[African Americana]. [Texas]

Hear Etta Moten. Artist of Concert - Stage - Radio - Screen...In a Presentation of Song Texas College Auditorium [caption title]

[Tyler, Tx. Texas College, 1937]. Pictorial handbill, 8 x 5 inches. Small marginal losses at top edge and bottom left corner, small puncture not costing any text, minor staining, paper remnants on verso likely from removal from a scrapbook. About very good. Item #3392

A seemingly-unrecorded promotional flyer advertising an April 23, 1937 performance by noted African American actress and contralto vocalist Etta Moten at a small HBCU in Tyler, Texas. In addition to the specifics of her performance, the flyer includes a nice duotone portrait of Moten resting her head on her folded arms. Moten's success as a soloist with the historic Eva Jessye Choir in the early 1930s led to her being cast in leading roles on both the stage and screen, with star turns in the 1933 films Gold Diggers of 1933 and Flying Down to Rio (both films are referenced on the present flyer). Moten's performances defied the then-prevalent stereotypes of African American characters as maids and nannies. Moten is perhaps best remembered for her highly-regarded performance as Bess in the 1942 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess, a role Gershwin originally wrote with Moten in mind. Moten's appearance at Texas College in Tyler was sponsored by the Utopia Club and its president, Mrs. B.L. Duckenfield. Established in 1894 by ministers of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, Texas College still operates today, offering four-year degrees in a number of areas to around a thousand students. An ephemeral piece of Texas African Americana, with no copies listed in OCLC.

Price: $850.00