Search Results: Entertainment from Charles Agvent

Photograph. Ink occasionally light but still very readable. Fine. An 8" x 10" photo of Belafonte with his business manager, Jay Kennedy, and another man, apparently producer Sidney Buchman, Kennedy's partner, at a restaurant table from the early to mid-1950s. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by Belafonte to Kennedy: "Dad! Dad!! Dad!!! On this day we released ourselves to further pursue the course we have chosen for ourselves. To you I'm indebted to Sidney I'm grateful, and perhaps History will thank us all. Your Harry." Also INSCRIBED by Buchman: "To Jay, a gentleman, Sidney." In 1954 Belafonte replaced Jack Rollins with Jay Kennedy as his manager who, with his connections, was able to book Belafonte in more prestigious locations. Despite Belafonte's effusive inscription, he would later come to distrust Kennedy and even considered him malevolent. It was not until a decade later that Belafonte would discover that Dr Janet Alterman Kennedy, the psychotherapist he had been confiding in during the 1950s, was Jay… Read More

Letter. About a two-inch closed tear just entering the text on the left margin; light wrinkling. Very Good. An interesting SIGNED letter from Belafonte to Brooks Atkinson, drama critic of the New York Times, dated 19 May 1955. In this letter of @250 words, the singer and actor wishes to clarify that a letter sent by him a few days before is not misunderstood. Essentially, Belafonte wants Atkinson to know that, despite an earlier report to the contrary, the contemplated closing of his show "3 For Tonight" is not related to his Las Vegas engagement. Adding to the interest are numerous pencil notes and corrections that attempt to tame the tone of the words, either by the singer or his agent, Jay Kennedy, from whose estate this letter came. Belafonte, one of the world's most popular entertainers, starring not only in music but in the theater and film as well, was also the first, and for some time the only, black producer in television. He was also very active in the civil rights struggle, bailing Martin… Read More