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You are bidding on an 8x10 stunning high end photo from the original negative on quality doubleweight innova archival fiber based paper with a .25 inch border. JOHNNY FLOREA EMBOSSMENT, copyright stamp on verso as shown - - taken by johhny florea during a 1943 live command performance radio broadcast
printing is done in house with the same professional equipment labs use. the innova fiber glossy photos are stunning prints used by many galleries
John Florea, Life magazine photographer who chronicled the greatest battles of World War II and the greatest stars of Hollywood, then segued into a career as a television directorafter World War II, Florea returned to Hollywood. He continued working for Life, as well as the San Francisco Examiner, and was appointed photo editor atCollier's magazine.
Marilyn Monroe was first photographed by Florea in early 1951. At 24, she had played supporting roles in two acclaimed movies, The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. And she had recently signed a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox.
On March 29, 1951, Marilyn presented the Academy Award for Best Sound Recording to Thomas Moulton for All About Eve. Florea photographed her that day in an elegant black gown, and the pictures were used to illustrate a feature, '1951's Model Blonde', published in Collier's that September.
On June 19, Florea accompanied Marilyn on a trip to the USS Benham at Long Beach, where he photographed her with sailors. She wore the black netted dress seen in As Young as You Feel.
Monroe was already a gifted model, but she had yet to find the great portrait photographers who would transform her from starlet to goddess. Most of her publicity shots from this period fit the 'cheesecake' mould, and Florea was happy to play along.
Marilyn posed on a rock in a tight-fitting bathing suit, with one strap pulled down. Other sessions showed Florea's sense of mischief. For one shoot, Marilyn sat at a dressing table, clad in a negligee, pouting sulkily as the telephone rang.
Another series depicts Marilyn by a roaring log fire, clad in thermal underwear. It was snapped up by men's magazines that winter, seemingly proving that she could look sexy in anything.
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ovCommand Performance
Volume 1
It's the Greatest Radio Show You Never Heard!
 In the early months of World War II, radio producer Louis G. Cowan was faced with a problem. Not long before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Cowan had joined the radio arm of the War Department's Special Services division, where his primary duties had been to produce radio-based propaganda for civilian audiences. Now, however, hundreds of thousands of newly enlisted soldiers were in desperate need of mainstream entertainment - in particular, the sort of radio shows they had enjoyed while they were civilians. In anticipation of the conflict to come, a "Buddy Disc" program had already been established to distribute recorded music and comedy programs to recreation centers and mess halls, but for troops stationed far away from home, there was a constant need for the sort of morale-building entertainment that radio could best provide.
Cowan considered the audience for such a show. As a result of the attack the previous December, in a short three months, hundreds of thousands of outraged American citizens had enlisted in the armed forces. Faced with the regimentation and training needed to turn a group of civilians into a strong fighting force, recruits and draftees alike had to quickly get used to taking commands from practically anyone in uniform - and clearly the men would appreciate the chance to issue a few commands themselves. And what if the commands could be issued to any of the top stars of radio, the stage, nightclubs, the recording industry, and motion pictures - a command to sing the songs they wanted, tell the jokes they wanted, and present pretty much anything else they wanted to hear? There was no doubt that that would raise morale.
And so "Command Performance" was born - a show that would be presented exclusively for service men and women, to their specifications, and based upon their "commands". The idea was simple yet brilliant, meeting the need that millions of service personnel had to feel special, recognized, and appreciated, as well as the desire of thousands of writers, performers, musicians, producers, and technicians to somehow contribute their own special talents to the war effort.
 Cowman knew that the show would have a very small budget - in fact, it would likely have no budget at all - and so began by contacting the various show business unions. All quickly agreed to waive the union wage and conditional agreements of their members so long as the broadcasts were limited solely to military audiences. (With the exception of a single Christmas show, aired by all four radio networks in December of 1942, "Command Performance" would never be broadcast to or heard by civilian listeners.) Next, using his connections in the entertainment fields (and calling in a few favors), he arranged to use the New York studios and recording facilities of both the CBS and NBC radio networks to rehearse, stage, and record the shows for shortwave rebroadcast. Finally, though a combination of letter writing, phone calls, advertisements in Variety, and word of mouth, he announced to the entertainment world that he needed as many people as possible to contribute both their time and talents to make "Command Performance" the greatest radio series ever produced. Even though there were no paychecks to be had, knowing it was "for the boys", the stars responded in droves. Even George M. Cohan, long known for being very protective of his copyrights, allowed "Command Performance" to use his World War I anthem "Over There" as its theme song without charge.
The first show, performed at the Longacre Theater in New York on March 1, 1942, was hosted by Eddie Cantor and featured much of his radio show cast. The next week, on March 9th, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians hosted. Then, on March 13th, Kate Smith took the microphone, bringing Ed "Archie" Gardner along from "Duffy's Tavern" as well as comic lecturer Robert Benchley, "the king of the one-liners" Henny Youngman, and vocalist Barry Wood from "Your Hit Parade". Once the shows began to be sent out via shortwave from New York, the letters quickly began pouring in from servicemen worldwide. The first "commands" had come in verbally, but now Cowan and his production team had to cope with an onslaught of requests that arrived by the thousands on an almost daily basis. Some were fairly easy to fill - Would Dinah Shore sing "Blues in the Night"? Would Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy do a comedy routine? - but some were not only more difficult, but also more poignant. One lonely soldier wanted to hear the bark of his faithful dog back home, another wanted to hear the sound of the foghorns in San Francisco harbor, while a third wanted to hear the sound of the bluebirds outside his bedroom window in Indiana. "Command Performance" complied, sending recording engineers out to capture these simple but memorable sounds of home and later airing them on the show.
 It wasn't long before "Command Performance" became THE radio show of the war years. Everyone who was anyone in show business wanted to make at least one appearance - and, to the relief of creator Louis Cowan and newly-appointed producer Vick Knight, they usually brought their writers along with them. Responding to an ever-increasing demand for movie stars, the show gradually moved from New York to Hollywood, occupying space at the Sunset Boulevard studios of CBS and NBC. And, in late 1943, it became the jewel in the crown of the Armed Forces Radio Service, a brand new division of the War Department that would exist solely to bring information, education, and information to military personnel throughout the world.
Heard today from the perspective of over sixty years, "Command Performance" remains great variety entertainment, filled to the brim with comedy and music. You can enjoy it solely as entertainment - the shows are frequently hilarious as well as tuneful - or consider it a virtual time capsule of "who was who" in show business during the war. Thanks to the "you tell us what you want to hear" nature of the show, listeners can always expect the unexpected; for example, on one show, hosted by Betty Grable, you'll hear Judy Canova, Robert Benchley, Mary Martin, The Music Maids and Hal, and Harry James and his Orchestra (before Harry married Betty), as well as Jack Benny and his entire radio cast: Don Wilson, Mary Livingstone, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. That's just ONE show - and a fairly typical one at that!
erall good condition
- From the original release date. NOT a copy, an ORIGINAL OLD PHOTO. The back of the photo is shown ONLY if there is a pertaining news article, information snipe and/or date stamp, otherwise back is plain and unshown. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE I ACCEPT RETURNS
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