Description:

The Kennedy Center
[Washington, DC], ca. December 4, 1982
1982 Kennedy Center Honors Award Dinner Menu Signed by 16 Celebrities! Albert, Cronkite, Dam, Gish, Goodman, Grant, Etc.
Signed Menu/Program
A menu card from the Kennedy Center Honors decoration ceremony and board of trustees dinner held at the U.S. State Department on December 4, 1982, signed by sixteen celebrities including former and current Kennedy Center honorees Cary Grant, Lillian Gish, and Benny Goodman. Ca. December 4, 1982. [Washington, D.C.] Other signers include Eddie Albert, Walter Cronkite, Kenneth Dam, and Marcia Wachs Dam; about half a dozen signatures remain unidentified and would benefit from further research. The card is gilt-embossed with a stylized emblem of the Kennedy Center building at top recto above a list of the 1982 honorees; the obverse lists 4-course dinner menu items. The signatures appear around the edges and insets of both sides of the menu card. Expected wear including minor toning, isolated edge darkening, and stray light stains, else near fine. 5.25" x 7."

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, inaugurated in 1971, is not only a National Center for the Performing Arts, but also a living memorial to its namesake John F. Kennedy, who spearheaded its $30 million construction fundraising efforts only a year before his death. The Kennedy Center celebrates all of the performing arts: music, opera, theatre, film, television, dance, and more. The institution has granted lifetime achievement awards to five honorees annually since 1978. These recipients--either individuals, husband-wife couples, duos, bandmates, or institutions--are recognized to have enriched the cultural landscape by their contributions to the performing arts.

In 1982, five Kennedy Center honorees were selected: actor, screenwriter, playwright, director, and producer George Abbott; actress Lillian Gish; jazz and swing clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman; actor, singer, and dancer Gene Kelly; and violinist and orchestra conductor Eugene Ormandy. The Kennedy Center Honors recipients were decorated at a Saturday night dinner at the State Department hosted by Kennedy Center board of trustees members and presided over by 1981 Kennedy Center honoree Cary Grant.

Identified menu signers include, in alphabetical order:

- Eddie Albert (1906-2005), actor, signed as "Eddie Albert" along the lower right edge recto

- Walter Cronkite (1916-2009), broadcast journalist who hosted the televised Kennedy Center awards ceremony from 1981-2002, signed as "Walter Cronkite" near top verso

- Lillian Gish (1893-1993), actress and honoree, signed as "Lillian Gish:" along the lower left edge recto

- Benny Goodman (1909-1986), musician and honoree, signed as "Benny Goodman" upside down near left center recto

- Cary Grant (1904-1986), actor and former honoree, signed as "Cary Grant" directly under the logo recto

- Kenneth Dam (1932-2022), Deputy Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, signed as "Ken Dam" at upper right recto

- Marcia Wachs Dam (born ca. 1932), wife of Secretary Dam, linguist, and academic, signed as "Marcia Dam" at lower left recto

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5.25" x 7"
  • Medium: Signed Menu/Program

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