Jerome Zerbe
Encyclopedia
Jerome Zerbe was one of the originators of a genre of photography
that is now utterly common: celebrity paparazzi
. Zerbe was a pioneer in the 1930s of shooting photographs of the famous at play and on-the-town. According to the 1951 cocktail recipe book Bottoms Up, he is also credited with inventing the vodka martini
.
Zerbe differed from the common paparazzo in a major way: he never hid in bushes or jumped out and surprised the rich and famous that he was photographing. Zerbe often traveled and vacationed with the film stars themselves. As one biographer stated, he never rode in a rented limousine and his coat pocket always had an engraved invitation to the high-society events.
“Once I asked Katharine Hepburn
to come up from her place at Fenwick, a few miles away, and pose for some fashion photos for me,” Zerbe recalled in his book Happy Times. “She arrived with a picnic hamper full of food and wine for the two of us. I snapped her just as she came to the door.”
In a career that spanned more than fifty years, Zerbe’s library held well over 50,000 photos.
Some of his well-known images were of Greta Garbo
at lunch, Cary Grant
helping columnist Hedda Hopper
move into her new home, Steve Reeves
shaving, Moss Hart
climbing a tree, Howard Hughes
having lunch at “21
” with Janet Gaynor
, Ginger Rogers
flying first-class, plus legendary stars Charlie Chaplin
, Gary Cooper
, Salvador Dalí
, Jean Harlow
, Dorothy Parker
, Gene Tunney
, Thomas Wolfe
and the Vanderbilts.
Zerbe claimed to be the first – and only – society photographer. He was for years the official photographer of Manhattan’s famed nightspot El Morocco
, the place to be and be seen, whether you were Humphrey Bogart
, Ed Sullivan
or John O'Hara
. Zerbe pioneered the business arrangement of getting paid by the nightclub
to photograph its visitors, then turn around and give the photos away to the gossip pages. Today the practice is a common public relations
stunt.
, on July 24, 1904. His father, Jerome B. Zerbe, was the president of a coal company and a prominent citizen in nearby Cleveland, where the family later resided. Young Jerry Zerbe was driven to public school in the family limousine, which got him beaten up by bullies. He managed to survive well enough to be sent East, to the prestigious Salisbury School
in Salisbury, Connecticut
. It was there that he took an interest in drawing, art and photography.
Zerbe graduated from Yale
in 1928. While an undergrad, Zerbe had a knack for getting around the Prohibition
laws, and always being the guy who knew where the booze and parties were. This paid off and he became a supreme social networker. He gained important social prominence in New Haven, which would serve him well in New York
, Paris
and London
.
After graduation he went out to Hollywood to try his hand at drawing portraits of the famous residents. He was befriended by a young Gary Cooper
. This led to quickly becoming friends with Hedda Hopper
, Cary Grant
, Errol Flynn
, Randolph Scott
, Marion Davies
and Paulette Goddard
. It did not take long for him to put down his paintbrush and pick up a camera. He photographed numerous stars in Hollywood’s Golden Age and some of the hopefuls, before they became known posed for him with few if any clothes.
, Zerbe landed his first major job, as art director of Parade
, which was headquartered in his hometown, Cleveland. This was where he began his career of setting up portraits of the upper crust. He persuaded the wealthy local residents that it would help them to be photographed at their parties, which was simply not done at the time. He convinced them that it would assist the charity balls and fundraisers the leading society matrons were hosting. This paid off. He shot hundreds of debutantes, brides, newlyweds and formal dinners in North America and Europe.
Soon after, Harry Bull, the editor of Town & Country
in New York, saw some of Zerbe’s society photos from Cleveland. He made him an offer to photograph ritzy parties in the Midwest. This led to his photos getting a wide audience, and offers of work from the capital of glitz -- Manhattan
.
