Arthur Murray & partner Irene Castle dance to the "Victory Waltz" at the end of World War II in 1945. This photograph captures the grace & style of one of America's premier dance couples. His name is synonymous with dance lessons even today. Printed from negative.
Grandpa Jones and the Carson Cowboys 1930's & 1940's popular radio show in St. Louis, Missouri. They performed on 3 local radio stations, KSD, WEW and KWK, on different days of the week in competition with several shows Uncle Dick Slack sponsored on the competing station KMOX. Grandpappy Jones was the group leader and emcee of the show which aired from the Chase Hotel in St. Louis.
Early promotional photograph of Honky Tonk-Country Western singer and recording star Hank Thompson. Taken from his early days with "The Hank Thompson Show" over WKY Radio in Oklahoma City, the Waco, Texas native became a popular country recording star for many decades as well as a Las Vegas entertainer. Arguably his biggest hit was his 1952 #1 smash, "Wild Side of Life", which many people consider the greatest honky tonk song ever recorded.
Historical USDA photo of a black woman jitter-bugging in a juke joint on Saturday afternoon in Clarkdale, Mississippi in November 1939. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott.
An Esther Bubley photograph of a quartet of singers at the First Baptist Church in Tomball, Texas in 1945. This photograph is from The Standard Oil of New Jersey series of photographs documenting the transportation industry during and after World War II.
The Sons of the Pioneers are shown here with Roy Rogers. The group was the foremost vocal & instrumental group in western music and lasted seven decades! The group's roots lay in the Great Depression when Cincinnati-born Leonard Slye headed to California and ended up packing fruit for Del Monte. By chance he entered an amateur contest on an LA radio show which lead him to join a group called the "Rocky Mountaineers". By 1933, after various name changes and additional members including a Safeway warehouse worker and a golf caddy, the new group debuted on KFWB as "The Pioneer Trio" but were mistakenly introduced as the "Sons of the Pioneers". They were signed to a Decca Record contract in 1934 and recorded 32 records. The Farr brothers from Texas were added to the group in 1935. They originally teamed in the movies with Gene Autry but due to legal disputes Roy Rogers ended up with "The Pioneers". In 1938 Pat Brady (far right) joined the group as a bass singer and comic. Roy Rogers ended up in western movies and the "Sons" doing backup. After many years of success the group was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976. Now there you have it! An interesting story to go with a great photo.
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm) was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles. In 1997 she was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999 the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.
Peggy Lee, born Norma Egstrom on May 26, 1920 in North Dakota. This singer-composer whose smoky, insinuating voice in such songs as "Is That All There Is?" and "Fever" made her a jazz and pop legend. Her vocal flexibility and cool, breathy voice brought sultry distinction to big band showstoppers, pop ballads and soulful laments. Pictured here in 1956.
Popular singer Rosemary Clooney, aunt to modern day actor George Clooney, performs "On the Air" in this image from the 1950's. Rosemary was born in Kentucky in 1928 and sang early on with the Tony Pastor's Band. She became a Columbia Recording Artist and appeared on radio and television as well as in several films. She was married for a time to actor Jose Ferrer.
Photo of the Charles A. Taylor Bop-City Musical Revue held in Dallas, Texas in 1960's at The State Fair Of Texas.
