While sheltering in place I’ve been receiving daily updates called “Chicaago History at Home” from the Chicago History Museum. Monday’s message alerted me that legendary photographer and Chicago native Victor Skrebneski had died on April 4 this year. How’d I miss hearing this back then? Oh. Wait. That was the day Mike came home from the hospital, clear of COVID. I was a bit pre-occupied. From the message:
Victor Skrebneski was known for his striking images of models in advertisements and portraits of celebrities, extraordinary editorial photography, as well as numerous breathtaking books and catalogues. He also had a varied and exciting association with the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum through the years.
Why would a blind woman have a fondness for a photographer? Well, I wasn’t always blind, and the Victor Skrebneski photos I saw when I was a teenager were mesmerizing.
Let me explain. One of my best friends from high school was Matt Klir. We met when I was 16. Seventeen years later, He died of AIDS. He was 33 years old. The COVID 19 pandemic we’re going through now has me thinking back to the horrific AIDS pandemic. And sadly, when I think of AIDS, I think of Matt.
Matt was a year younger than me, we were in the high school band together, and when he signed up for “summer band” after his freshman year we discovered we’d both be bicycling from miles away to attend. We started riding together. A friendship was born.
When neither of us could land a date for a school dance one year we pooled our money and bought Elton John tickets instead. Front row. I wore a polyester red, white and blue halter-topped bridesmaid dress, and Matt wore a powder blue leisure suit. He brought a dozen roses along, and when I handed them to Elton John’s lyricist at the end of the concert, Bernie Taupin said, “Thanks, love.” Matt and I congratulated ourselves all the way home, confident we’d had a wayyyyy better time than anyone at that dumb dance.
Matt’s house became my second home. He and his two sisters were beautiful. His parents were divorced, and the three of them lived with their young vivacious mother in a fancy 1970s sprawling home. Every single time I visited (and that was lots of times!) I’d venture into their dining room and gawk at the huge black and white Victor Skrebneski photos displayed on the walls.
Matt and his two sisters had been childhood models, and when I called Janine and Crystal to ask if either of them still had a copy of the huge b&w photo Victor Skrebneski took of Matt, they knew immediately which one I was talking about.
“I remember when Matt was at that shoot,” his older sister Janine wrote in an email. “Victor’s studio was so home-like. Lots of ladies and other people hanging around, comfy couches, along with his impressive photo studio in the main room.” Janine had found the photo of Matt in her basement workshop. “It was rolled up in a box with other old pictures.” She’d had the photo straightened, she scanned it for me, and here it is.
Click the image to expand. That’s Matt on the lower right.
I can no longer take in the photo Victor Skrebneski took of Matt back in the early 1960s for a Marshall Field & Company Christmas ad, but hey, Victor Skrebneski photos are memorable. Matt is there in the lower right hand corner, still a youngster, sporting a safari hat and surrounded by stuffed animals.
Thanks to Victor Skrebneski’s gift and his keen eye, I can still picture young Matt.
What a gift.
Such a sweet story. Especially now when we can’t see the faces of friends and family due to the pandemic or perhaps their sudden deaths. We have to go to our mind’s eye to see and remember them.
Oh, I love this “mind’s eye” phrase. I’m going to start using it in my writing, thank you!
What a great, sweet story. Beth, you named checked Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Victor Skrebneski and a very dear friend who left too soon. You’re so cool.
Takes one to know one. A cool person, I mean.
Beth-
I do remember that photo! And all the great times we had with Matt. He was such a gem!
Thanks for a little piece of our high school memories and a nice tribute to Victor!
Oh, Fancy Nisher, you are so welcome. Every time I say your name I think of Matt. So many of my contemporaries complain about how much they hated high school. Thanks to you and Matt and so many other characters in the band and orchestra, I had a ball.
What a beautiful memory for you to have! Thanks for sharing it.
You’re welcome. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you appreciated it, Maureen.
Indeed! What a gift – and thank you for sharing it! V.Skrebneski’s creativity is a forever gift. Young Matt becoming a doll, an explorer encircled by Afrika, brilliant. I promise myself to explore for myself…. more art by V.S.
How fortunate I was in my growing-up years, I am so grateful!
