Alfred Cheney Johnston

1. Alfred Cheney Johnston
(known as "Cheney" to his friends
and associates) (April 8, 1885 –
April 17, 1971) was a New York
City-based photographer known
for his portraits of Ziegfeld Follies
showgirls as well as of actors and
actresses from the worlds of
stage and film.
The stock-market crash of 1929
and ensuing Great
Depression—combined with
several unsuccessful seasons
of stage productions and a
variety of messy lawsuits—
devastated Flo Ziegfeld's
finances, and he died in July
1932.
Alfred Cheney
Johnston

2. In approximately 1917, Johnston was hired by famed New York City
live-theater showman and producer Florenz Ziegfeld as a contracted
photographer, and was affiliated with the Ziegfeld Follies for the next
fifteen years or so. He also maintained his own highly successful
personal commercial photo studio at various locations around New York
City as well, photographing everything from aspiring actresses and
society matrons to a wide range of upscale retail commercial
products—mostly men's and women's fashions—for magazine ads. He
photographed several hundred actresses and showgirls (mainly in New
York City, and whether they were part of the Follies or not) during that
time period. Alfred Cheney Johnston died in a car crash near his home
in Connecticut on April 17, 1971, three years after the death of his
longtime wife, Doris. They had no children.

3. Johnston's "standard" work, of course, was used by Flo Ziegfeld for the
normal advertising and promotional purposes for the Follies, and mainly
consisted of individual or small-group shots of the Follies showgirls in
their extravagant stage costumes. However, after Johnston's death in
1971, a huge treasure trove of extremely artistic full-nude and semi-
nude full-figure studio photos (and their accompanying glass-plate
negatives) was found stored at the farm near Oxford, Connecticut,
where he'd lived since 1940.
The only book known to have been published by Alfred Cheney
Johnston during his lifetime devoted to his nudes/glamour photography
is the 1937 spiral-bound softcover "Enchanting Beauty", which contains
94 black-and-white photos

4. Fanny Brice Billie Burke

5. Ruby Keeler Ina Claire

6. Marilyn Miller Gloria Swanson

7. Claudette Colbert

8. Theda Bara

9. Mabel Normand

10. Helen Hayes

11. Norma Shearer

12. Anita Stewart
Lillian Gish

13. Dorothy Gish and Lillian Gish
Marie Prevost

14. Tallulah Bankhead.

15. Hope Hampton
Ava Land

16. Barbara Stanwyck Billie Dove

17. Madeline and Marion Fairbanks

18. Barbara Lamar Zenda