B. J. Falk, the celebrity photographer from New York City, produced this cabinet card portrait of Cissy Fitz Gerald (1873-1941). Fitz Gerald was an English American vaudeville and film actress, dancer, and singer. She appeared in both silent and sound films. Her first movie was made in 1896 by Thomas Edison. In 1914 she signed with the Vitagraph company. The IMDb lists a filmography of seventy films spanning from 1914-1932. Her movies included a film series entitled “Cissy”. Her nickname was “girl with the wink”. She is described by the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, England) as one of the original “Gaiety Girls” of the 1890’s. These actresses tended to appear in the choruses of productions. The web based museum exhibit describes the “Gaiety Girls” as “fashionable elegant young ladies and not at all like the corseted actresses from the burlesques”. The exhibit also declares that the “Gaiety Girls” were polite, beautifully dressed and well behaved young women, who were much sought after by the ‘stage door Johnnies’ of the 1890’s”. As apparent in the photograph; Ms Fitz Gerald was quite a beautiful woman and had a beautiful smile. She was, simply put, a radiant woman. This photograph was formerly owned by Culver Service, a company that commercially provided celebrity photos to different modes of media. The photographs reverse has a stamp indicating ownership by the Culver company.
This cabinet card has an extremely minor curl and a barely visible crease in it's top left corner. The photograph is in good condition (see scans). Cissy Fitzgerald portraits are uncommon.