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Guide to the Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks,
1883-1952
Special Collections M0611
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Table of contents
Title: Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks,
Date (inclusive): 1883-1952
Collection number: Special Collections M0611
Creator:
Imhof, Roger, 1875-1958, collector.
Extent:
7 linear ft. (48 v.)
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language:
English.
None.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Gift of Samuel Stark, 1964. Stark met Imhof sometime in the '40s.
[Identification of item] Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks, M0611, Dept. of Special
Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Frederick Roger Imhoff was born in Roca Island, Illinois, 15 April, 1875. Although very little biographical information on
Imhof exists in either the Sam Stark Index or the Imhof Scrapbook Collection, it seems Imhof must have had connections in
theater even in his childhood. Scrapbooks of vaudeville and burlesque show programs he collected date back to the late 1880s,
and by 1897 (if not before), Imhof was himself on stage, teamed with Charles Osborne in a comedy contortion and burlesque
acrobatics act. It was around this time that Imhof dropped the second f from his last name (he apparently always preferred
Roger).
The 1902-03 season was his first paired with Hugh Conn, a partnership that lasted well into the '20s and possibly even '30s.
By the 1910s the duo had become a trio with the addition of Marcelle Coreene, who married Imhof around 1913 (it is unclear
to me whether Marcelle Coreene and Corinne Imhof are actually the same person; both names appear in playbills of the Imhof
and Conn acts).
It seems Imhof, while not completely dropping out of vaudeville, was able to get involved with the infant American film industry
in Hollywood very early. Though Stark mentions on his Imhof index card that Imhof was a film actor, Imhof's real career in
Hollywood seems to have been as a presenter, promoter, or agent. According to a few comments and articles sprinkled among
his scrapbooks, Imhof was acquainted with such silent film celebrities as Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Max Sennett
and his group.
Imhof actually stayed in Hollywood for the next three decades, and his scrapbooks show that he was part of the American motion
picture scene throughout the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Friends and clients of his included the likes of Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth,
Janet Leigh, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Roy Rogers, Gregory Peck, and hundreds of others.
It is unclear just how Imhof and Sam Stark met, but it must have been sometime in the '40s, for that's when Stark seems to
have started receiving old scrapbooks from Imhof. Roger Imhof died on his birthday in 1958 in Hollywood, California. Included
in the Sam Stark Theater Collection are 50 or more of Imhof's scrapbooks, pictorially documenting American entertainment from
vaudeville to Hollywood's Golden Age.
A pictorial documentation of American entertainment from vaudeville through Hollywood's golden age. Includes songs and lyrics
by Roger Imhof.
Conn, Hugh L.
Coreene, Marcelle.
Circus--United States.
Lyric writing (Popular music)
Mimes.
Motion pictures--History.
Mumming.
Musicals--Writing and publishing.
Theater.
Toy theaters.
Vaudeville--United States.
Hollywood (Calif.)--History.
Lyricsts. lcsh
Stark, Samuel.