Wednesday, February 26, 2014

000033 - Jackie Ormes, First African American Woman Cartoonist

Jackie Ormes (August 1, 1911 – December 26, 1985) is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist, known for her strips Torchy Brown and Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger.
Jackie Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson in the Pittsburgh area town of Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Ormes started in journalism as a proofreader for the Pittsburgh Courier, a weekly African American newspaper that came out every Saturday. Her 1937-38 Courier comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, starring Torchy Brown, was a humorous depiction of a Mississippi teen who found fame and fortune singing and dancing in the Cotton Club.
Ormes moved to Chicago in 1942, and soon began writing occasional articles and, briefly, a social column for the Chicago Defender, one of the nation's leading black newspapers, a weekly at that time. For a few months at the end of the war, her single panel cartoon, Candy, about an attractive and wisecracking housemaid, appeared in the Defender.
By August 1945, Ormes's work was back in the Courier, with the advent of Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger, a single-panel cartoon which ran for 11 years. It featured a big sister-little sister set-up, with the precocious, insightful and socially/politically-aware child as the only speaker and the beautiful adult woman as a sometime pin-up figure and fashion mannequin.
Ormes contracted with the Terri Lee doll company in 1947 to produce a play doll based on her little girl cartoon character. The Patty-Jo doll was on the shelves in time for Christmas and was the first American black doll to have an extensive upscale wardrobe. As in the cartoon, the doll represented a real child, in contrast to the majority of dolls that were mammy and Topsy-type dolls. In December 1949, Ormes's contract with the Terri Lee company was not renewed, and production ended. Patty-Jo dolls are now highly sought collectors' items.
In 1950, the Courier began an eight-page color comics insert, where Ormes re-invented her Torchy character in a new comic strip, Torchy in Heartbeats. This Torchy was a beautiful, independent woman who finds adventure while seeking true love. Ormes expressed her talent for fashion design as well as her vision of a beautiful black female body in the accompanying Torchy Togs paper doll cut outs. The strip is probably best known for its last episode in 1954, when Torchy and her doctor boyfriend confront racism and environmental pollution. Torchy presented an image of a black woman who, in contrast to the contemporary stereotypical media portrayals, was confident, intelligent, and brave.
Jackie Ormes enjoyed a happy, 45-year marriage to Earl Clark Ormes. She retired from cartooning in 1956, although she continued to create art, including murals, still lifes and portraits. She contributed to her South Side Chicago community by volunteering to produce fundraiser fashion shows and entertainments. She was also on the founding board of directors for the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Ormes was a passionate doll collector, with 150 antique and modern dolls in her collection, and she was active in Guys and Gals Funtastique Doll Club, a United Federation of Doll Clubs chapter in Chicago.

Monday, February 10, 2014

000032 - Inez Andrews, Gospel Singer

Inez Andrews (April 14, 1929 – December 19, 2012) was an American gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist. Her soaring, wide-ranging voice — from contralto croon to soul-wrenching wail — made her a pillar of gospel music. The Chicago Tribune stated that "Andrews' throaty contralto made her low notes thunder, while the enormous range of her instrument enabled her to reach stratospheric pitches without falsetto" and that "her dramatic delivery made her a charismatic presence in church and on stage."

Andrews started singing in the church as a child and performed gospel music on the road in various gospel groups from the 1940s before joining The Caravans in 1957. Fellow member from The Caravans in the 1950s, Shirley Caesar, once dubbed Andrews “The High Priestess” for her ability to hit high notes, and, in 2013, stated, "there never was and never will be another voice like Inez Andrews." Another early member of the The Caravans, Albertina Walker often said, "nothing ever worked for the Caravans until Inez started whistling” — hitting the high notes. She sang lead on The Caravans first breakthrough hit, "Mary Don't You Weep", and also had hits as a solo artist with crossover recordings such as "Lord Don't Move That Mountain." She was referred to in 2012 by the New York Times as "the last great female vocalist of gospel’s golden age,” ranking among the likes of other music legends from the "Golden Era" of Black Gospel (1945-1960) - Mahalia Jackson, Marion Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Clara Ward. 

