Racism Or Incompetence in the artwork of the Australian 1957 daybill Mark Of The Hawk?

HONDO

While organising my '' Name The Stars Of The 1950's Quiz'' I came across a daybill of Mark Of The Hawk with some of the actors images poorly drawn.I was inclined to have a look at the excellent U.S. artwork to compare. The Australian daybill, apart from the actor John McIntire's image making him look ten years younger and not very much like him and reminding me of George Sanders, I found the image of Sidney Poitier and Eartha Kitt.surprising in it's depiction. Have a look at the daybill image and compare it to the U.S.Insert image to see what I mean.

Was the artist intending on purpose  to alter the colour and appearance of the negro stars to look caucasion or was it just a case of unintentional poor artwork by a poster artist working for F. Cunninghame who were known for producing some of the worst daybill design ever for Universal between 1954 & 1960? The majority of the images on ''Name The Stars Of The 1950's Quiz'' showing almost to complete unrecognisable images were drawn by F. Cunninghame poster artists.

Was it the former or the latter? Any thoughts?

Hondo

John

Its a good question. I doubt that there was any sinister intent. I would think just another example of poor F.Cunninghame art.

David

The image of Poitier and Kitt on the Insert is a photoprint versus an artist hand drawing.

HONDO

David said:

The image of Poitier and Kitt on the Insert is a photoprint versus an artist hand drawing.

You are stating the obvious.

Hondo

David

HONDO said:

David said:

The image of Poitier and Kitt on the Insert is a photoprint versus an artist hand drawing.

You are stating the obvious.

Yes I am, and your point?

110x75

Probably the color changed in the redrawing. A good friend of mine observed something similar about the color in the UK quad for "Native son", where the main character has almost the same skin tone that the girl, unlike all the other posters for the film.

 

Eisenhower

Well my point is the the image of the bird, labeled as a hawk is clearly a Peregrine Falcon! Or as we call it in North America a duck hawk....

HONDO

David said:

HONDO said:

David said:

The image of Poitier and Kitt on the Insert is a photoprint versus an artist hand drawing.

You are stating the obvious.

Yes I am, and your point?

My point is the insert shows a good depiction of what Sidney Poitier and Eartha Kitt look like but my query is with the daybill image only.

David

My point about the insert was that as it was a picture and it can't really be compared to a hand drawn image taken from the picture (one would presume), as we know the Australian poster artists were (and let's be generous) somewhat interpretative. 

I also doubt (would hope) that they would be trying to pass-off both these actors as not black (because they are not white in the image, to me) as by the time this movie was released they were fairly well known in their own right - but ultimately who knows.

HONDO

Sidney Poitier & Eartha Kitt are dark skinned. Their images on the Australian daybill poster artwork are not dark skinned but at best look light skinned  negros with generations of intermarriage in their family history. Part of the inspector's face, and he is supposed to be white, is in part the same colour as the couples is. The image of Sidney Poitier to me looks nothing like him and only a  little likeness for Eartha Kitt. 

I am not saying what I believe to be the reason behind the drawing of the couple whether it being done intentionally to alter their appearance from black to look more like white or just the poor drawing skills by the poster artist and possibly not helped in the printing process.

Hondo

David

Yes I know the two are black! To me the images look darker but this is me - sure not negro-like but I never saw the image and thought 'wow, they sure have whitened up those two'

Saying the "image of Sidney Poitier to me looks nothing like him and only a little likeness for Eartha Kitt" is, to quote yourself, stating the obvious. 

HONDO

Like tar and feathering repeat  I like to repeat myself. 

Hondo

David

Good to know...good to know.

[Deleted User]

Eisenhower said:

Well my point is the the image of the bird, labeled as a hawk is clearly a Peregrine Falcon! Or as we call it in North America a duck hawk....

=D>

HONDO

Seeing I raised this topic to see what reaction I would get with something that crossed my mind at the time I now wish to publicly state I firmly believe and always have that it wasn't racism but solely poor artwork by the poster artist at F. Cunninghame for the Mark Of The Hawk daybill they produced.

It is commonly thought Robert Burton had the worst poster artists when it came to daybills & one sheets but no it was definitely F. Cunninghame who greatfully ceased producing film posters in 1960.I have sited some great artwork from the 1930's. fair to good 1940's work but very little quality from their period of shame the 1950's with the majority poorly drawn.

Hondo