Lobby card for the film Ebony Parade: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Lobby card for the 1947 film Ebony Parade. The card features a yellow background with red and white text. The rectangular lobby card has a large, tinted color image from the film on the upper left side. In the image Mabel Lee is sitting on a blue table wearing a two piece black costume. Seated at the table next to her is Mantan Moreland dressed as a female fortune teller, his hands on a crystal ball on top of the table. Mabel Lee is also resting her right hand on the crystal ball. A yellow curtain is behind them. To the right of the image are colored head shots of performers appearing in the film, including Moreland, Dorothy Dandridge, Count Basie, Mabel Lee, Vanita Smythe, Cab Calloway, and Francine Everett. Musical clefs and notes are behind the head shots. Printed text on the bottom of the card reads "ASTOR PICTURES / Presents / EBONY PARADE" and "with Cab Calloway / HIS BAND / Count Basie / HIS BAND / Vanita Smythe / Mabel Lee / and many others." The card has a yellowish white border. Printed in black ink in the bottom right corner is [Country of Origin U. S. A.]. The back of the lobby card is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1947
• Published by: Astor Pictures, American, 1930 - 1963
• Subject of: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Subject of: Count Basie, American, 1904 - 1984
• Subject of: Vanita Smythe, American, 1925 - 1994
• Subject of: Mable Lee, American, 1921 - 2019
• Subject of: Mantan Moreland, American, 1902 - 1973
• Subject of: Dorothy Dandridge, American, 1922 - 1965
• Subject of: Francine Everett, American, 1915 - 1999
• Type: lobby cards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 11 × 14 in. (28 × 35.5 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Conductors (Musicians)
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Film
• Object number: 2019.22.13
• 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.