The Samuel Goldwyn Motion Picture Production of Porgy and Bess: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A full color, hardcover book for the motion picture adaptation of the play Porgy and Bess by Ira and George Gershwin. The film adaptation, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, in 1959 starred Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Diahnn Carroll and Brock Peters. The front and back covers are paperboard covered with laminated plastic. The front cover features a large, color still from the film of the two lead actors, Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge, who play Porgy and Bess. Poitier, who wears an off white collared shirt and brown pants, is kneeling in a doorway next to Dandridge. Dandridge is depicted looking at Poitier and is holding a wooden bucket with a rope handle with both hands. At the top of the front cover is the book title printed in orange, blue, and white text of varying sizes and fonts that reads [THE / Samuel Goldwyn / MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION OF / PORGY / and / BESS]. The publisher’s information is centered along the bottom edge of the front cover in black text that reads [A RANDOM HOUSE BOOK]. Blue and orange text printed on the spine reads [The Samuel Goldwyn motion picture production of PORGY AND BESS. The name of the publisher, [Random House], is printed in blue text on the bottom of the spine. The back cover features a color photograph of Pearl Bailey as Maria. Bailey is depicted in three quarters bust pose turned towards the right edge of the book. She wears a white, high collared, lace dress, a red bead, double strand necklace, and a straw hat embellished with pink flowers and white tulle. The front pastedown page features a large color photograph of Samuel Goldwyn above a white block with six paragraphs of black text and a reproduction of Samuel Goldwyn's signature. The front fly paper page is orange and features nine black-and-white filmstill photographs of other films. The interior pages of the book are white, glossy pages with black text, color photographs, black-and-white photographs. The book is 34 pages.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1959
• Published by: Random House, Inc., American, founded 1925
• Produced by: Ray Freiman
• Subject of: Dorothy Dandridge, American, 1922 - 1965
• Subject of: Sidney Poitier, Bahamian American, 1927 - 2022
• Subject of: Sammy Davis Jr., American, 1925 - 1990
• Subject of: Pearl Bailey, American, 1918 - 1990
• Subject of: Diahann Carroll, American, 1935 - 2019
• Subject of: Brock Peters, American, 1927 - 2005
• Type: hardcover books
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product) with laminated plastic on paperboard
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 12 1/4 × 8 9/16 × 3/8 in. (31.1 × 21.7 × 0.9 cm)
• Place collected: Kittery, York County, Maine, United States, North and Central America
• Place printed: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Black interiors
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Hollywood (Film)
• Topic: Segregation
• Object number: 2011.12.52.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc.
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © George Gershwin Estate Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.