“West Coast Star”: Scrapbook Coverage of Louis Armstrong in California, 1930-1931

This summer marks the 95th anniversary of one of the exciting–and musically rewarding–chapters of Louis Armstrong’s life: his move to California.

Up to this point, Armstrong had mostly stayed in a single place for long periods of time: New Orleans from birth to July 1922 (with three summer excursions up the Mississippi River, parked for several months in St. Louis); Chicago from July 1922 through September 1924; New York City from October 1924 through November 1925; back to Chicago from November 1925 until May 1929; and back to New York from May 1929 until January 1930. Armstrong spent much of the first half of 1930 on the road–with extended engagements in both New York and Chicago–before heading to California in July 1930, remaining there until March 1931.

Now, I normally don’t promote my personal work on this site, but for descriptions of Armstrong’s time in California, his relationship with new manager Johnny Collins, his influential recordings for OKeh, and his arrest for possession of marijuana, please read my 2020 book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. But for today’s purposes, we’re going to crack open a scrapbook compiled by Louis and his second wife Lillian Hardin Armstrong to share the souvenirs they saved from their California sojourn!

This particular scrapbook might be the crown jewel of the 80+ such books that Louis saved over the course of his life. It begins in 1925 with the first references to Armstrong coming back to Chicago and proceeds to chart his rising stardom from the early Hot Five recordings to mentions in the Black press of his popularity at venues such as the Vendome Theater and Sunset Cafe. We’ll most likely share those relevant pages later this year as this November marks the 100th anniversary of Armstrong’s return to Chicago and the birth of the Hot Five–watch this space for more information in just a few months!

But for today, we’ll pick up the story with the initial announcements that Louis was due to open at Frank Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Culver City on July 17, 1930; note that many of these were “press clippings of news syndicated by Gene Woolway,” indicating that Armstrong or Sebastian hired a service to collect any mentions in the local papers:

Armstrong indeed opened on July 18 and was a hit from the start, as revealed in the clippings found on the next page of the scrapbook:

For the next two pages, Louis and Lil saved a few souvenirs from that opening night, including table cards, one of 5,000 invitations, and an advertisement that was placed in 300 red-top taxis. The ad was spread across both pages and was torn in half over the years:

Then it’s back to the newspapers for a couple of ads and a rave review by W. E. Oliver in the Los Angeles Evening Herald:

If you can’t make out the article, here’s a transcription:

Louis Armstrong Sensation at Trumpet – Los Angeles Evening Herald – July 21, 1930
By W. E. Oliver
The remark made concerning the best mouse trap and the world making a beaten path to an humble doorway is being perfectly illustrated at Sebastian’s Cotton Club these days. 
Thursday night, Louis Armstrong arrived in town with his trumpet and took over affairs, musical and otherwise, at the Washington Boulevard night club. Since then the beaten path has become a thoroughfare. 
Saturday, I saw no less than five stars with big parties sitting listening to this artist and his musicians. 
Louis Armstrong is the most extraordinary trumpeter I have ever heard. He not only expands his cheeks to produce his silver notes, but his neck, also. He can give a perfect imitation of the bullfrog’s throat swelling out and in as he hits notes unbelievably high and pleasing. 
In addition, he is one of the best showmen I have seen at the head of an orchestra. He has only a husky voice to supplement his trumpet in his musical offering. But he has a sure-fire personality and a native instinct for blues in addition. 
*****************

Even more articles populate the next page:

The brief mention of Loew’s State is a reference to Armstrong doubling as part of a vaudeville revue, “Ace High,” at that particular theater. Here’s a page of articles concerning that show:

(Another personal note: the fact that Laurel and Hardy’s Below Zero was also on the bill personally tickles me as a huge Laurel and Hardy fan. The fact that such shorts were made in Culver City, just a short drive away from Sebastian’s Cotton Club, makes this time and place and ideal time machine destination. By the way, if you’re curious about why Armstrong later named Stan Laurel as his favorite movie comedian, check out this video I posted on Facebook a short time ago.)

