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That's Black Entertainment
''That's Black Entertainment'' is a 1989 documentary film starring African-American performers and featuring clips from black films from 1929–1957, narrated and directed by William Greaves. The clips are from the Black Cinema Collection of the Southwest Film/Video Archives at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It is 60 minutes long and was distributed by Video Communications of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Film clips included The film contains more than 29 clips, including: *Paul Robeson (in ''Song of Freedom'') *Bessie Smith (in ''St. Louis Blues'') *Eubie Blake, Nina Mae McKinney, and The Nicholas Brothers (in ''Pie, Pie Blackbird'') *Lena Horne (in ''The Duke Is Tops'') *Nat 'King' Cole and Moms Mabley (in '' Killer Diller'') *Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ethel Waters (in ''Rufus Jones for President'') *Cab Calloway (in ''Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party'') *Ethel Waters (in ''Carib Gold'') Not only musical clips were shown, but dramatic clips as well, like ''Murder in Harlem'' (1935 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Greaves
William Greaves (October 8, 1926 – August 25, 2014) was an American documentary filmmaker and a pioneer of film-making. He produced more than two hundred documentary films, and wrote and directed more than half of these. Greaves garnered many accolades for his work, including four Emmy nominations. Early life Greaves was born in Harlem in New York City on October 8, 1926. He was one of seven children of taxi driver and minister Garfield Greaves and the former Emily Muir. After graduating from the elite Stuyvesant High School at the age of 18, Greaves attended City College of New York to study science and engineering, but eventually dropped out to pursue a career in theater. Starting as a dancer, he eventually moved into acting, working in the American Negro Theater. Career Acting and film training In 1948, Greaves joined the Actors Studio and studied alongside the likes of Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Anthony Quinn, Shelley Winters, and others. During this time, he under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moms Mabley
Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975), known by her stage name Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was an American stand-up comedian and actress. Mabley began her career on the theater stage in the 1920s and became a veteran entertainer of the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American vaudeville. Mabley later recorded comedy albums and appeared in films and on television programs including '' The Ed Sullivan Show'' and '' The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. Early life Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina, US, on March 19, 1894. She was one of 16 children born to James Aiken and Mary Smith, who had married in 1891. Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, while her mother kept house and took in boarders. Her teenage years were tumultuous. Aiken had given birth to two children that had resulted from her being raped at age 11, by an elderly black man, and at age 13, by a white sheriff. Both children were given up for adoption. Career Early c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people, Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of Ethnic stereotype, racial stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky List of ethnic slurs#D, darky on the plantation" or the "dandy, dandified List of ethnic slurs#Coon, coon". By the middle of the century, blackface minstrel shows had become a distinctive American artform, translating formal works such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right. In the United States, blackface declined in popularity beginning in the 1940s and into the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s,Clark, Alexis.How the History of Blackface Is Rooted in Racism. ''History''. A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2019. and was generally considered highly of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Birth Of A Nation
''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play '' The Clansman''. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the film with Harry Aitken. ''The Birth of a Nation'' is a landmark of film history, lauded for its technical virtuosity. It was the first non-serial American 12- reel film ever made. Its plot, part fiction and part history, chronicles the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and the relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras over the course of several years—the pro- Union ( Northern) Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy ( Southern) Camerons. It was originally shown in two parts separated by an intermission, and it was the first American-made film to have a musical score for an orchestra. It pioneered closeups and fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Souls Of Sin
''Souls of Sin'' is a 1949 American race film written and directed by Powell Lindsay, and produced by William D. Alexander. One of the last of its kind, ''Souls of Sin'' has been described as a landmark film of the genre. Generally regarded as the last all-black film with a black producer, it was producer Alexander's final feature before his move to London, where he began making documentaries (he produced one further film with ''The Klansman'' in the 1970s). Plot Cast * Savannah Churchill as Regina * Powell Lindsay as Bad Boy George * William Greaves as Isaiah "Alabama" Lee * Jimmy Wright as Dollar Bill * Emery Richardson as Roberts * Billie Allen as Etta * Louise Jackson as Mrs. Sands * Charley Macrae as Mac Music Songs featured in the film include: * "The Things You Do to Me" – Savannah Churchill and Henry Glover * "Disappointment Blues” – William Greaves * “Lonesome Blues” – William Greaves Release ''Souls of Sin'' screened at the 1989 Galveston Film Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Shall Die
