Los Angeles City Historical Society - “LAPL Photos: The John Verzi Collection” w/ Christina Rice and Wendy Horowitz

The Los Angeles City Historical Society ("LACHS") + History Department of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library Present:

“LAPL PHOTOS: THE JOHN VERZI COLLECTION” WITH CHRISTINA RICE AND WENDY HOROWITZ

The third lecture in the 2024 Marie Northrop Lecture Series will be a discussion with Christina Rice, head of the Los Angeles Central Library’s photo collection, and Wendy Horowitz, the library’s archivist, as they discuss the library’s recent acquisition of photographs by the late photographer John Verzi. The collection includes hundreds of never-before-scene photos of Hollywood stars, big and small, throughout the decades.

About The John Verzi Collection:

An incredible and vast collection of approximately 12,000 previously unpublished color slides, the professional photographs taken by photographer Jon Verzi at various Hollywood events, chronicling the history of Hollywood from the early 1960s through the 1990s. A sample of the more prominent stars photographed includes, with some shot on more than one occasion: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Buster Keaton, Steve McQueen, Peter Sellers, Dick Van Dyke, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Natalie Wood, Bob Hope, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Temple, and many more.

This incredible archive features movie, television, and musical performers ranging from the character actors whose faces are instantly recognizable to the superstars of the day. In viewing these photographs, one truly gets a feel for Hollywood and the show business industry as it changed over the decades, from ultra-glam, bewigged, and bejeweled Ann Miller on her way to a premiere in the 1960s to the hippy casual of a 1970s Joni Mitchell. Looking at this veritable treasure trove of images, it is clear that Jon Verzi had unparalleled access to these celebrities and was present at every major Hollywood function during the 1960s-1990s, access which may never be replicated. This is a unique archive with substantial historical value.

FREE EVENT: Open to LACHS Members and Non-Members!

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