Miss Egan, born with the name Mary Florence Cecilia Egan, was a violinist and bandleader during the 1920s through the 1930s. Her career started from the pit orchestras of Hollywood productions until she formed her own all-female orchestra in 1924 called Babe Egan's Hollywood Redheads. The group played in vaudeville along the West Coast and eventually went on tour in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit for many years. In 1933, they toured Europe with a 16 piece band, which included pianist Dorothy Sauter and saxophonist Geraldine Stanley. Egan retired in the 1940s. In this portrait, she is seated wearing an embroidered black garment while holding a violin. Her hair is short and slicked down, a style common in the flapper era. She bores at the camera with dark, commanding eyes and the faintest trace of a smirk. The direction of the texture in the background contrasts her stilling stare, creating a conflict of movement in the photograph that her presence dominates, sending all else, including her violin, out of focus.