Research Catalog

Ada "Bricktop" Smith photograph collection

Title: Ada "Bricktop" Smith photograph collection [graphic].
Author: Bricktop, 1894-1984.
Publication: [189-?]-1983.

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Item details
Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 1	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection box 1	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 2	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection box 2	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 3	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection box 3	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 4	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection box 4	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 5	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection box 5	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints

Details

Additional Authors

Found In

Ada "Bricktop" Smith papers, 1926-1983. (CstRLIN)NYPW89-A197

Description

777 items (1.9 lin. ft., 5 boxes); 21 x 26 cm. and smaller.
343 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
218 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
36 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
85 photographic prints : col. ;
61 photographic prints : col. ;
17 photographic postcards : b&w ;
11 photographic postcards : b&w ;
5 photomechanical prints : halftone, b&w ;
1 photocopy : b&w ;

Summary

The Ada "Bricktop" Smith Photograph Collection documents some aspects of her personal life and professional career, from the 1890s to the early 1980s.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Portrait photographs – 1890-1989.
Group portraits – 1890-1989.
Snapshots.
Photographic postcards – 1900-1959.
Publicity photographs – 1910-1979.
Silver gelatin prints – 1890-1989.
Photographic prints – Color – 1950-1989.
Dye diffusion transfer prints – 1970-1979.
Instant camera photographs – 1970-1979.
Halftone photomechanical prints – 1930-1979.

Note

Title devised by cataloger.
Some items have photographer's or photography studio's handstamp on verso; some items have photographer's name printed on recto; some items have photographer's blindstamp on recto; some items have photographer's name printed on verso and recto of matte; some items have photographer's name typewritten on verso; one item has photographer's signature on recto.
Many items have handwritten captions or notations on either verso or recto; some items are inscribed on recto; some items have printed captions on either verso or recto.
Some items are duplicates; some items are reproductions.
Collection contains work by Raymond Ross, Carlo Riccardi, Morris A. Engle, D. Rousse, Ottica Fotografia, Bettini, and Marvin Smith, among others.

Terms of Use (note)

Some items are restricted; permission of photographer is required for duplication.

Biography (note)

Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia "Bricktop" Smith, entertainer and nightclub owner, was born August 14, 1894 in Alderson, West Virginia.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

Finding aid: folder level control.

Linking Entry (note)

Forms part of the Ada Beatrice "Bricktop" Smith Papers, 1926-1983.

Call Number

Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection

OCLC

NYPG98-F147

Author

Bricktop, 1894-1984.

Title

Ada "Bricktop" Smith photograph collection [graphic].

Imprint

[189-?]-1983.

Terms Of Use

Some items are restricted; permission of photographer is required for duplication.

Linking Entry

Forms part of the Ada Beatrice "Bricktop" Smith Papers, 1926-1983.

Biography

Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia "Bricktop" Smith, entertainer and nightclub owner, was born August 14, 1894 in Alderson, West Virginia. At a young age she began to perform on stage, and as a young woman, during the 1910s, she began to sing and dance full-time with the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA) and Pantage vaudeville circuits. She was nicknamed "Bricktop" because of her bright red hair. She worked ina variety of locations including Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York and at Chicago's Panama Cafe, where, with Florence Mills and Cora Green, she formed the Panama Trio.

In 1924, Bricktop moved to Paris to perform at the Cafe Le Grand Duc. She befriended members of the American expatriate and European elite, including Josephine Baker, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Cole Porter. In 1926, she opened her own nightclub, the Music Box, for which she failed to get an operating license, after which she reopened Le Grand Duc as Bricktop's. In 1931 she moved Bricktop's to 66 Rue Pigalle, with Mabel Mercer as the main attraction. Her nightclubs were a focal point for the glamorous nightlife for both blacks and whites in Paris during the late 1920s and 1930s. However, an economic depression in Paris in the mid-1930s hurt business, and the coming of World War II in the late 1930s prompted many Americans, including Bricktop, to leave Europe, but not before she did radio broadcasts for the French government in 1938-1939. During her stay in Paris she was briefly married to New Orleans saxophonist Peter Duconge from 1929-1932.

Back in the United States, Bricktop co-owned the Brittwood Cafe in New York, which failed. After the failure of a similar club, Minuit and Chavez's, in Mexico City, she returned to Paris in 1949. Since Paris, after the war, was a changed city, the reopened Bricktop's lasted barely a year (1950) and she moved the club to Rome in the early 1950s. She continued to attract an international clientele to her club before retiring from the nightlife in 1964. She moved back to New York by the 1970s and resumed her singing career through the early 1980s. In 1972, she made her only recording, "So Long Baby," with Cy Coleman. She died in 1984 in New York City.

Indexes

Finding aid: folder level control.

Local Note

Sc MG 247

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Added Author

Bettini. Photographer

Felici, Guglielmo. Photographer

Engle, Morey, 1923- Photographer

Ross, Raymond. Photographer

Smith, Marvin, 1910-2003. Photographer

Jones, Roger. Photographer

Mollberger, Bertil. Photographer

Haun, Declan. Photographer

Ottica Fotografia.

Foto Partenope (Naples, Italy)

Interpanoramic Photo (Rome, Italy)

Found In:

Ada "Bricktop" Smith papers, 1926-1983. (CstRLIN)NYPW89-A197

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Ada "Bricktop" Smith Collection

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