Let’s talk about Harlem’s role in shaping what once was endless portrayals of racist and stereotypical Black characters and how the community helped turn it into the diverse representation that we see on the big screen today.
“Immediately yes,” Apollo Theater executives reacted when learning Rolling Stone magazine wanted to host their infamous “Musicians on Musicians” at the historic Harlem venue.
The joint venture between the theater and Rolling Stone on Friday, November 22 solidified the venue’s mission for its next 90 years as a continued hub for Black creatives.
Icon Busta Rhymes, Grammy-nominated rap superstars GloRilla and Doechii and genre-bending artist Brittany Howard packed the theater on a rainy New York City day with fans, journalists and celebrities like Carmelo Anthony and Elle Fanning as they discussed their unique introduction to music and how their journeys have progressed since then.
It also served as a homecoming for Busta, who got “boo’d” by The Apollo theater’s brutally honest crowd during Amateur Night – an experience that made him come back time and time again to prove he belonged in the rap industry.
Howard and Doechii were the first to sit next to each other for the “Musicians on Musicians” conversation, moderated by TV personality, podcaster, and author Touré. It was a love fest – with each artist praising the other for their authenticity.
“I love how boundless and limitless we both are in music,” Doechii told Howard, who later advised her to “Always listen to your inner voice on what you want to do and what you don’t want to do.”
Howard also stressed the importance of “filling your cup” as you rise in success with activities unrelated to music, which for the Alabama native looks like fishing and spending time with loved ones.
The artists closed by discussing how much they love performing. “I like being on stage more than I like being in the studio,” Doechii admitted, revealing that her stage persona is inspired by her days in theater.
“Sometimes when I’m on stage, I feel like I’m 20 feet tall,” Howard added, noting that it’s the one place she doesn’t shy away from taking up space.
The musicians then did what they do best: perform.
Howard’s raspy voice filled The Apollo as she sang “Stay High” and Nina Simone’s “Revolution.”
Doechii followed with a campy version of her hit “Persuasive,” although it was interrupted by mic issues. Brushing off the hiccup, she demanded the crowd get up and moving as she continued with “Denial Is a River,” “Nissan Altima,” “Boiled Peanuts” and more from her latest album “Alligator Bites Never Heal.”
Lafayette & Gem
The Lafayette Theatre opened in 1912 and had nearly double the capacity as the Lincoln and was the first major theater to desegregate. It became a popular spot for entertainment, with Duke Ellington making his New York debut here in 1923.
The Gem Theatre opened in the early 1920s after a name change and other updates to the building. It wasn’t open for longer than a few years. There’s not much that’s known about the Gem, other than in 1926 it featured a “race movie” called Ten Nights in a Barroom, starring Charles Gilpin, one of the most famous actors of the time. You can still watch the entire film to this day, in a restored video done by the George Eastman Museum.
Black Film in the 1940s and 50s
Many of the theaters were heavily impacted by the emergence of talkies (in the late 1920s) as well as by the Great Depression. The Lafayette survived into the 1950s, but not by much. And the Gem was closed by 1935.
There were establishments like the American Negro Theater still open in the 1940s, and they were offering actors parts in shows that seemed more focused on portraying authentic stories from the community.
The Harlem film scene was not what it once was, but it was still playing a role in the advancement of Black cinema. The late great Sidney Poitier was training at the ANT at the time, as was Harry Belafonte.
“Race films” soon fell out of favor, as the civil rights movement started to gain momentum. And then the era of the Blaxploitation film was born.
Blaxploitation Films & Beyond
The rise of Black Exploitation films – shortened to Blaxploitation – saw a revival in the Black film experience. These films were filled with Black characters, culture, music, and style.
Arguably the best Blaxploitation film of all time, Shaft (1971), was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square and is about a cool detective working to snatch Harlem back from the clutches of the mob. The titular character was played by the powerhouse Richard Roundtree, who was kind enough to take part in one of the HarlemAmerica Digital Network’s podcasts, “What’s Hot! HarlemAmerica with G. Keith Alexander.” You can listen to the full episode on-demand here.
Blaxploitation films were fun and exciting, but like with the Harlem theaters, these movies were typically created by white filmmakers, which meant the money being made off those films went right out of the neighborhoods they were depicting and into the hands of non-Black film companies.
Though these films carry a special weight in the culture of Black cinema, many strides have been made in the last 50 years to ensure that Black filmmakers, artists, actors, and producers are closing the gaps in wages and success that have been present since the Civil War. The eras of Black film have rich and complicated histories, but many of them had a foothold in Harlem.
Black Film and Entertainment Today
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