Lobby card for The Bronze Venus: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The lobby card features a large black and white tinted image on the proper left side. The image depicts a man with a white collared shirt, a black suit jacket with a white corsage, and a blue necktie. He has wavy gelled-back hair. He is facing the proper left side of the image, looking at Lena Horne. She is facing the proper right side of the image and has her arms around his shoulders. She is wearing an orange top with a lighter colored shirt underneath and white flowers on the front. She has curly hair and she is looking back at the man. The background is green and out of focus. The image has uneven rounded edges. There is a yellow background on the rest of the lobby card. On the proper right side there is a tinted image of Lena Horne standing and wearing a pink dress with a green scarf tied on her proper right wrist. There are blue stars, music notes, and music graphs on several areas of the yellow background. There is blue text on the proper bottom right corner which reads [TODDY PICTURES / COMPANY / Presents] followed by red and blue text in the center which reads [LENA HORNE / STAR SENSATION OF / “CABIN IN THE SKY” and “STORMY WEATHER”]. There is a red star on either side of “LENA HORNE”. There is blue text to the proper left which reads [in The BRONZE VENUS / (“THE DUKE IS TOPS”). There is a white border around the lobby card. There is blue text in the bottom proper left corner in the border. The text reads “COUNTRY OF ORIGIN U.S.A.”].

The back of the lobby card is blank. Some of the text from the front can be seen and there are some areas of discoloration, including white spots.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1943
• Distributed by: Toddy Pictures Company, American, 1941 - 1970s
• Subject of: Lena Horne, American, 1917 - 2010
• Subject of: Ralph Cooper, American, 1908 - 1992
• Subject of: John L. Criner, American, 1898 - 1965
• Subject of: Million Dollar Productions, American, 1937 - 1940
• Type: lobby cards
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 9 15/16 × 12 13/16 in. (25.2 × 32.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 11 × 14 in. (28 × 35.5 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Musical films
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Race films
• Object number: 2013.118.96.7
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.