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 14, 1929, Andrews traveled a tough road to gospel stardom. She began singing as a child in church and began songwriting as a young mother in Birmingham. Andrews was working six days a week, ten hours a day for eighteen dollars a week, while "washing, ironing, cooking, keep up with the kids." With her busy life in her youth, she felt that life had to have more to offer her. As she pondered that prayerfully, she picked up "a pencil and a brown paper bag" and began to write. Thus began her songwriting career. Andrews began her singing career in the 1940s with two groups in Birmingham, Alabama; Carter’s Choral Ensemble and the Original Gospel Harmonettes. By the mid-1950s, the Harmonettes were one of the nation’s top gospel groups, with Andrews the understudy for the group’s lead singer, Dorothy Love Coates. Coates recommended Andrews to the Caravans, and she eventually moved north to Chicago to became widely known as that group's first successful singer, leading them to the high of their popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s.  In the 1960s, Andrews solo work and songwriting further ensconced her in the gospel pantheon. Her songs were recorded by many artists, including The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Aretha Franklin.  Andrews became one of the major stars of gospel's golden age, The Caravans songs such as "Lord Keep Me Day By Day", "Remember Me", "I Won't Be Back" and several other hits in which Andrews was lead vocalist, including "Mary Don't You Weep", "I'm Not Tired Yet", "Make It In", "He Won't Deny Me" and "I'm Willing".
In 2006, she released a reunion album with The Caravans, Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood, and original soprano Delores Washington, entitled Paved the Way.  
After a stellar career with the Caravans, she left the group in 1962 and had huge success with her crossover hit, "Lord Don't Move the Mountain". Andrews recorded on many labels after the 1950s and had many albums and hit songs to her credit, some of which she composed herself.

Andrews was a dedicated Christian and family person and raised seven children during her career in gospel music. She died on December19, 2012 at the age of 83.She had been diagnosed with cancer months earlier.  Andrews is survived by seven children, 19 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

In 2002, Andrews was inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame. It was announced prior to her death that Andrews would be honored with the Ambassador Dr. Bobby Jones Legend Award at the 2013 Stellar Awards.  The award ended up being presented posthumously.


The discography of Inez Andrews includes the following:


Studio Albums
  • 1963 - The Need Of Prayer
  • 1964 - Letter To Jesus
  • 1972 - Lord Don't Move That Mountain
  • 1975 - This Is Not The First Time I've Been Last
  • 1979 - Chapter 5
  • 1981 - I Made A Step
  • 1982 - My Testimony
  • 1984 - Lord Lift Us Up
  • 1986 - Jehovah Is His Name
  • 1987 - The Two Sides Of Inez Andrews
  • 1988 - If Jesus Came To Your Town Today
  • 198? - Close To Thee
  • 1990 - A Sinner's Prayer
  • 1990 - Lord Lift Us Up
  • 1990 - My Testimony
  • 1990 - I Made A Step In The Right Direction
  • 1990 - Inez Andrews
  • 1991 - Raise Up A Nation
  • 1991 - Shine On Me

Live Albums
  • 1974 - Live At The Munich Gospel Festival

Compilation Albums
  • 1999 - Headline News
  • 2005 - Most Requested Songs

Singles
  • 1972 - I'm Free / Lord Don't Move The Mountain
  • 1975 - Help Me / God's Humble Servant
  • 1980 - I'm Free / Lord Don't Move The Mountain (re-release)
  • 19?? - Close To Thee

Sunday, February 2, 2014

000031 - Bert Andrews, Photographer of Black Theatre

Bert Andrews (March 21, 1929–January 25, 1993) was an American photographer, who chronicled black theatre in New York City. In a career that spanned over three decades he photographed many of the leading African American actors of the stage and screen including James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Diana Sands, Louis Gossett, Jr., Billy Dee Williams, Morgan Freeman, Alfre Woodard, Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson.

Bert J. Andrews was born in Chicago on March 21, 1929, the son of John and Frieda Andrews. At a young age, he moved to Harlem, where he grew up. His career began in the entertainment industry as a songwriter, singer and a dancer. In the early 1950s, while serving in the army, Andrews began studying photography. 

In 1953, soon after his discharge from the army, Andrews began his work as an apprentice for Chuck Stewart, who was well known for his photography of jazz musicians. He served in that capacity until 1957, when he branched out on his own, photographing among other things, stills for black theatre productions in New York City.

One of his first assignments as a freelance photographer was the 1957 production of the play, Dark of the Moon, which was produced by the YMCA Drama Guild at the Little Theatre. This production was staged by Vinnette Carroll and featured among the cast Cicely Tyson, Roscoe Lee Browne and Clarence Williams III. 

Throughout his long career, Andrews would photograph numerous productions of important plays including The Blacks  (1961), The Blood Knot (1964),To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969), The River Niger (1972), Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976), A Soldier's Play (1982) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984).

His photographs have also appeared in numerous major publications, such as Time, Life, Ebony, Newsweek and the New York Times. 

On January 29, 1985, a fire destroyed his studio at 750 Eighth Avenue at the corner of 46th Street in New York City. Somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 images were lost, spanning roughly thirty years of work. However, through the help of various theatre companies, Andrews was able to obtain prints of a significant number of his photographs including approximately 2,000 from the Negro Ensemble Company. 

In 1988, the Bert Andrews Photographic Collection of Blacks in the Theatre was established at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The following year, a collection of these photographs were published in the book In the Shadow of the Great White Way: Images from the Black Theatre (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1989).

Andrews died of cancer at the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on January 25, 1993 at the age of 63.