Theater program from As Thousands Cheer. At center is a photograph of a man between two women. [THE MUSIC BOX/ MARILYN MILLER-CLIFTON WEBB-HELEN BRODERICK/ AS THOUSANDS CHEER]
"THE MUSIC BOX" on top of playbill. B&W photo of two women and a man in center of page. "AS THOUSANDS CHEER" at bottom.
A black-and-white photograph of Ethel Waters set against a floral background. Playing the character Carmen from the similarly titled Georges Bizet opera, she wears a head covering and large earrings and holds a fan.
A black-and-white photograph of Ethel Waters set against a floral background. She wears a dark-colored head covering and large earrings. With one hand, she holds a floral-printed fan in front of her to partially obscure her mouth and the lower part of her face. On the reverse is a handwritten inscription in graphite reading [Ethel Waters / By Carl Van Vechten], with a photographer's stamp in the bottom left corner.
This is a wood clapper instrument with black etched type on front and back. Consisting of three pieces of wood, two small rectangles are attached via thin metal strips to the large paddle-shaped base, one on each side. There is black type on both small wooden rectangles. The type on one side of the clapper reads, "The Cotton Club/ Aristocrat of Harlem/ Lenox Ave. & 142nd St. / Phone Bradhurst 2-7767-1687." On reverse side type reads, "Hear/ Ethel Waters/ Sing/ Stormy Weather/ Geo. Dewey Washington." There is a decorative border in black ink around both rectangles. There is text on the reverse side at one end of the rectangle that reads "National Bo [illegible] Co. / [illegible] west 64th [illegible]."
Cloth bound purple and green floral print spiral bound scrapbook containing black-and-white and color photographs along with newspaper clippings and other ephemera dating from the late 1950s to the late 1970s documenting the life of Louise Jackson Gunn in the Philadelphia area. Louise Gunn was an actress, beauty queen, and community activist. The contents of the scrapbook include newspaper clippings and photographs related to Gunn's church groups and activities, including the Zion Drama Workshop; her friendships with other women in the community and from her vaudeville past; and her travels to the Bahamas and Paris, France.
A large portion of the scrapbook is devoted to Gunn’s community work, including scholarship fundraising for Lincoln University, adult education programs, and volunteering at Philadelphia General Hospital. Gunn also documents work with Rev. Leon H. Sullivan and the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), including efforts to provide school children with free breakfast and to fight housing discrimination.
There are several clippings, photographs, and programs related to her son, the actor and playwright Bill Gunn, including a performance with Ethel Waters and collaborations with musician Sam Waymon. There are also clippings related to performances by Alberta Hunter and Josephine Baker.
The Show-Down magazine, volume 1, number 10. The front cover is green with navy print and features a blue tinted, circular image of Ethel Waters against a blue background. Waters is depicted from the neck up. Her head is turned and she is looking towards the right side of the image. She wears a white fur stole. The main cover line is centered along the bottom fourth of the front cover and reads, [Beginning - / "Dark Ghetto" / by Neil Lawrence]. The date and price are printed along the bottom edge of the front cover and reads, [October - 1936] on the left and [Fifteen Cents] on the right. The masthead is centered in the top third of the front cover, and reads, [THE / SHOW-DOWN]. A horizontal blue line extends from either side of the word [THE]. The text, [SHOW-DOWN], is in large, block lettering patterned with vertical white stripes. The interior pages are white and green with black text and black-and-white images. The back cover is features an advertisement for Norton & Margot’s Dance Studio. This magazine issue is fourteen (14) pages.
A black and white photograph of Ethel Waters backstage in costume for a performance in Pittsburgh. She wears a kerchief covering her hair, a long sleeved blouse, striped skirt, and checkered apron; her hands rest on her lap underneath the apron. Waters is seated in a corner in front of two walls lined with radiators. The back of the photograph has two barcode stickers, one with caption information, and a yellow circle sticker.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Charles A. Harris and Beatrice Harris in memory of Charles "Teenie" Harris