Marva Louis with friends, Los Angeles, 1950s

Summary: Betty Clark, a former fashion designer, was the proprietor of the Clark Hotel (inherited fro her husband, Horace P. Clark, Sr.). Betty was also the sister of Mal (Malvin) Whitfield, Olympic track medalist and member of the Tuskegee Airmen who also spent 47 years in Africa training athletes.
Sidney Dones was a real estate broker and businessman. He was the first black graduate of LaSalle Extension School, a school that put out legal course materials for people to study at home.
Marva Louis, stenographer and big band singer, married and divorced heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis twice between 1935 and 1949; during their marriage, she also worked as a model. She married physician Albert Lee Spaulding in 1950.
Bill Graham was a manager and promoter chiefly associated with Joe and Marva Louis.
Description: All information concerning the content and description of the image was provided by Walter Gordon.
Marva Louis is seated, 2nd from the right (in white hat). Photograph most likely taken after her divorce from heavyweight champion boxer Joe Louis. Standing behind her is Bill Graham. Sydney Dones is seated to the left of Marva Louis. Betty Clark is seated second from the left. Louis (?) Burton is seated to the far left, dressed in a white suit. The woman to the far right is unidentified.

Genre: Black-and-white photographs
Names: Clark, Betty Whitfield Wilson, 1912 or 13-1998
Spaulding, Marva Louis, 1915-2000
Graham, Bill, promoter
Dones, Sydney P. (Sydney Preston), 1892-1947
Location: California--Los Angeles
Resource type: still image
Subjects: People; African American models
African American businesspeople--California--Riverside County
Boxing managers--California--Los Angeles

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections
Local Identifier: 515
YRLSC_gordonphotos_0515
Collection 1867 Box 3 Folder 4
ARK: ark:/21198/zz0025pkzt
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