This is a post by Cary O’Dell of the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board. It was first published on the blog of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, “Now See Hear!”
For the past year or so, we have been inviting readers of our “Now See Hear!” blog to help us identify some super-obscure photos from the world of film, TV and music. We’ve had a success rate of over 50 percent, but we still have some enduring “unknowns.”
To try to facilitate some more solutions, we’ve gathered 30 of our remaining mysteries below, and we’re asking readers of the Library of Congress blog to help us out.
To increase the size of a photo, click on its thumbnail below. Please add your guesses or solutions to the comments section of the original post on “Now See Hear!” We’ll be updating the post as each image is identified.
(Note that the photo numbers differ slightly in the original post as a result of some photos being identified and thus not included in this post. Please refer to the original numbers when you comment.)
Thank you!
(1) This gentleman with the bow-tie looks familiar but we don’t know his name.
(2) We’d like to know the name of this trio – either as a group or individually.
(4) We thought this gent was Bruno Ganz, but we’ve since had that disproved. Could he be French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant?
(5) The rest of this photo is NSFW. Can anyone recognize her face?
(6) This is not Dana Delany, Stephanie Zimbalist or Bonnie Bedelia. Who is she?
(8) This photo might be U.K. in origin due to where it was found in the collection. Who is this song-and-dance lady?
(9) There’s a two-letter code on this photo: TC. That might be the initials of the woman in the photo or the initials of the film she is appearing in – or it might be neither.
(10) This photo is from White Studios, a busy New York vaudeville and Broadway photographer. But who is the subject?
(11) We are still trying to ID this actress, or the exotic film she is in.
(12) No one, so far, has recognized this duo. We thought this might be Wendy and Lisa, but they say no. The Jacobites? Christian Death?
(14) Is this the local horror host? Is he from Jekyll and Hyde?
(15) Who is the man with the glasses? British comedy writer Denis Norden?
(16) This one has frustrated many. He looks very familiar. But we don’t know who he is.
(17) Here’s a series of styled shots for an unknown personality. Thomas Jane?
(18) We’d like to know the names of either of these two young men.
(19) Someone thought this was Shel Silverstein, but it’s not. The cartoon in the background is by Herb Gardner, but it isn’t Gardner, either. Any guesses?
(20) These creatures must be in a movie or TV production of some sort, but which?
(21) We assume that this is a musical group, but the names of its members are so far unknown.
(22) This has got to be a production of “Knickerbocker Holiday” based on the set, costumes and date on the stage. But it doesn’t sync up with the Hollywood version or the Broadway debut. Suggestions?
(23) This fetching lass is so far without a name.
(24) At one time, we thought this was British actress Suzy Mandel – even Mandel said it looks like her – but it’s not. Who is she?
(25) Blond ambition: This might be from a film – but which one? The woman in the foreground is wearing a graduation cap with an “86” on it.
(26) So many people thought this was Juliet Prowse that we reached out to the late Ms. Prowse’s son, who tell us it isn’t his mom.
(27) This shot is probably from a Brazilian film due to the stamp on the front, or from another country south of the border. But we haven’t been able to identify the film or the lady in the photo.
