Watching the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald duet with Frank Sinatra on AspireTV. This photo is not from that show, but it is in the same timeframe (1950s). Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald, born 96 years ago today in Newport News, Virginia. In this photo, she is performing at Mr. Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago in 1958. Photo by Yale Joel//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.
Josephine Baker hanging out with her pet cheetah in 1931. The cheetah’s name? Chiquita. Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.
Brilliant scholar, activist and author Angela Davis, photographed in 1973 by the legendary photographer Philippe Halsman. Filmmaker Shola Lynch Free Angela has just released an AMAZING documentary about the iconic Ms. Davis. Photo: Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos.
Donna Summer, the late great Boston-born “Queen of Disco” and all-around musical genius, Quincy Jones, are seen here in 1983 at the Savoy Theater in New York City. Both were 2013 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, 2013. Photo: Walter McBride/Corbis.
Dancer Scoogie Brown at Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade’s wedding reception in Westport, Connecticut on June 26, 1955. Ms. Brown was a dancer from Trinidad and Tobago who performed with Mr. Holder and his Trinidad Dance Group. She would gain even more notoriety during the “calypso craze” in the 1950s with her dance partner, Leo Ryers, who was also a member of Mr. Holder’s troupe. Photo: Saul Mauriber, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Ms. Brown also has a bit part in the 1956 film, “Carib Gold” which also starred Mr. Holder, Cicely Tyson, Diana Sands and the great Ethel Waters. The film is linked in the comment section.
Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis compare notes, and the tools of their respective trades, on June 14, 1946 during Mr. Robinson’s visit to Mr. Louis’s training camp in Pompton Lake, New Jersey. It was 66 years ago today, on April 15, 1947, that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Photo: Bettman/Corbis.
Phyllis Hyman, in a photo taken by the esteemed photographer Anthony Barboza in 1978, the year she released her album, “Somewhere In My Lifetime.” Photo: Anthony Barboza/Getty.
Nat “King” Cole is looking as smooth as ever in this 1964 photo session. But the real reason I am sharing this particular picture are the flowers because they remind me that spring is finally (really!) here! Photo: Michael Ochs Archives.
Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell teaching a class at DTH, circa 1970s. Robert Garland, Resident Choreographer and Webmaster for The Dance Theater of Harlem, sent this picture to me last year. Robert is set to appear on the Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC show this morning (April 7th) around 11:30am EST to talk about the return of DTH to Harlem. I will add a link to the comment section once it is available.
Billy Dee Williams in a 1980s TCB haircare advertisement.
You didn’t think I forgot Billy Dee Williams’s 76th birthday today did you? No, of course you didn’t! Mr. Williams is still acting, still writing, still painting and still fine today and, if you can’t name the film this photo is from, I am going to shed real tears… of laughter. :) Photo: Bettman/Corbis.
