A large broadside heralding an evening of music presented by the Eastern Ohio African-American social club Progressive Gents at the Coliseum Skating Rink in Mansfield, Ohio, Saturday August 28, 1971. 

The evening was billed as a revue (and a ribald one scheduled to run until 3:30 in the morning with advertised door prizes including "a case of beer and a fifth of whiskey") headlined by a local Cleveland R&B group called The Fabulations which seems to have been composed of members including Willie Glover, Barbara White, John Whaley, Robert Spicer, Lamiel Walker, Eugene Jones, Bruce Rison, and Dave Phelps (according to the 2022 obituary of Willie Glover). Additional performers included the O.J.'s Vocal Group ; Little Miss Red ; Soul Sister ; "Mr. Soul" Jimmy Williams ; and Whiskey Man. 

We suspect the "O.J.'s" billed here are an entirely separate group from the nationally-prominent "O'Jays" from Canton and the entire bill here seems to be largely-unheralded regional club performers, making this a scarce surviving glimpse at the vibrant Black music scenes of Eastern Ohio in the early-1970's. 

The Progressive Gents seem to have been a social aid and pleasure club active in civic affairs in the Black communities of Cleveland and Sandusky beginning in the mid-1940's (and possibly affiliated with organized labor). They seem to have hosted an annual Easter Ball and sponsored various events and causes, including a basketball team in Cleveland's municipal league throughout the 1960's and the construction of a club house for Sandusky's "Wee Too Club" in 1967. 

[African-Americana] : [Music] : [Ohioana]. DANCE & SHOW [Heading Title - Original Letterpress Show Print]. Mansfield, Ohio: [1971]. 26" x 17" letterpress print on card. Black ink print over a rainbow gradient background. Verso blank. Corner loss at lower right, scatttered date notations written in ink across image side. A few closed tears (each reinforced by archival mending tape at versos). Good only.