way: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty, photography curator Miles Barth, author of the award-winning book Weegee's World, and photography collector Alan Siegel bring to light more than 100 of the best of Kelty's weird and wonderful circus and sideshow photographs, plus a selection of lively and colorful posters from the circuses Kelty covered. Barth's introductory essaydiscusses Kelty's life and the importance of his work, both in terms of the history of photography and of popular culture. And an essay by noted nature and travel writer Edward Hoagland, who worked in the circus in the early 1950s during summer breaks from Harvard, brings to life in words the dynamic milieu that Kelty portrays in images. Step Right This Way: Photographs of Edward J. Kelty showcases unique images that document a unique way of life. It is sure to appeal to fans of the circus, of photographs and of American popular culture From International Center of Photography Noted for such bizarre panoramic portraits as the Congress of Freaks (1929), photographer Edward Kelty (1888-1967) was the Cecil B. DeMille of the circus world. From September 13 through December 1, 2002, the International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, will present Step Right This Way: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty. The first museum exhibition of Kelty’s traveling circus photographs, it provides a compelling portrait of the diversity and strangeness of itinerant circus life during the ‘20s and ‘30s. With his mammoth banquet camera, which yielded negatives up to 12 x 20 inches, the New York-based Kelty directed large groups of people, in some cases over a thousand, who would pose for these spectacular images.  The exhibition is organized by Miles Barth, former curator of collections at ICP, and is accompanied by a book-length monograph on the photographer. Edward J. Kelty moved to New York City following World War I and opened his first studio, Century Flashlight Photographers, on West 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in 1922. While maintaining a professional practice, Kelty was drawn to the circus sideshows of Coney Island. These sideshows attracted thousands of people a day, who paid ten cents to gawk at a parade of midgets, giants and giantesses, strongmen and bearded ladies, fat men and women, sword swallowers, fire eaters, alligator men, and tattooed women. Many of the proprietors of the sideshows and circuses at Coney Island hired Kelty to make publicity photographs of their performers and show fronts for use in advertising and sales to the public. Kelty’s affinity for the human oddities, novelty acts, menageries, and other unusual attractions at Coney Island whetted his passion for circus life. In the summer of 1922, Kelty loaded his cameras into a small truck he had outfitted with enough space to sleep, develop his negatives, and make contact prints, and left the city to follow the circuses that performed up and down the East Coast. By the 1930s Kelty had expanded his travels to include various cities in the Midwest, West, and eventually the Northwest. He photographed all the large train shows, including Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, Cole Brothers, and Hagenbeck-Wallace, as well as the smaller wagon and truck shows, such as Hunt’s Circus, Sam B. Dill’s Circus, and the Silvan-Drew Motorized Circus. His demanding schedule would begin at dawn, when he set up his tripods and cameras so he could start shooting right after breakfast. By noon he would have made as many as thirty negatives, and would spend the afternoon processing the film and making sample prints, which he showed to the performers, circus management, and roustabouts before the evening performance. After taking their orders, Kelty would return to his truck, where he printed late into the evening so that the finished prints would be ready for distribution before the circus left town for their next venue. Kelty rarely spent more than a day or two at each circus, unless he was traveling beyond New York or New Jersey, so that he could return to his studio to service his wedding and banquet business. Kelty made most of his money selling prints to the employees of the circus; he also licensed his pictures to entertainment trade publications like Billboard, Variety, and White Tops, the official journal of the Circus Fans Association of America. The Depression took a terrible toll on the circus and on Kelty’s business. In 1929 there were thirteen railroad shows touring the United States, but by the 1933 season only three of them remained in operation. Around 1942, Kelty made his last circus photographs and moved to Chicago. Although there is little record of his life there, it is known that he worked for a time as a vendor at Wrigley Field and was a member of various professional organizations. At his death in 1967, there was little evidence of his career in photography: a few albums of photos taken in the Navy and a handful of circus prints found in his small apartment. With the help of circus historians, former associates of Kelty’s, and members of his family, the life and work of this shadowy photographer have been reconstructed. Bringing together for the first time a substantial number of the noted Kelty images—which vividly capture the spirit and atmosphere of the big top—this exhibition offers a unique glimpse into circus history and a fascinating visual record of one of America’s favorite forms of entertainment.     Product Details   Condition: Very Good, Dust jacket has some wear on back. The book itself is in excellent condition Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Michael Friedman Publishing Group, Incorporated (2002) ISBN: 1586637800 Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds   Payment Information   We prefer PayPal Cashier’s Checks are welcome as well, but need to be received within 7 days of “close of auction”. After 7 days, we cannot guarantee product availability and reserve the right to re-list the item.   Shipping Information Orders will ship within 1 to 5 business days after receipt of your “cleared” payment. We usually ship within 1 business day for items located on-site. For items located at one of our supplier warehouses, shipment will typically be 1 business day, but may take up to 5 business days due to fluctuations in inventory levels. We will notify you if there are any unexpected delays. Auction Details You are bidding on the item in the above description. We make every attempt to list our items as accurately as possible. If it is not listed in the description, then it is probably not included.   If you have any questions, please contact us before you bid.   Feedback   We leave positive feedback for customers upon receipt of your “cleared” payment. When you receive our merchandise we hope that you will submit positive feedback for us as well. If there is any problem with your order, please be sure contact us first at 1-800-713-0171 or [email protected] so we can attempt to resolve the issue before you leave your feedback for us.   Returns   All sales are final unless your item is found to be damaged, defective, or not “as described”. All new and factory refurbished items come with the standard factory warranty unless otherwise advertised.   If the item you have ordered is defective, please contact us 1-800-713-0171 or [email protected] so that we can issue you a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number.   We will make every attempt to replace the defective item for you, or provide a suitable replacement. In the event that a suitable replacement is not possible we will issue you a refund.   Merchandise must be sent back in the original packaging with the original packing slip and with RMA number written on the outside of the shipping box (We will send you instructions via email when we issue your RMA). Please be sure to pack your item carefully, to prevent damage while in transit.   Taxes   California residents are required pay a 7.25% Use Tax.   Contact Us   Telephone: 1-800-713-0171 Email: [email protected]       Thank you for viewing our Auction! For similar items, please be sure to visit our               tci.tel eBay STORE