#vbgbook

The great Trinidadian-born pianist Hazel Scott One of my favorite things about her? Her hands were once insured by Lloyds of London. My other thing is this quote: “Any woman who has a great deal to offer the world is in trouble. And if she’s a black woman, she’s in deep trouble.”

Join me (Nichelle Gainer) on Friday, January 13, 2017 at 8pm at the National Arts Club in Manhattan. I will be signing books and talking about the legends who fill the pages of Vintage Black Glamour!

superheroesincolor:

Vintage Black Glamour (2015) by Nichelle Gainer

“Using rarely accessed photographic archives and private collections, inspired by her family history, Nichelle Gainer has unearthed a revealing treasure trove of historic photographs of famous actors, dancers, writers and entertainers who worked in the 20th-century entertainment business, but who rarely appeared in the same publications as their white counterparts. 

Alongside the familiar images and stories of renowned performers such as Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne and Aretha Franklin are those of less well-remembered figures such as Bricktop, Pearl Primus, Diana Sands and many, many more. Vintage Black Glamour is a unique, sumptuous and revealing celebration of the lives and indomitable spirit of Black women of a previous era.

 Although talented, successful and ground-breaking, many of the women in these pages were ignored by mainstream media, but their life’s work and attitude stand as inspiration for us still, today. With its stunning photographs and insightful biographies, this book is a hugely important addition to Black history archives.”

Get it  now here 

---

[ Follow SuperheroesInColor onfacebook/instagram/twitter/tumblr]

Sammy Davis Jr., introduced by Frank Sinatra, performs as “Sportin’ Life” from “Porgy and Bess” singing one of the rakish character’s signature songs “There’ A Boat That’s Leaving Soon For New York” on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis in 1960. The show was a special featuring Elvis Presley in his first appearance on television after coming back home from military service in Germany. Mr. Davis is featured in the “Renaissance Men” chapter of my next book, Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters (May 2016). 

Paul Robeson and Elisabeth Welch in the 1937 British-produced film, “Big Fella.” Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was, of course, a majestic singer and actor, brilliant scholar and athlete and a fierce political activist. Elisabeth Welch (1904-2003) was an American singer who became a superstar in England. She was the first singer to popularize the classic Porter tune, “Love for Sale” and, among other 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.” Mr. Robeson is in the “Renaissance Men” chapter on my next book, Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters and Ms. Welch is in the Prima Donnas Assolutas (Opera and Dance) chapter of my first book, Vintage Black Glamour. Both are available at vbgbook.com.

June Eckstine had a small speaking role - with Dorothy Dandridge no less - in “Carmen Jones” in 1954. At the time, she was best known as the ex-wife of singing legend Billy Eckstine and was doing her best to carve out her own niche in Hollywood. Ms. Eckstine, who appears in the “Wives & Socialites” chapter of my book, Vintage Black Glamour, was featured in the July 15, 1954 issue of JET magazine (an outlet that covered her extensively) in some well-orchestrated press shots with Pearl Bailey and Rita Moreno. It seems like “Carmen Jones” was her only film - but you never know since she went uncredited (just like Max Roach, Alvin Ailey, Carmen de Lavallade and other future stars who appeared in the film.). #vintageblackglamour #vbgbook #JuneEckstine #DorothyDandridge #1950s #hollywoodwives #oldhollywood #blackhollywood

You’ve got to laugh at the great Cab Calloway easing out of the way as The Nicholas Brothers come to the stage for “Jumpin’ Jive” in the classic 1943 film, “Stormy Weather.” Unrivaled athleticism and elegance were the hallmark of The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard (1914-2006) and Harold (1921-2000). They enthralled audiences with their unforgettable performances in films like this iconic, never to be duplicated number from Stormy Weather in 1943. The brothers danced, sang, and acted together all the way up to the early 1990s when they made a memorable appearance in Janet Jackson’s “Alright” video with other legends like the great dancer Cyd Charisse and Mr. Calloway.

