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Imhof (Roger) vaudeville scrapbooks
M0611
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Table of contents
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
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.
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.
[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.
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.
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
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.