By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
The licensing agency Moxie & Co. goes into this month’s Licensing Expo on a hot streak, signing up several major clients.
That list includes the delivery giant FedEx, in what to our knowledge is their first major licensing campaign, as well as Hamilton Beach, the PBS network station WGBH, and the acclaimed artist Romare Bearden.
Moxie’s founder and president Arlene Scanlan says she’s thrilled to be representing Bearden, whom she describes as, “One of the greatest American artists of all time, whose work hangs in museums around the world, but who remains relatively unknown to the public at large.”
Bearden was a true renaissance man and one of the first great black artists in the United States. He was also a war hero, a semi-pro baseball player, songwriter, and an author.
He began his artistic career creating scenes of the American South, and later created works that expressed the humanity he felt was lacking in the world after his experience as a frontline soldier in World War II on the European front. He returned to Paris in 1950 and studied art history and philosophy at the Sorbonne.
Bearden’s early work focused on unity and cooperation within the African-American community, and later became a founding member of the Harlem-based art group known as Spiral, which was formed to promote the responsibility of the African-American artist in the civil rights movement.
Bearden was the author or co-author of several books,, and also was a co-writer of the jazz classic Sea Breeze, which was recorded by none other than Dizzy Gillespie.
“He is probably the greatest American artist you’ve never heard of,” joked Scanlan. “We’re planning to change that. He really should be a household name in this country.”
The partnership with WGBH involves several major properties, including hit shows like Antiques Roadshow, American Experience, Masterpiece, NOVA, Front line and the kids line up that includes Molly of Dinali and their newest introduction that rose to the second most watched show on PBS Kids, Work It Out Wombats.
Music videos are being released alongside each new episodes and a podcast will be released this fall as well. This week the show was watched by 41 million kids, making it the second most watched show on PBS, after Daniel Tiger’s 45 million viewers.
Hamilton Beach is one of the world’s largest designers of home kitchen appliances and commercial restaurant equipment, founded in 1910, and also represents a wide variety of product IPs covering everything from blenders to toasters.
Anyone interested in learning more about working with these properties can meet with Moxie at Licensing Expo booth F128.