Shirlie's Archives Donated to History San Jose

Recntly, Susan and I have donated the archives we got from Shirlie to History San Jose. We felt it was appropriate for her life work and history to be kept by HSJ and made available to the public. She was a fascinating lady. Active in so many things and she left a fantastic collection behind ... she NEVER threw anything away. HSJ now has nearly a century of Montgomery and Bueck family photos, documents, fliers, diaries, scrpbooks, photo albumsand letters. Shirlie's middle school and high school yearbooks are there as well. (HSJ already had the 1932-35 SJSC yearbooks.) There are also some items from her grand-uncle T. S. Montgomery in the collection.

HSJ will create an exhibition that will be on display early in 2014, as well as some online access to the collection. Watch here and on the HSJ website and the HSJ blog for details as they become known.

Bing Crosby in 1963

Shirlie would take photographs of celebrities whenever she could. Being close to the sporting world and being a photo-journalist in the Bay Area afforded Shirlie lots of opportunities. This photo (which is recaptured untouched from an old negative) catches the legendary crooner Bing Crosby hanging around with some sports folks back in July of 1963. Immediately to his left is Matt Zidich, a pretty good minor league pitcher in the Stockton and Bakersfield area back in the late 1940s. Nice, unpublished photo from Shirlie's archives.

Wrestling Photography Article by Shirlie 1953

Back in 1953 Shirlie was asked by the San Francisco Examiner to write an article about how she goes about capturing wrestlers in action. This article appeared in the examiner August 2, 1953.

Take a Photo ... Get it Enlarged!

While Shirlie's archives are full of photographs of her and by her, I found these three that show her at work. Three camera Shirlie is the classic photo of her. But the two with her at the photo enlarger are showing what she actually did after the flash! 

Like so many photographers of her era -- before digital photography and PhotoShop, she would manipulate the image on the negative by coloring out certain areas, cropping the image and even cutting out silhouettes and placing them in different backgrounds. Similarly, she used the tools of the trade to "dodge" the image or intensify the exposure contrast in different areas to create the levels of light and dark she wanted. She also had an array of masks to frame the image in different shapes or to fade out the edges for a softer effect.

These photos are from around 1960 and were taken in her studio on First Street in San Jose.

Carl Pacheco's Bar - 352 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose

Carl Pacheco's on W. Santa Clara Street 1960 (Shirlie Montgomery)

Carl Pacheco had one of most swingin' bars in downtown San Jose in the 1950s and early 1960s. Shirlie loved this place. Her bars of choice seemed to be Pacheco's, Glenn Neece's Ringside Bar, and later Sam's Log Cabin. Alas, today these are just faded memories.

I am not sure who the couple is in this 1960 photo, but the Chrysler Imperial with those super-streamlined features and the spectacular fins steals the whole shot!

Pacheco's was torn down, along with a bunch of other old-time buildings to make way for the Park Center Plaza, a developers dream that never really got developed. Too bad ... we lost icons for the dreams of re-development.

Please take me home! Carl Pacheco's - Cocktails - Food - Fun.

Ad for the 1960 Chrysler Imperial

Photographing Wrestlers for Fun and Profit

Shirlie Montgomery ringside waiting for the right shot!

Shirlie's dad, Rea Montgomery, was an avid sportsman. He loved to hunt and fish, went wild at boxing matches and wrestling shows, was a great fan of football and baseball. His constant companion on these escapades was his daughter Shirlie. She loved it.

When she first started taken photographs for a living at the De Anza Hotel in downtown San Jose, she also would go to the wrestling matches at the San Jose Civic Auditorium -- the land for which was donated to the city of San Jose by her grand-uncle T. S. Montgomery. When she started working at the San Jose Mercury in the 1940s, her editor noticed her love of "the sport of wrestling" and encouraged her to take photos for the paper to publish. The rest is sporting history.

Big Time Wrestling magazine July 1964 feature article with photographs by Shirlie Montgomery

Shirlie became one of the best wrestling photographers in the nation. Her photos were published not just in the local papers, but were carried world-wide by the wire services. Wrestling magazines routinely used (and credited) her photographs for articles. Wrestlers, promoters and agents sought her out to photograph their events and clients. In the 1970s she was inducted into the Slammers Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Shirlie inducted into the Slammers Legends of Wrestling Hall of Fame

On Wednesday nights, Shirlie would take photos of the matches at the Civic Auditorium. After the show was over, she would gather with friends and wrestlers at the Ringside Bar on First Street and the gang would revel in the prior weeks photos that Shirlie brought to share. The Ringside was owned and operated by Glenn Neece and his family. The walls were covered with Shirlie's photos. Today the Neece family has one the largest collections of Shirlie's wrestling photographs, maybe even more than is contained in Shirlie's archives.

 

Ringside Bar with wall covered in Shirlie Montgomery wrestling photographs (Shirlie Montgomery)

Shirlie's wrestling photographs break down into three categories: Action photos, which were her favorites and were what she was best known for. These were the ones the papers and magazines would print. Posed photos for press releases, resumes and such. "Candid" photos, showing the wrestlers having fun at the local bars, parties and charity events.

Gorgeous George in his pre-fight routine - reproduced from a negative (Shirlie Montgomery)

Jesus Ortega giving Juan Humberto his patented "back breaker" (Shirlie Montgomery)

The Sharpe Brothers (Ben and Mike) attacking Sandor Szabo (Shirlie Montgomery)

For the published, action photos, Shirlie not only took the photos, she also prepared them for publication and wrote the captions. In her archives there are many of these "ready-to-publish" photos, trimmed or cropped, with publication information on the back.

