Erin Combs

Last updated

Erin Combs (born 1952 or 1953), also known as Erin Combs Pearl, [1] is a photographer who worked at the Toronto Star . Hired as a photojournalist in 1974, [2] she was one of the first women photographers to contribute regularly to a major Canadian newspaper. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Illinois, Erin Combs moved to Canada when she was three years old. [4]

She was photographed for a girls' fashion story in The Globe and Mail in 1964. [5] In high school, she was a photographer for the school's yearbook. In college she contributed photos to the college newspaper. [4]

She attended York University in Toronto, Ontario. [3]

Career

Combs worked as a freelance photographer while she was a university student in the early 1970s, at a time when no women photographers worked at major Canadian newspapers. [6]

In 1974, the Toronto Star hired 22-year-old Combs as a photographer, where she became known as "Shorty" [2] as she stood 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m). [4] She worked as a photographer in the fashion section, as a photo editor [7] and as Head of Photography Department (1992 to 2000). [1] During her time at the newspaper, Combs also judged photo contests [8] and won the Judy award for journalistic coverage of the fashion sector (an award shared with the Toronto Star fashion team). [9]

Toronto Star photographer Dick Loek, reflecting on Combs's tenure at the newspaper, wrote that her father had said "if she got hired to watch out, because she would be running the joint in no time". Loek added that those words "turned out to be a pretty accurate prophecy". [2]

From 2001 to 2004, Combs worked in public relations and marketing for clothiers Zenobia Collections. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Isabelle</span> Canadian actress

Katharine Isobel Murray, known professionally as Katharine Isabelle, is a Canadian actress. She has been described as a scream queen due to her roles in various horror films. She started her acting career in 1989, playing a small role in the television series MacGyver. She gained fame for the role of Ginger Fitzgerald in the films Ginger Snaps, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.

<i>Ive Heard the Mermaids Singing</i> 1987 Canadian film by Patricia Rozema

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing is a 1987 Canadian comedy-drama film written and directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, and Ann-Marie MacDonald. It was the first English-language Canadian feature film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edd Byrnes</span> American actor and singer (1932–2020)

Edward Byrne Breitenberger, known professionally as Edd Byrnes, was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the television series 77 Sunset Strip. He also was featured in the 1978 film Grease as television teen-dance show host Vince Fontaine, and was a charting recording artist with "Kookie, Kookie ".

<i>Where the Spirit Lives</i> 1989 Canadian television film by Bruce Pittman

Where the Spirit Lives is a 1989 television film about Aboriginal children in Canada being taken from their tribes to attend residential schools for assimilation into majority culture. Written by Keith Ross Leckie and directed by Bruce Pittman, it aired on CBC Television on October 29, 1989. It was also shown in the United States on PBS on June 6, 1990, as part of the American Playhouse series and was screened at multiple film festivals in Canada and the United States.

Douglas Morley Kirkland was a Canadian-born American photographer. He was noted for his photographs of celebrities, especially the ones he took of Marilyn Monroe several months before her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Skerry</span> American photojournalist

Brian Skerry is an American photojournalist and film producer specializing in marine life and ocean environments. Since 1998 he has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine with more than 30 stories to his credit, including 6 covers. In 2021 Skerry won a Primetime Emmy Award for his role as producer in the miniseries, Secrets of the Whales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorraine Monk</span> Canadian photographer (1922–2020)

Lorraine Althea Constance Monk was a Canadian photographer and executive producer with the National Film Board of Canada who led the production of multiple photography projects chronicling Canadian culture from the 1960s onward. She worked to establish the Canadian Museum of Photography in Toronto, which spawned multiple satellite museums across the country. Over 160,000 of the photographs that she commissioned to detail contemporary Canada are housed at the National Gallery of Canada. She also led the publication of photography books including Canada: A Year of the Land, Call Them Canadians,Canada with Love, Between Friends, and Photographs that Changed the World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessie Tarbox Beals</span> American photographer (1870–1942)

Jessie Tarbox Beals was an American photographer, the first published female photojournalist in the United States and the first female night photographer.

True North Calling is a Canadian documentary television series, which debuted on CBC Television on February 17, 2017. Produced by Proper Television, the six-part series profiles several young Canadians living in the Canadian Arctic territories of Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.

Jill Freedman was an American documentary photographer and street photographer. She was based in New York City.

Lana Šlezić is a Canadian photographer and filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Randall (photographer)</span> American photographer

Robert Shelby Randall Jr. was an American photographer. He was noted for his fashion photography for the French edition of Vogue magazine in the 1950s, and subsequently for his assignments for American magazines such as Glamour, Seventeen, Look, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.

