He Was Everywhere…
[Kendrix was] the most photographed African American in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s… …save perhaps Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King*… He was everywhere.
Dr. Brenda Greer, 2021 lecture for the Alexandria Black History Museum
Kendrix had a phenomenal list of connections in sports, media, entertainment, fraternal organizations, and politics. His advertising campaigns and publicity events were full of famous faces, including baseball stars Ernie Banks and Jackie Robinson, actress Diahann Carroll, jazz percussionist Lionel Hampton, and singing legends Marian Anderson and Harry Belafonte.
Kendrix himself often appeared in the publicity photographs of promotional events, usually with a bottle of Coca-Cola nearby! Throughout the collection, his charm and tenacity shine through, essential qualities in a people-centered business where what the public thinks - counts!
*Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King all appeared in his PR work!
Reprinted from Sepia USA:
Meet Moss Kendrix: "Mr. Public Relations." At 36, He is Almost Legendary Figure.
At 36, Moss Kendrix is almost a legend in the public relations field. He sings his songs of public relations with the hit impact of the Brown Thrash on his native Georgia. His PR record is monumental.
Well-known, well-liked, handsome, intense, sophisticated Moss Kendrix can mingle with equal ease in the politic phrase-tossing of an Inaugural Ball or the hail-fell of a national convention.
Most of all he loves his work for which he has untiring stamina. His personal goal is one new idea each day, but "boss" and associates intimate that he usually has many more and they are mostly good ones.
Kendrix with Diahann Carroll and Eddie Fisher, and at a golf tournament with Althea Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, and Ann Gregory.
Mr. Kendrix and the Duke
Duke Ellington and Kendrix’s paths crossed several times throughout their careers. Ellington was one of the celebrities who Kendrix worked with in the 1940s promoting war bonds for the Treasury Department.
The pair worked together again in 1947 when Kendrix was working on the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Liberia, for which Ellington wrote “The Liberian Suite.”
In 1958, Ellington was featured on an exclusive 7-inch EP vinyl record with Mahalia Jackson. The disc was available for 50₵ and three Carnation Evaporated Milk can labels as part of Kendrix’s “premium promotion” campaign for the company.
Paper coupon and photomontage advertising an exclusive four-track record available to Carnation Evaporated Milk customers.