Guide to the Roger Imhof Vaudeville, Variety, Circus, and Movie Scrapbooks M0611
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
1999 ; revised 2022
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Roger Imhof vaudeville, variety, circus, and movie scrapbooks
Identifier/Call Number: M0611
Physical Description:
7 Linear Feet
(48 volumes in seven boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1816-1952
Date (bulk): 1890-1950
Scope and Contents
A pictorial documentation of American entertainment from vaudeville through Hollywood's golden age. Includes songs and lyrics
by Roger Imhof.
Broadly speaking, there are four types of material in the albums. The first consists of advertisements, programs, and other
ephemera from vaudeville beginning around the 1890s, with scattered earlier examples. The second are images of 1940s film
stars, taken from movie magazines. Some of these albums also have silent era actors and vaideville stars also pasted in. Thirdly,
a small set of scrapbooks consists of bound copies of magazines. Most include some reference to or writing by Imhof. And lastly,
there are several albums primarily devoted to Imhof's own musings and theater historiography.
Biographical / Historical
Frederick Roger Imhof (August 15, 1875 – April 15, 1958) was an actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch
writer, and songwriter who toured in vaudeville and burlesque between 1895 and 1930. Imhof was born in Rock Island, Illinois
to Nicholas Imhoff, from Switzerland, and Susan McCluen Imhoff, from Ireland. Imhof began his career as a clown with the Mills
Orton Circus, and later gained fame specializing in Irish caricature. By 1897, he teamed with Charles Osborne in a comedy
contortion and acrobatics act. Around this time, he dropped the second "f" from his last name.
In the 1902–1903 season, he began working with partner Hugh Conn, an association that lasted at least through the 1920s. Marcel
Corinne (died 1977), sometimes spelled Coreene, joined the act sometime in the 1910s. She and Imhof married in 1913. The trio
of Imhof, Conn and Corinne toured in two comic sketches, "The Pest House" and "Surgeon Louder, U.S.A.", the latter a military
comedy Imhof had written. In addition to touring as Imhof, Conn & Corinne, Imhof toured with a number of larger vaudeville
and burlesque companies, including Robie's Knickerbockers. In 1923, he appeared in the Broadway play Jack and Jill.
Imhof reportedly invested heavily in real estate but lost most of his money in the stock market during the Depression. As
vaudeville and live theater gave way to motion pictures, he became involved in the film industry, and he maintained ties with
Hollywood even as he became a successful banker in Chicago after his retirement from the stage. As an actor, he appeared in
small roles in more than fifty films from 1932 to 1944, including San Francisco (1936), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The
Grapes of Wrath (1940) and This Gun for Hire (1942). Of the songs he composed, eleven are extant, including the 1906 "Old
Broadway." Imhof died on his birthday on April 15, 1958.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item] Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and movie scrapbooks, M0611, Dept. of Special Collections,
Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Samuel Stark, 1964.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. Some of
these materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Related Materials
University of Kansas Spencer Research Library holds the Roger Imhof vaudeville collection (MS 121): https://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=3008185
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Vaudeville -- United States.
Circus -- United States.
Motion pictures -- History.
Hollywood (Calif.) -- History.
Blackface entertainers
Minstrel music
Minstrelsy
Theater -- History
Stark, Samuel
Conn, Hugh L.
box 1, volume 1
Programs
1883
Scope and Contents
Casts and Programs From 1883 [through circa 1890 with scattered later items] ; A Life Time Collection Made by Walter S. Sanford
and Edith Murilla Sanford
box 1, volume 2
Road Shows - Eleventh Avenue Opera House, Altoona, Pennsylvania
1889-1890
Scope and Contents
Bound volume of Eleventh Avenue Opera House programs
box 1, volume 3
Vaudeville Season
1890
Scope and Contents
Primarily collages of illustrated artist advertisements. Many loose pages. Some later material, including an article from
1977.
box 1, volume 4
Imhof and Conn
1903-1904
Scope and Contents
Programs, Press Notices, Contracts, etc. of Imhof and Conn from September 8th 1902 until May 25th, 1903.
box 1, volume 5
Various Old Programs
1900-1930
Scope and Contents
A Collection of Programs. Legitimate, Variety, Minstrel, Musical & General, Collected by Roger Imhof.
Some older and later material also enclosed.
box 1, volume 6
Embroidered Signatures
1880-1950
Scope and Contents
This book is the remnaNTS of a banner composed of signatures singed on silk; in some cases, part of the costumes the signers
wore in famous roles. Blanche Chapman Ford of Ford's Theatre, Washington D.C. was the original conceptor and embroiderer.
