James J. Kriegsmann was a celebrity and theatrical photographer who worked from 1929 to the early 1960s.
Early life and education
Kriegsmann was born on 1 January 1909 in Vienna. His father was a shoemaker named Louis “Louie” Kriegsmann. His mother died when he was 20 years old. He studied classical violin and mandolin as an adolescent. At age 20, he left Vienna for New York with no ability to speak English.
"his talents put him in a class with three of the most prominent celebrity shutterbugs in America at that time, including Tony Bruno, a Hollywood photographer who moved to New York and set up shop in Carnegie Hall; Maurice Seymour, who was based in Chicago; and the legendary George Hurrell, who took classic portraits of stars like Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich during Hollywood’s golden era." —The New York Times, 2010
Career
Photography
Opening his New York City studio on 1933, James J. Kriegsmann was famous for his portraits and publicity shots of celebrities from the 1930s thru the 1960s. Kriegsmann's first celebrity photographs were taken when the Flying Wallendas visited the studio where he was employed, and he was the only employee able to speak with them in their own language. Karl Wallenda and Kriegsmann would become lifelong friends. Kriegsmann photographed many Motown notables, as well as Bill “Mr. Bojangles” Robinson, Florence Ballard, Cab Calloway, Frank Sinatra, Ray Conniff, Bill Haley, Sid Caesar, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles, Martha Raye, Doris Day, Milton Berle, Duke Ellington, Smokey Robinson, “Little” Stevie Wonder, Tom & Jerry, and hundreds more. His studio occupied a former Hungarian restaurant in the first floor of the Actors’ Equity Building at 165 West 46th Street, New York City, and operated for over 60 years in partnership with his two sons, noted photographers James J. Kriegsmann Jr. and Thomas O. Kriegsmann. In its time the studio was the largest headshot photography studio in the world. Kriegsmann became the official in-house photographer for Harlem’s Cotton Club, and he was considered among the best photographers in America, who at that time included Murray Korman, one of Broadway's most prolific photographers; Tony Bruno, a Hollywood photographer who relocated to New York City and worked from his studio in Carnegie Hall; Chicago’s Maurice Seymour who eventually joined Kriegsmann in his New York studio and photographed alongside him for many years; and the legendary George Hurrell of Hollywood. “If you look at the clientele over the years, it’s obvious that the black community thought very highly of as a person, and as a professional, way back then,” Mr. Lee said. “The thinking among them was probably, ‘Hey, this cat is cool, let him take your picture, spread the word.’ ” Slide Hampton, 78, a two-time Grammy-winning trombonist who once had his picture taken in the old Times Square studio, said of Kriegsmann: “What he did for black entertainers was very noble. After all these years, the fact that some black stars are still working with his son as a way of paying homage to his father is just as noble.” A number of Kriegsmann’s photographs can be seen on display in the galleries of the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Bronx, NY.
Music
In addition to his work as a photographer to the stars, Kriegsmann wrote hundreds of songs for top recording artists of the day, including the hit “The Happy Organ” for Dave "Baby" Cortez, which was the first instrumental song to reach number one on the Top 100 Billboard charts, in 1959, and has been featured in many films.
Personal life
In 1940, Kriegsmann hired Brooklyn-born Eugenie “Genie” Conran, a beautiful young woman of 16, who, along with a number of other glamorous and older women, had responded to an ad for a receptionist for his studio. She worked at that position until the studio's closing in 1988. After their 1940 marriage when she was 17, they had three sons along the way. They lived in Forest Hills Gardens in Forest Hills, Queens. Kriegsmann died April 29, 1994. At his passing Mr. Kriegsmann was survived by three sons, noted photographers James J. Kriegsmann Jr. of Greenwich, CT and Thomas O. Kriegsmann of Far Hills, N.J., as well Eugene Kriegsmann, of Seattle, WA. As well as several grandchildren, including Thomas’ children producer Thomas O. Kriegsmann of Brooklyn, interior designer Georgiana Leddy of Princeton, NJ, Jennifer Casolini Dal Bo of Buffalo, NY, and Alison Nelligan of Mendham, NJ, James’ children Elizabeth Kriegsmann of St. Louis, James J. Kriegsmann, III of New York, and Danielle M. Kriegsmann of Miami and Eugene’s son Noah Kriegsmann of Seattle.
