Loading...
Creator
Jones, Judd, 1931-2011
Call number
Sc MG 846
Physical description
1.42 linear feet (2 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Judd Jones papers, Sc MG 846, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Judd Jones was an African American actor, singer, dancer, and director whose career was centered in New York City. The Judd Jones papers document his theatrical career.

Biographical/historical information

Judd Jones was an African American actor, singer, dancer, and director whose career was centered in New York City. In the late 1950s-mid 1960s, he modeled for various magazine advertisements; at the same time he also performed in movies and television. Ernestine McClendon, an African-American actors' agent, was his manager in the 1960s. Jones's first major show was West Side Story; he played the role of Chino and toured for five years. His Broadway performances included Tambourines to Glory (1963), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1965-1966) as the Inca God, and My One and Only (1984) with Tommy Tune and Twiggy. He was in the movie Malcolm X, and he played the comic actor Bert Williams in Those Fabulous Clowns (HBO). Jones again portrayed Williams in A Salute to Broadway, the last show in which he appeared that included many of his peers and contemporaries (2000). Over the decades hehad several one-man shows. Jones taught Keith David and others at New York City's High School of Performing Arts. He died in 2011 in New York.

Scope and arrangement

The Judd Jones papers document the theatrical career of this actor, singer, and dancer. Jones's modeling career in New York is documented via print ads, advertising sheets, contracts, and associated material, 1959-1966. For West Side Story and other productions in which he appeared, there are partial scripts, programs, contracts, contacts lists, news clippings, telegrams, and letters. Material for Jones's several one-man shows include scripts, programs, publicity, sheet music, and lists of scenes and songs that he performed. An album, assembled by his friend and co-executor Anne Perryman, consists of cards and letters from friends and family, programs, and photographs. In another album, she used numerous items that had decorated the walls of his apartment such as programs, photographs, news clippings, ticket stubs, and CD covers. In addition to publicity material from My One and Only, other items relate to the opera singer Ta'u Pupu'a; his friend, actor Brian Stokes Mitchell; other actors and actresses; sports figures, and a wide variety of other individuals.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of the Judd Jones Estate, August 2011.

Revision History

Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark. (2020 November 30)

Processing information

Accessioned by Janice Quinter, June 2012.

Separated material

Transferred to the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building: flyer

Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs

Transferred to the Rare Books Division, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building: menus

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor