Alpha Armstrong, Louis' 3rd wife.

[Dmitry]

Except that Louis dumped his wife #2, Lil for Alpha in 1938[?] in Chicago and in turn dumped her for his wife #4, Lucille in 1942 I can't find any other information.

Does anyone have any additional info? Has she recorded at all?

[jazzbo]

I don't believe she recorded; I don't believe she was a singer or musician. I do know that Louis was pretty glad to get rid of her; she was expensive!

[jazzbo]

From Louissatchmoarmstrong.com:

In addition to his professional worries, Lil was threatening to sue for alimony, which enraged Louis, seeing as she was profiting from his compositions (she had patented them under her name). Armstrong's devil may care approach to life was coming back to haunt him. He had not dealt with his new-found fame and success well. Sure he was popular, but he soon came to realise that if he was to maintain his level of fame he was going to have to be better managed. Lil who had not spent a great amount of time with Armstrong since they were married had grown increasingly militant with him. As she tried to control his life more and more he ebbed further away from her, having several flings before finding another long-term girlfriend, an attractive teenage dancer called Alpha Smith. Despite the fact she was a lot younger then Armstrong she was an expert seducer and it was not long before she had Armstrong under her spell, buying her jewels, furs and wining and dining her in expensive restaurants. To make matters worse he did not hide his affair from Lil, which gave her grounds to demand alimony. Inaddition just as he was buying expensive presents for Alpha his finances were in the worst state they had been in for years.

In increasing desperation, as his problems started to overwhelm him financially and emotionally, he decided he had to take some sort of action before ending up dead or bankrupt. Johnny Collins and his girlfriend Alpha came up with the idea of a foreign tour. For several years he had gathered a reputation overseas as a musical phenomenon. In England and France Armstrong had become some what of a legend where his recordings such as West End Blues had received a varied reaction but had spurned a jazz cult. With this in mind in 1932 the three of them set off to England on a tour. On his arrival he debuted at the prestigious London Palladium and had an electric effect.

His singing, trumpet playing and performance on stage was so different to anything the British audience had seen before that many simply sat in astonishment, however despite a few bad critiques his tour was a great success and eventually led to him staying longer than planned. He toured the entire country travelling all the way up to Glasgow before closing the tour with a performance for the Prince of Wales at the Holborn Empire in London where he was presented with a gold plated trumpet. He then travelled to France where he was warmly received and particularly liked the atmosphere of the jazz clubs in Paris.

The status he received in Europe was vastly different to the treatment he received in the USA. England and France had virtually no black population and this meant that there was no such thing as segregation and the population was willing to accept him as he was. He could live without the racism and bigotry that plagued him in the USA, he could stay at what hotels he liked, eat where he liked and walk down the street without being abused. Furthermore, he appeared on stage with an all white orchestra, something unthinkable in the US. The success of the tour led to Armstrong gaining world-wide fame and becoming the first black American to truly conquer the world musical market.

[Dmitry]

1932? I thought he went with Alpha in 1938. I suppose they could've been living together for 6 years before getting hitched...maybe the dates got confused?

Thanks for the info, Lon.

Alpha sounds like a dish. I was under the impression she was a singer...

[jazzbo]

Nah, not a singer, she was a dancer that he was running around with for five or more years before he was divorced from Lil, and then he married her, which he probably should not have done. . . .

[jazzbo]

Not sure I PERSONALLY would call her a dish, but Louis probably dug her plenty!

[Dmitry]

This isn't what I'd call a very descriptive photograph, but I'll take your word for it. I saw that website too. Neat stuff.

So technically they've been together for 10 years or so, from 32 to 42. A period when he established himself as an international superstar. Must've spent like a sailor too.

[Harold_Z]

I dunno a lot of the skinny here, but Cliff Leeman married Alpha somewhere along the line.

[Harold_Z]

...and I've seen some photos where I would say Alpha looked good indeed!

Edited May 31, 2004 by Harold_Z

[Christiern]

"In addition to his professional worries, Lil was threatening to sue for alimony, which enraged Louis, seeing as she was profiting from his compositions (she had patented them under her name)."

• This is pure nonsense. Lil wrote compositions (BTW one does not "patent" songs), she did not take credit for any written by Louis. Also, she never threatened to sue him for alimony. The truth is that Alpha threatened to sue Louis for breach of promise if he didn't marry her. In an effort to get out of it, Louis asked Lil not to grant him a divorce. Angry at him for being unfaithful, Lil granted him a divorce to spite him.
  

In the rest of this piece, the facts are dwarfed by the writer's wrong and, frankly, ludicrous assumptions. The passage about non-racist England is naïve. For example, in the early 1930's, Duke Ellington was turned away by a London hotel because of his color. They changed their mind when they found out that he was not a West Indian.

I accessed the site but was unable to get beyond the opening page--whoever is responsible for it is guilty of distorting facts--and as much information as exists about Louis, there simply is no excuse for publishing such misinformation.