Research Catalog

Kenn Freeman photograph collection

Title: Kenn Freeman photograph collection [graphic].
Author: Freeman, Kenn, 1917-
Publication: [192-?]-[1985]

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Item details
Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 1	Picture	Use in library	Sc Photo Kenn Freeman Collection	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 2	Picture	Use in library	Sc Photo Kenn Freeman Collection	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints

Details

Additional Authors

Found In

p1tc Freeman, Kenn, 1917-1991 Kenn Freeman papers, 1930-1988 (CStRLIN)NYPW02-A106

Subject

Genre/Form

Portrait photographs – 1920-1989.
Group portraits – 1930-1989.
Snapshots – 1920-1989.
Publicity photographs – 1940-1979.
Photographic postcards.
Erotica.
Gelatin silver prints – 1920-1989.
Dye coupler prints – 1950-1989.
Dye diffusion transfer prints – 1970-1989.
Instant camera photographs – 1960-1969.
Halftone photomechanical prints.
Inscriptions.
Pastel drawings.
Gelatin silver film negatives.
Dye coupler negatives.

Note

Title devised by cataloger.
Some photographs bear photographer's or photography studio's hand stamp on verso, and/or blindstamp on recto; some images have photography studio name printed on recto. Some items bear handwritten or printed notations on verso; some images have handwritten captions or inscriptions on recto. Some images are cropped; some items are attached to photo album pages; some photographs are duplicates.
The collection contains work by L. St. Clair Dummett, Bloom Studio, Yvonne of London, Coleman's Atomic Photos, and Elcha, New York, among others.

Terms of Use (note)

Some items are restricted; permission of copyright holder needed for duplication.

Biography (note)

Kenneth James Freeman, actor, dancer and director, was born in 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother was actress and model Bee Freeman, known as the "Sepia Mae West," who introduced him to acting. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Freeman joined the 1946-1947 national touring company of the Broadway production of "Anna Lucasta," subsequently joining later productions of the play, as cast member, stage manager or director, during the late 1940s to the 1950s. During this time, he also acted or directed in various Off Broadway and British-based theatrical productions; appeared in motion pictures and television; did a series of singing and dancing nightclub appearances; and, through the 1980s, served as historian for the Negro Actors Guild in New York. After a long illness, Freeman died at an Actors Fund nursing home in New Jersey in 1991.

Linking Entry (note)

Forms part of: Kenn Freeman Papers, 1930-1988.

Local note

Sc MG 262

Call Number

Sc Photo Kenn Freeman Collection

OCLC

NYPG00-F384

Author

Freeman, Kenn, 1917-

Title

Kenn Freeman photograph collection [graphic].

Imprint

[192-?]-[1985]

Description

575 items (.7 lin. ft., 2 boxes)

79 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ; 26 x 21 cm. and smaller.

32 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. and smaller.

104 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w, some hand-col. ; 18 x 13 cm. and smaller.

97 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w, some hand-col. ; 13 x 18 cm. and smaller.

114 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ; 9 x 9 cm. and smaller.

45 photographic prints : col. ; 26 x 21 cm. and smaller.

30 dye diffusion transfer prints : col. ; 10 x 11 cm. and smaller.

2 instant camera photographs : b&w ; 11 x 9 cm.

7 photographic postcards : b&w ; 14 x 9 cm. and smaller.

1 halftone photomechanical print : b&w ; 14 x 12 cm.

1 news clipping : halftone, b&w ; 20 x 8 cm.

3 postcards : col. ; 11 x 15 cm. and smaller.

2 photo matchbooks : b&w ; 6x6 cm.

1 pamphlet : halftone, b&w ; 11 x 16 cm. folded, 44 x 16 cm. open.

1 drawing : pastel and pencil, col. ; 35 x 26 cm.

16 negatives : col. ; 2 x 2 cm.

40 negatives : b&w ; 26 x 21 cm. and smaller.

Organized into two series: I. Personal photographs, 1920s-1980s ; II. Professional activities, 1946-1980s.

Summary

The Kenn Freeman Photograph Collection mainly depicts some aspects of his personal life and his career as an actor and entertainer, from around the 1920s to the mid-1980s. The collection consists of individual and group portraits and candid shots of Freeman; his mother, actress Bee Freeman; personal friends; colleagues in the entertainment field; and sailors and soldiers. Also depicted are publicity photographs and candid views of touring theatrical productions; views of social gatherings, parties and vacations; some street scenes and cityscapes of American and European cities; some views of military life; and interior views of individual dwellings and an office space. Views of Kenn Freeman's early life and Bee Freeman's theatrical career are limited; the collection lacks views of his television and movie career.

