Happy New Year! Here is an item to celebrate an anniversary of some seventy years and a week.
In David Palmquist's exquisite website The Duke Where and When, his exhaustive itinerary says of 14 January, 1949, "activities not documented".
Well, if the eBay listing here is correct, we can now solve that mystery.
Of the items for sale, the vendor writes:
Duke Ellington Autographed Purdue University 1949 Dance Program
This is a lot of three (3) dance programs from the 1948-49 school year at Purdue University. The 1949 "Men of the Cary Club" annual dinner dance featured the music of Duke Ellington. His signature in ink is on the program. The other two programs featured a dinner dance with music by Griff Williams and his Orchestra, while the 1948 Junior Prom featured live music from Russ Morgan and his Orchestra along with Skitch Henderson and his Orchestra. Guests of Honor at the 1949 Junior Prom included President Harry S. Truman and his wife.
All 3 programs are in very good vintage. Each measures approximately 3-1/2 X 2-1/2 inches.
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra therefore played the men of Cary Club Annual Dinner dance, Purdue University 14 January, 1949.
UPDATE:
David Palmquist has now added this date to his phenomenal TDWAW website as follows...
And in further research, David has also turned up the following photograph from the university Yearbook...
