Old Photographs of Albert Einstein

I love this photograph from retronaut of Albert Einstein, holding a marionette puppet of himself. Einstein with Einstein puppet. How delightful (although, full disclosure: I actually think the puppet’s face, from what I can see, bears an even stronger resemblance to Mark Twain than to Einstein).

About the image:

“Attributed to Harry Burnett while Yale Puppeteers were working in their theater, Teatro Torito, on Olvera Street in Los Angeles, California, circa 1931. The photo was taken by Harry Burnett at Cal Tech in Pasadena where Albert Einstein was teaching. Einstein saw the puppet perform at the Teato Torito and was quite amused. He reached into his jacket’s breast pocket, pulled out a letter and crumpled it up. Speaking in German, he said, “The puppet wasn’t fat enough!” He laughed and stuffed the crumpled letter up under the smock to give the puppet a fatter belly. This is a wonderful photograph that Harry treasured. Harry Burnett also kept the letter in a frame and loved to retell the story and at the end give his pixish laugh.”

We’ve all seen the photo of Einstein sticking his tongue out, or perhaps the one of him in fuzzy slippers, but the puppet one was new to me.
Here are a couple of other pictures of Albert Einstein we have for sale on the site:

Original photograph of young Albert Einstein with Konrad Habicht and Maurice Solovine, ca. 1903

Mounted photograph of Einstein smoking a pipe, ca. 1932-1934.

Original signed photograph of Albert Einstein and wife Elsa Einstein, dated by Albert 1931.