Created by

Lewis, Edward W., American, born ca. 1914

Produced by

Popkin, Harry M., American, 1906 - 1991

Distributed by

Sack Amusement Enterprises, American, 1920 - 1979

Subject of

Father Divine, American, ca. 1876 - 1965

Owned by

Smith, Ernie, American, ca. 1925 - 2004

Date

1940

Medium

acetate film

Dimensions

Duration (digital file): 00:10:06

Physical extent (film): 400 ft

Description

A motion picture film with the title Life in Harlem: A Documentary Film of America's Negro Metropolis. It consists of a single reel of positive, black-and-white, 16mm acetate film with bilateral variable-density optical sound.

The film opens with text rolling on the screen which reads: [Within sight of the New / York skyscrapers is a city / within a city where over / three hundred thousand / people live in an area / three square miles in / upper Manhattan. These / people work and play, live / and die amidst poverty / and prosperity, tragedy / and laughter, in America's / largest negro settlement, / Harlem.] After the quote, a narrator begins to speak as footage of a horse carriage being pulled down a street plays on screen. Throughout the film, the narrator describes quotidian activities of Harlemites: "a janitor sweeps the tenement sidewalk, a pushcart dealer pulls his heavy load, a little shoeshine-boy starts his day, policemen leave their stationhouse for neighborhood posts…" The film continues in this fashion, with instrumental music playing in the background as the narrator provides commentary about the onscreen activities.

Some of the other themes featured in the film include wealth inequality in Harlem, with shots of the Sugar Hill neighborhood; people shopping in Harlem’s markets; Harlem’s ethnic diversity; Harlem’s main thoroughfares: Lenox and Seventh Avenues; Father Divine and his evangelical movement; Harlem’s marching band culture; the Good-luck tree that Harlemites call "Tree of Hope.” The final scenes focus on Harlem’s nightlife. At one point, an illuminated sign which reads [SAVOY / World's finest / BALL ROOM] appears on the screen. In another scene, people are seen doing the lindy hop at a swing club followed by other scenes with women dancing in cabarets and couples dancing in a ballroom.

Place depicted

Harlem, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America

Classification

Time-based Media - Moving Images

Type

sound films

black-and-white films (visual works)

short subjects

16mm (photographic film size)

Topic

Communities

Documentary films

Film

Jazz (Music)

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Anonymous Gift in memory of Ernest (Ernie) R. Smith, Jazz Historian

Object number

2015.275.20.1a

Restrictions & Rights

No Known Copyright Restrictions

Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

GUID

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5c90653de-e6b3-4fa8-ba78-91d70cff5e5e