CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/21/2017

Separate Cinema: The First 100 Years of Black Poster Art

Rufus Jones for President indeed! This poster for the 1933 film starring jazz singer Ethel Waters—best known for introducing the song "Stormy Weather" at the Cotton Club in Harlem that same year—and eight-year-old Sammy Davis, Jr., is reproduced from Separate Cinema, Reel Art Press' 320-page celebration of the first century of black film poster art. In Rufus Jones for President, a 21-minute fantasy satire on politics, a little boy "dreams that he becomes President of the United States while his 'Mammy' is Vice President. The satire is both pointed ('Two pork chops every time you vote,' the electorate is promised) and humorous (W. C. Handy’s 'Memphis Blues' is adopted as the new national anthem)." In honor of Black History Month and in light of the current political spectacle, we are delighted to recommend this wonderful volume.