Bailey, Pearl 141Th eatre in New York and continued to secure singing and
dancing parts in productions around the Philadelphia area,
before touring as a club singer in coal-mining towns across
Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. While touring,
Bailey had a short-lived marriage to a fellow performer that
lasted only 18 months.
Bailey gradually worked her way into larger and more
prestigious clubs, eventually performing at the Savoy in
Washington, D.C., and the Blue Angel in New York City.
During World War II, she traveled with the USO, entertain-
ing troops with her singing and dancing. Her work with
the USO, combined with her increasing following as a club
performer, led her to work with some of the biggest jazz
musicians and big band leaders of the era, including Count
Basie, Huddie Ledbetter, and Cab Calloway. Bailey’s popu-
larity as a club act led to other opportunities on the stage
and screen. In 1946, she was cast in St. Louis Woman, her
fi rst role on Broadway. In 1948, Bailey married for a second
time, to John Randolph Pinkett. Th e marriage lasted until
1952, when she divorced Pinkett and married jazz drummer
Louie Bellson, with whom she remained until her death.
Although Bailey was featured in a number of fi lms in
the late 1940s and early 1950s, she received her fi rst chance
at movie stardom when she was cast in Carmen Jones (1954).
Her performance was a hit and opened up many more act-
ing opportunities for her. Bailey took roles that allowed her
to work with some of the biggest names in acting at that
time, including Sammy Davis Jr. and Bob Hope. In 1959,
she was cast in the fi lm adaptation of the George Gershwin
musical Porgy and Bess, costarring Sidney Poitier and Doro-
thy Dandridge. Bailey performed in a number of plays and
movies and consistently received good reviews but never
achieved movie star status. In 1967, she starred in a produc-
tion of Hello, Dolly that featured an all African American
cast. In the early 1970s, she had her own television show
and later starred in a series of Duncan Hines commercials,
in addition to voicing characters for animated feature fi lms
such as Th e Fox and the Hound.
Bailey was an avid Republican and a favorite of Presi-
dent Richard Nixon, who oft en asked her to perform at
the White House. In 1970, Nixon appointed her America’s
“Ambassador of Love.” In 1975, Nixon’s successor, Gerald
Ford, appointed Bailey as a special representative to the
United Nations, and she attended several meetings. Bailey
also appeared in a number of advertisements endorsing
Ford’s 1976 election campaign.Vietnam. Perhaps one of his most incongruous later record-
ings was the 1968 album Disney Songs the Satchmo Way,
with performances of “When You Wish Upon a Star” and
“Chim Chim Cher-ee.”
Armstrong slowed down in his fi nal three years, oft en
under doctor’s orders not to play trumpet. Celebrating his
birthday on July 4, 1971, he told reporters he would soon
resume performing. He died in his sleep two days later.
See also: Black Folk Culture; Jazz
Brooke SherrardBibliography
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. London:
Peter Davies, 1955.
Bergreen, Laurence. Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New
York: Broadway Books, 1997.
Giddens, Gary. Satchmo: Th e Genius of Louis Armstrong. Cam-
bridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2001.
Miller, Marc H., ed. Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1994.
Bailey, Pearl
Pearl Bailey (1918–1990) was a well-respected 20th-
century singer, actress, comedienne, and author. She is
most famous for her screen roles in Carmen Jones (1954)
and Porgy and Bess (1959), as well as a 1975 stage produc-
tion of Hello, Dolly, all of which featured predominantly Af-
rican American casts.
Bailey was born in Southampton County, Virginia, on
March 29, 1918, and raised in Newport News, Virginia, by
her parents, Joseph and Ella Bailey. She was the youngest of
four children. Joseph Bailey served as a pastor at the local
House of Prayer, and by the age of three, Pearl was sing-
ing and dancing in her father’s church. In 1922, the Baileys
moved to Washington, D.C., and the parents divorced soon
aft er. Bailey moved with her mother to Philadelphia, where,
at the age of 15, she sang in public for the fi rst time, win-
ning an amateur talent contest at the Pearl Th eater, where
her older brother Bill was a featured performer. Th e the-
ater gave her a fi ve-dollar prize and an off er of two weeks
of work. Th e theater had promised to pay her 30 dollars for
each week, but she never received pay for her work because
the theater closed before the end of her run. Bailey left
school and went on to win an amateur contest at the Apollo