PBA Galleries

Los Angeles County Public Library, “Tribute to Cab Calloway”, elaborate presentation memorabilia (Provenance, Calloway estate), including

• Guest Book, 11pp. with some 600 signatures of attendees, one of the first being Nichelle Nichols, famous for her ground-breaking television role as “Lieutenant Uhura” of the original Star Trek series. Beautifully bound in 12 x 16” red satin, with embossed Calloway silhouette, and pink silk ties
• Color montage photo of Calloway and the Library entrance to the Library in ornate 14.5 x 17” gilt frame
• Copy of the 6-pg. printed program, which gives special thanks to Nichols, Lena Horne, and jazz musicians Irving Mills and Buddy Collette
 

Nichols was just a child when Calloway, as band leader at Harlem’s Cotton Club in the 1930s, was already a legend, one of the first successful Black entertainers in America. Nichols became legendary in her own right for her Star Trek role in the 1960s, while, more in Calloway’s line, also performing as a singer with Calloway’s colleague Duke Ellington – and winning praise as a Black woman role model from Martin Luther King, Jr.