David Leopold

@davidnleopold.bsky.social

197 Followers 323 Following

Father, husband, curator, author, archivist. gardener, music lover, twin, and cat housemate. Creative Director, The Al Hirschfeld Foundation. Views are my own.

Cover of publicity campaign book for Laurel and Hardy”s 1939 film BABES IN TOYLAND shows the duo dressed as toy makers in color.
Vermont Lake Monsters Home Game July 19, 2025. Landscape with baseball diamond in the foreground. Impressionist clouds in afternoon light hang above a verdant setting beyond the ballpark.
Norman Rockwell - The Connoisseur (1962)
My Grateful Dead tour book page for shows at the Greek theater in Berkeley CA in 1975. This was my idea of what a Sgt peppers collage of their influences would look like.
Baclanova was born in Russia in the late 1800s and as a teenager was accepted into the Moscow Art Theatre (M.A.T), an invitation, according to some reports, that came Konstantin Stanislavski himself. She had significant roles in plays by Ibsen, Chekhov and Turgenev, and M.A.T productions of Shakespeare and Dickens. She also starred in Russian films, and by 1925 she was named a “Merited Artist of the Republic”, the highest Soviet artist honor. After touring America in 1925 in a M.A.T. production of Lysistrata, she remained in America when the troupe returned home. She appeared on stage in southern California before soon finding work in Hollywood silent films. By 1928, Baclanova was at the height of her fame. She appeared in seven feature films (and two shorts) that year, including the now classic The Man Who Laughs. Judging by film stills, Ben may have used one from the 1928 film, The Docks of New York, as a visual reference for his portrait. If Baclanova is known at all today, it is because in 1932 she starred as the scheming trapeze artist Cleopatra in Tod Browning’s unsettling film Freaks. Her film career began to slow after that, and while she did perform on Broadway, most notably in the hit Claudia in 1941 as Madame Daruschka (a role she would reprise in the film adaptation two years later), she would slowly disappear from the world of the performing arts. She died in Switzerland in 1974.
Pastel portrait of Olga Baclanova by Ben Solowey. 1928
Charcoal drawing from life of Rodgers and Hart by Ben Solowey. 1938
Hirschfeld drawing in color of Rodger’s surrounded by characters from his greatest shows
Hirschfeld color drawing of Artie Shaw in yellow and brown
Kaparlik collage for MGM film of character from old west with kerchief around neck, checked shirt holding a candle in a bottle and gun in the other hand as he discovers treasure chest in basement with spider webs and mice. Dramatically lit. A hand with a sledge hammer is about to hit him on the head.
Photo of a garden with lots or purple and yellow irises are in bloom
Al Hirschfeld’s drawing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
LEO G. CARROLL, JUDITH EVELYN AND VINCENT PRICE IN ANGEL STREET as drawn by Al Hirschfeld.
ROBERT LAWRENCE, HELEN CLAIRE AND MURIEL ANGELUS IN SUNNY RIVER as drawn by Al Hirschfeld.
Charcoal portrait of Ann Miller in George Whites Scandal on Broadway in September 1939. Drawn from life by Ben Solowey she’s dressed as a showgirl with a feathered hat.
Cover of Hirschfeld’s Icons book with line portrait in color of Liza Minnelli
Charcoal portrait from life of Katharine Cornell in No Time for Comedy, 1939
Ruby Keeler with multiple arms and legs dancing by Al Hirschfeld
Hirschfeld caricature of Gregory Hines doing the Scrooge dance in Coming Uptown
Hirschfeld caricature of George C Scott as Scrooge trudging thru snow
Hirschfeld Unlikely Casting draw of David Merrick as Santa with bell book and candle
Cover of Hirschfeld’s Sondheim book
Coleman Hawkins in a line draw by Al Hirschfeld
Charcoal drawing by Ben Solowey of Benay Venuta in Anything Goes. 1935
Hirschfeld poster for PARLOR BEDROOM AND BATH with Buster Keaton
Alphonse much a designed snake bracelet
