DukeEllington Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm typically a fan of all the movie-related stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service, and I'm very glad to read the news that important early African American movie stars are being recognized and celebrated with a new series of 42-cent stamps (see them all here). However, I am a little disappointed that it carries on the usual exclusion of mostly forgotten non-musical race films, which are a significant part of both film history and African American history. Considering the stamps are tagged "Black Cinema USA," a number of people may assume this was the height of what African Americans were offered in the first half of the 20th century (Oscar Micheaux deserves a stamp).

Gripes aside, though, it is nonetheless a wonderful set. The five stamps feature vintage poster designs from old movies starring musical artists Josephine Baker (Princess Tam-Tam), Duke Ellington (Black and Tan) and Louis Jordan (Caldonia), plus King Vidor's monumental Oscar-nominated musical, Hallelujah! (it was one of the rare studio films featuring an all black cast) and the 1921 silent film The Sport of the Gods. In previous, separate years, Showboat costars Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel have also received their own postage stamps.

The new stamps come out Wednesday and there will be a ceremony on their behalf that day at the Newark Museum, which is currently holding the 34th annual Newark Black Film Festival. The festival is also holding free screenings of Hallelujah on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

A few years ago, a film student named Jeremy Donner stumbled upon information about a US government-sponsored tour that Duke Ellington took to the Middle East - including Iraq - in 1963. What made an already interesting story even more fascinating, however, was the recently-unearthed revelation that the CIA apparently had spies in the band while it toured, thus using Ellington's popularity to gain access to parts of the world not usually open to Americans. Donner tracked down a State Department official who was with the Ellington band on that tour, and put together a pitch centered on whether or not Ellington knew about the spooks. (A pitch that New Line, not being fools, recently bought.)

The studio plans to turn the pitch into a movie called The Jazz Ambassadors, which will have a screenplay by Donner himself. Antoine Fuqua (who, in the lingering aftermath of King Arthur, really could use a hit) is in talks to direct, and Morgan Freeman will both produce and play Ellington in the film.

The story sounds great, as does the presence of Freeman - it'll be interesting to see, though, how the state of the world affects our reactions to this movie when it finally comes out. Three years from now, say, it's impossible to know how we'll view Iraq, American spies, or even the Middle East in general.