The woman was moving as masterfully as the men, leaning forward and tapping backwards in steps that had long defined a tradition of dance for African American men. As I sat there watching her in the “Cotton Club…
Category: Performers
Circus heroes on Dixie Cup ice cream lids
Posted in Businesses, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, food, Performers, and Radio
When I saw the round paper discs lying in a box on the auction table, I was certain they were the lids for old milk bottles. Those glass bottles were delivered at homes before I was…
A collection of lovely old accordions
Posted in Music, and Performers
I don’t know squat about accordions – how to play them and how to really appreciate their sound. But when I stumbled onto about a half dozen at auction recently, I was taken by the artistic design of the…
Bert Williams in black face on sheet music
Posted in Black history, Broadway plays, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Music, and Performers
I could tell there was another clear frame behind the one with a sheet-music cover of a black woman in orange kerchief lovingly holding a white child in night clothes. I wasn’t sure who was…
A Ray Charles record player that wasn’t
Posted in Music, Performers, and Records
Did you see the Ray Charles record player on the auction website? my auction buddy Janet emailed me. “I didn’t know such a thing existed.” I had not, and neither did I. So I dutifully…
Nostalgia: Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald road tours
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Music, and Performers
The bold red colors on the booklets were transfixing. They caught my eye before I even got to the faces on the covers, some of which I soon and instantly recognized. The incomparable Nat King…
Two dummies were talking …
Posted in Dolls, and Performers
From afar, it looked as if the two dummies were talking to each other, carrying on a silent conversation that none of us auction-goers could hear. Maybe they were making fun of us in our…
A Josephine Baker record album
Posted in African American women, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Music, and Performers
I recognized the profile on the album cover as soon as I saw the name. Who wouldn’t know the stacked buns and long black ponytail that was the trademark hairstyle of the incomparable Josephine Baker. It’s not often that…
A songbook of minstrel tunes
Posted in Music, and Performers
The face of the soft-cover book was tattered around the edges and stained with water. I was a bit put-off by it at first – not because of its dirty appearance but because of its title.…
A new look at ‘Porgy and Bess’
Posted in Broadway plays, Music, and Performers
The play “Porgy and Bess” has never been one to will me to see it. I’ve never been curious about this folk opera written, produced and performed during a time when black people were not seen as real but…