Evelyn Nesbit

The photograph, use of what was then referred to as the “live model” in newspaper and magazine advertising was still in its infancy, yet gaining in popularity, moving to supplant print illustration. Nesbit obtained work modeling for an early pioneer in fashion photography, Joel Feder. The assignments were less strenuous, posing sessions being shorter in duration and the pay was lucrative. While working for Feder, Nesbit earned five dollars for a half-day shoot, and ten dollars for a full day; approximately two-hundred sixty dollars per day in 2010 dollars. Eventually, the fees Nesbit earned from her prolific modeling career exceeded the combined income she, her brother, and mother had earned at Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia. The high cost of living in New York City, however, still caused strain on their finances.

Nesbit became disaffected and bored with the long hours spent in confined environments maintaining the immobile poses required of a studio model. Her popularity modeling had generated the interests of theatrical promoters, some legitimate and some disreputable, offering her acting opportunities. Nesbit pressed her mother to let her enter the theatre world, and Mrs. Nesbit ultimately agreed to let her daughter attempt this new way to augment their finances. An interview was arranged for the aspiring performer with John C. Fisher, company manager of the wildly popular play, Florodora, enjoying a long run at the Casino Theatre on Broadway. Mrs. Nesbit’s initial objections were softened by the knowledge that some of the girls in the show had managed to marry millionaires. Read Less