Lobby card for Carmen Jones: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The lobby card has a bright yellow background and features a large color photograph of a scene from the movie. In the image, Dorothy Dandridge as the character Carmen Jones stands in the center, wearing a bright yellow dress. Surrounding her are the other cast members, Pearl Bailey, Joe Adams, Harry Belafonte, and Olga James. To the left of the photograph are several lines of musical notes on a staff, followed by [OTTO / PREMINGER / presents / OSCAR / HAMMERSTEIN'S] in small blue text, [CARMEN JONES] in large decorative red text, and [in CINEMASCOPE] in large blue text. Along the bottom are the cast and credits in red ink. Beneath the yellow background in the bottom border of the card is printed [Copyright 1954 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. - COUNTRY OF ORIGIN U.S.A. - Property of National Screen Service Corp. Licensed for display only in connection with the exhibition of this picture at your theatre. Must be returned immediately thereafter. - 54-474]. The back of the lobby card is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1954
• Produced by: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, American, founded 1935
• Distributed by: National Screen Service, American, 1920 - 2000
• Subject of: Otto Ludwig Preminger, Austrian American, 1905 - 1986
• Subject of: Oscar Hammerstein II, American, 1895 - 1960
• Subject of: Harry Belafonte Jr., American, 1927 - 2023
• Subject of: Dorothy Dandridge, American, 1922 - 1965
• Subject of: Pearl Bailey, American, 1918 - 1990
• Subject of: Olga James, American, born 1929
• Type: lobby cards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Hollywood (Film)
• Topic: Musical films
• Topic: Opera (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2013.118.99.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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: © 1954 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.