That broad is ten miles of bad road...’
JULIEN, Max; TENNANT, Bill; KELLER, Sheldon
Cleopatra Jones
N.p. [Los Angeles]: N.p. [Warner Bros.], 1972
128 mimeographed pp., bound in green stiff paper wrappers, title and revision date typed to front wrapper. Ownership signature of Vincent Tubbs. Wrappers a little edgeworn, but a very well preserved copy.
Revised draft script dated 8 September 1972, and with rewrite pages dated 26 December 1972. UNIT PUBLICIST VINCENT TUBBS’ COPY, WITH HIS INKED NAME TO LOWER EDGE OF FRONT WRAPPER.
Cleopatra Jones (1973), directed by Jack Starrett, stars Tamara Dobson as the titular undercover agent, fighting to break up a drug empire run by Mommy, a ruthless and psychotic gangster (played by Shelley Winters). In the best tradition of blaxploitation cinema, the film puts a strong independent woman front and centre (although its depiction of Mommy, whose enthusiastic lesbianism is presented as evidence of her villainy, is rather less groundbreaking.) The film’s producer Bill Tennant is credited as co-writer on the title page of this version of the screenplay, but is given no screen credit on the film. (Tennant did receive a credit for co-writing and producing the film’s sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)).
This copy belonged to the distinguished African American journalist Vincent (né Verley) Tubbs [1915-1989]. Tubbs was managing editor of the prominent black magazine Jet before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s to work as a publicist for Warner Brothers, and in 1967 became president of the Publicists Guild -- the first African American to hold such an elevated position in Hollywood. Tubbs acted as unit publicist on Cleopatra Jones; his other credits include the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Klansman (1974), and two films directed by Sidney Poitier, A Piece of the Action (1977) and Fast Forward(1985). Tubbs’ sister-in-law was the activist and playwright Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.
Tubbs’ inked ownership name to the front wrapper may or may not be in his hand: screenplays distributed to a film’s staff by studio personnel would sometimes come with recipients’ names already attached. On the other hand, Tubbs’ name is here written on the very edge of the foot of the upper wrapper, which feels like an idiosyncratic rather than office-generated placement. (The name is written in capital letters, so handwriting provides no clues.)
A very scarce survivor from the heart of the 1970s blaxploitation genre, and with an excellent provenance.
That broad is ten miles of bad road...’
JULIEN, Max; TENNANT, Bill; KELLER, Sheldon
Cleopatra Jones
N.p. [Los Angeles]: N.p. [Warner Bros.], 1972
128 mimeographed pp., bound in green stiff paper wrappers, title and revision date typed to front wrapper. Ownership signature of Vincent Tubbs. Wrappers a little edgeworn, but a very well preserved copy.
Revised draft script dated 8 September 1972, and with rewrite pages dated 26 December 1972. UNIT PUBLICIST VINCENT TUBBS’ COPY, WITH HIS INKED NAME TO LOWER EDGE OF FRONT WRAPPER.
Cleopatra Jones (1973), directed by Jack Starrett, stars Tamara Dobson as the titular undercover agent, fighting to break up a drug empire run by Mommy, a ruthless and psychotic gangster (played by Shelley Winters). In the best tradition of blaxploitation cinema, the film puts a strong independent woman front and centre (although its depiction of Mommy, whose enthusiastic lesbianism is presented as evidence of her villainy, is rather less groundbreaking.) The film’s producer Bill Tennant is credited as co-writer on the title page of this version of the screenplay, but is given no screen credit on the film. (Tennant did receive a credit for co-writing and producing the film’s sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)).
This copy belonged to the distinguished African American journalist Vincent (né Verley) Tubbs [1915-1989]. Tubbs was managing editor of the prominent black magazine Jet before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s to work as a publicist for Warner Brothers, and in 1967 became president of the Publicists Guild -- the first African American to hold such an elevated position in Hollywood. Tubbs acted as unit publicist on Cleopatra Jones; his other credits include the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Klansman (1974), and two films directed by Sidney Poitier, A Piece of the Action (1977) and Fast Forward(1985). Tubbs’ sister-in-law was the activist and playwright Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.
Tubbs’ inked ownership name to the front wrapper may or may not be in his hand: screenplays distributed to a film’s staff by studio personnel would sometimes come with recipients’ names already attached. On the other hand, Tubbs’ name is here written on the very edge of the foot of the upper wrapper, which feels like an idiosyncratic rather than office-generated placement. (The name is written in capital letters, so handwriting provides no clues.)
A very scarce survivor from the heart of the 1970s blaxploitation genre, and with an excellent provenance.