The Personal series includes a studio portrait and a snapshot of Kenn Freeman as a pre-adolescent child (ca. 1920s); studio portraits and snapshots of Freeman during his service in the United States Navy (1943-1945); studio portraits of Freeman, most probably used for publicity or résumé purposes, including shots of him in character for various roles (ca. 1940s to 1950s); undated studio portraits of Bee Freeman that were probably used for publicity purposes; several snapshot portraits of Freeman, at various locations, probably taken during the 1940s to the 1980s; individual and group candid shots of Bee Freeman, some with friends or acquaintances, taken during the 1940s to the 1970s; and candid shots and snapshots of both Bee and Kenn Freeman (ca. 1940s to 1970s).

The series also includes individual and group portraits of friends; candid views of social gatherings, private parties and some outdoor activities; some snapshot and postcard views of cites, including Los Angeles, Paris and London; a small group of images depicting United Staes Navy sailors on review or recreating (ca. 1940s); and a limited number of snapshots of men in homoerotic poses. A portion of the series consists of studio and candid portraits of military men, mostly African American sailors, who were probably Navy friends of Freeman.

The Professional activities series consists mainly of studio portraits, production scenes and candid shots taken during the national and overseas tours of the theatrical production "Anna Lucasta," from 1946 to 1947, and, possibly, 1949 and 1954. Kenn Freeman joined the company in mid-1946. The series includes some inscribed studio portraits of cast members from the 1946 Chicago production, including Hilda Simms, Frederick O'Neal, Earle Hyman, Roy Allen, Janice Kingslow and Claire Leyba; Freeman backstage with fellow cast member Ruby Dee, probably at the Nixon Theatre in Pittsburgh, during the 1946-1947 national tour; candid shots and group portraits from a cast party given at Blackshears Supper Club, San Francisco (1947); candid shots and group portraits of the cast during the British tour in the fall of 1947, including a visit to Oxford Castle; production sills from the 1947 London production, featuring Freeman, O'Neal, Simms, Leyba, Frank Silvera, Georgia Burke, Babe Wallace, John Proctor and Eddie Banks; and production scenes from some undated performances. Other cast members depicted in scenes or candid shots include Ossie Davis, Edith Whiteman, Laura Bowman, Warren Coleman, Anita Turner, Yvonne Machen, John Tate, Betty Haynes, Claire Jay, Maxwell Glanville, Reginald Fenderson and Bee Freeman, among others. Also depicted in some group shots are singer/actress Lena Horne and her husband, arranger/composer Lennie Hayton.

The series also depicts Kenn Freeman in an unidentified club performance with Louis Haase; in costume, standing on a fire escape, during "Anna Lucasta's" run in San Francisco (1947); with Bee Freeman, Lorenzo Tucker and other cast members of the "Borcht Circute Production" Stanley Woolf Players, during curtain call (n.d.); and in a series of snapshots, from an unidentified play, that also feature Claudia McNeil, Robert Brown, Floyd Ennis, Greg Hunter, William Hurston, Richard Ward and Eva White. Also included are a group of snapshots depicting the office of the Negro Actors Guild in New York (ca. late 1970s), showing Freeman, who was the Guild's historian; candid portraits of the office staff; views of a memorial service; and views of pictures and memorabilia on the walls. The series also has a group of studio portraits, most inscribed, of other entertainment friends of Freeman, including dancer Paul Meeres, composer/author Sammy Heyward, jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge and calypso musician Massie Patterson.

Terms Of Use

Some items are restricted; permission of copyright holder needed for duplication.

Biography

Kenneth James Freeman, actor, dancer and director, was born in 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother was actress and model Bee Freeman, known as the "Sepia Mae West," who introduced him to acting. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Freeman joined the 1946-1947 national touring company of the Broadway production of "Anna Lucasta," subsequently joining later productions of the play, as cast member, stage manager or director, during the late 1940s to the 1950s. During this time, he also acted or directed in various Off Broadway and British-based theatrical productions; appeared in motion pictures and television; did a series of singing and dancing nightclub appearances; and, through the 1980s, served as historian for the Negro Actors Guild in New York. After a long illness, Freeman died at an Actors Fund nursing home in New Jersey in 1991.

Linking Entry

Forms part of: Kenn Freeman Papers, 1930-1988.

Local Note

Sc MG 262

Connect to:

Request Appointment

Added Author

Coleman, B. Photographer

Dummett, L. St. Clair. Photographer

Kriegsmann, James J. Photographer

McBean, Agnus, 1904-1990. Photographer

Rogers, Houston. Photographer

Russell, Houston. Artist

Tucker, Lorenzo. Photographer

Bloom (Chicago, Ill.)

Chidnoff (New York, N.Y.)

Coleman's Atomic Photos (San Mateo, Calif.)

Elcha (New York, N.Y.)

Gashion (Chiswick, London)

Ship's Service Studio (San Francisco, Calif.)

Yvonne (London, U.K.)

Found In:

p1tc Freeman, Kenn, 1917-1991 Kenn Freeman papers, 1930-1988 (CStRLIN)NYPW02-A106

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Kenn Freeman Collection

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