I’ve long been a fan of the Negro Leagues. Whenever I’d come across a T-shirt or cap or any other paraphernalia (most of them never at auction), I’d snap it up. I’m not much of…
Category: Plays
Telling the story of Toni Stone as 1st woman in Negro Leagues
Posted in African American women, Black history, Plays, and Sports
Some years ago when I met Mamie “Peanut” Johnson at one of those events where former Negro Leagues players sign autographs, I was surprised and delighted to learn that black women were Negro Leaguers, too.…
The last house where Paul Robeson lived
Posted in Art, history, Music, Performers, Plays, Sports, and theater
Arcenia McClendon was telling a story about the time she met Paul Robeson: She was a young school teacher in her early 20s and she passed the house at 50th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia on her…
Readers ask about Sugar Ray’s Café postcard and theater lights
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Lighting, Performers, Plays, Postcards, and Reader questions
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
A Louis Armstrong I didn’t know
Posted in Black history, Music, Performers, and Plays
A couple years ago, I picked up a studio photo of Louis Armstrong with his first band the Hot Five from the 1920s. Armstrong was at the piano and seemed to be talking to the…
Blackface makeup in a tube
Posted in Personal items, Plays, theater, and Tins
My friend Rebecca alerted me to the bright yellow tube in the vendor’s case. On the front was a man in blackface with huge white lips wearing a tux and white gloves, and the product…
I remember 20 years ago, Tyler Perry said, when there were only 30 people in the audience. On this day on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, he could see a lot more than 30 just…