The Victor Skrebnesk photo of Matt and friends makes me smile. As in, of course these two especially talented humans found one another. Thanks to Janine for digging this gem out of the archives.
Yes, so nice to chat with Janine and Crystal every once in a while. Losing a sibling really changes things. ,
Bittersweet memory. Thanks for sharing it. Brings to mind the difference between “vision” and “eyesight.”
I too find myself thinking of friends lost in the other pandemic of my adult life. Be well and stay safe. Love, Benita
Those sure were sad –and scary –times. Yes, and those eye-related words…I find it interesting to write about how I take in something that others use their eyes for — verbs like “picture” “witness” “conjure up” “imagine” “sense” “feel” Thanks for pointing out the subtle nature of wording, Benita.
I loved reading this memory of Matt. I never knew all these details of your Elton John adventure. He was a very special person in your life, along with his family.
I probably didn’t say much about it at the time, as we spent a lot of money (for that time) for our tickets, not sure Flo would have approved!
I have my own Skrebneski story. My husband was making jewelry in his basement workshop, one piece at a time, for Marshall Field’s. It was pretty much our only source of income and they took a whopping 50% of what was sold there! But it was selling so well that they decided to advertise it with a full page ad in the New Yorker,with a lovely model in a Skrebneski photo. Just imagine how we felt, we novices to the whole commercial world!
That necklace sold at the time for $60. It was so beautiful and so popular that he would keep on making them–one at a time, never cast–all the years until he died (about 35, I think). I wear one now. It would have cost $200 to buy it in 2012, the year he died.
P.S. The original ad is hanging on my wall as we speak, and I can admire it whenever I want!
Aha! So you know what I mean, those photographs stick with you.
Beth,
Just love your memories of Matt and his family. I too remember that photo and others we all shared. I also remember your stories of the Elton John concert! So cool! It’s so funny That you wrote this post because every June I remember Matt so vividly because of my mother’s death in June of 1977. My family insisted I come back from Iowa to go to graduation after her funeral and Matt picked me up at the airport and comforted me so sweetly. He gave a speech at graduation and spoke directly to me with a tribute. So thoughtful. He was a beautiful soul and a dear friend. I will love him always .
Joan, I heard so much about how amazing his graduation speech was that year but have never bee told the details. Nor did I know he picked you up at the airport during those sad times — a big deal back then, how many teenagers drove to O’Hare like that?! How nice to hear from you and others here who all knew him back then. Thanks for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me.
Wow! What a story. I’ll have to come up with an assignment for the Admiral class that prompts you to write more — looking forward to leading your class again (via Zoom, of course) starting July 9 I miss you!.
Six degrees of separation…I had drinks with Bernie and friends in Nashville about 15 years ago.
I loved this story…thank you for sharing.
Wow! Was he as kind in Nashville as he seemed that magic day, when he called me, “love'”? I want to hear more — maybe sometime soon when we can meet at Half Sour for a Rueben Sandwich….?!
Hi Beth! Mary Heithoff here. Thanks for that awesome Matt Klir story. He was truly ahead of his years. The first sentence of his graduation speech was: You are a sponge! Everyone was laughing, thinking he’s off the deep end, but look how we remember it 42 years later!
Ahead of his time for sure. How I wish he’d lived long enough to live the changes — he would have never guessed a show like “Will and Grace” would have been a hit, and I can only imagine the wedding reception had he chosen to get married after gay marriage was sanctioned. So striking that you can still remember the beginning of his graduation speech 42 years later, thanks so much for sharing, Mary.
sorry I’m behind on this post but had to comment about your dress. Red white and blue halter top……I can just picture it!!
Ah, yes. It was sooooo”Philadelphia Freedom,” doncha know. Plus I was a very gawky girl, all knobby elbows and protruding knees, here’s a hint to my younger self: Flat-chested? Don’t wear halter tops.
Lovely
I’m reading “Plague Years”, a memoir by Dr. Ross Slotten on his experiences treating AIDS patients during the years-long crisis. He’s still practicing and I’d like to know how he found the time to write such an exquisite book. It all reminds me of the friends and relatives we lost during those years. How wonderful the beloved are being honored. Thank you for tracking down that priceless photo, Beth and giving us Matt.
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