The standard muscular pose was the common image that wrestlers and their agents wanted. Shirlie took lots of them.

Lou Thesz (Shirlie Montgomery)

Enrique Torres (Shirlie Montgomery)

Ronnie Etchison (Shirlie Montgomery)

Group photos showing the wrestlers in a less combative mood were taken either candidly or semi-posed by Shirlie.

Glenn Neece (owner of the Ringside Bar) with Leo Nomelini (pro wrestler and SF 49er football player) and friends seated in the Ringside Bar (Shirlie Montgomery)

There are a lot of Shirlie's photos out there in the market and collectors cherish her prints. If the prints were made for use professionally, they were normally marked with Shirlie's signature or stamp. Most of the one's in her archives do not have the stamp as either they were not published or were extras.

While Shirlie loved her "big men," she saved a large part of her heart and love for the little guys ... the midgets. She had a lot of stories about the midgets ... how they would bring her gifts from their trips ... how they met her as she deplaned at Honolulu Airport back in 1956 ... and how they would clown around quite a bit more than their full-sized compatriots.

Midget wrestlers (Shirlie Montgomery)

Midget wrestlers (Shirlie Montgomery)

Linoleum Block Prints by Shirlie

Shirlie Montgomery was not just a well-known San Francisco Bay Area photo-journalist. She was also a graphic artist, illustrating her photo albums, keeping sketchbooks and making block prints from wood and linoleum.

These are original linoleum printing blocks created by Shirlie  circa 1940. Both have a distinct Arts & Crafts influence.

Graphic Props for Photography

Shirlie explained these little graphical images to me. They are like the cover of a book, the title of a movie, the headline in the newspaper. She created these "title images" as props to introduce a collection of photographs. She did the same thing in her own photo and scrapbook albums.

I found these in a box filled with her photos. Many of these in this little collection are from the Ad Club's trip to Hawaii in 1957. They demonstrate Shirlie's talents, not just as a photographer, but also as a graphic artist/illustrator. She also exhibits her whimsical side is some of them. Pretty neat stuff!

Happy Birthday Shirlie!

Shirlie came into this world 95 years ago today. 

Happy Birthday!

Politicians • Eleanor Roosevelt and Richard Nixon

Shirlie was pretty much apolitical ... she either liked the person or didn't. Period. She figured that she couldn't really influence the politicos and that most of them were crooks anyway! When it came to taking photographs, she just did her job ... and did it well.

A story she told me, several times, was when she photographed ex-actor, then US Senator from California, George Murphy. This was in the mid-1960s. Murphy was holding a cigar (or cigarette) when she was ready to take the photo. Shirlie was adament that he should snuff out the smoke for the photo. At first he declined, but she persisted. He had the photo taken sans cigar! She met with him a few years later and he remembered her as "that persistent photographer." (Murphy was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years later and had half of his larynx removed!) I wish I had that photograph.

While I do not have that photo, I do have, in Shirlie's collection, several photos of politicians from both ends of the ideological spectrum -- Eleanor Roosevelt and Richard Nixon.

Mrs. Roosevelt visited San Jose in 1947 as a guest of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee. A reception in her honor was held at the De Anza Hotel, where Shirlie took these photographs.

 

Eleanor Roosevelt at the reception held at the De Anza Hotel 1947 (Shirlie Montgomery)

Mrs. Roosevelt and local politicos 1947 (Shirlie Montgomery)

The top photo is featured in the book Reflections of the Past: An Anthology of San Jose (p.176). It is credited "Courtesy: Tom McEnery." Shirlie actually took the photo ... and still has the negative. John McEnery, Tom McEnery's father, commissioned Shirlie to take photos at the reception, but, even though he received and kept the photographs, never paid Shirlie ... and she never forgot that slight right to the end!

In 1960 then Vice-President Richard Nixon ran for US President against John "JFK" Kennedy. Two years after his loss to Kennedy, he ran for governor of California (which he also lost). Shirlie was called on to photograph Mr. Nixon while he was in San Jose.

Richard Nixon making the rounds in 1962 (Shirlie Montgomery)

Great shot of Nixon 1962 (Shirlie Montgomery)

1961 Cosmetology Convention at Rickey's

I am not sure who any of these folks are, but it looks like they were having fun!

Shirlie took on all kinds of photo assignments. Conventions were one of her favorites -- well, not like the wrestlers were, but she loved to have fun and conventions gave her the opportunity to both have some fun and photograph people having fun.

See anyone you know? Let me know, I would love to i.d. them.

These folks look like they got carried away with the makeovers!

These shots are from the gathering of cosmetologists at Rickey's on the El Camino Real in Palo Alto back in 1961. The signs they are carrying read: San Jose Invites YOU in '61. Why a San Jose theme in Palo Alto? I don't know, except that San Jose was woefully short on great gathering places in the early 1960s.

Hale's, Macy's, Stern's ... and more

Shirlie's commercial clients ranged from mom & pop shops to the giants of San Jose retail. She covered events, weddings, charitable groups, trade associations, politicians and celebrities. Shirlie also had clients like Paul Masson, IBM, FMC and more. Here are some of the publicity photos she shot for downtown San Jose stores.

Hale's on Santa Clara Street downtown was one of the anchor stores. This looks like a recruiting photo taken on the stage at San Jose Civic Auditorium.

Candy Bar of the Week ... I wonder if she got paid in candy? Great looking counter!

Another Candy Counter! I see a trend here ...

The sign in back says: Semi-Annual Sale - All Macy's Own Wines

Stern's Luggage was on First Street before it moved to Valley Fair in the 1960s

Inside Stern's filled with leather products

Fancy Pastries, Pies and Cakes