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Liz Enjoying Smell-O-Vision with Husband Eddie Fisher, Chicago

A work made of gelatin silver print.
© Art Shay

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

January 1960

Artist:

Art Shay
American, 1922-2018

About this artwork

Art Shay is one of Chicago’s great photojournalists. With more than 25,000 published photographs—including more than 1,000 magazine covers—Shay has shaped the way we see the world on the printed page.

Born in the Bronx, Shay took up photography at the age of 12. He served in the U.S. Air Force in World War II, and his first published photographs—of an American military air disaster—were printed in a September 1944 issue of the weekly magazine Look. After the war, he joined Time and Life magazines, writing stories that he occasionally supplemented with his own (uncredited) images. In 1948 he moved to Chicago and took up photography full-time. In the nearly seven decades since, Shay’s camera has documented the famous and the downtrodden, the international and the local, the newsworthy and the intimate.
— Permanent collection label

“Liz Taylor and her then-husband Eddie Fisher diplomatically made believe they were enjoying Smell-O-Vision at the Mike Todd Theatre. The redoubtable, purple-eyed Hollywood angel descended on Chicago to introduce the ill-fated enterprise of her late husband Mike Todd and his son—Smell-O-Vision. With the starring couple of Scent of Mystery shown in an orange grove, Smell-O-Vision was going to add an extra sense to the enjoyment of movies. A Rube Goldberg setup based in the theater basement wafted up the scent of orange blossoms to the audience. When the leading lady came close to the camera you would smell her perfume over all the other smells. In the basement the smell machines involved looked like the engine room of a nuclear submarine. The whole idea was one of Todd’s few financial flops, but Liz played the inheriting widow with wit, rue, and wisdom. Critics agreed it stank.”
—Art Shay

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Art Shay

Title

Liz Enjoying Smell-O-Vision with Husband Eddie Fisher, Chicago

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1960

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image/paper: 30.9 × 24.5 cm (12 3/16 × 9 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the artist

Reference Number

2014.1226

Copyright

© Art Shay

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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