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March 1940. Visalia, California. Band playing a Saturday night dance at the Farm Security Administration's Tulare migrant camp. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.
This is very late to the party but the cat was as has been said for tips. I've seen similar setups before and one instance while researching answered a question for me about a venue Elvis played early on in Gladewater, TX. See this.
In the colorized version of this photo, I love the green jacket on the boy in back. It just rings true. The black cat is hilarious. I can just hear these guys. They're certainly focused. You hit the apex boys, now bring 'er on home.
Don't know the song but I do know what the guitarist is playing -- a D Major chord on what looks like an LG-2 Gibson.
Yes, my guess would be that's how they got their tips ... by people feeding the kitty.
That appears to be an RCA 74B "Velocity Jr." ribbon microphone. A ubiquitous PA microphone of above average quality at the time. They are pretty, but have little use today because of their limited bandwidth.
What is the cat holding?
[Their kitty has a cigar-box body, partly visible through the mouth. - Dave]
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