[image from aina jaharah at flickr]
1. Cover Stars: This cover stands out to me because you can see the embers on Dandridge’s skin from Belafonte’s grip…LOL. This cover’s green background complements the sultriness of DD & HB’s poses – it makes it look earthy and raw. Johnson’s Publications clearly know what they are doing to entice readers!
2. Font: The white cursive-style font that says: “Will Hollywood let Negroes make love?” is embedded with a subversive tone. After all, who needs anyone’s permission to f—? But I think it is clear what the point it – this headline is asking for inclusion into the film world. In 1955. In 2008, it still tastes prescient, with many black people are still asking those same questions in unequal countries all around the world in South America, Africa and Europe.
3. Sensationalisation: The headlines ‘Love life of a midget’ and ‘Confessions of an army nurse’ are the grand-mother and grand-father of silly sounding titles. Then again, look at black gossip blogs like Sandra Rose – headlines from blogs like those use sensationalism to grab readers because that is the only way the know how to hook readers in. Looks like things have not changed that much in the media since 1955!
4. Masthead Title: ‘TAN’ sounds like such a hilarious name. Is this now defunct Johnson publication to referring bronzed skin as Berlusconi was saying about Barack or what? Lol, we could be here for ages reading into what TAN actually means. I don’t know but its immediate implications of being ”tanned” sound uneasy in a colourist sense, if you know what I mean.
5. Gender: On the mag covers of today, a cover like this would stand out like a breath of fresh air…or a sign of the past where the black woman was being held by the black man in a fierce embrace. Then again, DD & HB were promoting their film, Carmen Jones so it makes complete sense for them to be in such a provocative embrace like this.
5 Comments
06/12/2008 at 17:43
@danny, thanks for the links.
28/11/2008 at 22:53
@Monie, I know, it’s gorgeous
I totally agree. You can see the angst and colourism in many covers.
@rawdawg, she is beauty, isn’t she?
28/11/2008 at 19:08
i love me some dd
27/11/2008 at 02:59
I love this cover! This is the first time I’ve seen that cover. I’ve seen TAN on ebay a few times and wondered what the heck it was. lol
It’s so amazing to look at old magazines aimed at Black people. I love looking at the ads. You can really tell a lot about what’s going on at a particular time in history by looking at the advertisments.
And I agree about Sandra Rose. lol
26/11/2008 at 13:48
Hi K, hope all is good!
nice piece.
some interesting (to me anyway) asides that are related….
your post inspired me to do a bit of research, seems like Johnson Publishing pretty much shaped the 50’s – date when it comes to Black publishing and even black enterprise.
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Race-Community-1940-1955-Historical/dp/0226306410
and a bit about a successful woman called Mrs Washington who was an executive at Johnsons
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_7_99/ai_69960928?lstpn=article_results&lstpc=search&lstpr=external&lstprs=other&lstwid=1&lstwn=search_results&lstwp=body_middle
but the true story here i think is Johnson himself son of a sawmill worker and domestic cleaner who went on to found a publishing empire – seems like he is yet another example of what people can do if they put their minds to it. – but i digress, great analysis and i wonder – maybe interview him on the subject of said cover…