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.
Eartha Kitt’s lovely daughter, Kitt Shapiro, runs an awesome company called Simply Eartha in her honor. Kitt shared this beautiful photo of her with her mother a few days ago on the Eartha Kitt Facebook fan page.
Lena Horne hugging her brilliant daughter Gail Jones, backstage at the York Playhouse on October 6, 1960 after Gail made her stage debut in the musical “Valmuouth.” Gail Jones is now Gail Buckley and the author of several books including The Hornes: An American Family.” Photo: Bettman/Corbis.
When I first told my dad about Vintage Black Glamour, he had one question: “Is Freda Payne in the book?” Why yes, Dad. Yes she is. This photo by Terry O’Neill (via Getty) is from the early 1970s.
ICONS: Sammy Davis, Jr., Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier in an outtake from their February 4, 1966 LIFE magazine cover. Thank you Reggie Hudlin! Photo: Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos.
Jayne Kennedy in April 1977 in a shot from her short-lived NBC TV show, “Cover Girls.” She played Monique Lawrence who was, of course, a secret agent posing as a fashion model. Photo: Dave Friedman/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.
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…
Hilda Simms, the pioneer Minnesota-born actress best known for her starring role in the first all-black production of Anna Lucasta on Broadway, in a glam shot circa 1947. You are not going to believe the awesome pictures I have found of her for the book! Photo: Denis De Marney/Getty Images.
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.
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.
Sidney Poitier holding court at a party in 1977. To his right is actress, Tracy Reed, his co-star in the 1977 film, “A Piece of the Action.” I LOVE Tracy Reed and wish I could find more (clear!) pictures of her. Photo: Ozier Muhammad for EBONY.
Coretta Scott King was born 86 years ago today in Marion, Alabama. Mrs. King was a graduate of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio (B.A. Music Education, 1951) and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (Mus.B. in voice, 1954). In this photo, she is flashing the peace sign at an anti-war rally at the White House on May 9, 1970. She was one of over 100,000 demonstrators who attended the rally to protest the war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Photo: Benjamin E. “Gene” Forte/CNP/Corbis.
