QUEENS (PIX11) – Did you know Mayor Rudy Giuliani once dressed in drag to perform in a New York City Charity show and that legendary boxer Muhammad Ali gifted a giant autographed golden glove to Mayor Abe Beame?
There's also the wooden box made to look like a briefcase that Beame's assistant would carry to public events to make the 5-foot, 2-inch mayor look taller.
It's all part of the now expanded LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens.
The Archives held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning to celebrate the official opening of the Inner Circle Show Collection. The collection contains memorabilia from the 102-year-old tradition of reporters roasting the New York City Mayor and other politicians.
"We have programs for I believe every year dating back to 1941,
Molly McBride-Jacobson, an archivist at LaGuardia, said. “So, 1941 up to the present, as well as cast lists, seating arrangements of who attended the show, where they were seated. We have audio recordings of some shows before 1983. We have a wealth of photos, scores, scripts."
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who previously performed the traditional mayoral rebuttal at the Inner Circle Show, returned for Thursday's ribbon-cutting. He said, "The spirit of the show is we better make fun of ourselves. We better realize that in this beautiful, amazing city that we're all trying to do something good for, we've got to keep our sense of humor, and I would say, perhaps in 2025, that message is more pertinent than ever."
Students enrolled in LaGuardia College helped categorize and document the material.
Molly Rosner, the Director of Education Programs at LaGuardia, said, "Students are really excited to get these behind-the-scenes peaks at history, the things you can't find on Wikipedia by googling. They get to look at real hand-written sources. They get to look at humor, cartooning, and satire, things they might think were invented pretty recently with the ‘Daily Show’ but are actually long-standing pieces of political history in New York City."
The LaGuardia and Wagner archives are open to all CUNY students, and members of the public can request a tour here.
This year's annual Inner Circle show is on Saturday, April 5th, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown.
Several PIX11 News reporters sing and dance on stage as part of the cast, including James Ford, Eileen Lehpamer, Magee Hickey, Marvin Scott, Kirstin Cole, Dan Mannarino, and Hazel Sanchez. James Ford is currently the Inner Circle Chairman.
Eileen Lehpamer is the Inner Circle Vice President.
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