1940 – 1945

After I left Unique Art Studio I worked at several temporary jobs at amateur photographic studios. I finally found permanent work with a reputable professional photographer on Bloor Street just east of Avenue Road – Pasquale D’Angelo Studios.¹

Mr. D’Angelo was looking for a retoucher and help in the dark room. I had never learned to retouch but he said it was not a problem; he would teach me.² He worked with 8” x 10” negatives. I learned quickly and found it pleasant and relaxing work.

Mr. D’Angelo had a talking budgie bird which sat on his head while he retouched negatives. He taught the budgie several phrases, mostly humorous.

My wage was $35.00 a week, three times more than I received at the Unique Studio. Since money went a long way in the early 1940s my lifestyle changed. Luxuries were available to me for the first time in my life.

The cost of Mr. D’Angelo’s photographs was high for that time, but he worked with twelve 8” x 10” negatives for each sitting.  His photographs were glamour shots, Hollywood style, and popular at the time. Some young ladies saved for weeks to have a photograph taken by Pasquale D’Angelo.

He photographed a beautiful nude model for his window display and gave me two copies. I mailed one to Doug for a pin-up to hang in his army quarters and sent the other to our friend Chester Bain, who was in the Air Force at the time. Pin ups were the in-thing during the war.    

The model happened to have been in Doug’s class in high school. Her name was Gloria. The only thing Doug said about the pin-up girl was that she sat behind him in class and kept pulling the fluff off his sweaters.

Mr. Pasquale and his family lived on the second floor of the building; they had three lovely pre-teen age children.

Occasionally when we were not busy, he and his wife would take me out to lunch, to what would now be considered a four-or-five-star restaurant. We sometimes went bowling on our lunch hour. When they entertained their friends, they always included me. These were happy times. I believe Mr. D’Angelo was pleased with my work, His way of telling me was he didn’t think they could keep the studio going if I left.

There were other temporary employees: a retoucher for the Xmas rush and a student who worked there for a short time. He was a World War II veteran who was a ski instructor stationed in Switzerland teaching enlisted men to ski. He gave me a couple of skiing lessons, and it did make a difference. I was happy since Doug and I planned to go skiing on our honeymoon.

Doug and I decided we would marry on his return home from the war. I wanted to do freelancework so I could stay at home and raise a family. I found several photographers interested in sending work by mail. My first retouching assignment was from the Railton Studios in North Bay. Mr. Railton mailed several 4” x 6” negatives of the Dionne quintuplets³ for me to retouch. The five girls were about five or six years of age at the time.

I left the studio in the fall of 1945 to establish my freelance career, plan our marriage, arrange our honeymoon, and to find an apartment.

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¹ According to Might’s Greater Toronto City Directory, 1942 edition, Pasquale d’Angelo’s studio was located at 128 Bloor Street West. The site has since been redeveloped. Return

² Retouching involved darkening white spots on photographic negatives with ink. This removed unwanted marks such as dust spots or facial blemishes that would otherwise appear as black spots on the positive print. Return

³ The Dionne Quintuplets, born near North Bay, Ontario, in 1934, were the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy. The infants were international celebrities. Return