Since its publication in 1977 to acclaim as a pioneering work, this has remained the first and only book to detail all aspects of a unique era in the history of motion pictures—the only time in the U.S. when films featuring an all-Black cast, produced and directed by Blacks, were shown primarily to Black audiences, in theatres many of which were owned and managed by Blacks. Sampson traces the history of the Black film industry from its beginnings around 1910 to its demise in 1950, chronicling the activities of pioneer Black filmmakers and performers who have been virtually ignored by film historians. Significantly more information on Oscar Micheaux and other Black producers of the period and descriptions of many more Black films are included in the second edition. A new chapter discusses the first black images in American film as portrayed by Whites in blackface. The list of film titles from both the sound and the silent periods, including members of the cast, has been greatly expanded. With an extensive list of Black musical "soundies;" full index; and many new and rare photographs.
An authoritative and valuable resource for students and scholars of film animation and African-American history, film buffs, and casual readers. It is the first and only book to detail the history of black images in animated cartoons. Using advertisements, quotes from producers, newspaper reviews, and other sources, Sampson traces stereotypical black images through their transition from the first newspaper comic strips in the late 1890s, to their inclusion in the first silent theatrical cartoons, through the peak of their popularity in 1930s musical cartoons, to their gradual decline in the 1960s. He provides detailed storylines with dialogue, revealing the extensive use of negative caricatures of African Americans. Sampson devotes chapters to cartoon series starring black characters; cartoons burlesquing life on the old slave plantation with "happy" slaves Uncle Tom and Topsy; depictions of the African safari that include the white hunter, his devoted servant, and bloodthirsty black cannibals; and cartoons featuring the music and the widely popular entertainment style of famous 1930s black stars including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Fats Waller. That's Enough Folks includes many rare, previously unpublished illustrations and original animation stills and an appendix listing cartoon titles with black characters along with brief descriptions of gags in these cartoons.
This work offers an illustrated survey of these rare snails with some of the most vivid shells in the world. All the various forms are identified, along with migration and interbreeding patterns.
Sentenced to death as a Fascist spy by Republican forces in war-torn Spain, decorated for saving an airman's life in a bullet-ridden B-24 Liberator over Greece, war correspondent Henry 'Hank' Gorrell often found himself in the thick of the fighting he had been sent to cover. And in reporting on some of the world's most dangerous stories, he held newspaper readers spellbound with his eyewitness accounts from battlefields across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. An 'exclusive' United Press correspondent, Gorrell saw more than his share of war, even more than most reporters, as his beat took him from the siege of Madrid to the sands of North Africa. His memoir, left in an attic trunk for sixty years, is presented here in its entirety for the first time. As he risks life and limb on the front lines, Gorrell gives us new perspectives on the overall conflict - including some of World War II's lesser-known battles - as well as insights into behind-the-lines intrigue.Gorrell's account first captures early Axis intervention in Spain and their tests of new weaponry and blitzkrieg tactics at the cost of millions of Spanish lives. While covering the Spanish Civil War, he was captured by forces from each side and saw many brave men die disillusioned, offering a contrast to other views of that conflict from writers like Hemingway. But Spain was just Hank's training ground: before America even entered World War II, he was embedded with Allied forces from seven nations. When war broke out, Gorrell was sent to the Balkans, where in Budapest he witnessed pro-Axis enthusiasts toast the victory of Italian armies. Later in Romania he watched Stalin kick over the Axis apple cart with his invasion of Bessarabia - forcing the Germans to deal with the Russian menace before they had planned.Then he saw twenty Italian divisions mauled in the mountains of Albania, marking the beginning of the end for Mussolini. Combining the historian's accuracy with the journalist's on-the-spot reportage, Gorrell provides eyewitness impressions of what war looked, sounded, and felt like to soldiers on the ground. ""Soldier of the Press"" weaves personal adventures into the larger fabric of world events, plunging modern readers into the heat of battle while revealing the dangers faced by war correspondents in that bygone era.
