Musiquarium

October 2 2023

JAZZ SET

If you're going to put a musical group together make it the best.

It’s been awhile since we featured Polish art, so today we’re revisiting the interesting aesthetic of that country with a small collection serving as a reminder that jazz was the predominant popular musical form during the heydey of the pulp era. Polish artist Waldemar Åšwierzy painted this series of portraits featuring American jazz icons. He signed them all on the left edges. The phrase “wielcy ludzie jazzu” on the top of each print means, “great jazz people,” some of whom, you’ve noticed, he painted more than once. Åšwierzy was born in 1931, and painted these in the mid-1980s, focusing mainly on musicians who had been active and popular during his youth. There are even more we didn’t show here. Several of these musicians are mentioned by name in books we’ve read, for example Louis Armstrong, who’s the subject of a brief discussion in Harold Sinclair’s New Orleans based novel Music Out of Dixie. We think this is nice work by Åšwierzy. You can see more Polish art here, here, and here.

Poland, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Wes Montgomery, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonius Monk, Wes Montgomery, Waldemar Åšwierzy

Intl. Notebook

September 25 2019

TRIPLE THREAT GAZETTE

Politics, show business, and sports collide in one of the U.S.'s oldest magazines.

We’ve shared lots of issues of The National Police Gazette, but this September 1959 cover, more than others, neatly emphasizes the magazine’s three focus areas—politics, celebrity, and sports. Dishing on political figures and celebs was typical for mid-century tabloids, but Gazette‘s devotion to sports made it unique. And its favorite sport was boxing. Every issue we’ve seen has reserved a chunk of pages for the sweet science.

In this case the scientist is Sugar Ray Robinson, and the story about him discusses the rivalry he had with Carmen Basilio. The two fought twice when Robinson was in decline at the tail end of his career. Sugar Ray lost the first bout—considered by boxing historians to be one of the greatest fights ever—and a year later won the second. Every boxer declines, but Robinson’s career record stands tall—he fought two hundred times and tallied 173 wins, 108 of them by knockout. But for all that hard work he ended up—as boxers often do—flat broke.

Police Gazette was launched in 1845, as incredible as that seems, and was still going strong more than a century later when this issue appeared. We have about twenty-five scans below and seventy-five more entries on Gazette in the website comprising many hundreds of pages. The easiest way to access those, as well as numerous other mid-century tabloids, is via our tabloid index located here.

Police Gazette, Sugar Ray Robinson, John F. Kennedy, Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, Carmen Basilio, Billie Holiday, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield, tabloid, boxing, baseball

Musiquarium

February 28 2011

NEW YORK HOLIDAY

You could call on Lady Day.

Above, a rare photo of American musical goddess Billie Holiday from a January 1944 performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, where she shared the stage with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, whose vibes you see just to her right. Holiday, who was also known as Lady Day, is seen here with two trademark accessories—a flower pinned into her hair, and a cigarette.

New York City, Metropolitan Opera House, Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.

October 2

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.