Fanchon and Marco collection of photographs and ephemera, approximately 1912-1940, bulk 1926-1937

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Summary

Creators:
Fanchon & Marco
Abstract:
The Fanchon and Marco collection contains approximately 1400 photographs depicting hundreds of Fanchon and Marco Inc. sets and performers for the company's live variety shows performed before feature films in California and across the country in the 1920s and 1930s. These shows, known as "Ideas," were produced by the Los Angeles-based theatrical production team of sister and brother Fanchon Wolff Simon (1892–1965) and Marco Wolff (1894–1977). The collection also includes a box containing newspaper clippings, musical scores, miscellaneous photographs, and the supplemental press books that were included with the Fanchon & Marco promotional magazine, Now (and later The Idea), dating from 1930 and 1931.
Extent:
19 Linear Feet (19 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Fanchon and Marco collection of photographs and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Fanchon & Marco collection contains approximately 1400 photographs depicting hundreds of Fanchon and Marco Inc. sets and performers between approximately 1925 and 1938. The collection also includes three boxes of ephemera, dated from around 1912 to 1940, that consist of newspapers clippings, scrapbooks of clippings, musical scores, miscellaneous photographs, and the supplemental press books that were included with Fanchon & Marco's promotional magazine, Now (later The Idea), dating from 1930 and 1931.

The 16 volumes (now disbound) of photographs in this collection served as a visual inventory for hundreds of Fanchon & Marco sets and performers. The images document the actors, dancers, costumes, sets, and concepts and appear to have been primarily photographed during rehearsals before the shows premiered in Los Angeles theaters such as Loew's State Theater and the Paramount Theater. The first volume contains some photographs presumably taken in San Francisco and later volumes include a few photographs by New York-based photographers.

Accompanying descriptive information is scant with few performers identified by name. A typescript inventory with Idea titles precedes volumes 1-8. The production name appears in pencil on the back of many of the pages in Volumes 1-12. Volume 13 contains stage and lighting directions in typescript on the backs of some photographs.

Photographers represented in the collection are: Archer's Art Shop of Los Angeles (Volume 6, 8, 11, 13); Hollywood photographers Irving Archer (Volume 12, 13, 14), Archer's Studios (Volume 8, 11, 13, 14); Curt Fox (Volumes 5-6); Paralta Studios (Volumes 2-4); and Harry Wenger (Volumes 1, 2-4, 6). A few photographs include the imprints of Peerless Photo of Los Angeles (Volume 13), John Sirgio (Volume 13), H.W. Steward of San Francisco (Volume 1), Talbot of New York (Volume 12), Weaver of Los Angeles (Volume 1), and White Studio of New York (Volume 9).

Biographical / historical:

The sister-and-brother duo of Fanchon Wolff Simon (1892–1965) and Marco Wolff (1894–1977) founded the theatrical-production company of Fanchon & Marco Inc. in 1923. The company, located at 5600 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, provided live stage shows to movie houses in California and across the country.

Born and raised in a large Jewish family in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles, Fanchon and Marco Wolff began performing on vaudeville as teenagers. In 1919, they left the stage to produce a musical revue called "Let's Go!" A year later they created Sun-Kist, a California-themed act starring a line of high-kicking chorus dancers. Sun-Kist opened on the West Coast before launching a successful national tour in 1921.

In 1923, Fanchon and Marco presented their first "Idea" at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The Idea concept became a Fanchon and Marco trademark and referred to a live variety show performed before a feature film, a genre also called a "prologue." Fanchon & Marco Ideas – which centered on various themes – were distinguished by their snappy pace, intricate choreography, spectacular costumes, lavish sets, and teams of chorus dancers, including the Sunkist Beauties and the Fanchonettes.

Between 1923 and 1936, Fanchon & Marco produced hundreds of Ideas that toured California, the Pacific Coast, and the United States. The company closed its Hollywood offices in 1936 and stopped producing Ideas by 1938.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Sandra Holden and William H. Simon, Jr., July 2008.

Newspaper clippings on album pages gift of Faye Hueston, 2013 (Box 17, Folder 5).

Scrapbooks of clippings gift of Sandra Holden, January 2023 (Box 19).

Processing information:

Preservation treatment in June 2011 included removal of photographs from the original binders for humidification and flattening, as the items were severely warped. Photographs were individually numbered according to their original order in the binders, interleaved, and placed in archival boxes. One original binder (volume 5) was retained as an example; the rest of the binders were discarded.

In 2023, Kelly Kress processed the addendum to the collection housed in Box 19, and Maggie Hughes and Kelly Kress updated the finding aid.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized in the following series:

  1. Photograph volumes (Boxes 1-16)
  2. Ephemera (Boxes 17-19)
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Fanchon and Marco collection of photographs and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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