PAUL ROBESON / SHOWBOAT (1936) – 2

[Hollywood: Universal Pictures, 1936]. Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) linen-backed keybook photo. A little wear at edges, NEAR FINE.

Portrait of Paul Robeson from the famous “Ol’ Man River” sequence. Director James Whale brilliantly inter-cut this scene so that images of Robeson seated and singing are alternated with images of the oppression of Black people. Here Robeson is standing by a broken down saloon whose customers are Black. “You gets a little drunk and land in jail,” he sings, as this image flashes on the screen.