Description:

Armstrong Louis

A fantastic glossy black and white photo of Louis Armstrong, 2.5" x 3.5", depicting him sitting on the toilet grinning ear to ear with the slogan along the bottom of "SATCHMO-SLOGAN (Leave It All Behind Ya)". Verso of photo includes the inscription in the hand of Armstrong of "Music to 'Mine 'Ears' / "yea.". Accompanied by the signed envelope addressed fully in the hand of Louis Armstrong, to author Kenneth G. Richards at "25 Coral St, Pacific Grove, Calif' 93950". And signed Louis  as "Satchmo" ,with his autographed return address of "34-56 107 St, Corona N.Y." Postmarked "15 Apr/1968". Envelope is toned, with the verso being torn open (not affecting the autograph). The photo has a soft corner fold, and light toning. An excellent rare example in this condition

 

Armstrong, familiarly known as "Satchmo," arguably the greatest artist of the 20th century, was also one of its greatest eaters. A huge fan of food Armstrong was even known for signing his letters with salutations such as "Soul Foodly Yours" and "Red Beans & Ricely Yours". The great musician had weight problems and sought a solution that didn't completely require giving up one of his favorite pastimes - eating. So he created a diet, (several diet options actually), but was a firm believer in the liberal use of laxatives for weight control. Armstrong's firm beliefs ran along the lines that if you ate a few healthy things and took laxatives, you could then eat whatever you want. He was so convinced in the remedial properties of natural laxatives that he often gave bottles of them to his friends as presents. He also propagated his laxative-based diet in the media, and he produced a series of humorous flyers that depicted him as sitting on the toilet with a content smile on his face, or which this is one of the classic examples. Through his own diet program, Armstrong by 1955, had lost 100 pounds, which he attributed largely to his regular use of Swiss Kriss (a natural laxative), and an antacid called Bisma Rex. After he gave interviews on the subject, demand for his dieting regimen was so high that he had it printed on cards to mail back to curious fans.

 

This perfect example depicting Louis Armstrong plopped on the toilet grinning ear to ear, boasts a 'punny' inscription in Armstrong's hand on the verso of " "Music to 'Mine 'Ears' / "yea.", and was presented/mailed to Kenneth Richards via the included autographed envelope to him. At the time, Kenneth was writing about Armstrong in his next book from his series  "People of destiny: a humanities series" , which covered Armstrong's life.

 

We only wonder if he also played his instrument while on the toilet?

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