Kaye Marvins is a third-generation
studio portrait photographer who began his career in Poland at the age of 14.
He immigrated to Canada in 1929 and later moved to Massachusetts, where he
worked for Bachrach Studios. In 1935 he went to Houston to work for Gittings Portraiture,
and he opened his own studio there in 1945. Marvins has built a reputation for
solid, high-quality portraiture earning himself many honors and awards along
the way. He and his son, Mike, are the only father and son both to have served
as president of the Texas chapter of the Professional Photographers of America.
Often called upon to photograph visiting luminaries, astronauts, and local dignitaries,
Marvins has in essence generated a social history of Houston through his
photographs.

In the mid-1950s, the stage actress
Erin O'Brian Moore came to Houston as a guest performer at the Alley Theater.
At that time, Marvins took this elegant and stylized portrait. Set against a
traditionally solid backdrop which emphasizes the lines of her head and dress,
Moore's regal gaze and stance befit her position as a queen of the stage.