Tweet Color from Black-and-White: colorized photos

"Say, after a customer rides in my cab, he'll never ride in another."

Happy Fourth of July to one and all! Raise and wave those flags with pride!

My Independence Day pic: Maude Fealy in front of the flag.

I'm sorry to say this, but some red leaked onto the blue of the flag.

Here's a summer time pic of Clara on the pier at the beach.


I found a picture of her holding a firecracker (looks more like a stick of TNT though!) earlier. I'll colorize it and post it later.

Here's Greta Garbo.


Martie

Bob, Caesar, Martie, Etc,

Wow! I missed allot of posts! I did not receive any notices for some reason. Some really great stuff here.

Martie,

The Maud Fealy, and the Clara on the dock are both exceptional.

Little Caesar,

I'm lovin' the H L from Speedy in the Yellow Cab. Great work!

I tinkered with the Mary and Doug some. It looked very good, but still couldn't resist. Added a little more brown to the dogs patches. I think that is actually Doug's bare knee's sticking out there. Can't imagine he would be wearing long under-ware. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it back to flesh tone in this case. See what you think?




"Pick-Fair Staircase"

Everyone,

Here is some new stuff I haven't posted here yet.



Mary Miles Minter- "First Rate Sweetheart"



"La' Talmadge Unmasked!"




Bebe Daniels- "Picking Petals"



This is supposed to be a found farewell between Mr and Mrs Valentino. But some ole' habits must be rather hard to break? Lo! Watch those wandering hands there girl! Goodness me, after all your out in public! Act like a lady! Rudy renewed his romance with Pola Negri after this. Had a really good name for this shot, but it's French and I don't know how to spell it. Gerr! This was roughly 1925 I think.



Natascha Rambova and Rudolph Valentino- "One Last Spark"



May McAvoy- "White Flowers"



Betty Bronson- "In Fine Feather"



Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll- "Fall Romance"

I haven't checked in for a few days and I'm impressed with the number of new photos. They all look terrific! I'd better join the party so here are some new ones of a slightly later vintage that I'm using to illustrate a 1937 MGM radio party that I'll be posting tomorrow on OHIC.

Jimmy Stewart circa 1940:
[list=][/list]

Eleanor Powell circa 1936:


Ilona Massey and Nelson Eddy in BALALAIKA (1939):


Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks:


Ida Lupino and Ronald Colman in THE LIGHT THAT FAILED (1939):

Bob,

Wow! These are great. Not sure about the intense Blue of Jimmy's eyes there. The others look awesome. The Eleanor Powell is stupendous! Oh my gosh, that Fanny Brice frightened me half to death! Yikes!

Here are a A Bunch of Fun Lobby-cards! Three from an I assume lost 1927 Howard Hawks domestic comedy. with J. Farrell MacDonald, and Louise Fazenda.




Dorothy Gish- MARY ELLEN COMES TO TOWN (1920)

First, my apologies for not redefining what I meant by "later" in my previous post.
Now, for that picture:

Best throw that stick o' dynamite away from you, Clara! They're very dangerous!

Here's Dorothy Mackaill with brown peepers this time.


Er, I didn't exactly make any more colorizations, so here's a nice lobby card from Laugh, Clown, Laugh.


Martie

Colorization now...and then!

Our esteemed Gagman's colorization:





...and a colorization from the same photo session done in the era it was taken:



Interesting how the choices were different then.

I think Gagman's work is closer to color photography although the vintage photo may have been seeking more of a painted look so we have two different concepts at work here. Many of the fan mag covers of that era made no pretense of being photo-like but adapted a b/w photo into a painted portrait. I would not have rouged the cheeks in any event but that's just my approach to color transfers.

Here's one I don't believe that I've posted here previously but I published in one of my books. I don't think this would be confused with a painting:

John Barrymore in GENERAL CRACK (1930)

I agree Gagman's take was more realistic in most ways, but it's fun to see what differences there were in interpretation then, too. The colors of the clothing in the old image are more obviously of their time, but the interpretation of skin tone is a lot less realistic. I wouldn't have done that sort of colorization back in the days when I used Marshall Oils pencils. The kicker is (depending on age) the photo may have been shot on ortho film, rendering any color interpretation possible, since any tonal information wouldn't be accurate.

I agree Gagman's take was more realistic in most ways, but it's fun to see what differences there were in interpretation then, too. The colors of the clothing in the old image are more obviously of their time, but the interpretation of skin tone is a lot less realistic. I wouldn't have done that sort of colorization back in the days when I used Marshall Oils pencils. The kicker is (depending on age) the photo may have been shot on ortho film, rendering any color interpretation possible, since any tonal information wouldn't be accurate.

Well, I was never remotely happy with my rendering of that Mary Brian photo. Thanks for posting the vintage version. Mary Brian still has the bluest of Blue eyes. Here is a new Pickford.




