One wall at the auction house was plastered with movie posters, but I saw only one that I actually wanted. It was for the movie “Blacula,” a black Dracula for those movie-goers who in the 1970s longed for their own heroes.
One young man at the auction house, though, was snapping up all the posters no matter the title. But I was not going to let him have my Blacula.
It wasn’t as if I was a big Blacula fan. I had never even seen the movie but I do love horror films (without the buckets of blood). Having this poster would be a big win for me – for nostalgia, and to sell on eBay to a real Blacula fan.
“Blacula” hit the screens in 1972 during the era of “blaxploitation movies,” when films featuring African American actors and themes were predominant in this country. They were the first stream of movies to give African American audiences their own on-screen heroes that kicked butt.
A decade before, Sidney Poitier had been a quiet presence in a handful of movies and Paul Robeson had brought dignity to his on-screen roles during the 1930s. But black actors largely appeared in menial and minor roles – women as maids and men as porters.
The most popular of the 1970s blaxploitation movies was “Shaft,” about a gun-toting leather-wearing sexy private eye named John Shaft and played by Richard Roundtree, with a brilliant theme song by Isaac Hayes. It was joined by many others, including “Super Fly” (with the Curtis Mayfield soundtrack and theme song),”Sweet Sweetback,” “Cooley High,” “Cleopatra Jones,” “Coffy,” “Trouble Man” and “The Mack” – some of whose movie posters came up at auction a couple years ago.
The Blacula character was played by William Marshall as an 1870s African prince whom Count Dracula turns into a vampire and locks in a coffin in his castle in Transylvania. The prince – named Mamuwalde – and his wife had sought Dracula’s help to end the slave trade, but the count refused (since he himself was a slave trader). A century later, two people visiting Transylvania buy the casket, return it to the United States and unwittingly release Blacula, who does what vampires do.
Along with Marshall, a theater-trained actor with a bass voice, the movie also included Denise Nicholas, Vonetta McGee and Thalmus Rasulala, who would go on to appear in other black-oriented and mainstream movies. Marshall was also the “King of Cartoons” in Pee-wee’s Playhouse in the late 1980s.
During the 1950s, Marshall was blacklisted as a communist but managed to hang onto his career. He always sought roles that positively portrayed African Americans.
“Blacula” was directed by William Crain, a black director, and the movie opened with not-so-good reviews. It made a ton of money for its studio, American International Pictures, though. It was the first to feature a black man as a vampire and the first of its kind to win a Saturn Award as a best horror film. A sequel, “Scream Blacula Scream,” was released in 1973, with Marshall and Pam Grier.
Blacula’s soundtrack was all hip R&B rather than the classical sounds of most horror flicks. The movie’s trailer described him as “Dracula’s soul brother.”
The movie was initially perceived as the story of a “jive-talking” vampire sucking up other people’s blood on the streets of Los Angeles. American International saw it as a way to make quick cash by capitalizing on the current black-movie trend. But Marshall had a loftier version in mind, and the result was his revamped Blacula story. He gave what were described as elegant and dignified performances as a character playing a vampire.
Back at the auction, I walked away with the poster. The other buyer jokingly needled me for landing one of the only posters that he was unable to get.
