PEARL BAILEY - ORIGINAL ART SIGNED - HFSID 15993

PEARL BAILEY
The jazz singer pens a saying about looking forward to a journey in life, while drawing a cup and an eye in red ink
Original Art Signed: "Love,/Pearl Bailey" on verso, 2p, 3½x4 image on front side of 5½x8 sheet. Bailey has drawn an eye and a cup in red ink and written beneath it, in full: "In all my life - an egg was an effort to draw - yet I find myself (perhaps because telephones bore me) always making cups, eyes or boats - or whatever they look like. Could it be because I'm looking forward always to a journey." Between the note and her signature, she has drawn a smiling face (1¼x1). Pearl Bailey (1918-1990), a jazz singer and Broadway star, made her Broadway debut in 1946, in the musical St. Louis Woman; her performance resulted in an award for most promising newcomer. She won a special Tony Award in 1968. She appeared in numerous films, including Carmen Jones, St. Louis Blues, and Porgy and Bess. She is perhaps best known for her sultry jazz renditions, having both started and ended her career in nightclubs. Her early days were spent singing in cafes, theaters, and nightclubs in the Northeast, with an occasional stint as a singer with a big band, such as Count Basie's orchestra. In the 1960s, she returned to nightclub singing, and appeared frequently on television; one of her most notable appearances was on the 1966 special Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey on Broadway.Bailey was named to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in 1976, and awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1988. Light show through of ink. Stray ink mark at lower left corner of front side. Otherwise, fine condition.