Louis Armstrong with his Harlem Band
Artist
Designer Unknown
Date1933
Dimensions30 x 20 in. (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.46
DescriptionBy the early 1930s, jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong had already achieved popular renown with his recordings and his performances in clubs and on radio and film. He had performed in Europe for the first time in 1932, and in August of that year had made his debut at the Holborn Empire in London. The show advertised here followed his return to the city in 1933, after a hugely successful run in Copenhagen, Denmark. The British critics disliked this performance, apparently distracted by the theatrics and showmanship that characterized Armstrong’s style at this time, but the audience loved it. A headline in the Melody Maker declared: “Amazing Reception for Armstrong: Frenzied Applause for Meaningless Performance.” Armstrong and his Hot Rhythm Band were the headliners for a variety program, listed on the poster in a simple typographic design typical of the time, that included such novelty acts as “Conrad’s Wonderful Pigeons” and “Harry Dennis’s 3 Dancing Dyna-Mites.” The Holborn Empire had opened in 1906, the successor to a series of entertainment venues that had operated on the same site since the mid-19th century. It was one of the last variety theaters in London (very much like American music-hall theaters); it was bombed in 1941 during the Blitz and finally demolished in 1960. On View
Not on view
