Have you ever come across someone in your life who is just so full of bitterness that all they say or touch is miserable? And you wonder, what made someone like this? The Pawnbroker, (1964) tells a story of just such a person. Sol Nazerman played by a much talented, but most underrated, Rod Steiger, used to be a successful professor in Europe during WW II. Nazerman is a Jew in a world that didn’t want them. He has a beautiful wife, and two angelic children, and other relatives who live a quite life in Europe, until the Nazis came and literally tore the family apart. One of his children dies in transit to the concentration camp, his wife is raped in front of him and eventually killed. His other child is never heard from again.

Twenty years have passed and Sol is now a bitter pawnbroker in NYC, right in the thick of things. Poverty, pain, drugs, alcohol, prostitution, anguish, also live in the neighbor Sol works in. But to a bitter Sol, he sees nothing, he feels nothing.  Sol’s eager assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sanchez) is looking for a way to get rich quick. Jesus is a Puerto Rican immigrant living with his mother in a rat and roach infested apartment in Harlem. He wants out. He had a few break-ins with the law, but wants the straight, but narrow road. He finds Sol hardened, and bitter, but feels Jews, as Sol is, know how to get rich and quick. After all, it comes easy for as he put it, “you people.” Jesus sees Sol not only as a teacher, but as a father, to only be pushed away by Sol whenever he tries to get close. Eventually Jesus gets tired of being pushed away, and it leads him to making horrible decisions. Both Sol and Jesus are trapped in there desires. Sol lives in the past preventing him from moving forward in life. Jesus wants to move ahead too fast which ultimately causes him to act impulsively.

Sol feels nothing for the poor souls who enter his shop with their prized and last possessions. Each soul that entered Sol’s shop were like dead men walking. Lifeless and hopeless. But Sol acts like he doesn’t care, he pretends to love money more than people, after all, this is what was expected of a Jew. As mean as he is with the poor creatures, he manages to garner our sympathy because in fact, it is he who is slave to a real genuinely greedy man, a low life gangster, Rodriguez (Brock Peters) whose violence and brutal ways paralleled those of the Nazis which still haunted Sol’s days and nights.

The director, Sidney Lumet was quite daring in this film. He manages to crush the day’s stereotypes of  Jews, Blacks and Latinos. For the first time in Hollywood history a movie depicted the underclasses in a realistic manner. Struggling Latinos and Blacks in Harlem just fighting each day to put food on the table. And in these neighborhoods it meant that these souls would sell their memories to Sol just to survive. To some, a radio, candle sticks, etc, may seem worthless, but to these people it was worth a fortune. But to Sol, their memories meant nothing compared to his. We relive Sol’s concentration camp past through a series of heartbreaking flashbacks.

I found the film to be moving, and realistic. The New York City scenes are the perfect backdrop to a story of a powerful city filled with powerless people, it brought back a lot memories for me. Looking at poverty and hopelessness 3 D can be heartbreaking, but enlightening. Steiger’s performance makes the movie. Steiger played the role of Sol so intensely you’ll forget he’s acting. He deserved the Oscar that year for sure, he lost to Lee Marvin, unjustly so. Lument was brave enough to make the world face a subject they much rather had forgotten. And made us realize that the real tragedy is what we make of our suffering.

I’ve always been curious of the 1951 Classic TV show Amos N Andy. I know it was a great show and many loved it, many which were and are African American. So what happened to Amos n Andy and what was all the raucous about?

Let’s step back in time here. Amos n Andy were first on the radio from 1928-1950 and the ratings were high for the funny show of two black guys who lived in a farm in the south, who one day decide to head out to the big city of Chicago with just $24.00. Sounds good so far, only one problem, the two black guys were played by two white guys, Freeman Gosden, and Charles Correll. They not only voiced Amos n Andy, they also wrote the script for the show. And the show was an instant hit. Everything stopped in America when the show came on. But let’s face it, the fact that the characters were played by white guys which appeared in black-face in a series of movies, was insulting to America’s black communities, who at the time were engaged in an emerging civil rights movement.

