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

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.

Singer Jessica Dragonette stands atop a globe with an NBC microphone held up by the allegorical figure of Radio. Dragonette is dressed in the vintage Worth gown she wore for the Lights Golden Jubilee, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of the lightbulb. Held in Dearborn, Michigan on October 21, 1929, the event also honored Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village (originally the Edison Institute). Dragonette sang "Little Grey Home in the West," one of Edison’s favorite songs.

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.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/1108721969/ |title=Mural Detail, The World of Radio |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=9 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>