Personal Report: Johnson Publishing Company
Identifier
F.2012-03-0586
Date Of Production
circa 1963
Abstract
Episode of the United States Information Agency's television series "Personal Report" about Johnson Publishing Company and Ebony magazine. Inaugurated by U.S.I.A. in 1963, the series projected selected aspects of American culture to a Nigerian television audience and was hosted by Michael Kubeyinje, a Nigerian student in Washington.
Description
After buying a copy of Ebony at a newstand, Howard University student Michael Kubeyinje introduces himself as the host of this episode of "Personal Report," which will focus on Johnson Publishing Company, publishers of Tan, Negro Digest, JET, and Ebony.
Kubeyinje first meets with Simeon Booker, the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of the Johnson Publishing Company. Kubeyinje explains Booker's responsibilities, and the film cuts to footage of Booker attending one of John F. Kennedy's press conferences.
Kubeyinje then travels to JPC's headquarters at 1820 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. He meets with JPC founder John H. Johnson in his office, and the history of the business endeavor is explained through voiceover. Kubeyinje explains that, by starting Ebony in 1945, Johnson wanted to show the daily lives of Black Americans: "how he lives and works, how he spends his leisure time."
The two take a tour of the Chicago headquarters, where they stop to talk with Era Bell Thompson, one of Ebony's managing editors and author of Africa, Land of My Fathers (1954). Continuing their tour of how an issue of Ebony gets published, they meet with Herbert Nipson, Ebony's other managing editor. We are then introduced to writer Lerone Bennett Jr., author of Before the Mayflower (1962) and future writer of Ebony's Black Power column.
Kubeyinje then travels to the set of a photoshoot at Sheraton-Chicago Hotel's swimming pool, where Ebony photographers and journalists are working on a story about Chicago swimming instuctor Jack Hall's method for learning to swim in 20 minutes, inspired by racial disparities in incidences of drowning. Models Margaret Kuykendall, Sonya Holmes and LaDoris Foster are photographed getting lessons from Hall. After a brief scene in a photography studio, Kubeyinje and Johnson travel to the Art Department, where Kubeyinje's voiceover explains Ebony's cover design process.
Kubeyinje then goes to meet with Era Bell Thompson at her Prairie Shores Apartment near E 29th St. and S Martin Luther King Dr. Over tea, Thompson recounts her story of growing up in Iowa to Kubeyinje. She shows him some of the souvenirs and art she has purchased on her many visits to Africa.
Back at the JPC office, Kubeyinje meets with LeRoy Jeffries, vice president of advertising, and Robert Fentress, head of the promotion department. Next we travel to Ebony's test kitchen, where Doris Jamison Robinson heads up the "Date with a Dish" feature. At JPC's reference library, editors fact-check stories. In the subscription department, punchcards are processed by machines and address labels are printed. In the press room, magazines are assembled by giant machinery.
Kubeyinje first meets with Simeon Booker, the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of the Johnson Publishing Company. Kubeyinje explains Booker's responsibilities, and the film cuts to footage of Booker attending one of John F. Kennedy's press conferences.
Kubeyinje then travels to JPC's headquarters at 1820 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. He meets with JPC founder John H. Johnson in his office, and the history of the business endeavor is explained through voiceover. Kubeyinje explains that, by starting Ebony in 1945, Johnson wanted to show the daily lives of Black Americans: "how he lives and works, how he spends his leisure time."
The two take a tour of the Chicago headquarters, where they stop to talk with Era Bell Thompson, one of Ebony's managing editors and author of Africa, Land of My Fathers (1954). Continuing their tour of how an issue of Ebony gets published, they meet with Herbert Nipson, Ebony's other managing editor. We are then introduced to writer Lerone Bennett Jr., author of Before the Mayflower (1962) and future writer of Ebony's Black Power column.
Kubeyinje then travels to the set of a photoshoot at Sheraton-Chicago Hotel's swimming pool, where Ebony photographers and journalists are working on a story about Chicago swimming instuctor Jack Hall's method for learning to swim in 20 minutes, inspired by racial disparities in incidences of drowning. Models Margaret Kuykendall, Sonya Holmes and LaDoris Foster are photographed getting lessons from Hall. After a brief scene in a photography studio, Kubeyinje and Johnson travel to the Art Department, where Kubeyinje's voiceover explains Ebony's cover design process.
Kubeyinje then goes to meet with Era Bell Thompson at her Prairie Shores Apartment near E 29th St. and S Martin Luther King Dr. Over tea, Thompson recounts her story of growing up in Iowa to Kubeyinje. She shows him some of the souvenirs and art she has purchased on her many visits to Africa.
Back at the JPC office, Kubeyinje meets with LeRoy Jeffries, vice president of advertising, and Robert Fentress, head of the promotion department. Next we travel to Ebony's test kitchen, where Doris Jamison Robinson heads up the "Date with a Dish" feature. At JPC's reference library, editors fact-check stories. In the subscription department, punchcards are processed by machines and address labels are printed. In the press room, magazines are assembled by giant machinery.
Run Time
15 min 57 sec
Format
16mm
Extent
572 feet
Color
B&W
Sound
Optical
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Language Of Materials
English
Element
Print
Genre
Form
Subject
Advertising
Africa
African Americans
Business
Business people
Chicago (Ill.)
Clothing and dress
Cultural relations
Factories
Globalization
Machinery
Michigan Avenue (Chicago, Ill.)
Photography
Politics and government
Swimming
Africa
African Americans
Business
Business people
Chicago (Ill.)
Clothing and dress
Cultural relations
Factories
Globalization
Machinery
Michigan Avenue (Chicago, Ill.)
Photography
Politics and government
Swimming
Related Collections
Related Places
Sponsor/client
Participants And Performers
Michael Kubeyinje (is commentator)
John H. Johnson (is participant)
Era Bell Thompson (is participant)
Lerone Bennett Jr. (is participant)
Simeon Booker (is participant)
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