Good Lord, who is the dope who misidentified the John Launois photo of Malcolm X as being taken "in California during an interview"?
In fact, it was shot in August 1964 at CAIRO, EGYPT, and it was NOT taken during an interview. Instead, Malcolm X was posing for the cover of "The Saturday Evening Post" (12 Sept. 1964 issue), which published extracts from what would turn out to be his posthumously-published autobiography.
No, it was I who was tired (and irritated by the pathetic level of "Malcolm X Studies") when I made the correction last nite re John Launois' wonderful portrait of Malcolm X. I beg your forgiveness.
In fact, not one of the so-called Malcolm X scholars knows much, if anything, about the circumstances surrounding this photo session.
I was fortunate to learn about it from a Black Star Photos librarian a quarter-century ago, who learned the details from Launois, himself.
As part of my penance for my sharp tone, I'd like to share with you and your readers a rare account by Malcolm X of his first meeting with Launois at Cairo's famous Nile Hilton Hotel.
I found it in one of Malcolm X's unpublished 1964 travel journals. The entry was written from Cairo, Egypt, after Malcolm X returned from a brief visit to Alexandria, where he had been granted an audience with President Gamal Abdel-Nasser:
"Friday, August 14
"...caught the 7:10 train for Cairo. Hussein and Muhammad [Egyptian friends] took us to the Hilton where we had lemonade with a photographer (John Launois) and he had just flown in from New York for the Saturday Evening Post and I made arrangements to see him tomorrow" (Malcolm X, unpublished travel journal, 10 July-17 Nov. 1964, Vol. "II-1," now in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, NY).
This suggests that Launois' famous color and black-and-white portraits of Malcolm X, several of which were taken inside of the beautiful Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo's historic Citadel and in front of the looming Muqattam Mountain behind it, were shot on or shortly after 14 Aug. 1964.
Again, my apologies. The relatively high-resolution portrait of Malcolm X that you posted on this blog is great and your readers should be thankful.
I have the honor to remain
Cordial-Lee yours,
Paul Lee, Director Best Efforts, Inc., professional research and consulting service
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