David L.

Blog Post #12

When you are named after your father, you never know what nickname is gonna be attached to you. JR, junior, or like a close friend of mine who grew up being called Sonny. David Davidsons son David was simply referred to as “David L”. I never found out what the “L” stood for. Even in the Davidson Family Biography, written by David L., he refers to himself as David L. Next time I talk with the Davidson family, I’ll ask and report back!

So before I get too far off track…Let me reign myself in.

I’ve often referred to David Davidson Studio as a family business in previous blog posts. David and Louise’s first born became part of the “family affair” about 1913. Their eldest son, David L was born in 1910. So at about 3 years old David L became the costumed little girl in many of Davidsons pictures.

I became aware of this when the Davidson picture “The Butterfly” came up for bid at one of the first Wallace Nutting pictures auctions.

That picture became my first Davidson depicting David L in costume. As it turns out there were 3 pictures that Davidson took, all similar, at the same site. Years later I found all 3 in my collection, unframed, so I framed up all 3 together.

– Left to right: “The Connoisseur” “The Butterfly” and “Grandpa’s Marguerites”. As time went on, a few more pictures featuring David L as the little girl, found their way into my collection.

The Land O’Dreams not only features David L but also captured Louise in a white gown and Davids mother tending the fire.

By the time “Infant Cajolery” was taken, little David looked as though he had grown some. You might be thinking that at some point young David would start to give mom and dad a heard time about the “little girl” thing.

The last picture I found featuring young David as the little girl may have been the one in which he is the youngest and the picture “The Solitaire of the Coronet” is by far the rarest. We have never seen another copy of this picture.

So if you have any of these pictures in your collection, you can assume that they were taken roughly 1913-1916. By about 1916 David, now 6 years old, came to an agreement with mom and dad to trade in the dress for a pair of overalls and a straw hat.

The first picture I can remember owning featuring David L. in his overalls was “The Barefoot Boy”.

Other pictures featuring David L that are part of my collection are:

All of these pictures were probably taken between 1916 & 1917.

This next picture is one of the many magazine covers Davidson did. The one for Finishing Topics in May 1925 featured a picture David took many years earlier. Not only did it feature David L, but also his younger brother Donald, who almost never appeared in picture. And let me not forget their dog, a Boxer pup.

This month while I was going through my pictures looking for ones with young David, what did I find? The companion picture Davidson took that went along with the magazine cover.

The signed glossy black and white featuring the same threesome, had no title but did have an index #1602 on the back. The title “A Bite”.

Finally going back to my opening statement about Davidson Studio being a family based business?

This picture of the entire working staff of David Davidson Studio taken on the front steps of “the shop” on 57 Whitmarsh in Providence 1917. Sitting front row center is David L in a new costume, working clothes. It was around that time when it seems that David Davidsons eldest son, David L ends his years posing for his dad’s pictures.

Many more stories to follow……but for another day.