Orval Hixon
Warner Gault was a theater and film actor during the vaudevillian era. Gault is best known for his roles in the 1912 operatic comedy including: “The Merry Countess”, the 1915 musical comedy “Stop! Look! Listen!”, the 1919 musical revue “The Greenwich Village Follies”, 1920 musical revue “The Broadway Whirl”, and the 1929 film “My Wife”. In this portrait Gault is fully costumed, wearing a dark Spanish cloak, head scarf and dark cordovan hat. Gault faces the camera with a challenging stare, cigarette dangling from his lips and slight perspiration on his skin.
This portrait depicts Zaina Curzon a performance artist from the 1912 "Ziegfeld Follies". Curzon is captured in an intimate pose with her figure filling the entirety of the space. She is dressed with a lace adorned white dressing gown and matching shawl looped in the crook of her left arm. Curzon clasps a small bedside clock to her chest. The expression on her face reflects that of momentary contemplation. Her thick dark hair spills down her back and shoulders. The dark backdrop provides significant contrast to the model as she become more pronounced and almost luminescent.
Zoe Barnett was an actress in musical comedies with roles in feature Broadway performances such as "The Debutante" (1914) and "Rose Girl" (1921) among others. She is perhaps most remembered for her leading role in the play "Nobody's Home" (1915) as Miss "Tony" Miller, for which she was commended for her gracefulness, good humor, and clever recitation acts. In this photograph, she holds a bust of a nondescript female figure before her, embodying its expression as her own. Barnett wears a satin head wrap with an ornament centered just above her eyes.
Trixie Friganza was born with the name Delia O'Callahan in Grenola, Kansas. She was a comedian with a unique and gentle sense of humor. Trixie was a large woman and often used her weight as a subject of her comedy. In this 1919 photograph, Hixon has manifested the stoic beauty of Trixie as a vaudeville performer. She is dressed in a sateen gown trimmed with fur at the shoulders, wrists, and bottom. Her hat is fur, feather, and trimmed with sateen. Trixie gazes boldly, yet kindly, at the viewer.