Lena Horne "The Bronze Venus" 1949 Cardboard Movie Poster Youngstown Ohio

Description

1949 cardboard movie poster for Lena Horne in "The Bronze Venus" with Ralph Cooper, Lawrence Griner, Basin St. Boys, The Cats and the Fiddle, and All Star Colored Cast. Beautiful full length photo of Ms. Horne. The feature was shown at the Regent Theater in Youngstown, Ohio on May 17-19, 1949 (according to a perpetual calendar). Horne is billed as the Swing Siren of "Cabin in the Sky" and "Stormy Weather." On the same program was "Harlem on the Prairie" with Mantan Mooreland, Herb Jefferies, & F. E. Miller. Also Buck and Bubbles Comedy.
The Bronze Venus was originally released as The Duke Is Tops, a 1938 musical film released by Million Dollar Productions and directed by William Nolte. It was later released in 1943 under the title The Bronze Venus, with Lena Horne given top billing. The film was one of a number of low-budgeted musicals (or "race movies") made in the 1930s and 1940s for the Black-American market. The casts and production teams of these films were almost all black, and the music reflected current tastes in jazz and rhythm and blues.
The movie features the film debut of singer Lena Horne, then just 20, who had yet to develop the smooth, classy style she would distinguish herself with in her later films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Notably, she has a major acting role in this film, something that save for 1943's Cabin in the Sky, Stormy Weather and a few later films she would rarely enjoy. The original top-billed star, Ralph Cooper, was founder and host of Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater for 50 years.
The Regent Theatre opened in the early 1920s and mostly showed Western serials. In the 1940s, it became known as the one of the only movie houses in Youngstown that catered primarily to the city's Black American population. It seated 450 and closed in the late 1960’s. It was demolished for urban renewal of E. Federal Street.
* CONDITION: Very Good+ with a some light staining at the bottom edge, and scuffing and wear on the periphery of the header at the top, only really affecting the name of F. E. Miller as shown. Also two small punched hole areas at the top, no doubt from when this was originally hung and displayed. The holes have been "refilled" with the old cardboard and one of the holes (at the second "n" in Youngstown) has been crudely repaired and supported on the reverse. The other hole is at the bottom of the first "E" in Regent. In both cases, the actual holes are no longer present and cannot been seen through.
* SIZE: Measures approximately 14 x 22 inches.