Kenn Freeman papers

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id: 3559
origination: Freeman, Kenn, 1917-1991
date statement: 1930-1988
key date: 1930
identifier (local_mss): 20874
org unit: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
call number: Sc MG 262
b-number: b15404083
total components: 73
total series: 3
max depth: 4
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 15:04:47 UTC
updated: 2019-05-24 17:11:59 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

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unitid: {"value"=>"Sc MG 262", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"20874", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1930/1988", "value"=>"1930-1988"}
date_inclusive_start: 1930
date_inclusive_end: 1988
keydate: 1930
date_start: 1930
date_end: 1988
unittitle: {"value"=>"Kenn Freeman papers"}
physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2.5 lin. ft. (3 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
repository: {"value"=>"The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. <div class=\"address\"> Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801</div>"}
abstract: {"value"=>"The Kenn Freeman Papers, 1930-1988 document Freeman's life as an actor, singer/dancer, writer/director, and costume and set designer. The collection consists of three series; Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Family Papers, and include correspondence, programs, flyers, contracts, writings, scripts, sheet music, scrapbooks, and autograph albums. Correspondence between Kenn and Bea Freeman forms an important part of both the Personal Papers and Family Papers series. The letters show the close personal and professional relationship between mother and son. The bulk of the correspondence covers the years, 1937 to 1950, and was written primarily during the years Kenn was in the United States Navy or in England or when either of them was on tour with a production."}
langmaterial: {"value"=>"Materials in English"}
prefercite: {"value"=>"Kenn Freeman papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}
origination: {"value"=>"Freeman, Kenn, 1917-1991", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>"Kenn (Kenneth) Freeman was a versatile performing artist during the 1940s and 1950s. In addition to his acting career, he was a singer/dancer, writer, and director, and also designed costumes and sets. Freeman's exposure to the theatre began when as a young boy he toured with his mother, the actress, Bee Freeman. As a teenager he joined the Dramatic Society while attending De Witt Clinton High School and was a member of the City College Players during his years at City College. His early ventures in acting began in the period before he joined the United States Navy and included roles in the theatrical productions of: The Youngest, Where the Cross Is Made, Ropes End, and Hell's Half Acre. After his discharge from the Navy in 1945, he appeared in the Broadway and British productions of Anna Lucasta. He also had a role in Because I Am Black, a play performed by the Birmingham Repertory Company in England. Other Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway plays in which Freeman appeared were: Climate of Eden, Greener Grass, Agean Fable, Stevedore, The Philanderer, and Evening with Swans. In the 1950s, Freeman directed several productions of Anna Lucasta in Great Britain. When he returned to the United States, he performed with or had affiliations with several organizations, including the Negro Opera Guild, New York Trade Show, Columbia Concert Bureau, and the Carnegie Recital Hall. He directed a number of plays, among them The Bohemian Girl, Faust, Frankie and Johnny, Imoinda, and Blessed Are the Fruits. He also directed performances of the Carib Singers, New Lafayette Players, and the Stanley Woolf Players. Freeman's career included roles in films and television in: What a Guy (1947), Miracle In Harlem (1948), and in television shows: Phantom of Kenwood, the Nora Morales Show, Poppy Cannon Show, Pulitzer Playhouse, Naked City, Omnibus, Tonight In London, and Caribe Cruise (B. B. C. London). In addition to acting and directing, Freeman wrote dramas and was a scenic and costume designer. Among the scripts he wrote are: 'Tis Cricket; Back Tu Me Mad, Tad; Imoinda; and Blessed Are the Fruits. He designed the costumes and sets for 'Tis Cricket, Imoinda, Calypso Carnival, Cinderella, Theatre of the Soul, as well as others. As a singer and dancer Freeman performed in nightclubs in the United States and Canada. He also gave concerts in New York, at universities and concert halls, and performed with the Negro Opera Guild. His repertoire included voice-overs for Ten Steps to the Gallows (London) and Bimina Baby (a vocal sound tract for Pathe Records). Freeman was active in theatre-related organizations such as the Negro Actors Guild (historian), the Co-Ordination Council for Negro Performers (Secretary) and the Ira Aldridge Society (Public Relations Assistant). He held professional memberships with the British Actors' Equity Association, the Negro Actors Guild of America, Inc., the Screen Actors Guild, and the Actors' Equity Association. He was also active with the Harlem Cultural Council. During the formation of the New Lafayette Players in the 1940s, Freeman was part of the Interim Committee along with Dick Campbell (Chairman), Hilda Simms, Frederick O'Neal, Amil Brown, and others, and also served as a director of that group and contributed articles to its newsletter. Freeman was also drama critic and theatre columnist for the West Indian American newspaper. In the 1980s due to ill health, Freeman became a resident of the Actors Fund Nursing Home in New Jersey. Bee (Beatrice) Freeman was billed as \"The Sepia Mae West\", and worked in vaudeville, theatre, film, and nightclubs. She was married to Kenneth James Freeman and they resided in Boston until shortly after the birth of their son, Kenneth James Freeman, Jr. After Freeman, Jr. was born, the family relocated to New York City, where Freeman began her acting career. After her arrival in New York City, although a novice to the theatre, Freeman was cast in the musical, Shuffle Along (1921). She had impressed the composer Eubie Blake and the lyricist Noble Sissle so much that they wrote a song for her: \"If You've Never Been Vamped By a Brown-Skin Vamp\". Freeman subsequently appeared in Liza (1922) Runnin' Wild (1923), Ole Man Satan, Anna Lucasta (1944) and Dear Ruth (1940s). Her Off-Broadway and summer stock performances included roles in Melinda, High Point, Carib, and Salt and Pepper. Her performance in Melinda caught the eye of filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, who gave her character parts in his films including Lying Lips and The Underworld (1937),. She also appeared as a walk-on in a scene in the film, Emperor Jones (1933). Other films she was in include: Harlem After Midnight (1934) Lem Hawkins Confessions (1935), Temptation (1936), and The Phantom of Kenwood. During World War II like many women Freeman found work in the war industry while she continued to perform in nightclubs. In the fifties her son produced Anna Lucasta in Great Britain and cast her in the role of Theresa, the mother. She was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977. Freeman also volunteered to work with organizations whose primary goal was the betterment of actors' welfare. She served as executive secretary of the Negro Actors Guild and was a board member in 1982. After a long illness, Bee Freeman died in 1986."}
custodhist: {"value"=>"Kenn Freeman."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The Kenn Freeman Papers consist of correspondence, programs, flyers, contracts, writings, scripts, sheet music, scrapbooks, and autograph albums. There are three series; Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Family Papers. The collection contains information about his life before, during and after he began his career in the theatre. Correspondence between Kenn and Bee Freeman forms an important part of both the Personal Papers and Family Papers series. The bulk of the correspondence covers the years, 1937 to 1950, and was written primarily during the years Kenn was in the United States Navy or in England or when either Kenn or his mother were on tour with a production. The letters show the close personal and professional relationship between this mother and son."}

