"Yvette's 3rd Birthday"

Abe Cooper, 1934

My father, Abe Cooper, was an immigrant from Vilna and struggled as a commercial photographer in Chicago from 1920 until his death at age 63 in 1948 when I was only 16. His clients were advertisers and often he was paid with the product samples he shot. It was the depression and not a lot of selling took place. My mother’s parents, the Menzer family took us in to their flat in Albany Park. Times were difficult so my parents and I shared a bedroom. As the only child in a household of nine, I was given a lot of attention and was probably the most photographed child in any household.

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