[EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY] "All Right" Japanese Acrobat in Massachusetts

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Day 2: Early & Historic Americana

By Fleischer's Auctions

Oct 10, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-10-10 09:00:00 2025-10-10 09:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Day 2: Early & Historic Americana https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/day-2-early-historic-americana-19250
Day one of Fleischer's 2025 Fall Premier auction includes early American artifacts, documents, signatures, ephemera, and weaponry. Rare material relating to African American history is featured, as well as fine examples of antique photography. Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com

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• Lot Description

  Full-length albumen CDV studio portrait of a Japanese performer, "All Right". Boston, Massachusetts: Black & Case, n.d. Publisher's imprints to mount recto and verso. Period pencil identification to mount verso “Little Japanese ‘All Right’/ Exhibited in New Bedford in 1867.” 

   

  A rare portrait of Japanese child acrobat Umekichi of the Hamaikari troupe, who performed under the sobriquet "All Right." He wears a checked kimono and haori jacket, while holding a folding fan - one of the items used in his signature routine: "Think of a boy performing hazardous acts at the top of a balanced thirty foot bamboo, occasionally pulling out his fan to refresh himself." (The Evening Standard, 28 March 1867). The star of the travelling entertainment group, All Right became a popular subject for photographers, including this attractive portrait by Boston photographs Black & Case, and even inspired the "All Right Polka" composed by E. Mack and published by Lee & Walker in Philadelphia. 

   

  The troupe visited New Bedford, Massachusetts in March 1867. The Evening Standard reported enthusiastically: "Ow! All Right. - The Japanese appeared to another wonder-gaping audience last evening, performing feats never before equalled outside of Japan. The balancing of immense structures and long bamboo poles by a single man, upon which the youthful Jap performs all sorts of gymnastic feats, is truly wonderful." (29 March 1867)

   

  [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]

   

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