Originally posted June 8, 2021
This is a very special piece of film footage. It is “home movie” footage of Valeska Suratt from around 1917. This was shot by Valeska’s nephew, Richard Suratt, who was working for Pathe at the time. I suspect the footage was to be used in a newsreel of sorts (perhaps it did and that newsreel is lost). This is the only moving footage of Valeska known to exist. As for the guy in the footage, I seen on a website state it is Billy Gould, who was her first husband and vaudeville partner. Now around 1917, they would not have been married, so I can’t say for sure it’s Billy, but wanted to include this foot note. If I find out for sure, I’ll alter this description.
Big thanks to the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association (http://www.amipa.org) for saving this footage and depositing it at the Library of Congress. And another big thanks to the folks at the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov) on getting the footage available to me. The LoC is one of those untapped treasures of the USA and I really hope more people look to their archives and rescue some of this footage that lays dormant.
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