Mickey Pallas collection

Mickey Pallas was the youngest of three children of Jewish Rumanian immigrants. His father David started out in America as a peddler, and never learned to read or write English. He owned a Rumanian restaurant on Chicago's West Side and was a wine merchant during Prohibition (Pallas recalled, "the police used to pull up in their cars and load them up with wine"). Pallas' mother, Jenny, was institutionalized (probably for depression) while Mickey was still an infant. He remembers visiting, with his sister Betty, his mother as a young boy. While growing up, he lived sometimes with his father, but also with his grandparents, Sarah and Moishe Pallas, who he called "Bubbe and Zaede." He has sweet memories of his grandparents, who were religious people. Mickey remembers going to the schvitz (traditional Jewish baths) with his grandfather. His sister Betty lived with their Aunt Rose (Mickey's father had three sisters: Rose, Pearl and Sophie); brother Louis lived with their grandparents.

In his early teens, Mickey was living with his father in a one-room apartment near the Marks Nathan Children's Home, a Jewish orphanage at Albany Avenue and 15th Street on Chicago's West Side. He observed life at the orphanage and, in 1929, moved there himself. The Home represented security and affection to Mickey. He lived there six years. While there, he learned to read and make music, sang as cantor in religious ceremonies, and was bar mitzvahed. While at Marks Nathan, Mickey joined the camera club and chipped in with another boy to buy a $1.25 Kodak camera. Mickey later recalled his experience at the Home as "the best thing that ever happened to me."

Residents at Marks Nathan attended Farragut High School; Pallas was among the 1934 graduates. It was the height of the Depression and opportunities were hard to come by. For the next ten years, Pallas held a number of jobs. He drove a truck for Manishewitz, sold insurance, ran a dry cleaning store, worked the assembly line for Studebaker (from 1941-1947, he chaired the Anti-Discrimination League of the United Auto Workers), was a labor organizer for CIO in the food and tobacco industry, and, in his spare time, led a band, "Mickey Pallas and his International Famous Orchestra." In 1937, he married fellow-Chicagoan Mildred Karp. Her family owned Karp's Deli at 16th Street and Homan in Chicago. During World War II, he volunteered for both the U. S. and British armies, but was rejected by both when a heart problem was detected during physical examination.

Mickey Pallas began his career as a commercial photographer in the mid-1940s when he bought a Speed Graphic camera and began doing freelance photographic work. His early work is typical of struggling photographers: babies, weddings and bar mitzvahs. Even these early images evidence the directness that became a trademark in Pallas' work. As his business became more successful, his subject matter became more sophisticated. Before long, Pallas counted Ebony and Sepia magazines, ABC-TV (most notably Studs Terkel's "Studs Place," and Morris B. Sachs' "Amateur Hour"), Standard Oil, Encyclopedia Britannica and the Harlem Globetrotters among his clients. Along the way, he met, photographed and befriended a number of well-known people: author Studs Terkel, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, fighter Joe Louis, and actor Ed Asner. Even when Pallas' subject matter was harsh, his images expressed the optimism that typified post-World War II America.

In 1959, displeased with the quality of photo processing available in the Chicago area, Pallas founded Gamma Photo Labs. Gamma began as a two-man operation and grew to 125 employees, quickly becoming one of the largest labs in the United States. When John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, Gamma was headquarters for Life magazine's overnight photographic processing, resulting in the magazine's special issue covering the assassination. Once Gamma was on its feet, Mickey abandoned his commercial photography career and became a full-time businessman. In 1972, he sold Gamma to the Weiman Company; by then, Pallas was a wealthy man.

With Gamma in his past and the finances to pursue his dreams, Pallas established a fine photography gallery in Chicago. Pallas opened the Center for Photographic Arts in Chicago in 1973. The Center contained an exhibition hall with 2,300 square feet of main galleries on the first floor and 1,000 square feet more available upstairs, a bookstore, darkrooms and a research library for Chicago photographers. Pallas' dream also included eventually establishing a photography school, a dream he never realized. Despite good publicity and sterling intentions, the Center lasted less than a year. Pallas estimated huge losses. (See BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL RECORDS: CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS for complete list of exhibitions. See also EXHIBITIONS FILES.)

In 1978, Pallas opened Pallas Photographica Gallery. The gallery represented works by, among others, Boubat, Brassaï, Cameron, Coburn, Callahan, Curtis, Davidson, Drtikol, Evans, Felton, Genthe, Hine and Lartigue. (See BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL RECORDS: PALLAS PHOTOGRAPHICA GALLERY for complete list of exhibitions. See also EXHIBITIONS FILES.)

