Flier for Butterbeans and Susie at the Palace Theatre in Memphis: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A flier advertisement for a performance by the comedic duo Butterbeans and Susie, with their 30-person touring company, at the Palace Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The flier is printed in black and red ink on a single sheet of off-white paper, folded to form four pages. The first page features a black-and-white portrait of Susie Edwards, with [FROLIC / TO-NIGHT / FOR WHITE] printed across it in red ink. Beneath the portrait are the details of the performance. The interior spread pages feature three black-and-white photographs of the company performers. Text at the bottom reads: "Butterbeans and Susie Are Heading Their Own Company this Season with the Peppiest and Fastest Show on the Road." This is followed by a partial list of performers: Famous Gibson Family, Joe Clark, James Compson, George Gould, Clyde Parks, Eddie Heywood, Tressie Leggs, Elizabeth Conley." The back page features a black-and-white portrait of "Butterbeans," (Jodie Edwards). Each page has a graphic geometric border.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1930
• Printed by: Peter J. Carey & Sons, Inc., American, founded 1898
• Subject of: Butterbeans and Susie, American, 1920 - 1963
• Subject of: Jodie Edwards, American, 1893 - 1967
• Subject of: Susie Edwards, American, 1894 - 1963
• Type: fliers (printed matter)
• Medium: ink on newsprint
• Dimensions: H x W: 9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
• Place depicted: Beale Street, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Topic: Vaudeville
• Object number: 2012.46.63
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.