In 1972, filmmaker William Greaves arranged what we now know was one of the great parties of the 20th century: He commandeered the Harlem apartment of Duke Ellington and arranged for a special group of old friends and colleagues, many of whom had not seen one another in 50 years, to reconnect.
asserted
many → arrange → years
The invitees were key figures of the Harlem Renaissance, including muralist Aaron Douglas, poet and novelist Arna Bontemps, society editor Gerri Major, jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake, and many more.
asserted
invitees → include → Douglas
Greaves’ aim was to film the event—he appointed his son, David, as one of the cinematographers—and turn it into a documentary that would serve not just as a record of how these people lived and what they accomplished, but as a way of thinking about how we honor those who are a repository for our past.
asserted
who → film → past
This group of people laughing, arguing, and reminiscing about a great era of American history—and also about members of their cohort who were long gone—recaptured lightning in a bottle.
asserted
who → laugh → bottle
And yet the resulting film, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, is one we almost didn’t see.
asserted
we → result → Harlem
Greaves, who’d made a name for himself with experimental documentaries like Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), as well as establishing the pioneering public television program Black Journal, considered his Harlem Renaissance film to be one of the most important projects of his life.
asserted
film → make → life
But although he worked on it off and on for years, he wasn’t able to complete it before his death, in 2014.
asserted
he → work → 2014
At last, the film he envisioned has been brought to life by David Greaves and his daughter—William’s granddaughter—producer Liani Greaves.
asserted
he → envision → Greaves
It’s history that breathes.
asserted
that → ’ → ?
Ellington's elegantly appointed flat fills up quickly; for the viewer, it’s like dropping into a party right in the middle, as clusters of beautifully dressed people greet one another, embracing, laughing, talking.
asserted
clusters → appoint → people
(Ellington himself was ill and unable to attend.)
asserted
Ellington → attend → ?
The guests make themselves at home: Photographer James Van Der Zee, who took extraordinary portraits of the major “show people” of the 1920s, as well as everyday citizens of Harlem, steps up to Ellington’s piano and runs through a few graceful, rippling phrases.
asserted
who → make → phrases
We learn that he was trained as a classical musician before turning to photography, just one reminder of the ways people in the arts often need to find a means to support themselves—and sometimes those means can leave us with a lasting record of an era, as we can see from Van Der Zee’s gorgeous, expressive portraits, which flash on the screen like a blessing.
asserted
which → learn → blessing
Painter and activist Richard Price Nugent, when asked what it was like to be a part of the Renaissance, can’t really say.
asserted
it → ask → Renaissance
“While you’re living it, it is the now,” he reflects.
asserted
he → live → it
Actor Leigh Whipper, the first Black man to join Actors Equity and one of the oldest in the group, and publisher and bookseller Richard B. Moore, recite long poems and passages from the era by memory.
asserted
Whipper → join → memory
Moore calls up Claude McKay’s brilliant, lacerating poem “If We Must Die” as if he’d just learned it yesterday, but you know he’s been living with it for years.
asserted
he → call → years
Conversations swell through the room in waves, often prompted by Greaves himself, who was not just a filmmaker but also a poet and sculptor, a man who acted and danced.
asserted
who → swell → Greaves
(The film has been brilliantly edited by Anne DeMare and Lynn True.)
asserted
film → edit → DeMare
Ida Mae Cullen, the peppery widow of poet Countee Cullen, pipes up to remind the group, vigorously, that the Harlem Renaissance really lasted for just one decade, the 1920s, though its ripples began years before and resonated for decades after.
asserted
ripples → pip → decades
At one point, a vigorous yet civil cross-talking argument breaks out over the principles and philosophy of Back-to-Africa activist Marcus Garvey: there’s mutual respect in this room, but no such thing as consensus.
asserted
argument → talk → consensus
Among other things, Once Upon a Time in Harlem might make you yearn for an era when people, including intellectuals, really knew how to dress: society editor Major, resplendent in a bold, patterned dress, sports about 10 glittery bracelets on each wrist and pulls it off with aplomb.
uncertain
Major → make → aplomb
What’s striking about Once Upon a Time in Harlem is the seemingly casual quality most of these captured conversations.
asserted
’s → ’ → conversations
Regina Andrews, a regal woman decked out in a white lace dress and vivid turquoise earrings and necklace, speaks of the job she started as a young woman, as a librarian at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library.
asserted
she → deck → Library
Shortly after she was hired, her superiors explained that certain poets and authors would often come to the library to work; they had special rooms reserved for them.
asserted
they → hire → them
She and her roommate became friendly with many of these luminaries, among them Cullen and Langston Hughes, and would often host little get-togethers in their apartment.
asserted
She → become → apartment
They didn’t have enough dishes to go around.
asserted
They → have → dishes
And so one New Year’s Day, when Andrews and her friends set out on a tour of the area’s Chinese restaurants, the men—unbeknownst to her—collected a few plates here and a few cups there.
asserted
men → set → plates
Suddenly, Andrews had enough dishes and cutlery for everybody, pieces she treasured for years.
asserted
she → have → years
Maybe that sounds like a minor thing, having enough dishes to entertain your friend group of poets and writers.
asserted
that → sound → poets
But as Andrews tells that story, it feels anything but small.
asserted
it → tell → story
“It was just the joy of living and creating together,” she explains—as good a summation as any of what it must have been like to be alive in such a glorious time, a “now” that, thanks to Greaves and his family, becomes a part of our lives too.
asserted
that → live → lives
The Aporia
_ONCE_UPON_A_TIME_IN_HARLEM_Courtesy_of_NEON.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
