WALTERFILM INSIGHTS AND NEWS

Paul Robeson was a famous African-American athlete, singer, actor, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world. During the first half of the 20th Century, he rose to international prominence in a time when segregation was legal in the United States, and Black people were being lynched by racist mobs, especially in the South.

Walter Film has acquired a collection of vintage original studio photographs of Rudolph Valentino from Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921), Camille (1921) with Alla Nazimova, A Sainted Devil (1924) See Image Above, The Son Of The Sheik (1926) and a hand tinted lobby card from the film that made him an international star, The Sheik (1921).

For Walter Film’s holiday blog we would like to take you on a nostalgic trip back to the 1950s and to a time that was not quite as challenging as it is today.  The personalities merchandised in doll form reflected the major movements and changes in all fields of entertainment during that decade.  While we may view the 1950s as a simpler time, the world of entertainment was full of drama; whether it be famous Broadway shows, the birth of Rock n’ Roll, beloved characters and stor…

In 1963 Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role creating the character of Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field. His 40+ year career as an Oscar-winning star and film director broke down barriers for actors of color, becoming a Hollywood leading man at a time before black Americans were even granted full civil rights. He also opened doors for black directors after stepping behind the camera to direct &nbs…

The four gifted LGBTQ individuals featured in this month’s blog made significant contributions in their respective fields during the first half of the 20th Century. Dorothy Arzner, a Lesbian, was, from 1927 until her retirement from feature film directing in 1943, the only female feature film director working in Hollywood for the better part of her career. Julian Eltinge, an American stage and film actor and female impersonator was a star in vaudevill…

Created for Manhattan’s famous gay disco, The Saint, this stunning poster archive consists of 33 extraordinary pieces and date from 1982 through 2004. The super club (as it was originally designated) opened September 30, 1980 and closed April 30, 1988. However, its spirit, the music and, of course, the dancing and everything that went with it, continues on as The Saint At Large. These pop-up events included the infamous Black and White Parties and annual Halloween and New Year’s Eve fant…

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American film and theatre actress, singer, and dancer. She is one of the earliest black movie stars and the first woman of color to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which was for her performance in Carmen Jones (1954). 

One of the most interesting yet lesser-known motion picture collectible is the Exhibitor Book, Pressbook or Presskit. As exemplified by the Blade Runner Presskit above, containing 18 supplements (78 pp. in all, stapled together), 21 photos, which vary from 6 ¼ x 10” (16 x 26 cm.) to 7 ¾ x 10” (20 x 26 cm.), and the original printed studio envelope in which the presskit was mailed, its purpose was to help promote the film.

June is Pride Month celebrating our LGBTQ community and its history. In its honor, WalterFilm.com presents six posters of performers and plays that reflect LGBTQ’s diversity and creativity. From Dame Judith Anderson, doyenne of the classical American stage, fulfilling her long-held desire to, at the age of seventy-three, play the title role in Hamlet, to Charles Ludlam’s first playwriting venture, Big Hotel, that became the unofficial manifesto of his Ridiculous…

African American Musical Theater Background: Before the turn of the 20thth Century the idea of Black Musical Theater was a second-hand treatment of black life created by European-American performers, performing stereotyped “coon songs” in blackface.  This began to change as African American composers and lyrists such as Will Marion Cook and Bob Cole brought black-written musical comedy to Broadway in 1898. Cook’s Clorindy, or The Origin of the…