Dance card signed by Frank Sinatra and Russ Morgan

Chicago: Agnes M. Kelley, 1943. (14)pp. A dance card book for the St. Rita High School Senior Prom of 1943, which featured a performance by Russ Morgan's Orchestra. The book has been signed by both Russ Morgan and by Frank Sinatra. The prom took place just a few months after Sinatra's historic performance at the Paramount Theater in New York City, which kicked off the "Sinatra Riots" and launched him into stardom. His engagement was extended at the Paramount, and he was much in demand through 1943, but in May he flew out to Chicago to meet Tommy Dorsey in order to sort out a contractual hold that Dorsey had on Sinatra's earnings. Sinatra might have known Russ Morgan through Dorsey, as both had collaborated with Dorsey in the past. Morgan had a regular engagement at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, the venue for St. Rita's prom, but it is unclear what brought Sinatra to the event. Ring-bound in wooden boards, with tasseled string and "RHS" stamped in gold to upper cover. First leaf detached and second partially detached. A fascinating and unlikely instance of Sinatra's autograph. (3 by 2 1/4; 76x50mm).