ARMSTRONG, Louis (1901-1971).

Three early photographs signed by Louis Armstrong, 1930s, vintage gelatin silver prints, comprising:

i. Armstrong at the Christmas 1931 reunion of the Municipal Boys’ Home Band, New Orleans, 1931, signed and inscribed in blue ink ‘Best wishes to Bert Hall, Jr., from Louis Armstrong, 12/25/31,’ 180 x 236 mm (trimmed). After the 12-year-old Louis Armstrong was arrested for firing a gun into the air on New Years Eve of 1912, he was sent to the Colored Waif's Home (later known as the Municipal Boys Home) from January 1913 until June 1914. It was there that he first received formal lessons on the cornet, becoming leader of the Home’s brass band. He never forgot the Waif’s Home and often spoke of it fondly. This photo captures the hero’s welcome he received on his first return visit to New Orleans since moving to Chicago nine years prior. Provenance: RR Auctions, Boston, 23 July 2015, lot 7204;

ii. A publicity still of the RKO Palace, Columbus, Ohio, 1931, the marquee billing ‘King of Trumpet, Louis Armstrong and his Recording Orchestra, Jazz Maniacs’ above Tallulah Bankhead and Fredric March in My Sin, signed and inscribed in blue ink ‘To my Boy “Mezz” from Louis Armstrong, 11/27/31’, 202 x 254 mm. Provenance: Milton ‘Mezz’ Mezzrow (musician and marijuana seller, 1899-1972) – Len Kundstadt (jazz scholar, 1925-1996);

iii. and a sepia-toned 8x10in. publicity photocard, c.1925, signed and inscribed in green ink on 17 April 1937 at the Paramount Theater, New York, ‘Best wishes from Louis “Satch” Armstrong’. Provenance: Bob Inman (noted teenage jazz fan).

[With:] an 8x10in. publicity portrait of Lil Hardin, ‘Mrs Louie Armstrong’, signed and inscribed by Hardin in white ink ‘To Dorothea, “Bestest” Wishes, “Lil” Armstrong, Feb. 17, 1935’, the image by Maurice of Chicago.