The groundbreaking Minnesota-born actress Hilda Simms (1918-1994) in a scene with Van Heflin from the 1954 film, “The Black Widow.” Ms. Simms was best known for her starring role in the first all-black, American Negro Theater production of “Anna Lucasta” on Broadway in 1944. Despite the tremendous momentum provided by the publicity behind the show, she only made two films (“The Joe Louis Story” in 1953 and this film) and just two more appearances on Broadway (including Langston Hughes’s “Tambourines to Glory” in 1963). Ms. Simms is in the “Sepia Dreamgirls, Pin-ups, & Hollywood Starlets” chapter of my book, Vintage Black Glamour, available at vbgbook.com and Amazon.

Nina Mae McKinney and Emmett “Babe” Wallace in a scene from the short 1936 film, “The Black Network.” McKinney (1912-1967) was the first Black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio (A five year contract with MGM in 1929). Emmett “Babe” Wallace (1909-2006) was an actor, singer and composer who had a lot of juicy (and sometimes uncredited) parts in vintage Black movies, most notably as “Chick Bailey” in “Stormy Weather” in 1943. Ms. McKinney is featured in the women’s edition of “Vintage Black Glamour” and Mr. Wallace is in the men’s edition, “Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters (May 2016).

Aretha Franklin and that magnificent voice on the “Hollywood Palace” in 1968. The picture above the clip was taken in her dressing room at Newark Symphony Hall in Newark, NJ in 1969.

Hazel Scott plays “Foggy Day” with Charles Mingus on bass and Rudy Nichols on drums.

A radiant Lena Horne performing “The Lady Is a Tramp” in the 1948 film, “Words and Music,” which was (very, very) loosely based on the professional partnership of the great composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart.

Percy Verwayne (right) in the 1939 film, “Paradise in Harlem.” Verwayne (1895-1968) was the original Sportin’ Life in the 1927 DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Broadway play, “Porgy,” the precursor to the iconic 1935 George Gershwin opera “Porgy and Bess.” Mr. Verwayne was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) and appeared on Broadway, on radio and in several films for at least thirty years. Mr. Verwayne is included in the Leading Man chapter of my next book, Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters (May 2016) which is available for pre-order now at vbgmen.com.

Calvin Lockhart (1934-2007) and Vonetta McGee (1945-2010) in a scene from their 1972 film, “Melinda.” Ms. McGee played the mysterious “Melinda” and Mr. Lockhart played a popular DJ named “Frankie Parker” (that name no doubt inspired by the legendary DJ Frankie Crocker) who finds himself drawn into solving a murder mystery.

Vintage Black Glamour - Special Edition and Hardcover and the forthcoming Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters (May 2016). Available for order and pre-order now! http://vintageblackglamourbook.com/ #VBGbook #vintageblackglamour #VBGent #VBGmen #VBGfortheHolidays #VBGChristmas #coffeetablebooks #artbooks

Bert Williams and George Walker, the vaudeville team “Williams & Walker” circa 1900s. I am proud to include these gentlemen in my next book, Vintage Black Glamour: Gentlemen’s Quarters which will be released in April 2016 (you can preorder at VBGmen.com) Williams & Walker billed themselves as “The Two Real Coons,” in order to stand out in the crowd of white entertainers performing in blackface. Only Williams, who was light-skinned, wore actual blackface while the dark-skinned Walker wore no makeup. The men conspired to add nuance and dignity to their performances by purposely having Walker play the suave “dandy” - the straightman to Williams’ comic character in blackface. A savvy businessman, Walker negotiated their contracts (Williams said, “Walker used to insist on having things decided his way - our way. In a business deal where the other party decided against us, I was usually willing to consider it settled rather than argue. Not so with Walker.”) Born in Antigua, Williams called their 1903 command performance in “In Dahomey” before King Edward VII “the proudest moment of my life” - but was offended by reporters who would attribute his talent to his non-black ancestry, often asking him directly “if all great negroes did not have white blood in their veins.” His response to one such inquiry: “White blood make a black man any smarter! I guess not! Why, what kind of white blood do we get! The very worse and lowest and meanest there is. And when a man with some of this in his veins becomes famous do you say the bad white blood did it - the blood of a race of … scalawags - or do you say black blood did it in spite of the corpuscles from some poor white trash.” Such an outburst was unusual for him but Walker was not shy about talking race to the media. As they grew in popularity and played bigger venues for white audiences, Walker made several statements to assure black audiences that they were not forgotten. “[W]e want our folks to like us. Not for the sake of the box office, but because over and behind all the money and prestige which move Williams and Walker, is a love for the race. Because we feel that, in a degree, we represent the race and every hair’s breadth of achievement we make is to its credit. For first, last, and all the time, we are Negroes.” Photo: Schomburg Center.

