WDAS FM Patty JacksonAl Gray, Steve Green and Mercer Redcross III in the studio – WDAS FM
WDAS FM Patty Jackson at Expo 2011

The Illest Illustrator attends the 26th Annual October Gallery Art Expo
In Philadelphia. (2011)

Mayor of Philadelphia Edward Rendell, PA State Senator Vincent Hughes,
Congressman Chaka Fattah, October Gallery’s Mercer A. Redcross III,
Artists – Charles Bibbs, Gilbert Young, Michael Brown, Steven Johnson,
Tom McKinney, Colin Thompson, Cal Massey, Bob Jefferson and a host of others.

Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Thelma vanPutten Langhorn, a nurse, and Toussaint L’Ouverture Davis, a Baptist minister.[1] He was raised in Mastic, New York.

Clifton starred as barber Clifton Curtis in the mid 1970’s television show That’s My Mama with Theresa Merritt, Theodore Wilson and Ted Lange (who subsequently became a mainstay of The Love Boat). Davis’ romantic interest with songstress and Broadway performer Melba Moore led to his co-starring role on her musical variety television show.

Davis made a guest appearance on the third episode of the first season of The Bobby Vinton Show in September 1975, singing “I’ve Got The Music In Me” and “Never Can Say Goodbye”. He successfully sang the Polish lyrics with Vinton to the show’s “My Melody of Love” theme song.

Before finding fame in acting, Davis worked as a songwriter, most famously penning The Jackson 5’s #2 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye”.

A triple heart bypass survivor, he participated in the “superstars” celebrity TV sports competitions of the seventies. He also appeared in the film Scott Joplin in 1977.

Davis released one acclaimed (and now hard to find) studio recording in 1991 on Benson Records titled Say Amen. He also appeared as a panelist in the second version of The Match Game.

Auctions and Fundraisers are good ways to help others and brand October Gallery.

From left to right: Auctioneer Mercer Redcross III, Julius “Dr J.” Erving, a Converse representative
and Bill Russell at the Dr. J Foundation auction.

“A ROSE AMONG THORNS”

was presented by the

Rosa Parks Museum with Troy University  

on the beautiful and  prestigious  Alabama Shakespeare Festival Stage (ASF)

in honor of Mrs. Parks’ 95th birthday on Feb. 4th, 2008. 

*************************************************************  

 

Nominated by NAACP !! (Los Angeles-Hollywood Branch)

 

Over 70 Performances delivered since Feb. 4, 2007 !

This play has Traveled to over 28 cities…

 

” …thoroughly fantastic, energetic and powerful. 

It is like sitting and watching Rosa Parks…”

–Vice Mayor Carlton B. Moore, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

 

“Joyce Channels Rosa Parks…”  The Chronicle, Winston-Salem NBTF 

 

” ‘A Rose Among Thorns’  is a well-crafted play on Rosa Parks“.

        –Jack Zink, South Florida Sun-Sentinel (1/23/08)

More REVIEWS :

“…It becomes hard to remember that it is Joyce, not Parks,

who is holding court, educating and entertaining the audience”.

           –WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

“Ella Joyce is spellbinding.” -Ed Bumgardner, Winston-Salem Journal

“…Joyce transformed herself completely….”  

           –Mary E. Montoro, Los Angeles Sentinel

 

“refreshingly intimate. …Ella Joyce’s writing deeply echoed

the love for Rosa Parks…”                                                       

           –Nicole Zaza, Houston Arts

 

A Big  THANK YOU ! 

to all  Presenters & Sponsors  of    

“A Rose Among Thorns”

  WHERE THIS SHOW performed  (over 5 years, 28 cities):    

RACCA’s Seaport Salon-Richard Allen Center, Shirley Radcliffe, Imani – New York City  first public Reading 

Lucy Florence Cultural Center, Solo Sundays – Los Angeles, CA  Previews 

The Black Academy of Arts & Letters (TBAAL) – Mr. Curtis King – Dallas, TX – “world premiere” ! 

