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VLife

Club Handy

Andrew “Sunbeam” Mitchell was a Memphis-based entrepreneur who owned
a number of establishments on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a touring revue of Black-
owned performance venues. Mitchell was instrumental in the creation of what
was to become known as the Memphis sound. He ran nightclubs for more than
40 years and one of these was Club Handy, situated in the second-floor lounge of
his eponymous hotel on Beale Street.
During segregation Black performers were unable to stay in white hotels and the
Mitchell Hotel, billed as Memphis’s leading coloured hotel, boasted 30 rooms and
had many famous patrons including Nat King Cole, Muddy Waters and BB King.
Ernest Withers was a Black photographer located on Beale Street who captured
many performers at Club Handy and others on the Chitlin’ Circuit. There is
one photo in particular he took of the main stage at Club Handy that we used
to re-create many of the design elements for this set, such as the Beale Street
mural backdrop that sat behind the stage. We drew upon this photo and more to
re-create elements such as the wallpaper and ceiling of the club.
Baz was determined to incorporate as much of the musical story of Beale Street
into the mural backdrop with our graphic artists and scenic painters painting
details such as musicians on the rooftops of the buildings to the portrait of the
club’s namesake WC Handy, Father of the Blues, in the centre of the backdrop.
Baz wanted us to conjure the electric atmosphere when all of these extraordinary
artists, such as Little Richard and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, were performing.
Because of Covid delays and rescheduling, the set remained standing, unshot
for more than a year, so we had a little one-year birthday party for the set.
Club Handy initially started out as a one-wall set that was intended for a
singular vignette moment. But as the script and Elvis’s story developed, Baz knew
that Club Handy needed to become a fully fledged environment. Art director
Tuesday Stone, along with set decorator Bev Dunn, layered the set with historically
accurate details gleaned from Ernest Withers’ photos including posters of bands
and artists of the time that performed at Club Handy, as well as re-creations
of original portraits that were painted directly on the wallpaper. ››

THESE PAGES, FROM LEFT
Alton Mason as Little Richard
performs ‘Tutti Frutti’ on the
stage of the Club Handy set of
Elvis. Patrons dance to Little
Richard performing. The work
of street photographer Ernest
Withers was used to furnish the
club with historical detail.

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