Blanche Calloway (1902-1978) was one of the first - and only - women bandleaders in the 1930s. She began her career as a chorus girl on the black vaudeville circuit and toured as a castmember of the touring company of Shuffle Along before forming “Blanche Calloway and her Joy Boys - one of whom was Louis Armstrong, making some of his earliest recordings. As she became more successful, she helped her younger brother, Cab Calloway, break into show business. She appealed to Earl "Fatha” Hines, the great bandleader and Mr. Armstong and convinced them to hire her brother. Cab was hired at the same place Blanche was working at the time - the Sunset Cafe “Chicago’s Classiest Cabaret” at $35 a week (compared to his sister’s $200 weekly salary). After her music career ended, Ms. Calloway had a significant career in real estate and was the programming director for a Florida radio station for many years. In 1968, she founded AFRAM House, a mail-order company that made cosmetics and toiletries for black consumers. AFRAM was an acronym for African-American and was a big success in major US stores like JC Penney, Sears and Montgomery Ward. “Quite frankly,” she told the New York Times in 1969, “we got tired of buying white products and trying to adapt them to our needs.”

Valaida Snow, renowned musician and composer (1904-1956), conducting an orchestra in London in October 1934. I was proud to be able to include this photo in my book, Vintage Black Glamour and even more thrilled that Ms. Snow was one of the inspirations for the black tie gala of I hope to see you in October at one of my favorite cities in the world, Charleston, South Carolina for the third annual Colour of Music Festival. Colour of Music celebrates current and historic Black classical musicians. This year, the festival will have various events from October 21-25 celebrating Black classical musicians, Charleston’s contribution to classical music and much more. I am honored that Vintage Black Glamour was part of the inspiration for the festival’s Inaugural Gala and Benefit Performance on Saturday, October 24th at the brand new Gaillard Center. Tickets for the performances and/or the black-tie gala are on sale via The Gaillard Center http://bit.ly/VBGColourofMusic

Happy 96th (!!!) Birthday to my beautiful opera singer aunt, Margaret Tynes! She was born in Saluda, Virginia on September 11, 1919 just as race riots broke out in cities all over the United States - the “Red Summer of 1919”. She was the eighth of ten children born to Rev. Joseph W. Tynes and his wife, educator Lucy Rich Tynes. Rev. Tynes held a divinity degree from Virginia Union University at a time when most Black men were lucky to have a high school education and subsequently served as vice-president of Virginia Theological Seminary and College. He was also an an accomplished poet. Aunt Margaret had a phenomenal international career as a singer in opera, jazz and theater for over fifty years. A graduate of North Carolina A&T State University (BA 1939) and Columbia University (MA 1944), she is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She starred as Harry Belafonte’s leading lady off-Broadway in a show he produced called “Sing Man, Sing!” She also recorded a jazz suite called “A Drum is a Woman” with Duke Ellington and made several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1961, she gained international acclaim as Salomé at the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds in Italy, where she lived for more than forty years. This picture was taken by the invaluable Carl Van Vechten on September 29, 1959. Photo: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

I want to honor the memory of the great civil rights activist Julian Bond, who died yesterday at the age of 75. As he often noted, Mr. Bond was from several generations of college graduates (his father, Horace Mann Bond, was the first Black president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania) but spent the bulk of his life reaching out to help others gain equality in education and civil rights. I gratefully acknowledge the decades of fearless service and leadership of Julian Bond and extend my condolences to his wife Pamela and his family. This photo of Mr. Bond with members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (he was a co-founder) was taken by the legendary photographer Richard Avedon on March 23, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia.