BGuthrie Photos: DC -- NMAAHC -- Exhibit: (L2) Now Showing: Posters from African American Movies

DC -- NMAAHC -- Exhibit: (L2) Now Showing: Posters from African American Movies:

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Description of Pictures: Now Showing: Posters from African American Movies
November 22, 2019 – November 1, 2020
Now Showing recognizes that good design matters and that film posters straddle an interesting role within the film industry; they serve as both art and advertising. Through the design, movie posters can help frame ideas, create moods, and stoke interest in the film and its main characters. This exhibition recognizes the fine line of art and commerce; it celebrates the Museum’s sizable poster collection, and offers an abbreviated visual history of African Americans in cinema.
The exhibition objects are culled in large part from the Richards Collection, a poster collection acquired by the museum in 2014 that includes more than 700 film posters and lobby cards. Now Showing features original posters and lobby cards and select ephemera from the Museum’s permanent collection. It introduces audiences to some of the pioneers of black cinema, highlights the Museum’s poster collection and its continued dedication to visual culture, and it shows how films geared toward African American audiences have been presented over the years.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] POSTER_191202_006.JPG	[2] POSTER_191202_008.JPG	[3] POSTER_191202_013.JPG
[4] POSTER_191202_021.JPG	[5] POSTER_191202_027.JPG	[6] POSTER_191202_029.JPG
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[10] POSTER_191202_049.JPG	[11] POSTER_191202_055.JPG	[12] POSTER_191202_066.JPG
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[34] POSTER_191202_171.JPG	[35] POSTER_191202_177.JPG	[36] POSTER_191202_182.JPG
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[40] POSTER_191202_196.JPG	[41] POSTER_191202_199.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. POSTER_191202_006.JPG: Now Showing Posters from African American Movies African American filmmaking is essential American culture, and movie posters play an important role as part art and visual design, part promotional tool. Now Showing celebrates the significance of posters and the museum's sizable collection by offering a visual history of more than seven decades of African Americans in cinema. The exhibition showcases works by pioneering filmmakers, independent directors, and some of Hollywood's biggest stars to examine the intersection of race, gender, and the role of film in society. The exhibition features augmented reality (AR). Learn more inside.
2. POSTER_191202_008.JPG: The Flying Ace, 1926 The Flying Ace From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Flying Ace is a 1926 black-and-white silent drama film directed by Richard E. Norman with an all-African-American cast. This six-reel film, made by Norman Studios in Jacksonville, Florida, utilized a mix of professionals such as leads Laurence Criner and Kathryn Boyd, and non-professional actors. [N 1] Films such as The Flying Ace, that used an all-African-American cast and were shown specifically to African-American audiences, were known as "race films". Norman Studios produced feature length and numerous short race films during the 1920s. The untapped black filmgoing market and the plethora of talented performers unable to get work in mainstream films led to the production of race films by Norman Studios. Richard Norman's reason for producing race films was not solely a business decision. Although the studio was filling a niche, Norman was also motivated by the state of race relations at the time and wanted to make a positive impact.
3. POSTER_191202_013.JPG: Black Gold, 1928
4. POSTER_191202_021.JPG: Dark Manhattan, 1937
5. POSTER_191202_027.JPG: Ralph Cooper, ca 1935
6. POSTER_191202_029.JPG: "Nothing has done so much to awaken the race consciousness of the colored man in the United States as the motion picture. It has made him hungry to see himself as he has come to be." -- William D. Foster, "News of the Moving Picture," Freeman, December 20, 1913
7. POSTER_191202_033.JPG: A Prince of His Race herald, 1926
8. POSTER_191202_035.JPG: Stock certificate, 1921 Lincoln Motion Picture Company
9. POSTER_191202_038.JPG: Stock certificate, 1918 Birth of a Race Photoplay Corporation
10. POSTER_191202_049.JPG: Go Down, Death! lobby card, 1944 Go Down, Death! From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Go Down, Death! is a 1944 race film directed by and starring Spencer Williams. The film's title derives from a poem by the African-American writer James Weldon Johnson.
11. POSTER_191202_055.JPG: The Homesteader, 1917 The Homesteader From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Homesteader (1919) is a lost black-and-white silent film by African-American author and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.
12. POSTER_191202_066.JPG: Lem Hawkins' Confession lobby card, 1935 Oscar Michaeux, director Lem Hawkins' Confession is based upon the 1913 Atlanta, Georgia, case where Jim Conley, an African American factory sweeper, provided critical evidence in the murder of Mary Phagan, a young, Southern, white, teenage employee. Based upon Conely's testimony at trial, Jewish superintendent Leo Frank was found guilty of Phagan's murder. Frank was convicted and eventually lynched by a mob. Murder in Harlem From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Murder in Harlem (also released as Lem Hawkins Confession) is a 1935 American race film written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, who also appears in the film. He remade his 1921 silent film The Gunsaulus Mystery. Basing the works on the 1913 trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, Micheaux used the detective genre to introduce different voices and conflicting accounts by his characters.
13. POSTER_191202_070.JPG: Film Pioneers This section introduces some of the earliest African American filmmakers dedicated to making films for a black audience at a time when most images of blacks were stereotypical. This section also examines how non-black filmmakers began making movies for people excited to see black performers on screen.
14. POSTER_191202_073.JPG: Murder on Lenox Ave, 1941
15. POSTER_191202_077.JPG: The Bull-Dogger From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Bull-Dogger is a 1922 American five-reel silent western film starring Bill Pickett, an African American and Native Amerian who is credited with inventing bulldogging or steer wrestling. It was filmed on location in Boley, Oklahoma. The film is presumed to be lost with only fragments known to have survived.
16. POSTER_191202_085.JPG: A Star is Born Here we explore how the increased interest in film helped many celebrities reach an expanded sense of fame and recognition. These increased opportunities were often a source of pride for black audiences wanting to have greater representation in film.
17. POSTER_191202_089.JPG: Harlem on the Prairie From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harlem on the Prairie (1937) is a race movie, billed as the first "all-colored" western musical. The movie reminded audiences that there were black cowboys and corrected a popular Hollywood image of an all-white Old West. It was produced by Associated Features, which was organized in 1937. The picture premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood and was first shown in New York City at the Rialto Theatre on Broadway. The company had offices at 937 N. Sycamore Ave., Hollywood, California, and the officers of the company were Jed Buell, president; Bert Sternbach, vice president; and Sabin W. Carr, secretary-treasurer. Harlem on the Prairie was filmed on location at Murray's Dude Ranch, Apple Valley, California. The ranch was founded by N.B. Murray, a black businessman from Los Angeles. President and chief producer Jed Buell spent less than $50,000 on this picture.
18. POSTER_191202_094.JPG: To Sir, with Love From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia To Sir, with Love is a 1967 British drama film that deals with social and racial issues in an inner city school. It stars Sidney Poitier and features Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall and singer Lulu making her film debut. James Clavell directed from his own screenplay, which was based on E. R. Braithwaite's 1959 autobiographical novel of the same name. The film's title song "To Sir with Love", sung by Lulu, reached number one on the U.S. pop charts for five weeks in the autumn of 1967 and ultimately was Billboard magazine's No. 1 pop single for that year. The movie ranked number 27 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. A made-for-television sequel, To Sir, with Love II (1996), was released nearly three decades later, with Poitier reprising his starring role.
19. POSTER_191202_099.JPG: To Sir, with Love film still from Sidney Portier and Judy Geeson, 1967
20. POSTER_191202_101.JPG: Lady Sings the Blues (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lady Sings the Blues is a 1972 American biographical drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie about jazz singer Billie Holiday, loosely based on her 1956 autobiography which, in turn, took its title from one of Holiday's most popular songs. It was produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures. Diana Ross portrayed Holiday, alongside a cast including Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, and Scatman Crothers.
21. POSTER_191202_106.JPG: inky (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pinky is a 1949 American race drama film starring Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters about a light-skinned black woman passing for white, played by Crain. All three actresses were nominated for the Academy Award, Crain for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Barrymore and Waters for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film was adapted from the Cid Ricketts Sumner novel Quality by Philip Dunne and Dudley Nichols and directed by Elia Kazan. Pinky was released by Twentieth Century Fox to both critical acclaim and controversy.
22. POSTER_191202_111.JPG: The Problem of the Color Line This section features films that have attempted, albeit at times crudely, to examine the complexities of what it means to live in a society where being black and passing for white may bring with it troubling and tragic consequences.
23. POSTER_191202_114.JPG: One Mile from Heaven From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia One Mile from Heaven is a 1937 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. The film stars Claire Trevor, Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fredi Washington, Joan Carroll and Ralf Harolde. The film was released on August 18, 1937, by 20th Century Fox.
24. POSTER_191202_122.JPG: Right On!, 1970
25. POSTER_191202_126.JPG: Black Caesar (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Black Caesar (released theatrically in the UK as Godfather of Harlem) is a 1973 American blaxploitation crime drama film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry and Julius Harris. Black Caesar is a remake of the 1931 film Little Caesar. It features a musical score (Black Caesar) by James Brown (with heavy input from his bandleader Fred Wesley), his first experience with writing music for film. A sequel titled Hell Up in Harlem was released in late 1973.
26. POSTER_191202_130.JPG: Together Brothers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Together Brothers is a 1974 American film directed by William A. Graham and starring Ahmad Nurradin and Anthony Wilson. The film is about a gang of street youths who try to expose a cop killer before he gets to a child who witnessed the murder.
27. POSTER_191202_135.JPG: The Black Moses of Soul, 1973
28. POSTER_191202_142.JPG: Shaft (1971 film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Shaft is a 1971 American blaxploitation crime action film directed by Gordon Parks and written by Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. It is an adaptation of Tidyman's novel of the same name and it's the first entry in the Shaft film series. The plot revolves around a private detective named John Shaft who is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter from the Italian mobsters who kidnapped her. The film stars Richard Roundtree as Shaft, alongside Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John and Lawrence Pressman. The film deals with themes like the Black Power movement, race, masculinity, and sexuality. It was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square within the Manhattan borough of New York City. Shaft was one of the first and most popular blaxploitation films, which "marked a turning point for this type of film, and spawned a number of sequels and knockoffs." The Shaft soundtrack album, recorded by Isaac Hayes, was also a success, winning a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture and a second Grammy that he shared with Johnny Allen for Best Instrumental Arrangement. The "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and has appeared on multiple Top 100 lists, including AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. A prime example of the blaxploitation genre, It was selected in 2000 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
29. POSTER_191202_144.JPG: Claudine (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Claudine is a 1974 American romantic comedy-drama film, produced by Third World Films and distributed by 20th Century Fox, starring James Earl Jones, Diahann Carroll, and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Claudine was written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine, and directed by John Berry. The film was released on April 22, 1974, grossing about $6 million.
30. POSTER_191202_151.JPG: Black Power & "Blaxploitation" This section highlights the proliferation of films geared specifically toward black audiences during the late 1960s – 1970s.
31. POSTER_191202_154.JPG: No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger, 1968
32. POSTER_191202_159.JPG: Black Belt Jones From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Black Belt Jones is a 1974 American blaxploitation martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and starring Jim Kelly and Gloria Hendry. The film is a spiritual successor to Clouse's prior film Enter the Dragon, in which Kelly had a supporting role. Here, Kelly features in his first starring role as the eponymous character; is a local hero who fights the Mafia and a local drug dealer threatening his friend's dojo.
33. POSTER_191202_171.JPG: Cabin in the Sky (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film stars Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne. Waters and Rex Ingram reprise their roles from the Broadway production. The film was Horne's first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Louis Armstrong is also featured in the film as one of Lucifer Junior's minions, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra have a showcase musical number in the film.
34. POSTER_191202_177.JPG: Anna Lucasta (1958 film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anna Lucasta is a 1958 American film directed by Arnold Laven and written by Philip Yordan. It stars Eartha Kitt, Sammy Davis Jr., and Henry Scott. It is a remake of the 1949 version (directed by Irving Rapper and starring Paulette Goddard), which itself was an adaptation of the 1936 stage play.
35. POSTER_191202_182.JPG: Eartha Kitt, ca 1955 Sammy Davis Jr., ca 1955
36. POSTER_191202_185.JPG: Carmen Jones (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Carmen Jones is a 1954 American musical film starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, from the 1943 stage musical of the same name, set to the music of Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen. The opera was an adaptation of the 1845 Prosper M�rim�e novella Carmen by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal�vy. Carmen Jones was a CinemaScope motion picture that had begun shooting within the first 12 months of Twentieth Century Fox's venture in 1953 to CinemaScope Technicolor as its main production mode. Carmen Jones was released in October 1954, exactly one year and one month after Fox's first CinemaScope venture, the Biblical epic The Robe, had opened in theatres. In 1992, Carmen Jones was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
37. POSTER_191202_193.JPG: Dorothy Dandridge, ca 1955
38. POSTER_191202_196.JPG: Lost Boundaries From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lost Boundaries is a 1949 American film directed by Alfred L. Werker that stars Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer (in his first starring role), and Susan Douglas Rubeš. The film is based on William Lindsay White's book of the same title, a nonfiction account of Dr. Albert C. Johnston and his family, who passed for white while living in New England in the 1930s and 1940s. The film won the 1949 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Screenplay.
39. POSTER_191202_199.JPG: Imitation of Life (1934 film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Imitation of Life is a 1934 American drama film directed by John M. Stahl. The screenplay by William Hurlbut, based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name, was augmented by eight additional uncredited writers, including Preston Sturges and Finley Peter Dunne. The film stars Claudette Colbert, Warren William, and Rochelle Hudson, and features Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington. The film was originally released by Universal Pictures on November 26, 1934, and later re-issued in 1936. A 1959 remake with the same title was directed by Douglas Sirk. In 2005, Imitation of Life was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also named by Time in 2007 as one of "The 25 Most Important Films on Race".
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