Printing plate of Mildred Smith and Alfred Drake in Beggar's Holiday: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A printing plate of Mildred Smith (right) and Alfred Drake (left) acting in the Duke Ellington and John La Touche production of "Beggar's Holiday." Smith is featured sitting holding a match in her proper left hand up to a cigarette in Drake's mouth. Drake is standing with his proper left foot on a bench and leans down towards Smith's raised hand. The back of the plate has several inscriptions written in black in that read [50,54 - B / Drake and Smith / Stage].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1947
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Mildred Smith
• Subject of: Alfred Drake, American, 1914 - 1992
• Used by: The Chicago Defender, American, founded 1905
• Type: printing plates
• Type: portraits
• Medium: ink on zinc
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 5 9/16 × 3 7/8 × 1/16 in. (14.1 × 9.8 × 0.2 cm)
• Place made: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Black Press
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Mass media
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Topic: Technology
• Object number: 2012.18.5.88
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Chicago Defender Publishing Company
• 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: © Chicago Defender Publishing Company Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.