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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1934

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Mural Detail, The World of Radio

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.

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

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108721967/ |title=Mural Detail, The World of Radio |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>