The original contract rests in a file in the special collections research center of the Syracuse University Libraries. Finalized 80 years ago this month by the William Morris Agency, the document bears a couple of distinctive signatures that closed this particular deal.
One belongs to Dave Salmon, a Syracuse promoter of that era who often brought big-time performers to the city.
The other major signature: Duke Ellington, legendary musician and band leader, who agreed to play a November concert in Syracuse that year — a show that included the first North American performance alongside Ellington by the great jazz guitarist Django Rhinehardt…