Call Number:

F0868B

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 item (179 pages)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F0868B, Lew Lipton, Clack America : story, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

approximately 1960-1961 (inclusive)

Creator:

Lipton, Lew, 1893-1961

Form:

Screenplays

Abstract:

American film writer and producer Lew Lipton worked on the ultimately unproduced story and screenplay for "Black America" from 1935 until his death in 1961. Originally titled "Harlem Cavalcade," it follows the story of African American life from 1626 to the 1930s.

American film writer and producer Lew Lipton wrote or adapted over twenty screenplays and was the producer of twenty other films. He was born on February 23, 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, and died in New York City on December 27, 1961.

"Lew Lipton." The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0513858/ (retrieved June 2010).

American film writer and producer Lew Lipton worked on the ultimately unproduced story and screenplay for "Black America" from 1935 until his death in 1961. Originally titled "Harlem Cavalcade," it follows the story of African American life from 1626 to the 1930s.

This script consists of 179 photocopied pages of legal-sized typescript. It also includes two addenda not found in the earlier draft: "Chronological Record of Years," which lists events in Black history from 1626-1937 and "Chronology of Songs and Instrumental Music used in this Motion Picture."

Lipton's story begins in 1626 on the docks of the Dutch community in what is today New York City. What follows are vignettes of major events and the lives of African Americans as they shaped history until about 1938. Individuals depicted in the story include Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, Joe Lewis, Satchel Paige, Cab Calloway, and numerous others. The story ends with an Armistice Day celebration.