Chocolat dansant dans un bar, from La Rire Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
the ending of tom tomorrow's talk at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies conference part one
A panoramic photo of a lush green garden
Padres batter wearing ugly pink and creamy mint green with yellow trim. Very 80s
Butterfly bush with purple Richie buds getting ready to fully bloom against the green of my garden A little cottage which we call the Little House is in the upper right corner of picture
Container of Cajun seasoning called SLAP YA MAMA
Al Hirschfeld’s drawing of HIGH SPIRITS. Featuring Tammy Grimes flying and Bea Lillie nibbling beads as she looks for spirits
Hirschfeld drawing of GEORGE CUKOR AND SOME OF THE ACTRESSES HE HAS DIRECTED OVER THE YEARS, 1972.
A throng of people parading down 5th Avenue for hands off protest. Shows scene in front of the NYPL at 42nd St
The Mothers on Broadway, 1949 Viola Keats in Anne of the Thousand Days, Dorothy Stickney in Life with Mother, Mildred Dunnock in Death of a Salesman, Adrianne Allen in Edward My Son, and Phyllis Povah in Light up the Sky
John Held surrounded by some of his creations drawn in ink lines by Al Hirschfeld in 1955
November 26 Hirschfeld Birthdays: Daniel Davis, Robert Goulet, Rich Little, Marian Mercer, Betta St. John, and Emlyn Williams
November 21 Hirschfeld Birthdays: Goldie Hawn, Coleman Hawkins, Cherry Jones, Laurence Luckinbill, Ralph Meeker, Juliet Mills, Nicollette Sheridan, Alexander Siddig, and Marlo Thomas!
November 20 Hirschfeld Birthdays: Kaye Ballard, Rodger Bumpass, Judy Canova, Dick Clark, Franklin Cover, Richard Dawson, Reginald Denny, Bo Derek, Robert Kennedy, Meredith Monk, Estelle Parsons, Dick Smothers, Phyllis Thaxter, and Sullivan Walker!
November 19 Hirschfeld Birthdays: Robert Beltran, Dick Cavett, Tommy Dorsey, Terry Farrell, Savion Glover, Dan Haggerty, Allison Janney, Larry King, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, and Alan Young
Hirschfeld ink and collage publicity drawing of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS WITH BURT LANCASTER AND TONY CURTIS, 1957
October 28 Hirschfeld Birthdays: Jane Alexander, John Boles, Dennis Franz, Bill Gates, Jami Gertz, Cleo Laine, Elsa Lanchester, Joan Plowright, Julia Roberts, Douglas Seale, and Percy Waram! View full works at alhirschfeldfoundation.org
A collection of Hirschfeld portraits of people who have birthdays today October 20th Hirschfeld Birthdays: Joyce Brothers, Thomas Chalmers, Charley Chase, Arlene Francis, Adelaide Hall, Dolores Hart, Rex Ingram, Bela Lugosi, Fayard Nicholas, Jerry Orbach, and Timothy West! View full works at alhirschfeldfoundation.org
Red white and blue I Voted 2024 badge
three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, PA
Hirschfeld drawing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Robert Helpmann and Moira Shearer, 1954
Hirschfeld drawing of A FAMILY AFFAIR with LARRY KERT, RITA GARDNER, EILEEN HECKART, BIBI OSTERWALD, SHELLEY BERMAN. Published in the NY Times on 1/21/62
Trump merchandise booth at Allentown Fair full of pathetic violent shirts
Frans Hal. Man with a Beer Jug, c.1630, oil on canvas, 83 cm x 66 cm
A collection of pins for a wide range of things including Love, Sweater Week, Yogi Bear for President , etc in the center of which is a pin for Labor Day. It is also includes a poem by the artist Tom Boom who also made the collection of pins.
Charcoal drawing from life of Laurette Taylor in Alice Sit By The Fire by Ben Solowey. 1932
Old Master Still Life Oil on canvas 25x 20 in. C. 1925 Ben Solowey
Hirschfeld Portrais of performers Today in Hirschfeld Birthdays: Jonathan Frakes, Peter Gallagher, Eric Lutes, William Marshall, Colleen Moore, Johnny Nash, Ogden Nash, Matthew Perry, Gerard Schwarz, Kyra Sedgwick, and Fred Stone! View full works at alhirschfeldfoundation.org
Mary D’Arcy in Stage production of Singin in the Rain by Al Hirschfeld