Lobby card for The Duke Is Tops: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The lobby card features a large color image of three men. The man on the far proper right side is wearing a white collared shirt, a tan suit jacket and pants, and a red stripe necktie. He is turned towards the proper left side and is looking at the other two men. The man in the center is Ralph Cooper. He is sitting on a desk with his hands folded in his lap. He us wearing a white collared shirt, a navy suit jacket and pants, a tan brimmed hat with a black ribbon around it, a pink brooch, a white pocket square, and a patterned necktie. The man to his proper left is Monte Hawley, sitting on the edge of the desk and turned to face Cooper. His right hand is gesturing in the direction of Cooper and his left hand resting on his right thigh. He is wearing a collared shirt, a pinstripe suit jacket and pants, and an orange necktie and pocket square. There is a hat on the desk and there are windows and a hanging light fixture in the background. There is a large circle in the bottom left corner with text that reads [HARRY M. POPKIN / PRESENTS / Ralph / Cooper / the DUKE is TOPS / Swing Musical Sensation]. The text is red, yellow, and green and at the bottom of the circle is an illustration in blue of female dancer figures on a stage with a staff of musical notes. There is orange text below the circle which reads [MADE IN U.S.A.]. There is a border around the image. The top of the border and the top of the image have areas of discoloration.

The back of the lobby card is blank with some areas of discoloration.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1938
• Issued by: Million Dollar Productions, American, 1937 - 1940
• Subject of: Harry M. Popkin, American, 1906 - 1991
• Subject of: Ralph Cooper, American, 1908 - 1992
• Type: lobby cards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Musical films
• Topic: Race films
• Object number: 2013.118.103
• 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.