Vintage original 8 x 10” (20 x 25 cm.) photo, USA. Ethel Moses, dir: Oscar Micheaux; Micheaux Pictures Corporation. FINE.
A great portrait of a pensive Ethel Moses. This is a story about a beautiful young woman (Moses) who is supporting herself by posing nude as an artist’s model and causes a resultant scandal when her circle of friends and family find out.
Vintage original 41 x 27” (102 x 68 cm.) one sheet poster, USA. July Jones, Spencer Williams, Rosalie Larrimore, dir: Spencer Williams; Sack Amusement Enterprises. On linen, with conservation to various chips and tears at borders and folds, with a mend to the letter “S” in “Street,” VERY GOOD-.
Although director Williams has been best remembered for his performance in the lead role of Andy Brown on the groundbreaking TV series Amos n’ Andy (1951-1953), he had a long career long before that, as a film actor, and as one of the very earliest African American movie directors. “Williams’ work as a filmmaker came under reassessment in the 1970s. Along with Oscar Micheaux, he remains one of the pioneering black directors, who, no matter what his stylistic and technical flaws and deficiencies, was devoted to personal filmmaking.” (Bogle, p. 485.) The film is a musical comedy melodrama set on the famed Beale Street of Memphis, home of the Memphis and St. Louis Blues. Filming was done in Dallas and San Antonio, Texas.
Vintage original 16 x 12″ (41 x 31 cm.) window card poster, USA. William Edmonson, Ardelle Dabney, dir: Oscar Micheaux; Micheaux Film.
This is the only example of this poster (or ANY poster) for this film which I have ever had in my inventory. It turned up recently, because it had been used as cardboard backing inside a picture frame. It was trimmed down from an original size of 22 x 14″ (56 x 36 cm.) to fit inside the frame, but that would have allowed for a lot of blank space. I am offering this poster without attempting to reconstruct the missing area, since the vast part of the actual printed area is present.
“George Eldridge Van Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, is brought up to believe that he is completely white. He falls in love with Hester Morgan, a black girl, but when she learns that he is white, she refuses to see him. George is later told by his mother of his black heritage, and he becomes proud of his race. Hester then accepts his proposal of marriage.” – AFI.com
This is a lost film. I have never seen ANY other image from this film, and this poster is apparently all that has survived. Aside from having been trimmed, poster is near fine, overall VERY GOOD-.
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