Photograph of a theater marquee promoting Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A color photograph captured by Melvin Van Peebles of a movie theater marquee promoting its showing of Van Peebles' film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. The image depicts the marquee of the Loew's Holly Theater in Hollywood, California. "LOEW'S HOLLY" appears in white text against a red background at the very top of both sides of the two-sided, gold-edged marquee. The main part of the marquee has red text on a white background, reading [A FILM OF / MELVIN VAN PEEBLES / "SWEET SWEETBACK'S / BAADASSSSS SONG"]. The marquee appears above the street entrance of the red brick building and in front of the light grey-ish blue second-story facade. There is a white, arched panel with a black lantern-style light set into the center of the building. A handwritten inscription on the verso reads [Hollywood].

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