Hughes Bussing Tables at the Stage Door Canteen
Portrait of Langston Hughes as busboy at the Stage Door Canteen, with 3 friends.
New York: April 8, 1943.
Price: $1,350.00
About the item
Gelatin silver print. 1 vols. 9 x 5-1/4 inches. Hughes Bussing Tables at the Stage Door Canteen. Fine. Atelier stamped on verso: "Photograph by Carl Van Vechten | 146 Central Park West | Cannot be reproduced without permission", and docketed by Van Vechten in ink, documenting the subjects of the photograph ("Stage Door Canteen. Busboy Langston Hughes, hostess Terry Keane, U.S. Seaman Andy Mann, Canadian Seaman J. H. Keller"), the date ("April 8, 1943"); and identification number" XII I.y.6"
Item #211756
The Stage Door Canteen was a New York nightclub run by the USO (American Theater Wing) for the benefit of servicemen on leave, and many stars and celebrities volunteered to perform menial tasks as well as to entertain the troops, in an atmosphere which was racially mixed and festive. Both Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten frequently volunteered their services as busboys there.
"And he enjoyed working as a waiter at the Stage Door Canteen on West 44th Streetr, where famous artists vied with one another for the right to serve members of the armed forces in a setting that found Harold Jackman of Harlem supervising Alfred Lunt of Broadway, the sixty-two year old Van Vechten toiling as head busboy, and Fania Marinoff and Tpoy Harper on display as hostesses." Rampersad. The Life of Langstobn Hughes p. 47.