When Zerbe arrived in New York, he was in the right place at the right time. Prohibition
had just ended and the nightlife was booming. The city had seven daily newspapers and three press associations. They all needed society photographs. Zerbe got himself hired by the Rainbow Room
– on the 65th Floor of 30 Rockefeller Center
– to set up fashionable dinner parties and photograph the guests. Zerbe was shocked that at the height of the Depression, unemployed readers craved to look at photos of high society types dressed in evening clothes and drinking champagne.
. He was the staff photographer for both the Rainbow Room
and a bustling nightclub, El Morocco
. Zerbe said that from 1933 to 1938 he spent most nights from nine p.m. to four a.m. at El Morocco eating, drinking and taking pictures. Many considered El Morocco the classiest nightclub in town, and looked down upon the Stork Club
regulars as "tacky". El Morocco was the place to be seen – particularly if you just came from a Broadway
show. There is one way to tell a Zerbe photo of El Morocco: the distinctive background. The club had imitation zebra skin fabric coverings on all banquettes and couches; the walls looked like a zebra-stripes jungle. With the striped black-and-white background, it was obvious to anyone looking at it -- without reading a caption -- that it was taken in El Morocco.
World War II
prompted Zerbe to enlist in the Navy
. He was able to bring his camera, and became the official photographer for Admiral Nimitz. He found a way to travel with the stars that flew overseas to entertain the troops.
After the war, Zerbe took up photographing Café Society
with gusto. He was a charming man who was able to rub shoulders with dukes, duchesses, visiting dignitaries, as well as John Hay Whitney
, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV
, and scores of others. He traveled to France
to photograph estates and country homes – and the residents as well.
In the 1940s, Zerbe worked for the Hearst
newspaper chain, and wrote a Sunday column for the Sunday Mirror for more than ten years. From 1949 to 1974 he was the society editor for Town & Country
. He traveled around the globe photographing big celebrity events.
Zerbe had several “coffee table” photo books published. Among them was People on Parade (1934), El Morocco Family Album (1937), The Art of Social Climbing (1965), and with Brendan Gill
of The New Yorker
, he published his greatest collection, Happy Times, in 1973.
He died August 19, 1988, at his Sutton Place
apartment in Manhattan
. He was 85.
Today, little is known about Zerbe's vast collection of photographs, which a biographer estimated had 50,000 images in 150 scrapbooks. They are part of an extensive private photography archive that is owned by collector Frederick R. Koch, the eldest son of industrialist Fred C. Koch
.
. Beebe made so many flattering references to Zerbe in his newspaper column, "This New York," that rival columnist Walter Winchell
suggested that Zerbe should change the name to "Jerome Never Looked Lovelier."
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
that is now utterly common: celebrity paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
. Zerbe was a pioneer in the 1930s of shooting photographs of the famous at play and on-the-town. According to the 1951 cocktail recipe book Bottoms Up, he is also credited with inventing the vodka martini
Martini (cocktail)
The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" and E. B...
.
Zerbe differed from the common paparazzo in a major way: he never hid in bushes or jumped out and surprised the rich and famous that he was photographing. Zerbe often traveled and vacationed with the film stars themselves. As one biographer stated, he never rode in a rented limousine and his coat pocket always had an engraved invitation to the high-society events.
“Once I asked Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
to come up from her place at Fenwick, a few miles away, and pose for some fashion photos for me,” Zerbe recalled in his book Happy Times. “She arrived with a picnic hamper full of food and wine for the two of us. I snapped her just as she came to the door.”
In a career that spanned more than fifty years, Zerbe’s library held well over 50,000 photos.
Some of his well-known images were of Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
at lunch, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
helping columnist Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
move into her new home, Steve Reeves
Steve Reeves
Stephen L. Reeves was an American bodybuilder and actor. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.-Childhood:...
shaving, Moss Hart
Moss Hart
Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director, best known for his interpretations of musical theater on Broadway.-Early years:...
climbing a tree, Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
having lunch at “21
21 Club
The 21 Club, often simply 21, is a restaurant and former prohibition-era speakeasy, located at 21 West 52nd Street in New York City.-Environment:...
