Once Upon a Time In Harlem is a Magnificent Glance Backwards to Magic

On my mother’s birthday, I took her to see EUBIE!, a 1978 Broadway musical revue celebrating the music of legendary ragtime composer and pianist Eubie Blake. Conceived by Julianne Boyd, the show featured 23 of his popular songs, including “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and “Memories of You,” showcasing the evolution of African American music in the early 20th century. Eubie Blake was one of my mother’s favs and is well known for his 1920’s musical with Noble Sissle – “Shuffle Along,” which launched the careers Florence Mills and Josephine Baker.  In 2016, the show would be revived and directed by George C. Wolfe with an all-star cast featuring Tony winners Audra McDonald, Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Adrienne Warren in a nod back to the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance is a time in American history that is often revered and dismantled.  Some historians credit it with giving birth to most of our important artists and others deem it as overrated.  In 1972, genre-defying filmmaker Williams Greaves documented a cocktail-salon gathering inside Duke Ellington’s Harlem townhouse where he invited every surviving creator the the Renaissance he col locate.  Many of them had not seen one another in fifty years and for four hours, together in one room the groupe reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape.

Among the more than two dozen present were painter Aaron Douglas; writer, painter and queer cultural pioneer Richard Bruce Nugent; painter and printmaker Ernest Crichlow; painter Romare Bearden; composer and pianist Eubie Blake; composer, bandleader and lyricist Noble Sissle; actor and activist Leigh Whipper; poet, novelist and historian Arna Bontemps; librarian, playwright and community arts leader Regina Andrews; political activist and scholar Richard B. Moore; activist and educator Louise Thompson Patterson; and photographer James Van DerZee; gathered with others whose artistic and intellectual contributions defined a generation.
Greaves’ intent was not only to document the luminaries as they spoke about their lives and work but also to plumb the meaning of this extraordinary creative milieu to help us better understand how culture gets passed on from one generation to another and the role that the artist plays in keeping it alive.

Born in 1926 Harlem, at the height of the Renaissance, Greaves grew up in the shadow of many of the giants he captured on film that day. More than fifty years later, and a decade after his passing, William Greaves Productions has completed the project he began.  Directed by his son, David Greaves, and  guided by his father’s notes and work prints, Greaves created a new film which embodies William’s unique use of cinema. Preserved and digitized over 60,000 feet of previously unseen 16mm footage shot by Williams Greaves in 1972, the preservation was overseen by multi-disciplinary artist and preservationist Bill Brand. Louise passed away in 2023.

Reminiscent to sittin around the kitchen listening to elders, this doc is like watching history unfold right before your eyes from the luminaries who lived through it. One of most devastating pieces of history was learning about race riots/lynching in East St. Louis, Illinois.  This bloody outbreak of violence in East St. Louis, Ill., stemmed specifically from the employment of Black workers in a factory holding government contracts.  It was the worst of many incidents of American racial hostility during World War I that were directed toward Blacks newly employed in war industries. In the riot, whites turned on Blacks, indiscriminately stabbing, clubbing, hanging them, and driving 6,000 from their homes; 40 Blacks and eight whites were killed. Originally from St, Louis, Missouri, this was the first time I had ever been privy to this information.  The unease I felt in the pit of my stomach was devastating. Yet, now that I am aware, it is my responsibility to make sure that generations behind me never forget.

This is the tip of the iceberg of facts dropped in this doc and every fact shared wil remain in my heart forever.  Most importantly, the fact that the first lesson of a critic is appreciation.  Talk about ageism and younger generation need to know their history as some of us died in the fight to obtain the right to stand up for our art.

Once Upon a Time in Harlem is magnificent and the timing couldn’t be more perfect as our country continues to attempt to erase our history from the masses.  But, as long as we have freedom of speech – word of mouth will never get old or out of style.  After all, our culture and the ability to share it is all we have.  Let’s try a little harder to keep art alive and never forget those who helped get us to the present by not discarding the past.