Title supplied by cataloger. Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving three years in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from USC. He later became involved in city politics, as an associate of Sam Yorty, and later a field deputy to City Council members Billy Mills and Tom Bradley. He was briefly director of the Model Cities program in 1973. Rolland J. Curtis died in his home in 1979, the victim of a homicide. An affordable housing complex on Exposition Blvd. near Vermont Ave. was named in his honor in 1981, along with a nearby street and park.; Elected in 1963, Billy G. Mills (1929-) was the third African American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, a seat he held until 1974 when he became a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. He was the first African American chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, winning over fellow Councilman Tom Bradley by just three votes.; Louis Daniel Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1901. With only a fifth-grade education he dropped out to work for the Jewish Karnofsky family who treated Armstrong as their own, teaching him to speak fluently in Yiddish and earn enough money to purchase his first instrument--the Cornet. In 1912 he was arrested for firing a gun in the air and sent to detention at the Colored Waif's Home for Boys where he learned how to properly play the cornet from the warden and music director, Peter Davis. Armstrong became the leader of the Waif's Home Brass Band until his release in 1914. Joe "King" Oliver, a popular cornetist became Armstrong's mentor and soon after he was playing on Mississippi riverboats as an in-demand cornetist. In 1922 Armstrong left to Chicago with Oliver and joined a band and by 1925, for the first time he began making music under his name. Armstrong had become influential in the jazz scene as well as for Civil Rights, speaking out against the 1957 high school integration "Little Rock Nine". Armstrong performed nearly until his death; having his first heart attack in 1959, heart and kidney problems in 1968 that landed him in intensive care and then returned to touring (against the advice of his doctors) in 1970. It is believed that his last performance was for the Inauguration for the National Press Club President, Vernon Louviere on January 29, 1971, only a couple months before passing in his sleep on July 6, 1971. Pictured to the left is famed and renowned trumpeter, Louis Armstrong and City Councilman Billy Mills. Mills presents Louis Armstrong with a resolution for his musical contributions in the past 50 years. The resolution reads as followed: "Louis Armstrong internationally renowned trumpeter, has taken his unique brand of artistry around the world in the interest of better understanding the goodwill, and from an obscure beginning in New Orleans as the son of a housemaid and turpentine worker, Louis Armstrong has endeared himself and his country to people throughout the world, gaining the title of 'Ambassador of Goodwill;' and Louis Armstrong's colorful and successful career spans fifty years as a showman, comedian, screen and stage star, musician and singer; and he has developed a style over the years by hardening his lip and jaw muscles and using abdominal pressure to the point where he can strike and hold a high C.. frequently even high F and G.. for a greater length of time than any living jazz trumpeter; and his tonal quality surpasses in power that of all other jazz players; and Louis Armstrong has recorded more than 1000 records since 1923 including 'Chinatown,' 'Tiger Rag,' 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love,' 'Treasure Island,' 'Ain't Misbehavin,' 'You Rascal, You,' and 'Kiss To Build A Dream On;' and he has composed some twenty tunes, of which his favorites are 'If We Never Meet Again,' and 'Struttin With Some Barbeque;' Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Los Angeles City Council by the adoption of this resolution congratulates Louis Armstrong on the occasion of his 50th anniversary in show business and extends its heartiest good wishes for continued health and happiness." Photograph dated October 26, 1966. See images 00119441 through 00119447 and 00138046 through 00138049 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 color negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G Armstrong, Louis,--1901-1971 Resolutions City council members African American politicians African American men Jazz musicians Trumpet players Musicians Singers Men Los Angeles (Calif.)
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