Guide to the Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks,
1883-1952
Department of Special Collections
Green Library
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, CA 94305-6004
Phone: (650) 725-1022
Email: speccollref@stanford.edu
URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/
© 1999
The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks,
1883-1952
Collection number: M0611
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, California
Contact Information
- Department of Special Collections
- Green Library
- Stanford University Libraries
- Stanford, CA 94305-6004
- Phone: (650) 725-1022
- Email: speccoll@sulmail.stanford.edu
- URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/
- Processed by:
- Special Collections staff
- Date Completed:
- 1992
© 1999 The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks,
Date (inclusive): 1883-1952
Collection number: Special Collections M0611
Creator:
Imhof, Roger, 1875-1958, collector.
Extent:
7 linear ft. (48 v.)
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
None.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Provenance
Gift of Samuel Stark, 1964. Stark met Imhof sometime in the '40s.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Roger Imhof Vaudeville, variety, circus, and silent screen star scrapbooks, M0611, Dept. of Special
Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical Note
Frederick Roger Imhoff was born in Roca Island, Illinois, 15 April, 1875. Although very little biographical information on
Imhof exists in either the Sam Stark Index or the Imhof Scrapbook Collection, it seems Imhof must have had connections in
theater even in his childhood. Scrapbooks of vaudeville and burlesque show programs he collected date back to the late 1880s,
and by 1897 (if not before), Imhof was himself on stage, teamed with Charles Osborne in a comedy contortion and burlesque
acrobatics act. It was around this time that Imhof dropped the second f from his last name (he apparently always preferred
Roger).
The 1902-03 season was his first paired with Hugh Conn, a partnership that lasted well into the '20s and possibly even '30s.
By the 1910s the duo had become a trio with the addition of Marcelle Coreene, who married Imhof around 1913 (it is unclear
to me whether Marcelle Coreene and Corinne Imhof are actually the same person; both names appear in playbills of the Imhof
and Conn acts).
It seems Imhof, while not completely dropping out of vaudeville, was able to get involved with the infant American film industry
in Hollywood very early. Though Stark mentions on his Imhof index card that Imhof was a film actor, Imhof's real career in
Hollywood seems to have been as a presenter, promoter, or agent. According to a few comments and articles sprinkled among
his scrapbooks, Imhof was acquainted with such silent film celebrities as Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Max Sennett
and his group.
Imhof actually stayed in Hollywood for the next three decades, and his scrapbooks show that he was part of the American motion
picture scene throughout the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Friends and clients of his included the likes of Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth,
Janet Leigh, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Roy Rogers, Gregory Peck, and hundreds of others.
It is unclear just how Imhof and Sam Stark met, but it must have been sometime in the '40s, for that's when Stark seems to
have started receiving old scrapbooks from Imhof. Roger Imhof died on his birthday in 1958 in Hollywood, California. Included
in the Sam Stark Theater Collection are 50 or more of Imhof's scrapbooks, pictorially documenting American entertainment from
vaudeville to Hollywood's Golden Age.
Scope and Content
A pictorial documentation of American entertainment from vaudeville through Hollywood's golden age. Includes songs and lyrics
by Roger Imhof.
Access Terms
Conn, Hugh L.
Coreene, Marcelle.
Circus--United States.
Lyric writing (Popular music)
Mimes.
Motion pictures--History.
Mumming.
Musicals--Writing and publishing.
Theater.
Toy theaters.
Vaudeville--United States.
Hollywood (Calif.)--History.
Lyricsts. lcsh
Stark, Samuel.
Container List
Box 1, Volume 1
1883vaudeville, theatre programs
Box 1, Volume 2
1889-90vaudeville season programs
Box 1, Volume 3
1890vaudeville season programs
Box 1, Volume 4
1903-04season programs, Conn and Imhof shows
Box 1, Volume 5
1900-1930vaudeville, theatre, burlesque programs
Box 1, Volume 6
embroidered signatures scrapbook,
1880-1950
Box 2, Volume 7
A Few I Knew As I Older Grew - index of names; 50 years of the Varieties
(1943)
Box 2, Volume 8
Pictorial Vaudeville and Variety: Sequel to A Few I Knew As I Older Grew
(1930)
Box 2, Volume 9
Roger Imhof's Artists - black and white pics of vaudevillians
Box 2, Volume 10
Some of Vaudeville's Big Shots and Moving Picture Pioneers
Box 2, Volume 11
Roger Imhof's Way Back When Old Timers
Box 2, Volume 14
Pictures of Theatre Folks in the Magazines - Vol. 4 - Short Histories and Pictures (issues of
The New Movie Album, Hollywood Who's Who, Modern Screen, Movie Story Magazine, Stage Pictorial, Movie Life)
Box 2, Volume 15
Flashbacks - Showfolks - Vol. 5 - Picture People
Box 3, Volume 16
Jocosites Bound and Gagged (mostly pics of silent screen stars,
1920s-30s)
Box 3, Volume 18
Mimes and Mimics Big and Little
(1940s)
Box 3, Volume 19
Co-Workers - Stage and Screen
(1940s)
Box 3, Volume 21
Boys and Girls of the Pictures, Big and Little
('48)
Box 3, Volume 22
Male and Female Mummers
('49)
Box 3, Volume 23
I Knew Them All
(1940s-50s)
Scrapbooks containing miscellaneous songs, musicals by Imhof, humorous pieces, etc.
Box 4, Volume 27
Biography (short bios of various celebrities)
Box 4, Volume 29
Records (truly miscellaneous)
Box 4, Volume 30
Flashbacks - Letterheads & Articles (and old numbers of
Variety)
Box 4, Volume 31
Roger Imhof's Collection of Old Time Songs
Box 4, Volume 33
Songs and Poems by Roger Imhof
Box 5, Volume 34
Original Lyrics - Topical Sentimental Descriptive
Box 5, Volume 35
On the Fire - More Songs and Lyrics by Roger Imhof
Box 5, Volume 36
Songs and Lyrics by Roger Imhof
Box 5, Volume 37
Bonmots, What-Nots, and Forget-Me-Nots - An Accumulation of Humor (Vol. 8)
Box 5, Volume 41
Index to Pictorial Vaudeville Vols 1-3 (but those volumes aren't marked; some song lyrics, too)
Old theatrical trade papers, bound as books
Box 6, Volume 42
The Show World,
December 21, 1907Variety,
December 26, 1919
Box 6, Volume 43
Old Numbers of Theatrical Trade Papers (various ones, dated
1911-1919, 1922, '25, '26, '34
Box 6, Volume 44
more of same,
dated 1922-37
Box 6, Volume 45
more of same,
dated Dec. 1914, Dec. 1915, Dec. 1924, August 1936reproduction of a
1911issue
Box 6, Volume 46
more of same,
dated 1912, '13, '15, '21, '27, '35, '36
Box 7, Volume 47
Pictorial Shakespeare (big flat folio)
Box 7, Volume 48
Roger Imhof's Collection of Old Timers (more old trade magazines)
