Click to close [X]

Click image to enlarge

ARMSTRONG, LOUIS (“SATCHMO”). (1900-1971). American jazz trumpet virtuoso, singer and bandleader.  DS. (“Satch”). 1p. 4to. N.p., N.d. A signed offprint of “Lose Weight the Satchmo Way!” and a photograph of a smiling Armstrong seated on a toilet (inscribed on the verso, “H’mm?”) as if observed through a keyhole. To Sue Blum.

The “1st,” numbers is yours. Regards…

By the time our offprint was signed, Armstrong had secured a worldwide reputation, from New Orleans and Chicago to New York and Paris. In the 1940s and ‘50s his band, the Louis Armstrong All Stars, toured widely. “The mounting interest in Armstrong as a symbol of American jazz led to more frequent appearances abroad… [and] Armstrong during the 1950s enhanced his reputation in the popular music field through recordings with elaborate orchestral settings,” (The Encyclopedia of Jazz, Feather). Our note is evidence of Armstrong’s unusual and very public fascination with laxatives. Never paid by the company because of his faith in the laxative’s restorative powers, Armstrong did much to promote Swiss Kriss, including giving away samples at his concerts, signing his letters “Swiss Krissly yours” and sending reprints of his weight loss regimen from Harpers Bazaar to friends and acquaintances. The reprint details a nine-day menu and our inscription might refer to the first day’s instructions. At the bottom of the page, capital letters proclaim, “A laxative at least once a week, is very nice.” Biographers Jasen and Jones offer a detailed description of Armstrong’s daily regimen in their book Black Bottom Stomp which included, “a daily dose of Swiss Kriss (an herbal laxative that he swore by), a few applications of the lip salve made for him by a German trombonist named Franz Schuritz, some red beans and rice – when he could find them on a hotel menu – and several marijuana cigarettes.” On the verso of the accompanying photograph, printed with the “Satchmo-Slogan (Leave It All Behind Ya),” Armstrong has written “H’mm?” in blue ink. Accompanied by an envelope from the D’Eauville Hotel in Miami Beach, the return address of which has been crossed out with Armstrong adding “Satchmo” and his Queens, New York address. In overall fine condition and uncommon.

Item #16746

Price: $450