A collection of concert handbills, programmes, menu cards and other ephemera from the legendary Prohibition-era nightclub The Cotton Club in Harlem, New York, 1923-1940.

The Cotton Club was Harlem’s premier nightclub in the 1920s and 1930s during the Prohibition Era. Founded in 1923 and run by bootlegger Owney Madden, the club specialised in featuring prominent black entertainers and talent for exclusively white clientele, providing a springboard for the careers of many African American performers including Duke Ellington, whose orchestra was the house band from 1927 to 1931. Cab Calloway's orchestra replaced Ellington’s group in 1931 and Jimmie Lunceford’s band took residence in 1934. Lena Horne began her career as a chorus girl at the Cotton Club and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Sammy Davis Jr. performed as tap dancers. The club relocated downtown to Broadway and 48^th in 1936 and remained in business for another four years, shutting its doors in 1940.

The collection comprising: two programmes for the 1927 and 1933 seasons, the first for the show Rhyth-mania, the second for Cotton Club Parade (22^nd Edition), the largest 241 x 165 mm. The 1927 season marked the beginning of Duke Ellington’s relationship with the club, which put him on the road to stardom.

[With:] a programme for Ted Koehler’s Cotton Club Parade (26^th Edition), 1935, opens 257 x 355 mm. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection.

[With:] five Cotton Club food and drink menus, one c.1929 and three c.1930, all Prohibition-era, listing only non-alcoholic beverages, the other c.1933 after the repeal of Prohibition, showing an extensive list of alcoholic drinks available, the largest 278 x 216 mm. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl.259).

[With:] a souvenir club photofolder, 166 x 215 mm, signed on the window mount in green ink by Louis Armstrong, with corresponding gelatin silver table photograph showing a party of four at the club. Armstrong appeared in the very last Cotton Club show before it closed its doors in June 1940. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl. 256).

[With:] a programme for the Cotton Club, World’s Fair Edition, 1939, accompanied by a loosely inserted illustrated programme, 300 x 230 mm.

[With:] two Cotton Club Prohibition-era notices to guests - a table-card and thin card “collar” bottle neck slip, c. 1930. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl. 262 & 263).

[With:] a handbill for the 4^th Edition of the Cotton Club Parade featuring Duke Ellington, 1938.

[With:] a minimum charge policy notice card, 1933.

[With:] a matchbook cover, c.1930. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl. 261).

[And:] a menu for ‘The Fabulous Cotton Club’ in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1958, apparently not affiliated to the famous Manhattan nightspot, inscribed on the back cover ‘musically yours, Dinah Washington’, accompanied by a vintage 8x10in. publicity portrait of Washington by James J. Kriegsmann studio.