The child in the elf's costume with white gossamer wings, kneeling forward and seeming to force a wry smile, captured for posterity by documentary photographer extraordinaire Alice M. Curtis in 1913, is Clara Dorothy Bray, according to two of her descendents who saw the photo in yesterday's Times.

The Times' reproduction of the photo, which accompanied an appreciation of the late Renee Gross-Nutbrown, was taken from a 1997 compact disc cover for a John Jarvis Trio jazz recording.

It was available for that purpose -- and used yesterday -- because Gross-Nutbrown, the late proprietor of the now defunct Tragabigzanda Shop on Rocky Neck, had the intuition to treasure away boxes of then-mysterious glass negatives that, like so much valuable material, human and inanimate, seemed to gravitate to her hands.

"Elf-Child" was one of more than 4,000 photo negatives held essentially in trust for Fred Bodin, who paid a fair price to Gross-Nutbrown in 1983 for them, and then used the trove as the platform for the launch of his historical photo studio on Main Street.

In the process, he afforded Curtis the audience she never sought, but deserved. Bodin's research into Curtis, who is recognized as an invaluable photo historian of a Cape Ann that is fading from the memory of the community's eldest elders.

Bray was 7 years old when Curtis froze her captivating pose onto a glass plate negative in July 1913, reports Bray's daughter, Bonny Godwin, 60, of West Yarmouth, and a granddaughter, Cathy Doe, 50, of Manchester, who saw the picture in the Times.

Both called to report what they know of the young amateur actress cast as the Elf-Child in a dramatization of a children's fantasy at Addison Gilbert Hospital. The drama was produced to raise money for nurses at the still relatively new hospital that citizens were so relieved and pleased to have in their midst.

Curtis, spouse of a wealthy and prominent citizen, was especially committed to the hospital, and in her avocation as a photographer -- she worked for no one but herself, selling only casually to Annisquam neighbors -- helped publicize the needs of Addison Gilbert through the Elf-Child photo, which ran in the Times on July 17, 1913.

"It was a big social thing," notes Goodwin, who has a copy of the Elf-Child picture in her Cape Cod home. Caring passionately for the hospital was something Gross-Nutbrown shared with Curtis and Elf-Child Bray.

As for Bray, her granddaughter and daughter report she grew up in Annisquam and Lanesville before marrying a immigrant Canadian carpenter, Delbert Andrews, with whom she had nine children; Goodwin was the ninth.

Bray is known to have been a poet and an accomplished pianist, who may have been an early member of the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, Goodwin noted. She described the play in which her mother was featured as a fully developed fantasy, with the boys in the play teasing the girl wood nymphs with talk of baseball, something that in 1913 would have been expected to be beyond their ken.

Oh, how times have changed.

Bray died in 1979, and by then girls and boys were playing baseball.

Goodwin said the glint in her mother, the Elf-Child's eyes, was there throughout her life. "When it was not there, you knew something was wrong," Goodwin said.

Now, that glint and glimmer of a black-and-white past will be there for as long as people take interest in the past, which is to say forever, thanks to Clara Bray, Alice M. Curtis, Renee Gross-Nutbrown and Fred Bodin.



All hands on deck

A documentary about the Gertrude L. Thebaud Schooner will be featured at Monet's Garden, a new art café located in the Red Brick Art Center in Beverly in the heart of Beverly Arts District. The café continues its Friday Night Film Series on Friday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. with the screening of the "Gertrude L. Thebaud," a documentary directed by Gloucester's Barry O'Brien.

Proprietors Pat and Barbara Ann McGowan invite the public to attend. The film highlights the famous fishing schooner built in 1929 to compete against Nova Scotia for the International Fishermen's Cup. This film is not only the story of the rise and ignominious fall of a famous schooner, but also a story of the times in which the Gertrude L. Thebaud sailed.

O'Brien is the head of North Shore Communications Group, a company in Gloucester that provides marketing and training tools via Web, print and video media, and will be on hand to lead a discussion about the film.

This film is part of a continuing Friday Night Film Series, coordinated by Mike Evers of Film North, showcasing filmmakers from North of Boston. It is hosted by Monet's Garden Art Café, which will offer a dessert buffet, and cappuccino, latté or espresso for the all-inclusive price of $8.95. For more information, call 978-927-9270.



Art for the public

Local artist Jeff Weaver will give a free talk and slide show, "Gloucester Murals," today at 3 p.m. The program will focus on Weaver's Gloucester murals, including those found on the sides of Ben's Paints and the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center, which have become Gloucester landmarks. Weaver is a recent recipient of a grant from the Gloucester Cultural Council.



Gloucester parish treated to the "Resurrection Cantata''

Last Saturday, the St. Patrick's Family Players from St. Patrick Parish in Watertown treated an audience of more than 500 people at St. Ann Church in Gloucester to "Resurrection Cantata," a music drama by Bryan Jeffery Leech.

The cast of approximately 100 men, women and children, including Molly Genovese of Gloucester, has been performing these moving shows prior to Easter for 11 years. They have performed five times since Feb. 23 at churches in Massachusetts, and even California, this year. Their last performance of the year will be tomorrow.

Genovese's brother, Frank, also participated in the show. Several cast members were parishioners at the Rev. Timothy Harrison's former parish in Belmont, and they had been encouraging him for years to invite the group to Gloucester. The finale of the hourlong, free presentation drew a standing ovation that lasted about five minutes. "You do for the cast what the cast has just done for you," director-producer Judy Johanson told the audience. "This performance is never about money."

The audience made donations as they left the church. "We were overwhelmed by the people's generosity. They gave from their hearts," Johanson said.



Honored veteran

The flag at the Veterans' Center will fly this week in honor of Gilman Saunders, an Army veteran of the Civil War.

He entered the Army on June 26, 1861, and served as a first lieutenant with the 12th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was discharged on Sept. 10, 1862, and died on April 2, 1870.

Anyone wishing to fly a flag in honor of a deceased veteran can contact the Office of Veterans' Services at 978-281-9740.