A close-up detail from the top, right corner of a voluminous, horizontal mural centered on a gowned, female figure -- the soprano opera singer and radio star Jessica Dragonnette -- standing atop a globe. She is surrounded by radiating lines of music which expand into a dense collage of scenes in shades of muted khaki brown, pale orange-red, dark blue, and olive green. This scene, one of many overlapping vignettes composing the mural, shows the singer with the NBC Cities Service program's forty-piece orchestra, conductor Rosario Bourdon, announcer Ford Bond, and the Cavaliers Quartet. The conductor stands atop a large box, and red drapery frame the background, surrounding a curtained entry centered in the rear. The banner reads 'City Service Broadcast Over NBC' on the top left, and 'NBC Studio 711 Fifth Avenue' on the bottom right corner. The mural is framed with a border of rotating right-triangles in a repetitive color scheme, yet with varying sizes. The corner features a unique decorative design.

See more objects with the tag entertainment, performance, concert, Radio City Music Hall.

Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
1934	Work on this object began.
2016	We photographed this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Mural Detail, The World of Radio, 1934

This is a Mural detail. It was made for Jessica Dragonette. It is dated 1934. Its medium is cotton and its technique is wax resist dyeing (batik) on plain weave.

This scene is from Jessica Dragonette’s debut on NBC’s Cities Service program on January 3, 1930. Dragonette is pictured with the Cities Service forty-piece orchestra, conductor Rosario Bourdon, announcer Ford Bond, and the Cavaliers Quartet. The singer’s seven-year engagement with this program (1930–37) made her an entertainment fixture in American homes. The banner reads “NBC Studio 711 Fifth Avenue.” In 1933, the broadcast would move to Studio 8H—the largest in the world—at Radio City Studios in Rockefeller Center.

It is credited Gift of Nicholas Meredith Turner in memory of Jessica Dragonette.

Mural, The World of Radio
cotton.
Gift of Nicholas Meredith Turner in memory of Jessica Dragonette..
1983-73-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The World of Radio.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2FYupZ/
Accession Number s-e-2257
Object ID 1108721967