FRANK VITTOR'S PITTSBURGH VENUS

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 32, August 12, 2018, Article 25

Pittsburgh sculptor Frank Vittor designed the 1936 Gettysburg Half-Dollar. Several years ago I wrote and article about him that led to a change in A Guide Book of United States Coins, which had mistakenly described Vittor as a "Philadelphia sculptor".

Vittor himself is the only numismatic connection in the following article, but it's an interesting study in artistic expression and public opinion. See the complete article online for a great read.

Thanks to Larry Dziubek for sending this item from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. GREAT photo. -Editor

There was an article in Sunday's P-G about Vittor doing a full size statue of a local gal who became Miss America in 1935. She was in a bathing suit but he made her nude in plaster. The bronze was never made.

Pageant judge Walter Thornton said the young woman from the Mon Valley "represents the perfect American type." When her name was announced as the pageant's winner, she threw her arms around a nearby policeman and gasped, "I can't believe it's true." Her grandmother, who accompanied her to Atlantic City as her chaperone, proudly told the press, "I knew all along that Henrietta was the prettiest girl in Atlantic City!"

For winning, Leaver received a Hollywood screen test, a host of Vaudeville offers and a two-week cruise to Europe on the French luxury liner Normandie. Upon her triumphant return to Pittsburgh, the new Miss America was approached by Vittor, who wanted to immortalize her with a statue.

Vittor was Pittsburgh's best known artist. A student of the French master Auguste Rodin, he had sculpted the statue of Honus Wagner outside Forbes Field (later moved to PNC Park) and had decorated the piers of the new Westinghouse Bridge.

Leaver agreed to pose for Vittor. Always chaperoned by her grandmother, Leaver made a number of trips to the artist's Fifth Avenue studio to pose in her black Miss America swimsuit.

All went well until the unveiling of the plaster model that was to be used to cast the final bronze sculpture. Accompanied by her grandmother, Leaver went to Vittor's studio again to inspect the near-life-size sculpture.

According to a full-page story in the Sun-Telegraph, when the drape was removed, Leaver gasped, "Why, I'm all naked!" To which Vittor replied, "Yes, of course."

"But I wore a bathing suit when I posed for you," the embarrassed woman protested.

In a misguided attempt to calm his increasingly irate model, Vittor replied, "I can assure you it is as true to life as if you hadn't."

Leaver stamped her feet and demanded, "You put a bathing suit on that statue before you exhibit it."

Vittor reportedly rejoined: "A bathing suit on a Venus! This is not merely a portrait of you or even of Miss America. It is the Pittsburgh Venus ... the perfect American figure. ... No Venus will ever wear a bathing suit!"

Leaver moved to Hollywood, took acting classes and was given a bit part in the musical "Star Struck." Her dreams of stardom never materialized, but she may have achieved some measure of Hollywood immortality.

In the late 1930s, she received a photo release form and a check for $250 from Columbia Pictures. The torch-bearing woman that graces Columbia's logo to this day bears a remarkable resemblance to Henrietta's studio publicity shots. Though the studio refused to confirm that Leaver's photo was used for this purpose, many film historians believe she was the inspiration for the studio's logo.

To read my "Frank Vittor, Pittsburgh Sculptor" article, see:
FRANK VITTOR, PITTSBURGH SCULPTOR (http://www.wpns1878.org/pr/vittor.html)