CBS decides to get real, or shall we say take a chance at “being real.” They felt if the funny story of Amos n Andy was coming to TV, the characters should all be black, period. CBS pays a fortune for the television rights and assembles an awesome all black cast, Alvin Childress as Amos, Spencer Williams, Jr. as Andy, Tim Moore as “Kingfish” Stevens, and Johnnie Lee as the fast-talking lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun and others.

At the time there weren’t many black actors on TV sitcoms, although there were some, the roles they played were that of maids, or butlers. Amos n Andy like most 1950′s comedies had, an all-encompassing set of funny characters and goofy plot lines, but it did portray African Americans as lawyers, doctors, and business owners, something that was never seen until this show. And not one show had anything to do with race. And both white and black audiences loved the show.

At the time however, many civil rights leaders didn’t like, no matter how popular the show was, a show which portrayed blacks as half-wits. The leaders felt that blacks should be given other serious roles on television, not just comedic ones. And because of the history of Amos n Andy (white playing black) the civil rights leaders saw it as a part of TV that blacks should not participate in, if anything, it was a history they wanted to erase and blot out of their minds for good.

CBS succumbed to the pressures of the civil rights leaders in 1953, just two years after a successful start, the show was canceled. CBS distributed the reruns in syndication and the ratings shot through the roof on local stations. Again the black leaders demanded the series be completely removed and in 1966 CBS does despite the economic impact for them as well as there affiliates.

I am getting the Amos N Andy DVD collection because from what I hear it is a funny show, one that many say rivals “Seinfeld.” Here is my take on what happened in 1953. Let’s put aside the color and look at the characters for a minute. I am sure that for every negative attribute in Amos n Andy, there was one corresponding sitcom with white males being portrayed the same way. Think Costello, or Ralph Kramden for instance. If anything the fact the show was removed was an injustice for the black community. Think about it, we had to wait until the 80′s to see blacks living a middle class life when America was introduced to “Cosby.” But I always say in order for us to understand events which happened in history, we must look through that time’s prism. And so, I do understand the urgency and fear the civil rights leaders had. But I tell you , when you see today’s TV crap, one just longs to sit and watch true talent and comedy of a bygone era, no matter how the contemporaries of the 50′s felt about it. And I still say, it was much ado about nothing, and sadly we will never know the positive impact it could’ve had.

Update: I got to watch a few episodes and Amos n Andy is hilarious!  You will fall in love with the half-wit, but lovable Andy, con-man, but extremely funny, “Kingfish,”  fast-talking, preacher like, Calhoun, and Amos, the quiet and philosophical cabdriver. Awesome writing and cast. I LOVE the show!

When the film was first released in 1964, interracial marriage was considered a social problem. In fact, at the time it was quite daring for a film to talk about it in such an open and honest way. Julie, a white woman played by Barbara Berrie divorces her loser husband, Joe, played by Richard Mulligan. You see her husband, wants out. He feels tied down and even blames her for the “misfortune” in his life. She gives him a divorce so that he can live out his “dream” life. He leaves her and her little daughter and goes off to South America. For a while Julie received money from Joe, but that soon stopped and Julie returns to work.

At work Julie meets Frank. Frank is a quiet, insightful, and loving African American man, played poignantly by Bernie Hamilton. They fall in love and in spite of the social implications, they marry. Frank’s parents have a period of adjustment when Julie moves in, but later put their fears to rest, when Frank and Julie have a baby.  Frank becomes the dad to Julie’s daughter, Ellen Mary played lovingly by pretty Marti Maricka. Frank is the dad Ellen Mary didn’t have in her biological father. As far as I am concerned Joe was just a sperm donor, Frank was a father. Frank’s parents become Ellen Mary’s grandparents. She even calls them grandma and grandpa, and doesn’t even notice the difference in the color of their skin. Love has no color lines! All this sounds great, but you couldn’t help noticing how isolated they all lived in this beautiful farm, away from the cruel world. A world that wasn’t ready to accept that two people can love each other in spite of their color.

Joe penetrates the pseudo fortress like farm one day when he returns 4 years later to see his daughter.  When he meets the family, he is baffled and speechless. He decides his daughter belongs with him. He decides that his daughter will not grow up with a black family. It was unspeakable in his mind, and he was going to be sure he got his daughter back. Joe sues for custody…his argument? It is improper for a child to grow up in such environment! He figured she’d do better with him and his reckless life-style.

