The brilliant dancing of the Nicholas Brothers in 1943’s “Stormy Weather.” A radiant Diahann Carroll in her landmark 1960s sitcom “Julia.” Rock legend Jimi Hendrix performing “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).”
These are just some of the big-screen and small-screen gems visitors can see at “Black Film in Focus: Selections from Black Canon and Motor City Cinema,” which is happening this weekend at Newlab at Michigan Central.
The event, which runs from 2 to 5 p.m. on June 14, will combine screenings with a display of artifacts. It is the result of a collaboration between the Black Canon, the Motor City Cinema Society and Michigan Central, the 30-acre technology and cultural hub around the newly restored Michigan Central Station.
The Black Canon is an arts collective devote to “preserving and promoting African American literary, performing, visual and media arts,” as its website states. It was founded by Ali Wheeler and Alima Wheeler Trapp, the son and daughter of the late James E. Wheeler, a Detroiter deeply involved in the arts who amassed a collection of more than 40,000 items over the decades: films, books, posters, lobby cards, photographs, magazines, record albums and more related to Black history and culture.
Wheeler was recognized nationally for his collection, which was the subject of a 1997 Museum of Modern Art exhibition that he helped curate. Ali Wheeler recalls how he and his sister attended the opening reception, where Spike Lee, Cicely Tyson, Geoffrey Holder and many other notable arts and entertainment figures were among the guests.
Alima Wheeler Trapp says her father’s passion for collecting eventually became a full-time profession. She and her brother still marvel at the fact that he was able to find so many treasures in the era before the internet, when, as she describes, “he had to be super creative” and make phone calls, write letters, go to estate sales and use classified ads to seek rare item.
After his death in 2022 at age 80, the siblings launched the Black Canon and later created its nonprofit branch, the Black Canon Collection. They are dedicated to the mission of curating, preserving and archiving their father’s collection.
“This is kind of an overall sampling of the type of films and media that we have,” says Ali Wheeler of the June 14 event, noting that much of what will be featured is either rare or little known, like the 1973-74 “Shaft” TV series. Few people remember that Richard Roundtree, the John Shaft of the 1971 hit movie, also played the character on the small screen.
Ali Wheeler and Alima Wheeler Trapp will be at the event to talk about their father and introduce several themed screenings that will cover topics ranging from Black movie trailers to Black music on film to Black representation on the small screen and more. Tickets are $15 and available at the Michigan Central website.
Visitors will be able to watch clips from the 1971 documentary, “Black Music in America: From Then Till Now,” which features performances by Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong and Sly Stone (who died on June 9) and his Family Stone.
There also will be screening of vintage trailers for classic movies like “Mahogany” and “Cooley High,” both from 1975.
Other treasures on the schedule? Clips from landmark TV series like the 1968-71 comedy “Julia,” which broke new ground for Black actresses by starring Carroll as a widowed Black nurse, and “Room 222,” an ensemble comedy-drama from 1969-74 set in a diverse California high school that gave prominent roles to Black actors Lloyd Haines and Denise Nicholas.
The final screening of the day will conclude the climactic scene from “Stormy Weather” with Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers, whose dance number from the movie’s ending scene is ranked as one of the greatest in Hollywood history.
“It’s a fantastic finale to end on a super-high note,” says Alima Wheeler Trapp.
Taking over their father’s collection has been a huge task for the brother and sister, who have consolidated three different storage units and objects stored throughout their father’s house into one warehouse.
“It’s overwhelming, but it’s a task that we have a passion for because we know he spent more than half his life accumulating these items and trying to keep them in a state where they were preserved,” says Ali Wheeler.
The siblings credit John Monaghan, a director of the Motor City Cinema Society and a friend of their dad, for his instrumental role in the ongoing task of curating and archiving the collection. Monaghan curated the selections for the event at Newlab, the tech center for start-ups located next to Michigan Central Station at 2050 Fifteenth Street in Detroit.
In addition to the screenings, “Black Film in Focus” also will have items on exhibit that are tied to the film clips, like a “Room 222” comic book.
“Michigan Central has been amazing in picking this (event) up, to help us get it on a broader stage and get the word out,” says Alima Wheeler Trapp.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rare clips from Black-themed films, TV shows to be featured at Michigan Central
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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