Variety even reviewed the Loew’s State bill on July 30:

Here’s what Variety had to say about Louis’s spot in the “Wild and Wooly” vaudeville bill at Loew’s State:

“This week, on a last-minute booking, Louis Armstrong, colored trumpet wiz, doubling from the Cotton Club, was brought into the State in conjunction with the regular show. As an attraction anywhere Armstrong is a cinch. This colored lad, feature of ‘Hot Chocolates’ in New York last year, blows more trumpet in a minute than all the others do in a week. The notes he hits are almost freakish. Spotted on the tail-end of the show, Armstrong supplies the punch it needs, preceding a pip finale.”

That same page also features some “Coast Notes” by Frankye Marilyn Whitlock, providing more details about Armstrong’s early time in California, including the image of Louis playing miniature golf with Duke Ellington, then in town to shoot the film Check and Double Check:

“Preceded by much anticipation and comment from music lovers, Louie Armstrong arrived in town last Wednesday and immediately all up and down the avenue flew the question, ‘Did you know Louie Armstrong was in town?’
The noted cornetist and singer, whose melodious five have been heard on Victor records for a long time, was accompanied by his wife. They were greeted at the station by LeRoy Broomfield and Aurora Greely, Cotton club producer stars. At a figure said to be $500 a week, the melody master opened at the Cotton club July 17. In the meantime he is to have a special featured part in a new picture at one of the largest studios. 
Others who are really taking the full rays of the spot are the one and only Louis s Armstrong, Baby Mack, Evelyn Preer, Rutledge and Taylor, Martha Richie and Connie and Eddie Anderson.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and the Misses May Diggs and Myrner Rosseau were seen playing golf on the miniature Dunbar hotel course.”
******************

Though Armstrong recorded many masterpieces while in California, the sides he cut for OKeh in the spring of 1930 were just reaching the market, hence the ad on the next page of the scrapbook for “Exactly Like You” and “Indian Cradle Song”:

Then it’s back to California for a multiple blurbs, including one on the “King of the Trumpet” with Louis’s dapper 1929 publicity photo. There’s also another ad for miniature golf, which must have been the rage in California in the summer of 1930:

The last California-related page in this particular scrapbook actually flashes forward to 1931 and hints at the subject of a future post here on “That’s My Home,” Louis’s first feature film, the still-lost Ex-Flame:

That’s all for Louis and Lil’s scrapbook, but longtime readers of this site will surely recall that last Fall, we published an entire scrapbook compiled by Louis’s then-mistress/future-wife Alpha, which is chock full of California-related clippings, including this amazing ad for “I’m a Ding Dong Daddy (from Dumas)”:

After Louis and Lil separated in the summer of 1931, Alpha began compiling another scrapbook, mostly comprised of clippings from 1931, including a few more glimpses at Armstrong’s California stay. Alpha must have been present when Halloween was celebrated at Sebastian’s Cotton Club in 1930:

And here’s a souvenir from “College Night” held at some point in 1931 at Sebastian’s Cotton Club:

That’s actually a close-up from a larger page filled with clippings, including our first look at the famous photo of Louis and Frank Sebastian with Les Hite’s band (including young Lionel Hampton) standing outside the Cotton Club next to Sebastian’s car:

If you haven’t seen a close-up of that famous photo, here it is from Jack Bradley’s Collection, originally signed by Louis to bassist Hayes Alvis:

We’ll conclude back in Louis’s personal collection for a menu he saved which featured a reunion between himself and Sebastian a few decades later, posing with the above photo!

That concludes our look at the scrapbooks and other archival treasures saved by Louis, Lil, and Alpha relating to his 1930-1931 time in California. But as mentioned above, it was also in this period that Armstrong filmed an appearence in Ex-Flame, which will be the subject of our next post in a couple of weeks.