{"value"=>"The Kenn Freeman papers are arranged in three series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20874#c1117585'>Personal Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>Among the Personal Papers are various membership cards, his passport, and resume. His correspondence with his mother describes his activities in Great Britain including information regarding his fellow cast members in the Anna Lucasta productions. There is also information relating to the Department of Rent and Housing documenting his confrontations with that agency and his efforts to retain his mother's apartment following her death in 1986. Other materials in the collection include scrapbooks, a travel diary, and autograph albums. The autograph books are from his school years. The scrapbooks consist of articles, reviews of and programs for Anna Lucasta, photographs, telegrams, programs, sheet music, and letters from his admirers. These items are either pasted or taped to the pages in the scrapbook. Freeman's United States Navy scrapbook contains photocopies of postcards, flyers, invitations, menus, newspaper articles, greeting cards, Navy newsletters, and dried flowers he collected throughout his travels while in the service. The scrapbook has been photocopied and the original has been withdrawn from active use due to its condition. There is also a travel diary of the United States company tour of Anna Lucasta. The entries are primarily for the month of October and contain the addresses of hotels and individuals written in at the end of the book; probably of places where cast members were able to stay while touring with the company due to segregated public accommodations.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20874#c1117598'>Professional Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>Series is divided into five subseries: Anna Lucasta, Writings, Cultural Organizations, Programs and Flyers, and Scripts. The majority of materials document his various roles in Anna Lucasta, 1936-1986 (2 1/2 inches) while he was in Great Britain, 1947 to 1949, and the national tour of the play in the United States. The contents include contracts, programs and playbills, and an itinerary for the United States tour of Anna Lucasta. Play scripts written by Freeman can be found in the Writings, 1961, undated (2 inches) subseries and include 'Tis Cricket (a revue) and Imoinda (a play), both of which he directed. Freeman also wrote articles for Pillbox, a newsletter and The Pepper Pot, a narrative-like script. The Cultural Organizations, 1949-1987 (2 inches) subseries is arranged alphabetically, and contains handbooks, flyers, form letters, constitution, newsletters, programs, membership cards, ballot, by-laws, and minutes that document Freeman's activities with theatre and cultural groups established to improve the welfare of African-American actors and artists. Programs and Flyers, 1936-1981 (1/2 inch) acquired by Freeman and his mother form a significant part of the collection and have been placed here as it was not always clear who had acquired the item. Among copies of the Scripts, undated (4 1/2 inches) are: plays by Townsend Brewster and Cliff Mason, Garson Kanin's The Rat Race, Howard Sackler's The Great White Hope, and Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The scripts are arranged in alphabetical order according to the last name of the scriptwriter or by title when the scriptwriter is unknown.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20874#c1117639'>Family Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>Series primarily consists of letters to Bee Freeman from Kenn, during his service in the United States Navy. There is information on Freeman, her career, and her activities while her son was serving in World War II. Scripts for Oscar Micheaux's Lying Lips and Norman Krasna's Dear Ruth, in which Bee Freeman appeared, can be found here. The series also includes documentation on Kenneth Freeman, Sr.; his death certificate and an honorable discharge record from the United States Army, dated 1918.</div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement: {"value"=>"Collection organized into three series: I. Personal Papers, 1937-1941; II. Professional Papers, 1936-1988; III. Family Papers, 1930-1980", "supress_display"=>true}
acqinfo: {"value"=>"The papers were acquired after Kenn Freeman was taken to a nursing home. Friends called the Schomburg Center and staff members were given access to the apartment where they sorted and packed all relevant materials."}
separatedmaterial: {"value"=>"The item(s) listed below have been sent to the division indicated, either to be retained or disposed of there. Any items that should receive special disposition are clearly marked. Schomburg Photographs and Print Division: Box of photographs and negatives Schomburg Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: Phonograph records, 33 1/3 and 45 rpm Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Division: Sheet Music and programs transferred to Sheet Music and Program and Playbill Collections respectively"}
processinfo: {"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"Processed by Paula Williams, April 2001"}
note: {"type"=>"did", "value"=>"Photographs transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division"}

{"type"=>"did", "value"=>"Phonograph records transferred to the Moving Images and Recorded Sound Division"}
extent_statement: 2.5 linear feet (3 boxes)

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Kenn Freeman papers

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