<i>Katie Joplin</i> 1999 American sitcom that aired on The WB

Katie Joplin is an American sitcom created by Tom Seeley and Norm Gunzenhauser that aired for one season on The WB Television Network from August to September 1999. Park Overall stars as the title character, a single mother who moves from Knoxville to Philadelphia and tries to balance her job as a radio program host with parenting her teenage son Greg. Supporting characters include Katie's niece Liz Berlin as well as her co-workers, played by Jay Thomas, Jim Rash, and Simon Rex. Majandra Delfino guest-starred in three episodes as the daughter of the radio station's general manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caitlin Cronenberg</span> Canadian photographer

Caitlin Cronenberg is a Canadian photographer and filmmaker, known for her celebrity portraits and editorials. She is David Cronenberg's daughter and Brandon Cronenberg's sister.

"Rinse the Blood Off My Toga" is a comedy sketch by the Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster. First broadcast on The Wayne and Shuster Hour on CBC Radio in 1954, it was reenacted for their British television debut in 1957 and their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. The sketch recasts the Shakespearean historical tragedy as a detective story with gangster overtones. Set in the Roman Senate right after the assassination of Julius Caesar, the script has Brutus (Shuster) engaging the services of private eye Flavius Maximus (Wayne) to identify Caesar's assassin. Several lines from the sketch became popular catchphrases, including Flavius's order of a "martinus" in a Roman bar, and the repeated lament of Caesar's widow Calpurnia in a thick Bronx accent, "I told him, 'Julie, don't go!' " It is considered Wayne and Shuster's most famous sketch.

The Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from the Czechoslovak State Collections was one of the names for a travelling exhibition of Czech Jewish art and ritual objects that opened at The Whitworth in Manchester, in 1980. It subsequently toured the United States and Canada from 1983 to 1986. In 1990, part of the show was brought to Israel for a joint exhibition with the permanent collection of the Israel Museum. The travelling exhibition was relaunched in 1998 for a two-year tour of Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia.

Evelyne Z. Daitz was a Swiss-born American art dealer, curator, and agent, specializing in photography. She was the owner and director of the Witkin Gallery in New York from 1984 to 1999.

Diana Frances is a Canadian comedian, writer, and business manager. She has written and performed comedy for stage, television and radio for three decades, and served as the managing director of the Vancouver-based Rock Paper Scissors comedy collective. She has been nominated for a Gemini Award and nine Canadian Comedy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Rose George</span> American writer, poet, curator, and photography editor (1944–2020)

Alice Rose George was an American writer, poet, curator, and photography editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide Leavy</span>

Adelaide Leavy later worked as Addie Passen was a pioneering American photojournalist and one of the few women photographers who participated in sports photography beginning in the 1940s. She was one of the first women admitted to the National Press Photographers Association in 1945. Transitioning to studio work, she worked with cosmetic firms, models, and developed a reputation doing reference photographs for illustrators.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Combs Pearle, Erin. "Erin Combs Pearle" . LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Loek, Dick (20 February 2000). "[Shorty...]". Toronto Star . p. 1. ProQuest   438070694. Her old man warned me about her, said if she got hired to watch out, because she would be running the joint in no time, which turned out to be a pretty accurate prophecy.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  3. 1 2 Worthington, Helen (5 February 1974). "Feminists welcome camera woman". Toronto Star . p. E3. ProQuest   1434831764.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  4. 1 2 3 Bull, Ron (10 July 1980). "Erin puts focus on new look". Toronto Star . p. B5. ProQuest   1397797217.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  5. "Girlish Styles For Hot Days". The Globe and Mail . 14 July 1964. p. 10. ProQuest   1282845056.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  6. "Exposed: Featuring Highlights from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive". Toronto Public Library. 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  7. Harvey, Robin (24 December 1994). "Photography can be a snap in festive season". Toronto Star . p. H2. ProQuest   437159298.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  8. Pron, Nick (4 June 1998). "Holiday snap nets Mediterranean cruise". Toronto Star . p. 1. ProQuest   437784193.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)
  9. Wilkes, Jim (9 September 1986). "The Star's fashion team wins award". Toronto Star . p. A7. ProQuest   435490918. The Judy, sponsored by the Garment Salesmen Ontario Market, was presented to The Star last night at a dinner at Toronto's Westin Hotel. [...] "It's great to be part of the fashion team that puts our section together each week," Star photographer Erin Combs said last night.  via  ProQuest (subscription required)