Frank tries to put up a fight in court. He knows he doesn’t stand a chance solely because he is black. He knows that his wife Julie will lose her daughter just because of him. Frank becomes desperate, and helpless. He can’t protect his family. The custody trial proved moot for Frank and Julie, the judge sides with Ellen Mary’s father. The judge’s decision was driven solely by the bigotry of the day.

Although we don’t deal with this type of prejudices today, the movie is realistic and quite progressive for the day. It revealed and dissected the race tensions in America much more realistically than “Guess…” Hamilton captured the helplessness and hopelessness of an African-American man in the 60′s in a way I’ve never seen. You “feel” his pain. Some say that the movie was much more sympathetic to Julie than Frank. I totally disagree. The movie did not minimize either side. I felt that both Julie and Frank’s anguish shine through and through. When you watch this film you will feel like you are being transported to a small town in 1964 and are a witness to the prejudices, bigotry, and pride of that time. It’s a gem and unforgettable. Look out for James Earl Jones’ dad, Robert Earl Jones as Frank’s dad.

When a much loved police officer called Mr. Kool by the neighborhood people is horribly murdered, a 15-year-old gang leader, HJ (Ahmed Nurradin) of Galveston, Texas makes it his mission to find the demented killer. HJ realizes he will need more than his small gang to find the killer. He manages to build up enough nerve to ask the Chicano gang leader, Vega, played by gorgeous Richard Yniguez, for help. Soon the gangs unite and have one goal, to find the killer. When one good person is killed in the neighborhood there are no racial barriers. Race issues went out the window. Suddenly they were just all human beings.

The only witness to this horrible killing is HJ’s little 5-year-old brother, Tommy (Anthony Wilson) who is now the killer’s target. While the killer pursues the little boy, the gang gains enough clues to put the killer behind bars. And here is when the movie gets intense.

The performances of Nurradin as the gang leader, and Wilson as his little brother make the movie work. Nurradin captured the anguish and struggle of a young black male in a poor Texas City who had seen the all too real affects of poverty, but managed to keep it together in spite of his reality. His demeanor made him seem older than his years. Wilson as the little brother will make you want to reach out to your TV set and rock him to sleep. There are powerful, funny, and scary, moments in the film. For Barry White fans, you will love the music and songs sung by White like: “Honey, Can’t Ya See,” and “People of Tomorrow Are the Children of Today.” Look out for the eerie music whenever the killer is around.

If you’ve never seen this movie, I recommend you do.

Did you know that back in the day there used to be 600 African-American theatres where “race movies” were featured for the black community? These movies had stars like Lena Horne, Duke Ellington (music), Katherine Dunham and Sammy Davis, Jr. This woman got her hands on the original prints of a silent film produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux titled “Body and Soul,” which gave us Paul Robeson. She also has Micheaux’s first talkie “The Exile.”

In her collection they found her to have 30, 000 rare, and out of print books. She was especially strong on the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, obtaining first editions and correspondence from Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston. She even managed to get the first book ever published in America written by an American of African decent dated 1773. They also found first issues of Ebony, a “How To Box” manual by Joe Louis, and the original movie poster for “Porgy and Bess.”

Everything she collected was original and she didn’t get these items at a fancy auction–she did it “bargain basement” style—bookstores, flea markets, estate sales, and attics. She started her collection because “the universities didn’t seem that interested in African-American artifacts.” It’s a good thing Ms. Clayton thought differently.

Ms. Clayton is gone now, and her son has the task to preserve this history. He’ll have no problem thanks to the help of local and state officials that want this rich history “secured and in a safe environment.” What a treasure trove! This was a woman who wanted her race to know where they came from because like she said in an NPR interview: “Unless you know where you’ve been, you really don’t know where you’re going.”

Like a curator of literary manuscripts stated in an article in SouthCoastToday.com “This is probably the finest collection of African-American literature, manuscripts, film and ephemera in private hands. It is just staggering. It is just superior in every way.” I quite agree–this is one time it paid to be a clutter bug!