Dance icon Katherine Dunham smiles at the legendary shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo as she tries on a few pairs of his shoes in Florence in 1950. Photo: David Lees/Corbis.
Popular Chicago model Cordie King (center) is featured in this December 10, 1955 Chicago Defender article on a benefit she presented (showcasing Parisian-influenced hairstyles) at the Morrison Hotel’s Terrace Casino “in her debut as a song stylist.” The models showing off looks from the show are (clockwise) Loretta Conley, Edwina Baltazar, Vivian Pryor and Francis Wilson.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born 114 years ago today in Washington, D.C. In this April 1950 photo, he is illustrating part of the reason the name “Duke” was bestowed upon him by childhood friends who admired him for his killer style. He even wore suits and ties in high school and once blew everyone away at a party when he showed up in a shimmy back herringbone suit that was shirred and pleated in the back—a style that no one else was wearing at the time. Photo y Lipnitzki/Roger Viollet/Getty Images.
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.
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.
Somehow, I managed to wish Maya Angelou at Happy 85th birthday on Facebook, but not here. Gotta fix that so… Happy Birthday Dr. Angelou! This famous photo of Dr. Angelou on stage was taken in 1954 by G. Paul Bishop.
Georgia Carr was a singer, actress and eventual entrepreneur. Born Mary Louise Thomas in Los Angeles on June 20, 1925, she held multiple jobs (most famously as a secretary) and attended the University of California in Los Angeles as she tried to build her singing career. She was singing at the Club Royale in San Diego when Stan Kenton saw her and, according to the August 20, 1953 cover story on her in JET, “started her on a career that was destined to hit the big time.” According to JET, it was Mr. Kenton who suggested that she change her name to Georgia Carr. In short order, she was booked in popular clubs like Birdland and La Vie En Rose in New York and recorded a few modest hits, including “Softly” and I’m Not Gonna Let You In.” She also had a radio show at one time on New Yorks WOV called “Carr-fare.” The most interesting piece of information I came across regarding Ms. Carr was from a Chicago Defender newspaper article from January 29, 1963. The article said Ms. Carr “possess beauty, personality, “class,” and a warm, husky voice of intimate styling” and noted that she was being “sought for a tour of the Orient, which would take her to Manila, Tokyo and Hong Kong.” Ms. Carr told the paper that she would probably turn down the tour in favor of a new business where she was vice president in charge of sales. It was called American Negro Commercials, Inc. and they wanted to make “television and theatrical commercials utilizing Negro actors and models.” Ms. Carr is quoted as saying, “There is no reason why our actors and actresses can’t do commercials for major companies which sell their products on the general market. I am more excited by this project than anything I have ever done.” I have no idea what became of American Negro Commercials - but I will find out! In later years, Ms. Carr apparently owned a catering company with her sister. A 1971 article in the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper described a reception in honor of the pianist Bobby Short where a “black-owned catering firm owned by singer Georgia Carr and her sister served memorable cuisine.” Ms. Carr died in Los Angeles at the age of 46 of a stroke on July 4, 1971.
Singer Georgia Carr with Stan Kenton after a Detroit, MI performance of “The Biggest Show of ‘52”. It was Ms. Carr in the picture with Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Monica Lewis and Mr. Kenton, not Thelma Carpenter. Thanks to Derrick Lucas for contacting Mr. Cole’s former manager, Dick LaPalm, but clearly Mr. LaPalm was mistaken. And thank you Toni Callender for your comment and giving me the opportunity to correct the original post - and the excuse to share the lovely Georgia Carr with VBG fans. Photo: University of North Texas Digital Library.
Thelma Carpenter, the singer and actress best known as “Miss One” from 1978’s “The Wiz” in the 1950s. We have solved the riddle of the mystery lady in the photo with Sarah Vaughan, Nat “King” Cole, Stan Kenton and Monica Lewis (who provided the photo to VBG). Thelma Carpenter (1922-1997). Best known to my generation as “Miss One” from “The Wiz” (!!!) like so many of our great performers, she was SO much more. Born in Brooklyn, Ms. Carpenter was already on the road to stardom at the age of 5, when she started singing on the “Kiddies Hour” radio show and by age 11, she had her own show on WNYC radio. After winning the venerable “Amateur Night” competition at the Apollo Theater, she would go on to sing with jazz greats like Teddy Wilson, Coleman Hawkins and Count Basie. In 1945, she replaced Dinah Shore on the very popular Eddie Cantor radio program, one of the first Blacks to replace a star on White radio show. She made her Broadway debut in 1944 in ”Memphis Bound” with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and was Pearl Bailey’s understudy in “Dolly” in 1968, performing the role over 100 times. In later years, along with ”The Wiz” in 1978, she had roles in the ABC version of “Barefoot in the Park,”in the early 1970s, ”The Cotton Club,” in 1984 along with “The Love Boat” and “The Cosby Show.” Ms. Carpenter died in New York City at the age of 77 in 1997. Photos: JET, October 2, 1952 (bottom right) and Amazon.com. ***Thanks to Derrick Lucas, who kindly contacted Mr. Cole’s manager, Dick LaPalm, who identified Ms. Carpenter for us. ***The lady in question was actually the singer Georgia Carr. Thanks to Toni Callendar for catching this and commenting on the VBG Facebook page.
This photo of Nat “King” Cole, Sarah Vaughan and Thelma Carpenter Georgia Carr comes to VBG courtesy of the lovely blonde woman in the picture, Monica Lewis, who had a remarkable decades long career as a jazz singer. Ms. Lewis is 90 years old today and just as stunning! She is joined by Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole of course, along with Stan Kenton, a progressive jazz bandleader that she was dating at the time. The occasion was a gathering of top musicians in Chicago sponsored by BILLBOARD magazine. I wish I knew the name of the beautiful lady standing in between Ms. Vaughan and Mr. Kenton (she is not Mr. Cole’s wife, Maria Cole) so if you do know, tell me her name in the comment section!***
*** Thanks to Derrick Lucas for contacting Mr. Cole’s former manager, Dick LaPalm, but clearly Mr. LaPalm was mistaken. And thank you Toni Callender for your comment and giving me the opportunity to correct the original post - and the excuse to share the lovely Georgia Carr with VBG fans.
“I was a fly chick when I was young.” ~ The artist Ladybird Cleveland (now Strickland) to a reporter in 2012 in a story about an exhibition of her paintings. Ms. Strickland, the mother of legendary fashion model Pat Cleveland, was photographed here by Carl Van Vechten on September 21, 1954. Photo: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
