If you plan a trip into Manhattan this holiday season, be sure to take a look at the beautiful Fifth Avenue windows and see the live Radio City Christmas Spectacular if you have a mind to do so. But if the film lover in you is bursting to come to the surface, be sure to leave some time to experience a holiday treat designed especially for pop culturists, American entertainment historians and film enthusiasts.
This special event is an extraordinary exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. It is called 100 Years in Post-Production: Resurrecting a Lost Landmark of Black Film History, which is curated by MoMA’s own Ron Magliozzi, and is showing from now until March 31, 2015. Through large blow-ups of film frames and clips of unedited footage, plus newly-conceived, succinct and informative explanations, the exhibit attempts to chronicle an unfinished, unreleased film named LIME KILN CLUB FIELD DAY, shot in 1913 at the Biograph studios and on various New York City area street locations.
What makes this film project outstanding and in many ways unique is its particular black-cast. The main performer is legendary vaudeville star and best-selling recording artist, Bert Williams. From the evidence provided, it seems as though Williams, a newcomer to the film business, was not given guidance about film acting or film make-up. His wig is unglued at times, and the entire film is primitive and pretty much puzzling in plot and intentions.
LIME KILN CLUB FIELD DAY also features Harlem-based entertainers Sam Lucas, Abbie Mitchell, and J. Leubrie Hill, along with members of his Darktown Follies stage company. The cast mixes minstrel style performance with a contemporary stage performance approach. Particularly of interest are scenes which include dances of the era.
Three years later in 1916, Bert Williams completed a two-reeler for the Biograph studios called A NATURAL BORN GAMBLER. If you are curious to see it, head to youtube.com where the Riverbends Channel has posted the comedy. Even by the standards of a film created as early as 1916, it is primitive. It is filled with derogatory stereotypes of African-Americans, and I do not believe Williams was able to demonstrate even a small percentage of his talent. The only clue to his expert pacing and comedic style comes in a long take in the last minute of this film.
So little in the way of moving images survives of black entertainers of the very early 20th century, and Bert Williams was revered by many—including W.C. Fields-- as one of the finest comic performers in “the show business.” That is what makes the Museum of Modern Art exhibit such a treat! Furthermore, for those who are watching their wallets during the holiday season, there is extra good news. This first-floor exhibit does not require tickets. This very worthwhile educational exhibit is free and open to the public during Museum hours.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and appraiser. She teaches film studies at the University at Albany and has co-authored several entertainment biographies with her husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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