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Stax features 70s exhibit for Black History Month

By John Scruggs

Stax features 70s exhibit for Black History Month
 
Memorabilia from an influential film genre will usher in Black History Month as the Stax Museum of American Soul Music opens its newest exhibit.

The blaxpoitation films of the 1970s are coming to Memphis this week in the traveling exhibit Funky Films and Soundtracks of the 70s. The exhibit, on loan from Separate Cinema in Hyde Park, NY, is a collection of more than 50 large format original posters from classic films of the genre, including "Shaft", "Foxy Brown", "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" and "Cleopatra Jones."

"In trying to collect all of this material, we're representing a period in the history of black actors' and audiences' experiences in film," said John Kisch, founder and owner of Separate Cinema. "This history is constantly changing from the early days of silent films to where we are today."

Separate Cinema, the owner of the collection, has the most extensive collection of African-American film memorabilia in the world.

The exhibit's stop in Memphis makes perfect sense given Stax's production and recording of numerous soundtracks for films of the era.

"Stax became the financier of soundtracks and films, the producer of soundtracks and films, the promoter of soundtracks and films that started and maintained the black film revival from 1968 - 1975," said Al Bell, former president of Stax Records. "Memphis music and films became inextricably one."

Stax Records, an icon in the integration of musicians and producers, embodied much of the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. "With the prominence of the Civil Rights Movement, black actors and audiences were looking for a hero who could give some ground to the movement on screen," said Kisch. "These films created screen heroes that were desperately needed."

As a way for inner-city audiences to see accurate reflections of the day-to-day life of African-Americans, blaxpoitation films depended heavily on their soundtracks to round out these on-screen representations.

"Stax and other labels were very prominent in creating the funky sound that was about the streets, attitudes, wild clothing and hair of the times," said Kisch. "Shaft played a large portion of why this became so successful."

Kisch said that representatives from the Stax Museum and Separate Cinema met on mutual ground in deciding to bring the exhibit to Memphis. "I met Nashid (Nashid Madyun, director of the Stax Museum) at an American Association of Museums tradeshow and we started talking," Kisch said. "It seemed like a match made in heaven."

Former Stax president Al Bell said that the label took an interest in films of the early 70s when others would not.

"When others were not willing to invest in these films, Stax said yes," Bell said. "Before MTV and BET, our smartest business move was to cross promote the music of Stax through films."

Bell cites John Singleton, Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino as directors who have drawn inspiration from the blaxpoitation genre. The Stax museum will celebrate the new exhibit and the beginning of Black History Month with an opening reception Friday night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is $10 and free to museum members. The opening reception and party will be broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio's Soul Street program. Memphis DJ Mr. White will provide music from the exhibit's era.

On Feb. 26, the Stax Museum and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will host the Blaxpoitation Film Festival at the Brooks with screenings of "Shaft", "Foxy Brown" and "Cleopatra Jones."

For additional information about either event, call the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at 901-942-7685