Slought and Scribe Video Center are pleased to announce "Once Upon a Time," an exhibition of photographs by Bessie McLamb featuring "ordinary" people in South Philadelphia. The project will be on display from November 22, 2016 to January 20, 2017. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, December 1 from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM. Curator Betty Ann D. Lawrence will speak at 6:00 PM. Please not the date change for the opening and reception.

McLamb's photographs document the life and vitality of Philadelphia from the 1940s to the 1970s. They were taken at "The Indian Curiosity Store," a photography studio and herb shop at 1624 South Street which she ran with her husband Hy John. McLamb's portraits provide a personal and intimate experience of the many people who frequented South Street and its diverse social life during these years.

Bessie's husband Hy John was a photographer and showman specializing in herbal remedies and magic tricks, which he often performed with Jasper "The Wonder Dog" who could both add and subtract. Bessie and Hy John met during one of his performances in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter they married, and made their home on South Street in Philadelphia. In the years that followed, Bessie learned photography from Hy John, and continued the business when Hy John died in 1944. She oversaw everything at the studio until the early 1970s, and died in 1983.
 
More at https://slought.org/resources/once_upon_a_time