Hilda Simms and Lena Horne in the late 1940s. It drives me crazy that I have not been able to find a legitimate source/photographer behind this photo. It’s one thing to find it on a random website (like I did last year) but it’s another thing to share it and properly credit it for a wider audience. Sigh…
Congratulations to Cicely Tyson on her first ever Tony nomination for The Trip to Bountiful! In this 1973 photo, she is trying on a dress in Paris. Ms. Tyson, a two-time Emmy winner and Oscar nominee, was nominated for her role in the current Broadway hit The Trip to Bountiful Broadway which also stars Vanessa Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Wopat and Condola Rashad - daughter of Phylicia Rashad and a two-time Tony nominee herself! Photo: Jean-Claude Deutsch/Paris Match/Getty.
Josephine Baker getting a little kiss from Geoffrey Holder in 1964. I’m guessing this is probably backstage at “Josephine Baker And Her Company,” her musical revue that appreared briefly on Broadway that year. Both Mr. Holder and his wife Carmen de Lavallade performed in the show with Ms. Baker and, in the video clip linked in the comment section, Mr. Holder discusses, with his signature verve, what a delight it was for he and Ms. de Lavallade to work with Ms. Baker. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives.
Elisabeth Welch, the American singer who introduced the “Charleston” on Broadway before becoming a superstar in England, in 1935. Born in Manhattan in 1904 to a Scottish-Irish mother and African American father, Ms. Welch was a favorite of iconic composers Noël Coward and Cole Porter. She was the first singer to popularize the classic Porter tune, “Love for Sale” and it would become a signature song in her career. She also introduced “Stormy Weather” to British audiences and would be so beloved there, she remained for the rest of her life. Ms. Welch, among other career highlights in her 70-year career, was nominated for a Tony award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1986 at age 82, for her role in “Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood.” Ms. Welch also starred in two films with Paul Robeson, “Song of Freedom” in 1936 and “Big Fella” in 1937. In the comment section, I am linking a fantastic short video (1:56) of Ms. Welch singing “Harlem in my Heart” from “Big Fella” and Mr. Robeson can be seen in the clip. Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London.
Muriel Smith, photographed in 1944 by Carl Van Vechten as “Carmen,” the role she originated on Broadway. In 1956, she turned down an offer from Samuel Goldwyn to star in the film version of ”Porgy and Bess,” stating, ”It doesn’t do the right thing for my people.” After a successful career overseas, particularly Great Britain, the New York-born Ms. Smith taught voice at Virginia Union University before her death in 1985.
Eartha Kitt, one of the reasons Vintage Black Glamour exists, was born 86 years ago today in North, South Carolina. In this photograph, she is shown at a cast party for “Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1952,” the show where she made her Broadway debut and sang, for the first time, her classic song, “Monotonous.” Photo: Museum of the City of New York
Lorraine Hansberry is captured by Gordon Parks chatting with the pianist at a party in honor of her play ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ at the now legendary Manhattan restaurant, Sardi’s in March 1959. Photo: Gordon Parks/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.
Muriel Rahn and Muriel Smith, beautiful singer/actresses who alternated the lead role of Carmen in “Carmen Jones” on Broadway in 1943. This photo appeared in the program for the show.
Born in Boston and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama, Muriel Rahn became the first African-American singer to perform in an opera at Carnegie Hall a year before “Carmen Jones” when she appeared in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. Her last Broadway appearance was as Cora Lewis in “The Barrier,” an opera based on Langston Hughes’s play The Mulatto.
New York-born Muriel Smith originated the role of Carmen on Broadway. In 1956, she turned down an offer from Samuel Goldwyn to star in the film version of ”Porgy and Bess,” stating,”It doesn’t do the right thing for my people.” After a successful career overseas, particularly Great Britain, she taught voice at Virginia Union University before her death in 1985.
Singer and actress Ruby Hill in 1946 as she appeared in the program for the Broadway production of “St. Louis Woman,” written by Arna Bontemps and Countee Cullen with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
Diahann Carroll and Richard Kiley on Broadway in the 1962 musical, “No Strings.” The iconic composer, Richard Rodgers (Rodgers & Hammerstein) conceived the role of Barbara Woodruff, a fashion model in Paris who falls in love with a white writer from Maine (Mr. Kiley) with Ms. Carroll in mind. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (tied with Anna Maria Alberghetti in Carnival!) for her work. Photo: Bettman/Corbis
Richard Pryor and Phylicia Rashad pay a visit to Debbie Allen in her dressing room on Broadway on April 27, 1986, after Debbie opened in the return of Sweet Charity. Photo by Ezio.
Pearl Bailey with Gloria Vanderbilt and Truman Capote on April 4, 1955. Ms. Bailey starred as Madame Fleur in the Broadway version of Mr. Capote’s “House of Flowers”.
