African American Performance Culture in the Early Rock and Roll Film Era, Rock’n Roll Revue, 1955

Nat King Cole/Duke Ellington

Archive

Rock’n Roll Revue lobby-card archive, 1955, preserves promotional images from a mid-century musical film built around Black popular performers whose work shaped jazz, rhythm and blues, vocal harmony, and early rock and roll culture. Directed by Joseph Kohn, the film was released under alternate titles including Harlem Rock’n Roll in the United Kingdom and Rock and Roll Review in the United States, and its cast included Duke Ellington, Nat “King” Cole, Larry Darnell, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Dinah Washington, Lionel Hampton, the Clovers, and other performers central to Black entertainment history. The film’s value rests in its filmed preservation of stage and studio performance during a period when Black musicians were helping define postwar American popular music for national and international audiences; one modern distributor notes that the film “remains invaluable as a source” for surviving live footage of these artists.
The archive consists of three vintage black-and-white silver gelatin photo lobby cards for Harlem Rock’n Roll / Rock’n Roll Revue, issued in connection with the film’s mid-1950s circulation by Grand Alliance / British Lion Films. Each card measures 10 x 8 inches. One card shows Duke Ellington in close portrait, smiling and looking away from the camera; another shows Nat King Cole in a plaid suit and tie; the third shows a Black vocal group posed with a guitar, smiling toward the camera. Each card includes printed captions in the margins with the film title and cast identification in bold lettering, giving the group value not only as film ephemera but also as visual evidence of how Black musical celebrity was marketed through theatrical publicity.
[1] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Rock’n Roll / Rock’n Roll Revue. London: Grand Alliance / British Lion Films, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of Duke Ellington, 10 x 8 inches, presenting Ellington through the portrait conventions of mid-century entertainment publicity. [2] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Rock’n Roll / Rock’n Roll Revue. London: Grand Alliance / British Lion Films, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of Nat King Cole, 10 x 8 inches, showing Cole in formal studio-style presentation and linking his popular vocal stardom to the film’s wider Black musical revue format. [3] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Rock’n Roll / Rock’n Roll Revue. London: Grand Alliance / British Lion Films, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of a Black vocal group posed with guitar, 10 x 8 inches, emphasizing group performance and commercial rhythm-and-blues presentation. Light handling and minor edge wear; printed captions remain legible and images retain strong contrast; overall very good. Focused group of original African American film publicity materials documenting the promotion of Black musical performance in early rock and roll cinema.

Item #19878

Price: $450.00