The Photo Collection
Years ago I decided to digitize thousands of my parents printed photos, slides, and negatives and put them into a ‘family history’ collection. Occasionally I would browse through them looking for photos of specific events or photos of people who recently passed away that I could share with their family and friends. I appear in some of the photos; some are from when my ancestors were living in Iowa; some are from when my parents were just married and living in Japan on behalf of the United States Air Force.
Walt Konopacki and Friends at the Bar
A few weeks ago I was browsing the photo collection. I came upon a nicely posed photo of my dad sitting at a bar table with two other guys. It looked like a photo taken by a professional. The decor in the bar and the waitresses uniforms seemed iconic. There were no signs on the wall or indications as to what bar this was or where it was located. I have seen this photo many times, but never stopped to really study it.
There are very few photos of my dad when he was young. Even fewer where he has a genuine smile on his face. All three guys in the photo look the same age. Easy to assume they are good friends because they seem relaxed and happy to be together. The date “August 23, 1949” is stamped on the back of the original printed photo. Since I scanned the photo at a very high resolution, I was able to zoom in to see the beer bottle in front of my dad was labeled ‘Altes’. There were what looked like xylophone mallets on the table.
I looked through my family history archives. Based on the date stamp I surmised that my dad was recently back in his hometown of Hamtramck, Michigan (suburb of Detroit) celebrating the end of his first tour of duty with the United States Air Force. Before coming back to the states, he was stationed at an air force base in Guam. These were work, school, or military buddies sitting with my dad, having a beer, a smoke, and discussing what the world had in store for them next.
Hamtramck History Museum
Since I had very little info about the photo, I decided to contact the Hamtramck History Museum to see if they could determine if this was actually a Hamtramck bar. It was a shot in the dark, but worth a try. I got a response within a few hours from someone at the museum who thought the photo might have been taken at The Bowery Nightclub, which at one time was located at 12050 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck, Michigan. I asked about the xylophone sticks on the table. These are called ‘table knockers’ used to either get the waitress’s attention or as a substitute for applause. (The Bowery Nightclub was a famous Detroit hot spot where many famous music and comedy acts performed.)
The Bowery Nightclub
A day or so later I looked at more of the photos I had digitized from my dad’s photo album. I found one that was an edit of the original photo in question. It was only of my dad and was surrounded by a vignette (a portrait photograph which fades into its background without a definite border) Under the photo was written the address of The Bowery Nightclub. I was extremely happy to have discovered the location of the photo!
Was there anything else I could find out based on what I saw in the photo? I did an internet search for ‘Altes’ beer. It was a brand very popular in the late 1940s. In the spring of 2019 the Altes beer brand was brought back into production in Detroit.
If you zoom into the digital image far enough you can make out the printing on the table knockers. I found matching knockers for sale on the internet that had the same printings, “THE BOWERY CAFE”, “KNOWN FROM COAST TO COAST”, “NEVER A DULL MOMENT”. This was another confirmation that the photo was taken in The Bowery Nightclub.
Herman Krieger and the ‘camera girls’
I wanted to know more about The Bowery Nightclub. An internet search brought me to an article about what the nightclub was like in the late 1940s. One of the people who posted a reply to the article was Herman Krieger. He said: “I worked at the Bowery during the later 1940s developing and printing the photos taken by the camera girls.“ According to his web site, he worked at the photo concession from 1946 – 1949. The ‘camera girls’ went around the nightclub taking pictures of people, having the film developed immediately in a nearby darkroom (by Herman), then brought back to the people to purchase.
Turns out Herman got interested in photography as a teenager, is still alive, and living in Eugene, Oregon. I found an email address for him and we had this correspondence:
Paul: “I was researching the history behind an old photograph of my dad, which led me to a quote you made in an internet article about The Bowery Nightclub in Hamtramck, Michigan. The photo was taken in 1949 of my dad with two guys on either side of him who look the same age. I was wondering if you could tell me more about the nightclub and the photo.”
Herman: “I very likely printed the photo. I would print one photo for each person in the picture and then a vignette of each person. The darkroom was located by the dressing rooms. I had the possibility of getting acquainted with many of the entertainers. Nightclubs went out of fashion in Detroit around 1950 after many people had gotten TV sets.”
I found a YouTube video of an interview of Herman by Stu Levy in 2019. Here is a clip pertaining to his job of printing photos taken by the ‘camera girls’:
Conclusion
It is most likely the photo in question was taken by a ‘camera girl’ and Herman developed it in his darkroom. I have yet to find out who my dad’s two friends were.
More about The Bowery Nightclub
- From HamtramckStar.com:
“The Bowery drew major talent who would come to Detroit on tour, and it was not uncommon at any given time at The Bowery to see performers such as Jimmy Durante sitting at a table drinking Pfeiffer beer–which was distributed from 11618 Sobieski Street in Hamtramck–or Sophie Tucker sitting with United Auto Workers (UAW) moguls Walter Reuther and Dick Frankenstein, or Jack Dempsey, one-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The emcee was Amos Jacobs (Danny Thomas). An artist would come weekly and paint on the exterior of the building a portrait of the entertainer who would be appearing that week as neighborhood children sat and watched the face develop to see if they recognized the star. The Marx Brothers, the Ritz Brothers, Martha Raye, Sophie Tucker and Tony Martin, who was a very popular singer in the 1940s and was married to Cyd Charisse in 1948, were among the stars who appeared at The Bowery. During the 1940s, before they ever became famous on the Jackie Gleason television show, the June Taylor Dancers made up the chorus at The Bowery.”
More About Table Knocker
These collectibles were popular in many nightclubs in the United States in the late 40s and early 50s.
