Talk:Cleo Damianakes

Marriage to Ralph B. Wilkins
I believe that the source(s) claiming that Cleo married "first husband" Richard Oliver in 1924 is wrong. This is cited on many web sites, including here.

This wedding announcement from 1924 suggests that Oliver married her sister Stephanie Damianakes instead.

In other words... She probably only married once.
 * According to this Federal Aviation Agency article, Richard married an Annie Brans in New York City in 1928. But it states that in 1917 he and his brother William changed their surname from Onions (or O'nions?), "Richard to Elwell and William to Oliver", so who knows? Edwardx (talk) 18:27, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Found an okay(ish) image of Cleo on Commons and have added that plus an infobox. Edwardx (talk) 18:42, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Another article to look at. Cielquiparle (talk) 18:44, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * If you look at this article from 1920... Cleo is mentioned in the first column and Ralph is mentioned on in the third column...suggesting they went to the California School of Fine Arts in SF together. Cielquiparle (talk) 19:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Agreed, it does look like Ralph was Cleo's first and only husband. Edwardx (talk) 20:17, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Finally found Oakland Tribune article on the day of their marriage, October 4, 1924. Cielquiparle (talk) 12:04, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

Name issue
@Edwardx I know it is rather late to be bringing this up, but having now read everything I could find about Cleo Damianakes, I am firmly of the opinion that this article needs to be moved to Cleo Damianakes as the main pagename and that "Cleonike Damianakes" should be a redirect. The vast majority of sources refer to her as "Cleo Damianakes", including most major art galleries (historic and present); all newspaper articles (except for 1, explanation to follow); art magazines; her school records and publications; and even all her legal documents (marriage certificate calls her "Cleo Theodora Damianakes", while death records call her "Cleo Wilkins"). Sources using both names typically say "Cleo Damianakes Wilkins", but most often as far as her identity as an artist goes, she is "Cleo Damianakes".

So where did "Cleonike" come from? It is possible her parents intended "Cleo" to be short for "Cleonike" (usually a male name in Greek) from the start, but the fact is, the names "Cleon" and "Cleonike" don't appear anywhere until she started her career as a *commercial* artist. It started with her signing a couple of the book dust jackets as "CLEON" (in ALLCAPS), which she later extended to "CLEONIKE" and even "CLEONIKES" (having a bit of fun there with the Greek declensions, possibly even a nod to her original surname). Plus of course Maxwell Perkins himself wrote about "Cleon's respectably sexy design". This is why the book dust jacket collectors and resellers have really latched on to the names "CLEON" and "CLEONIKE", and why the book authors discussing Hemingway, Scribners, and/or book dust jackets have used "Cleon" or "Cleonike" as well. The single instance of "Cleonike Wilkins" that I found was in the New York Times listing of what may have been her final show in 1975. (Makes sense that she would use "Cleonike" if she wasn't using "Damianakes" in her name.)

So anyway... If it's ok with you I think we should sort this out ASAP before the DYK goes out... I could go either way on whether the DYK hook needs to change since it discusses her identity as a commercial artist (although even Scribner's Magazine referred to her as "Cleo Damianakes" in 1925, while explicitly acknowledging that she was married to "R. B. Wilkins"). I just want to avoid Wikipedia being the source of yet another slightly misnamed biography that causes more confusion and has the unintended consequence of making information about certain people harder to find (i.e., in this case, Cleo Damianakes / "Cleo Damianakes Wilkins" which could also be a redirect, along with "Cleo Wilkins"). Cielquiparle (talk) 14:07, 8 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Cielquiparle. I am very happy with "Cleo". In Salisbury's book, the heading is "Cleonike 'Cleon' Damianakes", and that is what led to this article. Although she gets four pages (image heavy), Salisbury does state that "surprinsgly little is known about" her. Thanks largely to your efforts, that is no longer the case! Edwardx (talk) 23:12, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

What we left out
Here are some details we left out. Do they belong in the article, or is it TMI?


 * The fact that they honeymooned in the UK (hence Ralph's artwork depicting Chester, England).
 * Date of Ralph's death (after Cleo, also in Alameda).
 * The fact that they spent some time in Europe in the latter part of her career. We might have to dig, but I think Cleo may have had some commercial success outside the US.

@Edwardx What do you think? Cielquiparle (talk) 14:21, 20 February 2023 (UTC)