Unsettling Moustached Man

Unsettling Moustached Man, originally uploaded by sprouseart.

This is one of the weirdest photos from my vintage photo collection. It’s undated and has been developed on somewhat flimsy paper which has faded greatly and become rather brittle over the years. The original photograph is much darker than this image which I have adjusted in Photoshop. While on some levels, this is a photo of a humorous looking man who appears to be having fun or entertaining, he also give me a bit of the creeps in that psycho-killer clown kind of way.

There is no information on this image at all and I don’t know if this fellow is performing in costume or if this is his everyday look and was photographed in the middle of a story. I love his top hat and his very slight, barley discernible twinkle in his eyes.

Perhaps this fellow is practicing, or is actually performing, some type of vaudevillian act. There is definitely some sort of canvas backing behind him and he seems to be up lit from a light source at his feet like early stage lighting. I guess there's simply no way of knowing, unless someone out there recognizes him. But considering that this image is at least 100 years old, I find that event highly unlikely.