The "Jazz Age" is one of the most romanticised periods of the last century with its creation of fast cars for fast women to drive to secret, Prohibition Era parties to. Compiled here for the first time are more than 200 publicity stills and photos of some of America's first It girls – the silent film-era starlets who paved the way for the cacophony of Monroes and Madonnas to follow.
Accompanying these iconic images are the stories behind them, including accounts from surviving Ziegfeld Girls, as well as ads featuring them that helped perpetuate the allure of It girl glamour. The photographs are the work of one of the first "star makers" identified most with the Ziegfeld Follies, Alfred Cheney Johnston. Johnston, a member of New York's famous Algonquin Round Table photographed such celebrities as Mary Pickford, Fanny Brice, the Gish Sisters, and Louise Brooks. As well as being a sumptuous snapshot of an era, this book is also a look at the work of this "lost" photographer.
