Photograph of a cocktail party held by Irving Mills: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of a cocktail party that launched Master Records, Inc., held by Irving Mills. The image shows mostly men, with one (1) woman, Helen Oakley, depicted in a floral dress, standing left of center. Duke Ellington and Irving Mills stand in the center of the image. Mills is wearing a dark pinstriped suit, a white shirt, and medium toned tie. Ellington is wearing a dark pinstriped suit, a light toned, striped collared shirt, and medium toned, patterned tie. Standing to right of Mills is Cab Calloway. He is depicted smiling and looking down toward the bottom left corner of the image. He is wearing a matching three-piece suit, woven in a black-and-white chevron pattern. On the wall above the attendees heads, are the initials for the American Record Company, [ARC], in stylized text within a circle. There is an inscription on the back of the photograph, written in pencil, that reads, [Irving Mills' Cocktail Party / which launched the now / Master Records Studios / L to R: Chick Webb (lower left); / Helen Oakley, Ad De Haas (closed / eyes); FRONT: Duke Ellington, / Irving Mills, Mr. .??, and / Cab Calloway]. A second inscription on the back in pencil identifies the photographer, [PHOTO: AL BRACKMAN]. There are also additional blue and red pencil notations written on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1936
• Photograph by: Al Brackman, American, 1912 - 1992
• Subject of: Chick Webb, American, 1905 - 1939
• Subject of: Helen Oakley, Canadian, 1913 - 2001
• Subject of: Ad De Haas
• Subject of: Duke Ellington, American, 1899 - 1974
• Subject of: Irving Mills, American, 1894 - 1985
• Subject of: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 3 1/16 × 4 1/2 in. (7.7 × 11.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 3 3/8 × 4 13/16 in. (8.6 × 12.3 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Object number: 2013.46.25.63
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.