John Wildberg Presents Bill Robinson in Memphis Bound: a New Musical Comedy with Avon Long: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A June 1945 Playbill for the play Memphis Bound!, performed at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. The cover is off-white and features a sepia-toned photograph of two (2) men in elaborate British naval uniform costumes. Avon Long is depicted on the left and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson on the right. Brown text underneath the image reads [THE PLAYBILL / REGISTERED IN U.S. PATENT OFFICE / FOR THE BELASCO THEATRE]. The magazine is twenty-four (24) pages with illustrations. Laura Cathrell is listed as one of the [Dancing Girls] on page eleven (11). An advertisement for Chesterfield cigarettes is on the back cover. The magazine is twenty-four (24) pages with black-and-white and sepia photographs and illustrations.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: June 1945
• Published by: Playbill, American, founded 1884
• Subject of: Avon Long, American, 1910 - 1984
• Subject of: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, American, 1878 - 1949
• Subject of: John J. Wildberg, American, 1902 - 1959
• Subject of: Laura Cathrell, 1914 - 1999
• Subject of: Belasco Theatre, American, founded 1907
• Type: magazines (periodicals)
• Medium: ink on paper with metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 8 15/16 × 6 9/16 × 1/16 in. (22.7 × 16.7 × 0.1 cm)
• Place printed: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Mass media
• Object number: 2013.46.25.7
• 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.