James J. Kriegsmann

James J. Kriegsmann (1 January 1909 – 29 April 1994) was a celebrity and theatrical photographer who worked from 1929 to the early 1960s.

Early life and education

Kriegsmann was born on 1 January 1909 in Vienna. His father was a shoemaker named Louis “Louie” Kriegsmann. His mother died when he was 20 years old. He studied classical violin and mandolin as an adolescent. At age 20, he left Vienna for New York with no ability to speak English.

Career

Kriegsmann's first celebrity photographs were taken when the Flying Wallendas visited the studio where he was employed, and he was the only employee able to speak with them in their own language. Karl Wallenda and Kriegsmann would become lifelong friends.^[1]

Kreigsmann photographed such Motown notables as Bill “Mr. Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway, Frank Sinatra (also with daughter Nancy on his knee), Ray Conniff, Bill Haley, Sid Caesar, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles, Martha Raye, Doris Day, Milton Berle, Duke Ellington, Smokey Robinson, “Little” Stevie Wonder, Tom & Jerry (later Simon and Garfunkel), and hundreds more.^[2]

In addition to his work as a photographer to the stars, Kriegsmann wrote hundreds of songs for top recording artists of the day,^[3] including the hit “The Happy Organ” for Dave “Baby” Cortez, which was the first instrumental song to reach number one on the Top 100 Billboard charts, in 1959, and has been featured in many films.

His studio occupied a former Hungarian restaurant in the first floor of the Actors’ Equity Building at 165 West 46th Street, New York City, and operated for over 60 years in partnership with his two sons, noted photographers James J. Kriegsmann, Jr. and Thomas O. Kriegsmann. In its time the studio was the largest headshot photography studio in the world.

Kriegsmann became the official in-house photographer for Harlem’s Cotton Club,^[4] and he was considered among the best photographers in America, who at that time included Tony Bruno, a Hollywood photographer who relocated to New York City and worked from his studio in Carnegie Hall; Chicago’s Maurice Seymour who eventually joined Kriegsmann in his New York studio and photographed alongside him for many years; and the legendary George Hurrell of Hollywood.^[5] “If you look at the [Kriegsmann Studios] clientele over the years, it’s obvious that the black community thought very highly of [James J. Kriegsmann] as a person, and as a professional, way back then,” Mr. Lee said. “The thinking among them was probably, ‘Hey, this cat is cool, let him take your picture, spread the word.’ ”

Slide Hampton, 78, a two-time Grammy-winning trombonist who once had his picture taken in the old Times Square studio, said of Kriegsmann: “What he did for black entertainers was very noble. After all these years, the fact that some black stars are still working with his son as a way of paying homage to his father is just as noble.”^[6] A number of Kriegsmann’s photographs can be seen on display in the galleries of the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Bronx, NY.

In 1940, Kriegsmann hired Brooklyn-born Eugenie “Genie” Conran, a beautiful young woman of 16, who along with a number of other glamorous and older women, had responded to an ad for a receptionist for his studio. She worked at that position until the studio's closing in 1988. After their 1940 marriage when she was 17, they had three sons along the way. They lived in Forest Hills Gardens in Forest Hills, Queens.

Kriegsmann died April 29, 1994. At his passing Mr. Kriegsmann was survived by three sons, noted photographers James J. Kriegsmann, Jr. of Greenwich, CT and Thomas O. Kriegsmann of Far Hills, N.J., as well Eugene Kriegsmann, of Seattle, WA. As well as several grandchildren, including producer Thomas O. Kriegsmann and James J. Kriegsmann, III of New York City, Elizabeth Kriegsmann of St. Louis,Danielle M. Kriegsmann of Greenwich and Noah Kriegsmann of Seattle.

References

^{[7] [8] [9]}