Anna Lucasta, Novel Adapted into the All Black Cast Play and Film Featuring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr. Signed First Edition, 1945

Philip Yordan

First Edition

[African American] Yordan, Philip. Anna Lucasta. New York: Random House, 1945. SIGNED First Edition, First Printing, Hardcover with Dust Jacket. 184 pages. Measures 5.75" x 8.25". Signed and inscribed by author on front free endpaper: "For George, Whose heart is as big as all Russia, Phil." Yordan originally wrote this play about a Polish American family, but it was adapted by the American Negro Theater and performed by an all African American cast starting in Harlem in 1944. It moved to the Mansfield Theatre on Broadway in 1944 and starred Hilda Simms, Canada Lee and Alice Childress. For the time, the production was critically acclaimed for presenting a story that does not condescend African-Americans and performances from an all African-American cast. The Baltimore review called it: "the first play of colored life to recognize the fact that colored person are individuals with the same problems, ways of living, speech, and point of views as the whites." Two films were made from the play, including one in 1958 starring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr. Book also includes several black and white photos of the original Harlem production. Dust Jacket has light chipping at edges, but overall, in very good condition.

Item #19676

Price: $385.00