” with Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
flying first-class, plus legendary stars Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
, Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, Gene Tunney
Gene Tunney
James Joseph "Gene" Tunney was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1926-1928 who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, first in 1926 and then in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey is one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight...
, Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
and the Vanderbilts.
Zerbe claimed to be the first – and only – society photographer. He was for years the official photographer of Manhattan’s famed nightspot El Morocco
El Morocco
El Morocco was a 20th century Manhattan nightclub frequented by the rich and famous in the 1930s and 1950s. It was famous for its blue zebra-stripe motif and its official photographer, Jerome Zerbe.-History:In 1931, John Perona , an Italian...
, the place to be and be seen, whether you were Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
or John O'Hara
John O'Hara
John Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
. Zerbe pioneered the business arrangement of getting paid by the nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
to photograph its visitors, then turn around and give the photos away to the gossip pages. Today the practice is a common public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
stunt.
Midwest Native
The photographer was born in Euclid, OhioEuclid, Ohio
Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 48,920...
, on July 24, 1904. His father, Jerome B. Zerbe, was the president of a coal company and a prominent citizen in nearby Cleveland, where the family later resided. Young Jerry Zerbe was driven to public school in the family limousine, which got him beaten up by bullies. He managed to survive well enough to be sent East, to the prestigious Salisbury School
Salisbury School
Salisbury School is an all-boys, private college-preparatory boarding school founded in 1901 and located in Salisbury, Connecticut. Its school newspaper is The Cupola. Its mascot is the Crimson Knight. The School's motto is Esse quam videri, which translates to To be rather than to seem to...
in Salisbury, Connecticut
Salisbury, Connecticut
Salisbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwest-most in the State of Connecticut. The MA-NY-CT Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Salisbury...
. It was there that he took an interest in drawing, art and photography.
Zerbe graduated from Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1928. While an undergrad, Zerbe had a knack for getting around the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
laws, and always being the guy who knew where the booze and parties were. This paid off and he became a supreme social networker. He gained important social prominence in New Haven, which would serve him well in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
After graduation he went out to Hollywood to try his hand at drawing portraits of the famous residents. He was befriended by a young Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
. This led to quickly becoming friends with Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
, Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
and Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
. It did not take long for him to put down his paintbrush and pick up a camera. He photographed numerous stars in Hollywood’s Golden Age and some of the hopefuls, before they became known posed for him with few if any clothes.
Breaking into photography
During the DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Zerbe landed his first major job, as art director of Parade
Parade (magazine)
Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 500 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of nearly 70...
, which was headquartered in his hometown, Cleveland. This was where he began his career of setting up portraits of the upper crust. He persuaded the wealthy local residents that it would help them to be photographed at their parties, which was simply not done at the time. He convinced them that it would assist the charity balls and fundraisers the leading society matrons were hosting. This paid off. He shot hundreds of debutantes, brides, newlyweds and formal dinners in North America and Europe.
Soon after, Harry Bull, the editor of Town & Country
Town & Country (magazine)
Town & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States.-Early history:...
in New York, saw some of Zerbe’s society photos from Cleveland. He made him an offer to photograph ritzy parties in the Midwest. This led to his photos getting a wide audience, and offers of work from the capital of glitz -- Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
When Zerbe arrived in New York, he was in the right place at the right time. Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
had just ended and the nightlife was booming. The city had seven daily newspapers and three press associations. They all needed society photographs. Zerbe got himself hired by the Rainbow Room
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room was an upscale restaurant and nightclub on the 65th floor of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-Cuisine:...
– on the 65th Floor of 30 Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
– to set up fashionable dinner parties and photograph the guests. Zerbe was shocked that at the height of the Depression, unemployed readers craved to look at photos of high society types dressed in evening clothes and drinking champagne.
