Beale Street


Rental Format(s): Digital File
Sale Format(s): DVD

"The memories that we have -- we older ones that's been around -- the contributions that, you know, have gone out to the world from this place -- they sure shouldn't be left to die." -- B.B. King

Beale Street explores the residential, business, political, and musical history of Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee from the 1920's to the early 1960's, through interviews with residents, archival footage, and still photographs. Beale Street is where W.C. Handy wrote the blues, where Boss Crump abused his power, and where Martin Luther King, Jr. marched days before his death in 1968. Beale Street was the victim of Urban Renewal, and we went to the original Beale Streeters who knew and loved it best in the making of our oral history, including B.B. King, the Hooks Brothers, Bobby Blue Bland, Prince Gabe, Maurice "Fess" Hulbert, Nat D. Williams, and Rufus Thomas. The DVD of the film, which was co-directed by Alexis Krasilovsky, Ann Rickey, and Walter Baldwin in the early days of 1/2" black and white reel to reel video, also includes a 105-minute Scholar's version as a bonus feature.

This DVD is signed by the Filmmaker.

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