"Profiling America's Sweetheart"


Bob, Martie,

I like the GENERAL CRACK still allot. I could not see the Firecracker Clara before! Now it is loading. Thanks.




Bessie- "I've Got a Secret about Love!"




Phyllis Haver- "Classy Chassis"

Heh, it almost looks like Marion Davies mimicking Dorothy Gish.
This was Gagman's mystery photo, and I decided to see how it would turn out in color.

Martie,

Yeah, I worked on the same photo over the weekend, and a couple other Marion pics. I'm assuming that is Marion's slip that is visible on the side there, and she just a thin mesh from the dress covering it.

I forget if I posted these in the past, perhaps on the main site before this thread was created. In any event, summertime is historically devoted to reruns so here goes.

George Arliss, Loretta Young and Robert Young in THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD (1934):


I think this is one of the more rare photos of Lon Chaney as Quasimodo:


A night on the town - Paul Muni, wife Bella, Norma Shearer, husband Irving Thalberg attend a dinner for H.G. Wells in December 1935:

Presenting W.C. Fields in "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man":


The two original press snipes are still attached to the photo. Here are the transciptions:
Snipe 1:
From John Joseph
Universal Studios
Universal City, Calif. For Release on Receipt
Between scenes of his new Universal picture, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man", W.C. Fields has become a regular Sherlock Holmes in an attempt to run down a mysterious but annoying prankster. It looks as if Charlie McCarthy had better get a pair of running shoes.

Snipe 2:
NOW IT'S SHERLOCK HOLMES
After suffering considerable annoyance from an unknown pranker during the making of his new Universal picture, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man", W.C. Fields finally decided to do something about it. So he dolled up as Sherlock Holmes and started an intensive search for the guilty party. He wouldn't mention any names but promised that when he found the culprit, "I'll bore him full of holes and let the termites out." It looks as if Charlie McCarthy had better get a pair of running shoes.
932 P 121

Great work, Caesar! It looks like an original color photo, which is the highest praise I can think of. My only comment is that WC's eyes are too blue (unless he was known for light blue eyes). I added some flesh tone (believe it or not) to your blue. What do you think?

Great work, Caesar! It looks like an original color photo, which is the highest praise I can think of. My only comment is that WC's eyes are too blue (unless he was known for light blue eyes). I added to some flesh tone (believe it or not) to your blue. What do you think?

Thanks for the praise! Concerning the eye color, I don't know what W.C.'s eye color was. I looked at some actual color photos of him but couldn't tell what the eye color was. I chose blue finally after looking at a few color posters and lobby cards (which I realize aren't necessarily accurate). Anyway, your improvements look good.

Bob, LC,

Very good Fields. in This 1921 Lobby-Card, who is the Guy with Gloria? Can't place him. Anyone know?

Milton Sills

Gagman,

I believe that's Milton Sills.

Bob,

Is it really Milton Sills? He looks different somehow. Here is another card for this film. How about the older dude? Any clue as to who he might be? Thanks.

I'll bet that's Alec B. Francis.

One of the most famous Keystone photos from the late Teens.




Gloria Swanson And Phyllis Haver-1917


And a lesser known Keystone Portrait. But WOW!!!

Here's 3 Hoop-La pictures of La Belle Bow that I colorized.



Inscription:
To Bets
My sweet, sweet Klunk
your pal always,
(?) Clara

Martie,

Thanks, I Those are all good photos. Who the heck is "Bets?" Do you know?



Colleen Moore And Antonio Moreno- "A Hug A Day"

I have no idea who "Bets" is. Probably just a friend?
Antonio Moreno has held Garbo, Moore, Bow, etc. in his arms. Wow.
Glad you liked the Clara pics. Here are two Colleen pics i worked on a day or two ago.

Is the above from Footlights and Fools?

Martie,

The Top photo from FOOTLIGHTS AND FOOLS looks very similar to my version. Besides the gals you mentioned, Antonio was leading man for Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Alice Terry, Olive Borden, Billie Dove, and my yes beloved Renee Adoree! Talk about a Lucky Stiff!




Olive Borden- "Hold Your Ponies!"

This is easily the worst skintone I've ever seen on a lobby card to date.
The website logo and the way they're both posing doesn't exactly help much.

I agree about Moreno. Bow, Borden, Moore, Swanson, Garbo, Adoree, Dove, Terry, Daniels? Wow. That guy was lucky to even see them in person! Even though it should be expected of a leading man, still!

This is easily the worst skintone I've ever seen on a lobby card to date.
The website logo and the way they're both posing doesn't exactly help much.

I agree about Moreno. Bow, Borden, Moore, Swanson, Garbo, Adoree, Dove, Terry, Daniels? Wow. That guy was lucky to even see them in person! Even though it should be expected of a leading man, still!

Martie,

I just fiddled with the color tone and intensity. How's this?

Martie,

I just fiddled with the color tone and intensity. How's this?

Oh, that's much better! Thanks.