# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BQlq_vDB5aj
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16047421-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/8a3451d6fd.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-02-16T22:06:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

Gary Simmons’ “Ghost Reels” drawing installation will be on view in The Drawing Center stairwell through January 2018. According to Simmons, the work reflects “the memories of actors that have been blurred in the history of Hollywood film . . . a kind of silence in both voice and visibility.” Here we explore the contributions of African American actors of the early 20th century. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ethel Waters, born Ethel Howard in 1896, rose to stardom as a jazz, pop, and blues singer. Born into a difficult childhood, Waters became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel in her teens. During this period, she gained her first singing gig after impressing fellow revelers at a nightclub so much she was offered a job as a vocalist at the Baltimore Lincoln Theater. She gained fame by favoring more pop-inspired ballads than many of her contemporaries, and in the 1920s starred in a number of Broadway musicals, including Cabin in the Sky. Her warm, lilting voice and countless musical hits landed Waters the first starring role by an African American woman in television, in the 1939 variety special The Ethel Waters Show. She returned to television as Beulah in the eponymous series over a decade later, but the stereotypical nature of the character proved troubling for Waters. She left the show after a year. Inspiring future vocalists like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lena Horne, Ethel Waters’ hits include “Stormy Weather” and “Dinah.” The first African American woman to be nominated for an Emmy, for Route 66, and the second African American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award, for Pinky, Waters remained a cultural force until her death in 1977.

#GarySimmons #EthelWaters #GhostReels #AmericanCinema

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## Tags

ghostreels, ethelwaters, garysimmons, americancinema

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