Black Spectrums Theater – Mr. Carl Clay – Jamaica Queens, New York    

Raytheon Aerospace Corporation – El Segundo, CA    

Black Student Union of California – Burbank, CA      

Stage 52 Playhouse – Los Angeles – (nominated by  NAACP- Hollywood Branch)

Transforming Life Ministries – JB Productions – Saginaw, Michigan        

NATIONAL BLACK THEATER FESTIVAL – Winston-Salem, NC         

Communities In School (CIS) – Detroit, MI    

OMEGA PSI PHI Fraternity-Zeta Rho Chapter -Nate Holden Theater – Los Angeles, CA

THANK YOU ROSA PARKS– Dorthula Green –New Haven, CT                        

The Shadow Theatre Company  at The Newman Center– Jeffrey Nickelson – Denver, CO   

St. Paul AME Church – JEBA — Coconut Grove, FL                                   

Parkway Middle School for Performing Arts–JEBA – Ft. Lauderdale, FL         

Concerned African Women – JEBA– Miami Gardens, FL      

Lou Rawls Center-Florida Memorial University – JEBA – Miami Gardens, FL  

JEBA – Ed Haynes & Julia Brown –  Miami, FL  (Awarded by  Concerned African Women .

OMEGA PSI PHI Fraternity – LA Southwest College – Los Angeles, CA                

The ROSA PARKS Museum, Troy University (ASF Stage) – Montgomery, AL  

Georgette Norman – Rosa Parks Library & Museum – Montgomery, AL    

Don Williams – Rainbow Theater – Univ. of California Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz, CA        

Woodie King, Jr. – Harlem School of the Arts – Harlem, NYC       

National Black Touring Circuit in assoc. with Castillo Theatre – Harlem, NY      

Laces (Los Angeles School for Enriched Studies)- Black Parent Assoc. – Los Angeles, CA

BeeBe Smith Johnson & Sharmaine Grier – Los Angeles, CA   

Terrence Ivory-Ivory Arts — Mt. Calvary Baptist Church – Fairfield, CA        

Rust College — Prof. John House & Patricia Pegues – Holly Springs, MS      

Saginaw High School-Transforming Life Ministries Church –Saginaw, MI   

Urban Theatre Festival 2008 – JEBA — Miami, FL                      

Alabama State Council On The Arts — Barbara Edwards/Yvette Daniel – Montgomery, AL

Camden Middle School/Paramount Jr. H.S./Lowndes County Middle School – ALABAMA   

CA Chapter Stillman College Alumni/Lula Golden-Lacy–Fairfax H.S. – Los Angeles, CA

 

October Gallery/23rd Philadelphia International Art Expo -Mercer Redcross – Philadelphia, PA
Ella Joyce (3rd from the right)  at October Gallery Philadelphia International Art Expo

 

Dorthula Green, Thank You Rosa Parks/Hill Regional Career H.S. Auditorium-New Haven,CT  

Cox Communications-TVOne-Fairfax County Government-Nelfred Blanding Fairfax, VA       

Tabia African American Theatre Ensemble/Mexican Heritage Theatre-Viere Whye San Jose,CA 

The Houston Ensemble Theatre at The Wortham  (Cullen Auditorium) – Eileen Morris  Houston, TX

TCA TRavel Club – Greg Tarver Lansing, MI

A Circle Of 12 – The Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Dr. Jan Berlin  Hollywood, CA

The Billie Holiday Theatre Ensemble Theatre-Marjorie Moon – Brooklyn, New York

The Jamaica Branch NAACP–Black Spectrum Theatre – Carl Clay Jamaica Queens, NY  

Yale African American Affinity Group-TYRP-Dottie Green -Debbie Pierce New Haven, CT

Delta Sigma Theta Grand Rapids Alumumae, Rosa Parks Sculptor Project  Grand Rapids, MI

Muslim Journal, Galt Hotel – Louisville, KY   

JUDGE MABLEAN EPHRIAM FOUNDATION – West Angeles Christian Church – Los Angeles

Stage Aurora -Black Arts Festival – Jacksonville, Florida

United Methodist Church – Washington, DC

Renaissance High School – Liberty Temple Baptist Church – Detroit, MI 

At Expo 23 Ella Joyce, Clifton Davis, Ice T and  Darrin Henson.

