Portrait of Charlie Barnet and Re-Bop, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1946. Photography by William P. Gottlieb.
Today we release another one hundred images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection to Flickr Commons. This week’s selection offers iconic photos of the trumpet legend Louis Armstrong, clarinet player Sidney Bechet, composer Leonard Bernstein, and vocalist June Christy. And, as is often the case, there is something unexpected in the mix. This week’s surprise is a series of images made for Down Beat magazine of alto saxophonist Charlie Barnet playing for a monkey. The accompanying caption reads, “Charlie Barnet’s pet monkey, Re-Bop, pretends that he doesn’t find much harmony in the sax tootlings of his maestro on the cover of this issue. But it’s all in fun, and the grimaces of the monkey are not the reason that Charlie is breaking up his dance band early this month. He’s going out to California to rest for the remainder of the summer, probably will re-organize on the west coast this fall.” Left unexplained is the trunk beside Re-Bop, which if you look closely is marked “Snake Inside.” We welcome your comments on Flickr and look forward to any comments you may have on this unusual meeting of the jazz and animal mind.
Also in the news is a film series dedicated to Paul McCartney, recipient of this year’s Gershwin Prize award. The program begins in the Mary Pickford Theater, on Monday, November 22nd, with the animated classic Yellow Submarine. On Monday, November 29th, we will be screening a rare 35mm print of Let it Be, which is not available on DVD. The screenings are at 7:00pm in the Mary Pickford Theater, on the 3rd floor of the James Madison Building. No tickets or reservations needed. Limited seating begins at 6:30pm. For information about these and other upcoming screenings, please see our film series page.
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