History
After receiving and enjoying a tape of rare Midge Williams recordings in the mid-1980s, Arnold was drawn to find out more
about her. This was quite a challenge, given the paucity of available information at the time. Virginia Louise "Midge" Williams
was born in Portland, Oregon in 1915, but was raised in Allensworth and later Berkeley, California. By the mid-1920s, Midge
was performing with her brothers John Lewis, Jr., Charles, and Robert as the Williams Quartette on the Fanchon and Marco circuit.
The collection contains original promotional photographs of the group. By the early 1930s, the group, then known as the Williams
Four, was managed by Roger Segure, a pianist and composer who is known for his arrangements for Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Lunceford,
Andy Kirk, John Kirby, Mary Lou Williams, Red Allen, and Alvino Rey. Segure also worked with Langston Hughes, and a photocopy
of a Hughes letter to Segure is included here. In 1933, Segure booked a tour of Asia for the Williams. Midge Williams made
a few (now very rare) records in Japan, including a version of St. Louis Blues partially sung in Japanese that was to gain
some notoriety in later years. There are playbills, contracts, catalogs, record labels and correspondence from this trip in
the collection, which came to Arnold by way of Segure's widow.
Midge Williams might well be best known for her association with Louis Armstrong from 1938 to 1941. Although she never recorded
with him, they toured around the country and she received a good deal of press (which Arnold compiled). Having moved to New
York in 1936, Williams established her reputation through many radio engagements, including Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann's Hour,
Al Jolson's Shell Chateau, and on several NBC sustainers (short, unsponsored programs). Besides the Japanese Columbia recordings,
she also made records with Teddy Wilson, Frank Froeba (with Bunny Berigan on the session), Miff Mole (with Harry James and
Glenn Miller), Lil Armstrong, and with a revolving unit known as The Jazz Jesters (with members at various times including
Raymond Scott, Edmund Hall, Frankie Newton, Buster Bailey, John Kirby, and Charlie Shavers). She also recorded under her own
name in 1940. Sadly, her career stalled in the early 1940s, and her last appearance was on San Francisco radio station KFRC's
Jack Webb Show in 1946, delivering a version of "Cow Cow Boogie." Midge Williams, alone and impoverished, died of tuberculosis
at San Francisco General Hospital in 1952. Arnold was able to track down the only surviving member of the Quartette, Robert
Williams, in 2000, and uncovered enough information to pen the liner notes to a reissue of Midge Williams. Arnold appears
to have been working on a full-length biography, but only a few draft chapters survive.
Scope and Contents
Book typescript drafts, chapters 2-6 ; Segure original files (correspondence, contracts, etc.) ; Original photographs ; Various
photocopies ; Gloria Segure correspondence ; Allensworth history ; Photocopied press clippings ; CD-R of Midge Williams' Nipponophone
(Columbia Japan) recordings
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Segure, Roger, 1905-2000
Williams, Midge
Jazz