Photograph of a Cab Calloway with six performers: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of Cab Calloway with a group of six costumed performers. The group is featured in a spotlight with Calloway standing in front of the row of performers. Calloway and all of the other performers are featured with their arms extended out at their sides and a slightly diagonal, with their proper right legs forward. In the row of performers there are three (3) men and three (3) women who are wearing matching outfits corresponding to their gender. The men wear banded boater hats, striped jackets, diagonally striped ties, and light colored pants. The women wear white jackets with black three-quarter sleeves, pleated white skirts, plaid blouses, and small white hats with plaid bows. Calloway is depicted wearing a light colored suit and straw boater hat with a black band. On the right side of the image is an inscription in black ink that reads, [To Laurie / With Love_ / Fondly / “Ginger”]. There is a stylized photographer's mark printed in the negative in the bottom right corner. There are no inscriptions on the back of the image.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1930-1950
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 7 1/16 × 8 15/16 in. (18 × 22.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 8 1/16 × 10 in. (20.5 × 25.4 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2013.46.25.40
• 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.