I once wrote about Buzzer, the most photographed cat in America during the early 1900s. I think I have just stumbled upon the second most photographed cat during that same time period: Reddy, the ginger cat of New York City photographer William Davis Hassler.
Like Buzzer, Reddy and his four-legged siblings Peaches and Bounce lived in Manhattan during the second decade of the 20th century.
Reddy, Bounce, and Peaches didn’t pose for glamor shots with beautiful women of stage and screen like Buzzer did, but they did feature prominently in many Hassler family photos. Reddy appears in most of the family photos; apparently he was not photo-shy at all.
William Davis Hassler
William Hassler was a prolific commercial photographer who documented New York City buildings, people, and streets during the early 1900s. Working for a vast array of employers, including real estate auction house Joseph P. Day, postcard companies, construction companies, electric companies, and magazines, Hassler took thousands of photos across the five boroughs of New York.
The son of Ella Davis and Dr. James P. Hassler, William Hassler was born in Cochranton, Pennsylvania on May 7, 1877. After graduating from the Meadville Commercial College in 1896, he became an assistant manager for the new Armour-Cudahy Meat Packing Company on West 14th Street in New York City (now Patrick Cudahy/Smithfield).
He and his wife Ethel Gray Magaw of Meadville, Pennsylvania, married in June 1904. They had one son, William Gray, who also stars in many of William’s photos.
William lived and worked out of small apartment (#44) at 150 Vermilyea Avenue, which he began renting in 1905. Many of the photographs in his collection document his personal life in the apartment and capture what life was like for people living in Inwood during the turn of the century.
Although he took more than 5,000 photographs during his career, very little has been written about William Hassler. He died of a sudden and mysterious illness on April 24, 1921, when he was only 42 years old.
According to a small article in the Daily News, William became ill and died in the 157th Street subway station after traveling on a southbound train. That same day, another 42-year-old man was found dead on a bench at the 180th Street subway station.
The New-York Historical Society has a large collection of William’s photographs (more than 5,000), including those featuring his family members and pets. This one below is one of my favorites.
Here are some other favorites, including a creepy Halloween photo I came across on Twitter last October (at that time, the photo was a mystery to me, as I did not know the photographer was William Davis Hassler). Kind of eerie that I came across this photo again exactly one year later–I wasn’t looking for it.
From the captions on the photos, it appears is if Reddy, at least, got to travel quite a bit. Some of the photos of Reddy say they were taken in Astoria, Queens, and I also found one possibly taken at the Hassler home in Pennsylvania.
As you can see in the photos, the two cats and dog received a lot of love and attention from the members and friends of the Hassler family.
I came here expecting staged pet photos (which are still enjoyable), but these are so surprising. They could have been taken today, just little photos of family members hanging out with pets, in such informal, relaxed, happy-feeling circumstances. They remind us that the past wasn’t really so different from today, when it comes to important things anyway. Thanks so much for sharing these.
I love how his photos let you see how ordinary people lived back then, not just the wealthy who could afford to hire a photographer for portraits. And I also love how Reddy looks so calm and cool in all the pictures!
I wanted to come back and make another comment that’s been going through my mind…the love and happiness in these photos make his death even more tragic. How sad for his family for him to be gone so suddenly and in such a strange way.