This lot will be auctioned on Friday, April 19th. The auction will begin at 9:30am PST and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on April 18th.

Lobby Cards (8), Lobby Cards (4) (11" x 14" )
Very Good+
Toddy Pictures, 1942 & 1948

One of the Creeps cards has a large chip in the upper left edge, and another has several pinholes in the corners. Two are faded, and one is printed in a blue tone. Four of the She's Too Mean cards have been trimmed, and one has a small tear on the left edge.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, segregated theaters that catered to black audiences by showing "race films," typically featuring all-black casts often, but not always, made by black directors and primarily financed by white-owned businesses (much like the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s). The films of pioneering black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux found a home in these theaters, as did countless other movies that existed outside the mainstream. Stars like Herbert "The Bronze Buckaroo" Jeffries, Moms Mabley, Pigmeat Markham, and Mantan Moreland (whose bulging eyes made him instantly recognizable) were able to step out of the limited roles they found in typical Hollywood pictures as servants, sidekicks, or comic relief, in movies aimed at an audience that welcomed them. It's estimated that more than 500 race pictures were made during the years of segregated theaters by approximately 150 independent production companies. Sadly, fewer than 100 of these fascinating films still exist today.

Estimate: $200 - 400
View all lots from SHE'S TOO MEAN FOR ME

View all lots from The Black Cinema Genre