Loading...
Creator
Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-2006
Call number
Sc MIRS Wallace 1978-03
Physical description
6 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Emmett "Babe" Wallace audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Emmett "Babe" Wallace (June 24, 1909-December 3, 2006) was a composer, singer, writer, and actor from Brooklyn, New York, who recorded under the name Babe Wallace. The collection contains six audio recordings of music and poetry by Babe Wallace, dating from circa 1960 to 1972.

Biographical/historical information

Emmett "Babe" Wallace (June 24, 1909-December 3, 2006) was a composer, singer, writer, and actor from Brooklyn, New York, who recorded under the name Babe Wallace. He composed songs for jazz bandleaders such as Cab Calloway and Ben Smith. His poems have appeared in publications such as Glowchild (1972), an anthology of poetry for young people edited by poet, actress, and activist Ruby Dee.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, Babe Wallace worked and performed at clubs and hotels in Boston, New York City, and the Catskill Mountains, as well as locations in Canada. From 1947 until 1964, he sought opportunities as a Black American expatriate artist in countries such as Israel (1956-1962), where he recorded "Dizengoff," "Where Can I Go," and other songs in English, Yiddish, and Hebrew.

In addition to composing music and poetry, he also appeared in cabarets, theater, and films, including Stormy Weather (1943) alongside Cab Calloway and actress Lena Horne; the stage production of Anna Lucasta when it toured in London, United Kingdom, (1947-1948); and performances at the Folies Bergère in Paris, France, (1952-1955).

Scope and arrangement

The collection contains six audio recordings of music and poetry by Babe Wallace, dating from circa 1960 to 1972. They are organized chronologically, and then alphabetically by title. Titles were devised by the archivist.

Interspersed among Babe Wallace's songs and poems are short reflections about them, including the locations and dates where some of them were composed, as well as the dreams, personal experiences, and political issues that inspired them.

The original format of the recordings was audio reel, with many items containing two or more parts. Square brackets indicate partial information or unclear spelling.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Emmett Wallace, 1972.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Christopher Arena. Collection processed and described by Lyric Evans-Hunter, archivist. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Emmett "Babe" Wallace papers, Sc MG 56.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.

Related Material

See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for titles containing poetry by Babe Wallace.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.