Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937. Lights and search lights make it difficult to see the street in this night photograph. Cars are parked along the curb, and the bottom of the Barker Bros. sign on their building can be seen on the left. In the background, barely visible, are the spires of the Chinese Theater.
Barker Bros Chinese Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.) Streets--California--Hollywood (Los Angeles) House furnishings industry and trade--California--Los Angeles Stores & shops--California--Hollywood (Los Angeles) Automobiles--California--Los Angeles Hollywood Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) Night photographs Schultheis Collection photographs
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