African American Film and Jazz Publicity for Harlem Jazz Festival, 1955

Nat King Cole/Duke Ellington

Archive

Harlem Jazz Festival lobby-card archive, 1955, preserves theatrical publicity images from a mid-century Black musical program assembled from the Showtime at the Apollo performance-film cycle. The material belongs to African American film and music culture, illustrating how Black jazz, rhythm and blues, vocal performance, and popular entertainment circulated through film distribution beyond the live stage. Library of Congress film documentation for related Showtime at the Apollo titles from 1955 identifies Joseph Kohn as director, Ben Frye as producer, Willie Bryant as host, and performers across the cycle including Count Basie, Nat “King” Cole, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hampton, the Clovers, Martha Davis, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Ruth Brown, Amos Milburn, Mantan Moreland, and Nipsey Russell, placing this archive within a concentrated body of filmed Black performance at the height of postwar jazz and rhythm-and-blues visibility.

The archive consists of three vintage black-and-white silver gelatin photo lobby cards for Harlem Jazz Festival, distributed by Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors in 1955. Each card measures 10 x 8 inches. One card shows Lionel Hampton playing drums with an animated expression, emphasizing the physical energy of jazz performance; another shows Dinah Washington in an off-the-shoulder gown with jewelry, presenting one of the leading Black female recording artists of the 1950s through the visual language of elegance and nightclub celebrity; the final card shows Count Basie seated at the piano in a suit and bowtie, smiling while performing. Each card includes printed cast identification and bold film titling in the margins, making the group useful for studying both the performers and the commercial framing of Black musical excellence in mid-century British film publicity.
[1] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Jazz Festival. London: Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of Lionel Hampton, 10 x 8 inches, showing Hampton at the drums and connecting the film’s publicity to the high-energy presentation of jazz instrumental performance. [2] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Jazz Festival. London: Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of Dinah Washington, 10 x 8 inches, presenting Washington in formal dress and emphasizing the star image of a major Black woman vocalist in 1950s popular music. [3] Kohn, Joseph. Harlem Jazz Festival. London: Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, 1955. Vintage silver gelatin lobby card photograph of Count Basie, 10 x 8 inches, showing Basie performing at the piano and linking the archive to the filmed preservation of big-band and small-ensemble jazz culture. Minor edge wear and light handling; captions and titles remain legible, with strong image contrast; overall very good. Focused African American film publicity group documenting the circulation of Black musical performance from the Apollo-centered screen revue tradition into international film exhibition.

Item #19879

Price: $450.00