It was never completely finished and fell into my hands since 1880. In a well-worn condition, Elizabeth Risdon presented it
to Roger Imhof who reconditioned it, where possible, and reassembled it piecemeal ... The quotations have been deciphered
where possible ... "
-Roger Imhof 1939
box 2, volume 7
A Few I Knew As I Older Grew - 50 Years of the Varieties
1943
Scope and Contents
Typed indices of names of various performers, facts and firsts, lore, and other theatrical information. Signed photograph
of Imhof also enclosed.
box 2, volume 8
Pictorial Vaudeville & Variety: Sequel to A Few I Knew As I Older Grew
1930
Physical Description: This volume is somewhat moldy due to prior water damage.
Scope and Contents
Collages of images of performers, including some from the 1940s.
box 2, volume 9
Roger Imhof's Artists
Scope and Contents
Collages of images of performers.
box 2, volume 10
Some of Vaudeville's Big Shots and Moving Picture Pioneers
box 2, volume 11
Roger Imhof's Way Back When Old Timers
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of mostly magazine clippings of performers and Hollywood actors through the 1940s.
box 2, volume 12
Roger Imhof's Troupers
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 2, volume 13
Roger Imhof's Memories
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 2, volume 14
Roger Omhof's Pictures of Theatre Folks in the Magazines - Vol. 4
1931-1945
Scope and Contents
Binder of issues of movie magazines
The New Movie Album, Hollywood Who's Who, Modern Screen, Movie Story Magazine, Stage Pictorial, and
Movie Life.
box 2, volume 15
Roger Imhof's Flashbacks - Showfolks - Vol. 5
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 16
Jocosites Bound and Gagged by Roger Imhof
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 17
Roger Imhof's Variety Folk - Volume 3
1930s-1940s
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 18
Roger Imhof's Mimes and Mimics Big and Little
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 19
Roger Imhof's Co-Workers - Stage and Screen
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 20
Roger Imhof's Entertainers
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 21
Roger Imhof's Boys and Girls of the Pictures - Big and Little
1948
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1930s and 40s.
box 3, volume 22
Roger Imhof's Male and Female Mummers
1949
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1940s.
box 3, volume 23
Roger Imhof's I Knew Them All
1951
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1940s.
box 3, volume 24
Roger Imhof's Pals and Players
1950
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1940s.
box 3, volume 25
Roger Imhof's Players
1952
Scope and Contents
Scrapbook of movie magazine clippings of Hollywood actors, most from the 1940s.
box 4, volume 26
Signatures
1935
Scope and Contents
As My Friends Wrote Their Names, Compiled Nearly Entirely From Personal Correspondence During A Period of Thirty Years.
Index enclosed. Some facisimiles.
box 4, volume 27
Biography
Scope and Contents
Various clipped articles from 1940s movie magazines.
box 4, volume 28
Circus Articles By Francis Beverly Kelly & William Seabrook
box 4, volume 29
Roger Imhoff's Records
Scope and Contents
Miscellaneous scrapbook containing clippings of programs and images of actors, as well as other clippings and text by Imhof.
box 4, volume 30
Roger Imhof's Flashbacks - Letterheads & Articles
Scope and Contents
Contains a few clipping, several examples of letterhead (including Imhof's), a some programs, and copies of
Variety and other movie magazines.
box 4, volume 31
Roger Imhof's Collection of Old Time Songs
Scope and Contents
Primarily clippings from magazines (especially
Variety and
Song Hits) and written & typed lists, but also includes small song and joke books from 1860 and 1902.
box 4, volume 33
Songs and Poems by Roger Imhof
box 5, volume 34
Original Lyrics - Topical, Sentimental, Descriptive
box 5, volume 35
On the Fire - More Songs and Lyrics by Roger Imhof
box 5, volume 36
Songs and Lyrics by Roger Imhof
box 5, volume 37
B.W.F. - Bonmots, What-Nots, and Forget-Me-Nots. An Accumulation of Humor Vol. 8
box 5, volume 41
Index to Pictorial Vaudeville
box 6, volume 42
The Show World, Variety
December 21, 1907 December 26, 1919
box 6, volume 43
Old Numbers of Theatrical Trade Papers (various)
1911-1934
Scope and Contents
Includes copies of
New York Clipper, New York Star, Hollywood Filmograph and
The Player.
box 6, volume 44
Old Numbers of Theatrical Trade Papers (various)
1922-1937
Scope and Contents
Includes copies of
Hollywood Low Down, Vaudeville News, Screen Guild Magazine, New York Star and
Stage Pictorial.
box 6, volume 45
The Stage, New York Star, Vaudeville News, Billboard
1914-1936
box 6, volume 46
New York Star, New York Vaudeville News, Screen Plays, Hollywood Low Down
1912-1936
box 7, volume 47
Phil Hunt's Collection of Pictorial Shakespeare
1941
box 7, volume 48
Roger Imhof's Collection of Old Timers Vol. 6
Scope and Contents
Article clippings ands some programs related to Walter Sanford.