The Nightclub Era
Around 1934 Zerbe was in business in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He was the staff photographer for both the Rainbow Room
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room was an upscale restaurant and nightclub on the 65th floor of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-Cuisine:...
and a bustling nightclub, El Morocco
El Morocco
El Morocco was a 20th century Manhattan nightclub frequented by the rich and famous in the 1930s and 1950s. It was famous for its blue zebra-stripe motif and its official photographer, Jerome Zerbe.-History:In 1931, John Perona , an Italian...
. Zerbe said that from 1933 to 1938 he spent most nights from nine p.m. to four a.m. at El Morocco eating, drinking and taking pictures. Many considered El Morocco the classiest nightclub in town, and looked down upon the Stork Club
Stork Club
The Stork Club was a nightclub in New York City from 1929 to 1965. From 1934 onwards, it was located at 3 East 53rd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue...
regulars as "tacky". El Morocco was the place to be seen – particularly if you just came from a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
show. There is one way to tell a Zerbe photo of El Morocco: the distinctive background. The club had imitation zebra skin fabric coverings on all banquettes and couches; the walls looked like a zebra-stripes jungle. With the striped black-and-white background, it was obvious to anyone looking at it -- without reading a caption -- that it was taken in El Morocco.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
prompted Zerbe to enlist in the Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
. He was able to bring his camera, and became the official photographer for Admiral Nimitz. He found a way to travel with the stars that flew overseas to entertain the troops.
After the war, Zerbe took up photographing Café Society
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
with gusto. He was a charming man who was able to rub shoulders with dukes, duchesses, visiting dignitaries, as well as John Hay Whitney
John Hay Whitney
John Hay Whitney , colloquially known as "Jock" Whitney, was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, and a member of the Whitney family.-Family:...
, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV
Cornelius Vanderbilt IV
-Biography:He was born on April 30, 1898 in Staten Island to Cornelius Vanderbilt III and Grace Graham Wilson.He attended Harstrom's Tutoring School and St. Paul's as a young man, then served in the Ambulance Service during the First World War where he became a driver when a general asked the...
, and scores of others. He traveled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to photograph estates and country homes – and the residents as well.
In the 1940s, Zerbe worked for the Hearst
Hearst
Hearst may refer to:People* Amanda Hearst* Garrison Hearst, NFL running back* George Hearst* George Randolph Hearst, Jr.* Hunter Hearst Helmsley, WWE professional wrestler* John Randolph Hearst* Lydia Hearst-Shaw* Michael Hearst* Millicent Hearst...
newspaper chain, and wrote a Sunday column for the Sunday Mirror for more than ten years. From 1949 to 1974 he was the society editor for Town & Country
Town & Country (magazine)
Town & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States.-Early history:...
. He traveled around the globe photographing big celebrity events.
Zerbe had several “coffee table” photo books published. Among them was People on Parade (1934), El Morocco Family Album (1937), The Art of Social Climbing (1965), and with Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. He also contributed film criticism for Film Comment and wrote a popular book about his time at the New Yorker magazine.-Biography:...
of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, he published his greatest collection, Happy Times, in 1973.
He died August 19, 1988, at his Sutton Place
Sutton Place, Manhattan
Sutton Place is the name given to one of the most affluent streets in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States, situated on the border between the Midtown and Upper East Side neighborhoods...
apartment in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He was 85.
Today, little is known about Zerbe's vast collection of photographs, which a biographer estimated had 50,000 images in 150 scrapbooks. They are part of an extensive private photography archive that is owned by collector Frederick R. Koch, the eldest son of industrialist Fred C. Koch
Fred C. Koch
Fred Chase Koch was an American chemical engineer and entrepreneur who founded the oil refinery firm that later became Koch Industries, the second-largest privately-held company in the United States....
.
Relationships
In the 1930s, Zerbe was the partner of the society columnist and writer Lucius BeebeLucius Beebe
Lucius Morris Beebe was an American author, gourmand, photographer, railroad historian, journalist, and syndicated columnist.-Early life and education:...
. Beebe made so many flattering references to Zerbe in his newspaper column, "This New York," that rival columnist Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
suggested that Zerbe should change the name to "Jerome Never Looked Lovelier."