about the magazine’s sales. It failed to secure vital
advertising commitments.
Only one issue of Harlemwas produced. It ap-
pears, however, that the promising journal ceased
publication for a number of complicated reasons,
including financial difficulties. Unlike established
journals such as THECRISIS,OPPORTUNITY, and
THEMESSENGER, Harlemwas not affiliated with a
recognized race organization. This independence
and political autonomy reflected a generational
difference between artists of Thurman’s peer com-
munity and the political leaders of the older gener-
ation. It also eliminated access to sources of
support, distribution, and promotion.
The fate of Harlemwas almost identical to
that of the promising publication FIRE!!,a journal
for which Thurman also was editor in chief. Fire!!
appeared in 1926 and involved his friends and col-
leagues ZORA NEALE HURSTON,LANGSTON
HUGHES, and others. The editors at Fire!!were de-
termined to place the work of new and young writ-
ers. They refused to publish work that represented
the ideology of organizations like the NAACP. In
excluding ALAINLOCKE, W. E. B. DUBOIS, and
others, they threatened to alienate themselves
from a significant portion of the Harlem Renais-
sance community. Yet, such a move toward jour-
nalistic exclusivity also underscored the editorial
commitment to producing an unfettered creative
outlet, one whose message was not overly deter-
mined by institutional politics.
The primary organizers of Harlemwere Scholley
Pace Alexander, AARON DOUGLAS,RICHARD
BRUCE NUGENT, and WALLACE THURMAN. The
men sought financial backing from highly regarded
friends such as Dorothy Peterson. Thurman and oth-
ers also solicited contributions from individuals like
Alain Locke who had been pointedly avoided during
the promotion and development of FIRE!!As editor
in chief, Thurman revised the exclusive publication
policy that he had upheld at Fire!!As biographer
Eleonore van Notten notes, Thurman described his
vision of the new journal to friends. In an October
1928 letter to CLAUDEMCKAY, Thurman wrote that
he envisioned the magazine as “independent, fear-
less, and general, trying to appeal to all.”
The first and only issue included a variety of
materials, many of them authored by Thurman.
Additional works included “Two Dollars,” a con-
troversial story about prostitution by George Little,
Thurman’s book reviews of NELLA LARSEN’s
QUICKSANDand Captain Canot’s Adventures of an
African Slaver,and an installment of a signature
Thurman piece entitled “Harlem Directory:
Where to Go and What to Do When in Harlem.”Bibliography
van Notten, Eleonore. Wallace Thurman’s Harlem Renais-
sance.Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.Harlem: A Melodrama of Negro Life
in HarlemWallace Thurman and
William Jourdan Rapp(1929)
Billed by THENEWYORKTIMESas “a negro play
with a negro cast, or close to it” (NYT,17 February
1929, 113), Harlemwas a play written by WALLACE
THURMANand WILLIAMJOURDANRAPP. The play
was the first of several collaborations between Thur-
man, whose works include The Blacker the Berry
(1929), and Rapp, a white NEWYORKCITYnative,
journalist, and playwright. The pair developed plans
for a set of three plays produced under the title of
Color Parade. Harlemwas to be followed by JEREMIAH
THEMAGNIFICENTand Harlem Cinderella.
Thurman and Rapp published an absorbing
exposé of the play’s evolution about two months
after the play opened at the Apollo Theatre, a
venue located at Broadway and 42nd Street. Their
New York Times article, entitled “Detouring
‘Harlem’ to Times Square,” chronicled the play-
wright’ experiences with “play broker[s]” and po-
tential producers. After the promising initial bids
on the play from Crosby Gaige and Al Lewis, the
play began the first of many transformations. Ac-
cording to Thurman and Rapp, rehearsals for the
play that was retitled Black Beltwere suspended
abruptly. When the writers “innocently inquired,
‘Why?’” producer Al Lewis declared that there was
no “‘wow’ in [the] third act, and naturally we can’t
go on until we find one.” After months spent con-
templating new scenarios that included funerals
modeled on the then-successful production of
PORGY ANDBESS,Rapp and Thurman decided to
keep the play intact and to pursue other potential
producers.
Their independent efforts led them to a
“young actor, play reader, stage manager, vaudeville214 Harlem: A Melodrama of Negro Life in Harlem