''Boy! What a Girl!'' is a 1947 American

race film The race film or race movie was a genre of film produced in the United States between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for African American, black audiences, and featuring black casts. Approximately five hundred race ...

directed by Arthur H. Leonard and starring Tim Moore, with guest appearances by the Brown Dots,

Slam Stewart Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart (September 21, 1914December 10, 1987) was an American jazz double-bass player whose trademark style was his ability to bow the bass (arco) and simultaneously hum or sing an octave higher. He was a violinist before swit ...

Sid Catlett Sidney "Big Sid" Catlett (January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951) was an American jazz drummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged. Early life Catlett was born in Eva ...

and

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...

Plot

Would-be theatrical producer Jim Walton (Elwood Smith) is planning a new show that will feature bandleader Slam Stewart and the comic female impersonator Bumpsie (Tim Moore). Mr. Cummings, the wealthy father of Jim’s girlfriend Cristola, has agreed to finance half of the show if the famous Parisian impresario Madame Deborah will provide the second half of the funding. When word arrives that Madame Deborah’s arrival from France has been delayed, Bumpsie is brought in to keep Mr. Cummings occupied. Mr. Cummings, however, is unaware that Bumpsie is a man in drag and he falls in love with him. The real Madame Deborah unexpectedly arrives early and passes herself off as Mrs. Martin. Two other would-be suitors, impressed with Madame Deborah’s wealth, begin to pursue Bumpsie. A fundraising party for the show is held, where several musical acts arrive to perform. A pair of thugs attempt to kidnap Bumpsie, believing he is Madame Deborah, but he manages to escape. The real Madame Deborah identifies herself and agrees to finance Jim’s show, enabling him to achieve his professional goals and to marry Cristola.

Cast

* Tim Moore as Bumpsi * Elwood Smith as Jim Walton * Duke Williams as Harry Diggs * Alan Jackson as Mr. Cummings * Sheila Guyse as Francine * Betti Mays as Cristola * Sybil Lewis (actress) as Mme. Deborah Martin * Warren Patterson as Donaldson the Landlord * Milton Woods as the Jealous Lover *

Lorenzo Tucker Lorenzo Tucker (June 27, 1907 – August 19, 1986), known as the "Black Valentino," was an American stage and screen actor who played the romantic lead in the early black films of Oscar Micheaux. Acting career Born in Philadelphia, Tucker s ...

as the Jealous Lover's Helper

Production

''Boy! What a Girl!'' was planned to be the first in a series of all-black race films produced by the independent company Herald Pictures. The film’s press kit acknowledged the segregated distribution patterns of the race film by proclaiming ''Boy! What a Girl!'' would be “an all-Negro motion picture can be produced to play in any theater in the country and not merely confined to the some 600 odd playhouses that cater strictly to an all-Negro audience.” “Within Our Gates” by Alan Gevinson, American Film Institute, Google Books
/ref> The film was shot at the Fox Movietone Studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Gene Krupa, the only white member of the cast, was not originally signed to appear in the film; director Arthur H. Leonard invited Krupa to be on camera when the famous drummer stopped by to visit cast member Sid Catlett on the set. ''Boy! What a Girl!'' was the only starring film role for Tim Moore, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

comedy star who later became famous as the Kingfish in the television series '' Amos 'n Andy''. A pre-production news item identified Marva Lewis, the ex-wife of

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

champion

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...

, as being a part of the cast, but she is not present in the finished film, as she was forced to withdraw due to illness. She was replaced by the Brown Dots.

Legacy

There has been a revival of interest in the film in recent years due to the prominence of its black cast.

Donald Bogle Donald Bogle is an American film historian and author of six books concerning black history in film and on television. He is an instructor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the University of Pennsylvania. Early years Bogle g ...

wrote that the race films of the late 1940s succeeded as "fundamental celebrations of cultural roots and communal spirits and also as pure, undiluted celebrations of black style. Such movies as '' Broken Strings'', ''Boy! What a Girl!'' (1946), '' Sepia Cinderella'' (1947), ''

The Bronze Buckaroo ''The Bronze Buckaroo'' is a 1939 American Western (genre), Western race film directed by Richard C. Kahn. ''The Bronze Buckaroo'' stars Black cowboys, Black cowboy singer Herb Jeffries, here billed as Herbert Jeffrey. Plot Cowboy Bob Blake rec ...

'', and scores of others introduced a new rhythm to American cinema. Vocal inflections and intonations set the ears abuzz. The manners, gestures, postures, surprising double takes, swift interplay and communication between the characters is a world unto itself, capturing, despite whatever other distortions or failings, a segment of black American life and culture."

References

External links

*
''Boy! What a Girl!''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...