Billie Holiday Concert Poster (Joe Glaser Presents, 1949), Extremely Rare....

Description

Billie Holiday Concert Poster (Joe Glaser Presents, 1949), Extremely Rare. Colorful window card with yellow, red and black printing on cardstock, by "Globe Poster Corp., Baltimore". The poster shows a classic black and white head and shoulders image of "Lady Day" and announces "Joe Glaser presents America's No. 1 Song Stylist Billie Holiday In Person" . The top of the window card features the date and venue information "Show and Dance Tuesday March 1 (1949) "Sacremento (sic) Auditorium". The lower border reads "Decca Records Exclusively / Associated Booking Corporation, Joe Glaser, President, 745 Fifth Avenue, New York - 22, NY.". Measures approximately 14" x 22". In Very Good Plus condition with even toning, some staining to the bottom and right margins, dinged corners, light creasing at the top left, and a .5" tear at the lower left corner.

Interestingly, the word Sacramento has been misspelled "Sacremento" on this poster.

To our knowledge, this is the first time this an example of this poster has been offered for auction anywhere! Billie Holiday concert posters are seldom ever seen and examples showing her image are even scarcer. There are other earlier known concert posters for performances by Holiday, singing with Count Basie's and Art Shaw's orchestras, but there is no image of her on either of these. In fact, on the Art Shaw poster, she is not even mentioned! Although surprising in today's climate, this was possibly a sign of racial prejudice during this time. Apart from Billie Holiday, The line up of Art Shaw's band was entirely white.


Provenance: The poster was obtained by the man who hung posters for the event. It was then passed down through his family and acquired by the current owner several years ago.

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