Orval Hixon

This photograph features Cleo Hixon, center, flanked by two friends while playing a game of cards. They appear to be in a casual seating area with a dense accumulation of memorabilia and small American flags strung across the walls. To the right of the gentleman in the photograph is a life preserver labeled "CLEO / POR...

In this portrait, Hixon has captured the playful youthfulness of Cleo and her friend. The two girls appear to be in a ship's cabin that is decorated with American flag streamers , a poster of soldier on horseback, and other miscellaneous items. Cleo is seated on the bed with her arms resting atop a life-preserver with...

In this portrait of Cleo, Hixon depicts her in a seated profile pose. Cleo gazes in the distance with a bemused expression. She is dressed in a nautical outfit and holds a life-preserver with the name "CLEO" printed onto it. Cleo wears her hair up and a slight smile across her girlish face.

Beth Beri was a dancer who appeared in two musical revues, "Jack and Jill" (1923) and "Rufus LaMaire's Affairs" (1927). Between those gigs, she performed in the musical comedy "Kid Boots" (1923) which was successful enough to be produced in print and on Broadway. In this portrait Beri is positioned kneeling towards...

Guy Bates' acting career spanned over more than fifty years with a multitude of Broadway stage and Hollywood film productions. Some of his most memorable roles include Omar Khayyám in the 1914 stage and 1922 film productions of "Omar the Tentmaker" and Louis Napoleon in "Maytime" ( 1937) and again in "The Mad Empress"...

Ina Alcova was a Vaudeville ballet dancer known as "The Flying Alcova." Rather than the usual vertical portrait, Hixon has created a horizontal portrait of Ina flying through a whimsical landscape. She leaps into the light from the dark through the center of the composition. A bright ray of light shines downward upon h...

In this photograph stands an unknown woman against a stark black background holding an issue of Shadowland, a popular theater magazine that circulated in the 1910s-20s. The figure wears a tattered shirt and skirt and polka-dotted headscarf as a pirate-inspired outfit. She holds a large issue of Shadowland that covers h...

A number of Orval Hixon's photographs include figure studies and portraits of unknown vaudevillian performers. This portrait of a young unknown vaudevillian actor is a great example of Hixon's playfulness. The young man stares directly at the viewer. While his facial features and the decoration of the hat are well lit...

This unknown figure is meticulously dressed in a light herringbone suit jacket and matching vest. His attire is accentuated by his knit tie and watch chain, that stretches across his chest coming to a rest in his vest fob pocket. This dapper character is fastidiously groomed, as apparent with his clean shaven visage,...

Trixie Friganza was born with the name Delia O'Callahan in Grenola, Kansas. She was a comedian with a unique and gentle sense of humor. Trixie was a large woman and often used her weight as a subject of her comedy. In this 1919 photograph, Hixon has manifested the stoic beauty of Trixie as a vaudeville performer. She i...