Part 580: Harry J. Kuckuck
In 1901, the Lee Lash was the head of two companies, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City. The Lee Lash Studio offices were located at 39th and Broadway in New York City and 732 Drexel Building in Philadelphia.
Lash established the Philadelphia studio in 1892. From the very beginning of its founding, a local scenic artist found work there – Harry J. Kuckuck (1876-1945). He would ascend the studio ranks, just as Thomas Moses (1856-1934) did at the Sosman & Landis studio in Chicago. Similarly to Moses, Harry J. Kuckuck would attempt to purchase the studio in the 1920s, eventually purchasing the company from Lash during 1926. At this point, the studio name changed to H. J. Kuckkuck’s Lee Lash Studio. It remained in operation for another twenty years, until the time of his death in 1945.
Looking in a 1918-19 New York Corporation Directory, Harry J. Kuckuck was associated with two Lee Lash Companies – Lee Lash Co (NY) that specialized in advertising and Lee Lash Studios, Inc. (NY) that specialized in scenery. Each was listed in R. L. Polk & Co.’s 1918-19 Trow New York Co-partnership and Corporation Directory, Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx (page 644).
In the directory, Lash was listed as president of Lee Lash Co (NY) and Harry J Kuckuck was listed as the treasurer. The capital for the company was $500,000, with the directors being Lee Lash and Harry Kuckuck. In the same directory, Lee Lash Studios Inc. (NY) also listed Lee Lash as president, Hugo Gerber as Secretary, and Harry J. Kuckuck as treasurer. The capital for this company was reported to be $100,000. The directors were Lee Lash, Hugo Gerber and Harry Kuckuck. Both companies were located in the same building at 1478 Broadway Road 724.
I have uncovered very little information about Harry J. Kuckuck’s personal life. Kuckuck was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during 1876. He began working for Lee Lash at the age of 16 years old when Lash opened a studio in Philadelphia during 1892. That meant he was the same age as many other boys who entered the scenic art industry at the time, starting as pot boys and apprentices. For Lash, Kuckuck was a necessary addition to the new studio, providing cheap labor for the newly formed company. In 1894.
Kuckuck was still listed as living in Philadelphia at 1944 North Fourth Street That year his family hosted a birthday party for him and published it in the local paper (Philadelphia Enquirer, 9 Dec 1894, page 14). He was still in the city during 1897 when the “Times” reported, “On Wednesday evening, January 6, Mrs. Annie M. Kuckuck celebrated the twenty-first birthday of her son, Harry J. Kuckuck, at their home on North Fourth Street” (Philadelphia 10 Jan 1897, page 21).
Many years later, Kuckuck even mentioned as a New York artist who “paints on scenery and drapes” in a entertaining poem. It was published in the “Arizona Daily Star” during 1938. At the time, Kuckuck would have been working as a scenic artist for 46 years (8 Jan 1938, page 18). Here is the poem:
The “Sky” Line of New York
“Did you ever go a-messin’
Round the land of delicatessen
Way up in Harlem or the Bronx?
Where there’s Abe and Jake and
Izzy,
Whose last names would make you
Dizzy,
Like Tinskys and the Plotskys
And the Kronkes.
Ther’s Finifter and Dorshininsky,
Gronowitz and Sam Tuchinsky,
Manowitz and Katrowitz and Weiss.
Where the Haases and the Hesses
Handle cloaks and suits and dresses,
And the Wassermans are friends
Of Kalt and Heiss.
Wishnofsky and Wishnettsly,
Turkenvich and J. Pisetsky,
Dinerman who offers Kosher meat,
Rabbi Yarshun fixes marriages,
Hyman Zarchin, baby carriages,
While Suckerman the lawyer’s
‘cross the street.
Joseph Spitz sells atomizers,
Jacob Slutsky appetizers,
Harry Kuckuck paints on scenery
And drapes,
I Janowitz sells butter,
And so does Perlmutter,
Izzy Sklarsky deals in oranges, and
Grapes.
There is Yokel and there’s Yevel;
All these names are on the level.
I’m telling you the truth, I hope
To die,
If you doubt it have your own look
Thru the pages of your phone book.
For I’m sure the Book of Numbers
Doesn’t lie.
Now I’ve been a cheap ham actor,
Peddled books and run a tractor,
Around the honky-tonks;
I’d take any job you’d tell me,
But one job you couldn’t sell me-
That’s the guy who takes the census
In the Bronx.
-El Toro”
I have located little else about Kuckuck, other than in a 1940 census. Harry J. Kuckuck was listed in the 1940 census as a 64 year old man who was born in Pennsylvania during 1876. These dates match newspaper accounts mentioning his 21st birthday in Philadelphia during 1897. The census also listed Kuckuck’s residence as being in Assembly District 21, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Other people in his household at the time were Leonora (age 55 yrs.) and Frederick (age 26 yrs.) His marital status was widowed.
To be continued…
