Newspaper clipping of the Club Ebony Gals: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A newspaper clipping depicting a black-and-white image of five (5) female performers in matching costumes. The women are depicted in two (2) rows. There are two (2) women in the top row are standing and three (3) in the bottom row are sitting. Laura Cathrell is depicted seated on the far left in the bottom row. They are all wearing black bodysuits with straps embellished with light toned feathers, white elbow-length gloves, black-and-white chokers, and large light toned feathers in their hair. Behind the woman is a curtain. Below the image is a caption printed in black ink that reads, [CLUB EBONY GALS-When you’ve got girls like these around there’s bound to be “a hot time in the old / town tonight.” And that’s exactly what happened last Friday night when these show stoppers from the / Club Ebony, latest nightclub to open on Broadway, danced out on the stage of the Brooklyn Academy of / Music. And beauty is as beauty does the lassies proved too by revealing that they could dance as well as / they look. Such whistling and wolf calls you’ve never heard. Show, sponsored by the Amsterdam News was / directed by Tommy Watkins, Brooklyn Editor, with the whole Brooklyn staff assisting him. Citizen’s[sic] Com- / mittee of Brooklyn cooperated with the show.]. On the back is a partially cut off article titled, [Stars Galore Highlighted Benefit!!!] and describes the ninth Annual Brooklyn benefit show sponsored by the Amsterdam News at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The article makes reference to a number of famous celebrities that performed at the show.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1947-1948
• Written by: Unidentified
• Printed by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Laura Cathrell, 1914 - 1999
• Subject of: Thomas Watkins, American, born 1927
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Subject of: Club Ebony, American, 1947 - 1948
• Subject of: Brooklyn Academy of Music, American, founded 1861
• Subject of: New York Amsterdam News, American, founded 1909
• Type: newspaper columns
• Medium: ink on newsprint
• Dimensions: H x W: 8 1/4 × 7 1/16 in. (21 × 18 cm)
• Place depicted: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Amusements
• Topic: Black Press
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Mass media
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.46.25.274.2
• 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: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.