Mercer A. Redcross III and Ann Northrup at Expo 2008

2008 Art Without Boundaries Show

Center in the Park’s (CIP) Annual Art Without Boundaries Show, in recognition of the Center’s 40th Anniversary this year, moved to a larger and exciting venue, the October Gallery’s International Art Expo at the Liacouras Center the second weekend in November. CIP thanks the sponsors and community partners who support CIP’s arts programming through participation in the annual Art Without Boundaries Show. Following scenes from the Show:

Mercer Redcross, VP, October Gallery with CIP’s 2008 Art Without Boundaries Honoree, Ann Northrup, artist, muralist.
Pottery, artwork, mixed media installations created by older adults attending CIP classes.

Blacks In Media, Clifton Davis, Ice-T, Ralph Carter, Bernadette Stanis, Ella Joyce, Darrin Henson -October Gallery. Part One

This was part of the 23rd Annual Philadelphia International Art Expo 2008.
African American Art Expo.

Sale 2156 Lot 26
October 7, 2008

CHARLES WHITE (1918 – 1979)
Frederick Douglass Lives Again (The Ghost of Frederick Douglass).

Pen and ink over pencil on illustration board, 1949. 508×762 mm; 20×30 inches. Signed and dated in ink, lower left. Gedeon D54.

Provenance: ACA Gallery, New York; private collection, New York, 1950; private collection, Philadelphia, 1988. This drawing’s location was recorded as unknown in 1980 at the time of Lucinda Gedeon’s catalogue raisonné.

A close variant of this drawing is in the collection of the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ. The same size and year,Frederick Douglass has in the lower left a tighter, smaller group of figures, all men in suits, likely a group of lawyers involved in Jim Crow cases.

Exhibited: ACA Gallery, New York, February 12 – 25, 1950.

Illustrated: Daily Worker, New York, Sunday, February 12, 1950; Sidney Finkelstein, Charles White: Ein Künstler Amerikas, pl. 16;Jewish Currents, February 1963, cover.

An extraordinary example of Charles White’s early drawing,Frederick Douglass Lives Again is one of a series of the pen and ink drawings recording the celebrated trials of African-Americans victimized during the Jim Crow era. White shows a mastery of cross-hatching in each expressive face of this dynamic composition. The towering figure of Douglass and the compressed space reflect techniques used in his mural painting, particularly his The Contribution of the Negro to Democracy in American at Hampton University, 1933. White was also translating the African-American experience through the earlier model of the great Mexican muralists Orozco, Rivera and Siqueiros.

In Frederick Douglass Lives Again, White continues his depiction of ordinary people on a heroic scale. Along with The Trenton Six,The Ingram Case and Open Gate (Liberation), White chronicled the legal plights of African-Americans, and the greater cause for justice and equality. White was particularly politically active at this point in his career. Reproductions of these drawings appeared in portfolios published by the Workshop for Graphic Art in New York, and in such progressive periodicals as The Daily Worker. White had his first exhibition at ACA Gallery in 1947, and was now regularly exhibiting in New York with other socially and politically conscious artists such as Philip Evergood, William Gropper and Robert Gwathmey.
Estimate $100,000-150,000

Price Realized (with Buyer’s Premium) $204,000

Charles White Image “Frederick Douglass Lives Again”
was the poster image for October Gallery’s 1988 Art Expo

Page from the October Gallery 1991 catalog.

October Gallery’s Mercer A. Redcross III standing in front of
Charles White’s  “Frederick Douglass Lives Again” at an
October Gallery Art Show and Sale 2007