Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2012.043.124 |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Date |
03/29/1939 |
Photographer |
Madson, Walter J. |
Description |
Black & white photograph measuring 10" x 8" and depicting the members of "The Tulsans," who performed at the studio of Irene Frank School of Dance at 1202 South Boulder Avenue in Tulsa, OK, on March 29, 1939. The image shows the members rehearsing in the dance school's auditorium. "The Tulsans" were a nationally-recognized male chorus directed by Tulsa musician Harry Evans. Irene Virginia Frank was born June 10, 1891 in Clay Center, Kansas to parents Jacob M. Frank (1850-1937) and Ella Virginia Kinley Frank (1853-1960). She moved to Indian Territory from Kansas just before Oklahoma statehood. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Bartlesville, Cherokee Nation. She later lived in New York City and Philadelphia where she worked in rotogravure print advertising. Returning to Kansas, she attended Bethany College of Music in Lindsborg, and studied with an emphasis in dance. In 1923, she began teaching dance in Tulsa and Bartlesville. Her Tulsa studio and residence was located at 318-322 East 8th Street. In 1928, she constructed a new dance studio located at 1202 South Boulder Avenue, the previous location of Bailey-Nash Motor Company. The new dance studio typified Italian Renaissance-style architecture. The first floor contained an auditorium with a seating capacity of 600, reception room, cloak hall, office, and kitchen. The basement included dressing and costume rooms, showers, and the heating plant. The building also contained a private apartment for Frank. In the mid-1920s, Irene Frank appeared in a production of "Scheherazade" at the Hollywood Bowl in California with the company of Theodore Kosloff. As a result of her connection with Kosloff, Frank introduced Imperial Russian ballet at her dance school in Tulsa. Frank also visited numerous professional dance studios in California and New York and began teaching her Tulsa students such dances as the Parisian Tango and the Jazz Age-dance Black Bottom. Frank continued her own studies in New York and other places with various dance professionals, some of which include the following: choreographer Michael Kokine of the Diaghilev Ballett; Luigi Albertiere, Ivan Torosoff, and Alexis Kosloff of the Metropolitan Opera Ballett; and Spanish dance work with Aurora Arriasa. In 1939, Irene Frank moved to Apartment 402 at 615 South Denver Avenue and began holding dance classes there. She vacated her dance studio at 1202 South Boulder Avenue, and it became the studio of Burch Holtzman. In 1942, Frank moved to 1519 South Main Street, and again continued holding dance classes in her home. In 1944, she worked as a clerk for Mid-Continent Map Company. By 1947, she began work as a photographer. In 1949, she moved to a house a 9 East 16th Street where she continued her photography business. Irene Virginia Frank died May 8, 1994 in Tulsa, at age 102. She was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Clay County, Kansas. |
Search Terms |
choirs Irene Frank School of Dance Italian Renaissance-style architecture music & musicians South Boulder Avenue |
People |
Evans, Harry |
Place |
Tulsa, OK |