Photograph of a cocktail party held by Irving Mills

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of a cocktail party that launched Master Records, Inc., held by Irving Mills. The image shows mostly men, with one (1) woman, Helen Oakley, depicted in a floral dress, standing left of center. Duke Ellington and Irving Mills stand in the center of the image. Mills is wearing a dark pinstriped suit, a white shirt, and medium toned tie. Ellington is wearing a dark pinstriped suit, a light toned, striped collared shirt, and medium toned, patterned tie. Standing to right of Mills is Cab Calloway. He is depicted smiling and looking down toward the bottom left corner of the image. He is wearing a matching three-piece suit, woven in a black-and-white chevron pattern. On the wall above the attendees heads, are the initials for the American Record Company, [ARC], in stylized text within a circle.

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