'Black Cinema USA' Stamp Honors Duke Ellington's 1929 Film 'Black and Tan'

[2008 U.S. Postage Stamp 'Black Cinema USA 42' Honors Duke Ellington Film 'Black and Tan']

U.S. Postal Service:
BLACK AND TAN
Released in 1929, the 19-minute film Black and Tan features Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra performing “The Duke Steps Out,” “Black Beauty,” and “Black and Tan Fantasy.” Black and Tan is chiefly remembered as the first film appearance of composer, pianist, and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974). The film was written and directed by Dudley Murphy, who later directed the 1933 film The Emperor Jones starring Paul Robeson.

In Black and Tan, Duke Ellington plays himself, but as an impoverished musician. When two bumbling movers arrive to repossess his piano, his girlfriend—actress Fredi Washington, also playing herself—manages to hold them off by offering them gin. Later, at the nightclub, an ailing Washington performs in an enthusiastic dance number despite her ill health. On her deathbed, she asks him to perform “Black and Tan Fantasy,” secure in the knowledge that she has helped Ellington continue to make music.

The poster for Black and Tan depicts Duke Ellington in silhouette conducting caricatured representations of his orchestra. Text on the poster reads “SACK / AMUSEMENT / ENTERPRISES / PRESENTS / DUKE ELLINGTON / AND HIS / COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA / IN / BLACK AND TAN / WITH / FREDI WASHINGTON.” The Texas-based company Sack Amusement Enterprises was a producer and distributor of features and short films for African-American audiences during the 1930s and 1940s. The poster artist is unknown. [Duke Ellington (1899-1974) is best known for his 2,000 jazz works, but he also composed orchestral, chamber and piano solo pieces in the classical genre. He is profiled at AfriClassical.com]
Duke Ellington
African American Composer
Black and Tan
Black Cinema
1929 Film
Cotton Club Orchestra