''Four Shall Die'' is a 1940 American supernatural crime film directed by William Beaudine. It features Dorothy Dandridge in her first credited film role. Cast * Niel Webster as Pierre Touissant * Mantan Moreland as Beefus, Touissant's Chauffeur * Laurence Criner as Roger Fielding * Dorothy Dandridge as Helen Fielding * Vernon McCalla as Doctor Webb * Monte Hawley as Dr. Hugh Leonard (as Monty Hawley) * Reginald Fenderson as Hickson (as Reggie Fenderson) * Jack Carr as Lew Covey * Jess Lee Brooks Jess Lee Brooks (June 10, 1894 – December 13, 1944), also known as Jesse Brooks, was an American actor. He is perhaps most famous for playing the African-American church preacher in the critically acclaimed motion picture ''Sullivan's Travels'', ... as Bill Summers * Edward Thompson as Sgt. Adams References External links * 1940 films 1940s crime films American crime films American black-and-white films Films directed by William Beaudine American supernatural films ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juke Joint (film)
''Juke Joint'' is a 1947 race film directed by and starring Spencer Williams and produced and released by Sack Amusement Enterprises. The film was considered lost until being rediscovered. Plot Bad News Johnson, a con artist from Memphis, Tennessee, arrives in Dallas, Texas, accompanied by his dim sidekick July Jones with only twenty-five cents between them. Johnson is constantly exasperated at Jones’ deficient perspicacity, and at one point he comments Jones is so dense that he probably thinks " Veronica Lake is some kind of summer resort." The duo arrange to become boarders at the home of Louella "Mama Lou" Holiday, who is fooled into believing Johnson is an acting teacher named Whitney Vanderbilt; Jones takes the alias of Cornbread Green. Mrs. Holiday agrees to give the men free room and board if they will provide poise lessons to her daughter, an aspiring beauty queen named Honey Dew. The lessons pay off and Honey Dew wins the beauty contest, but problems arise when Mrs. Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In Harlem
''Murder in Harlem'' (also released as ''Lem Hawkins Confession'' and ''Brand of Cain'') is a 1935 American race film written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, who also appears in the film. He remade his 1921 silent film ''The Gunsaulus Mystery''. Basing the works on the 1913 trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, Micheaux used the detective genre to introduce different voices and conflicting accounts by his characters. In July 2021, the film was shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Plot An African-American man is framed of the murder of a white woman, but a white man is found to be responsible. Author-turned-attorney Henry Glory is hired by the accused man's sister to defend him. Glory pieces the crime together, and the white killer is revealed. The film is loosely based on the real life case of Leo Frank. However, it changes the titular aspect of the real case, in that it was highly prejudicial due to Frank being a non-whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carib Gold
''Carib Gold'' is a maritime-themed 1956 B-movie, written and filmed almost entirely in Key West, Florida, with locally-cast musicians and extras. Its cast is largely African-American headlined by Ethel Waters and features the first known film roles for both Geoffrey Holder and Cicely Tyson. The story was written by Navy veteran Charles Gossett. Thought lost for decades, the film is now in the public domain and was digitized in early 2012 and released online for free public viewing by Southern Methodist University, as part of the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection at the university's Hamon Art Library. Plot The movie starts with Neely, a shrimping boat's skipper, calling in to shore with news of a good catch. Subsequent conversations with Barb, his mate/deckhand and Cap, his boss on shore, reveals that this boat (the ''Capt. Geech'') has snagged and torn several nets recently due to something on the sea floor, despite the charts showing nothing in the area. Cap and Neely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party
''Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party'' is a 1935 American musical short film which was released by Paramount Pictures (later sold to U.M. & M. TV Corporation). In 2001, the film was reissued by Kino International in the DVD collection ''Hollywood Rhythm: Vol. 1-The Best Of Jazz And Blues.'' Synopsis Bandleader Cab Calloway and his Orchestra perform "Hotcha Razz-Ma-Tazz" and "Long About Midnight" at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York before going to a house party and performing "Jitterbug". In the final sequence, a young Lena Horne can be seen as a Cotton Club dancer doing the jitterbug Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing dan .... References External links 1935 films American black-and-white films 1935 musical films American musical films Paramount Pictures sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole. Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, " Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached the ''Billboard'' charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rufus Jones For President
''Rufus Jones for President'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code satirical musical-comedy, clocking in at 21 minutes. The film was directed by Roy Mack, and starred Ethel Waters and Sammy Davis Jr., in his first onscreen appearance, as the title character. The film's tone may appear racist to today's audiences. The film is considered an important musical short. This film is available on YouTube. Synopsis Rufus Jones, an African American child, is elected president of the United States in this short musical comedy, which features song and dance numbers by seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. Home media ''Rufus Jones for President'' was released on the six-disc ''Big Band, Jazz & Swing'' set of short subjects by Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte .... Ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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