Aug 18, 2022 - Sale 2613

Sale 2613 - Lot 45

Price Realized: $ 469
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 200 - $ 300

FRANCIS RENAULT (1893-1955)


Photograph postcard Signed and Inscribed, "For Midge / Sincerely / Francis / Renault / 1936,"
half-length portrait showing him in feathered hat and pearls. Inscribed diagonally in the image at lower right, correspondence side blank. 5 1/2x3 1/2 inches; faint scattered dampstaining, some creasing at corners, moderate soiling to verso. Np, 1936.Np, 1936

Additional Details


"Renault's given name was Antonio Auriemma. He was born in Naples, Italy before his family resettled in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was raised. In the early days of his career, he worked in Vaudeville as Francis Renault and got his break when he replaced female impersonator Julian Eltinge in a touring version of his Broadway show. Unlike Eltinge, Renault would wear his female costumes in public where he was touring. While it created publicity for the show, he was arrested several times. In 1913 he performed in Atlanta and contested local ordinance banning cross-dressing, to the consternation of the local police"--zagria.blogspot.com.