In 1979, Pallas suffered a stroke which left him temporarily without speech. At this time, operations of Pallas Photographica Gallery were apparently suspended. In 1984, a new gallery, Pallas Photo Gallery opened. This gallery was probably an appendage of Pallas Photo Labs, a business owned by Mickey's son, Rusty Pallas.

In 1980, Pallas hired Janet Ginsburg, a student at Indiana University, to help bring order to the vast archive of work he had created during the course of his commercial career. After graduation, Ginsburg supervised the completion of the project. She later put together a portfolio of photographs in an effort to secure an exhibition. In 1986 she co-curated (with Kenneth Burkhart of the Chicago Office of Fine Arts) Mickey Pallas: Photographs 1945-1960, the first retrospective exhibition of Pallas' work. Ginsburg began researching appropriate institutions for the possible placement of the archive, and in the early 1990s contacted the Center for Creative Photography. After Pallas’ death in 1997, Ginsburg continued to be actively involved in managing and promoting his work.

In 1980, Pallas hired Janet Ginsburg, a student at Indiana University, to help bring order to the vast archive of work he had created during the course of his commercial career. After graduation, Ginsburg supervised the completion of the project. She later put together a portfolio of photographs in an effort to secure an exhibition. In 1986 she co-curated (with Kenneth Burkhart of the Chicago Office of Fine Arts) Mickey Pallas: Photographs 1945-1960, the first retrospective exhibition of Pallas' work. Ginsburg began researching appropriate institutions for the possible placement of the archive, and in the early 1990s contacted the Center for Creative Photography. After Pallas’ death in 1997, Ginsburg continued to be actively involved in managing and promoting his work.

In a tribute to Pallas published in the exhibition catalog for his 1986 retrospective, Studs Terkel observed "Ever on the go, Mickey, with the gait and the build of a club fighter, was deceptively good. So good, that he captured, indelibly, a piece of our history." Pallas' success story is typical of the entrepreneurial attitudes of many first-generation Americans. And, as he recently reminisced, he "had a lot of fun."

1916

Mickey Pallas was born in Belvidere, Illinois; joined sister Betty and brother Louis; grew up on Chicago's West Side

1929

moved to Marks Nathan Jewish Children's Home in Chicago

1934

graduated Farragut High School; midst of Depression

1937

married Mildred Karp

1944

daughter Gail born

1940s

refused by both British & U. S. armies for services in World War II because of bad heart; bought Speed Graphic and began freelance photography career; worked as freelancer for Our World magazine; covered Joe Louis in his training camp before the Billy Conn fight. Also worked for a string of Westside newspapers owned by Morris Kaplan (Westside Times, Lawndale News, Westown Herald); by late 1940s, Pallas counted Ebony, Sepia and Seventeen magazines among his clients.

1946

son Rusty (David) born

1947-1948

photographed Henry Wallace campaign for presidency

1953

joined American Society of Magazine Photographers; was a founding member of the Chicago chapter

1956

work for Playboy magazine took him to Cuba to photograph works of sculptors Sepy Dobronyi and Juan Sierra

1957

covered the Newport Jazz Festival for Playboy, resulting in some of his best-known images

1959

opened Gamma Photo Labs on Superior Street, Chicago.

1960

photographed Democratic and Republican convention

1966-1969

Mickey and Millie traveled to Europe, Southeast Asia and Greece

1970

Pallas Photo Supply added to Gamma Photo Labs; complete camera shop specializing in camera rentals

1972

Organized exhibition of 70 professional Chicago photographers, "Chicago Photo I," at the John Hancock Center, Chicago, May to June

1973

Sold Gamma to Weiman Company

Sold Gamma to Weiman Company

Pallas opened the Center for Photographic Arts at 364 West Erie Street in Chicago in November; the gallery closed the following December.

1975

Pallas suffered heart failure, had open heart surgery

1977

Rusty Pallas (Mickey's son) opened Pallas Photo Lab at 319 West Erie Street in Chicago (eventually had additional offices at 207 East Buffalo in Milwaukee and 700 Kalamath in Denver)

1978

Mickey opened Pallas Photographica Gallery, 315 West Erie Street, Chicago (next to son Rusty's Pallas Photo Lab)

1979

Pallas suffered stroke which left him temporarily without speech

1982

met Janet Ginsburg, a recent college graduate who became Pallas' assistant and helped spearhead recognition of Pallas' work

1985

Millie Pallas died of cancer

1985

Mickey married Pat Zimmerman

1986

Janet Ginsburg and Kenneth Burkhart cocurated the first retrospective of Pallas' work, Mickey Pallas: Photographs 1945-1960, at the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center.

1986

Mickey and Pat Pallas moved to Palm Springs, California

1992

Pallas' images, along with pictures by Weegee, Lisette Model, Irving Haberman and Wilbert Blanche, were featured in the film, The Public Eye, which starred Joe Pesci.