All-American News was a film production company in the U.S. bringing newsreels and entertainment films to

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 ...

audiences.The first reels were produced in their headquarters in Chicago and premiered in November of 1942.https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher149unse/page/n83/mode/2up?view=theater The newsreels were shown in 150 black theaters from across the country. They were the first newsreels to ever be produced for black audiences. The intention behind them was to encourage African Americans to join and support the war effort as well as share their perspective on events taking place around the world. The films were typically 7 minutes in length and covered several topics with the main focus being progress and achievements of African American service members. Emmanuel M. Glucksman, a former Universal short subject producer and exhibitor, lead production for All-American News films for African American audiences. He was paired with young African American filmmaker William D. Alexander, who worked on the newsreel production team, narrated, and interviewed. Claude Barnett, an experienced journalist also helped produce the films.

Josh Binney Harold "Josh" Binney (1889 - 1956) was an actor, film producer, film company executive, and film director in the United States. He worked as an actor before establishing the Florida Film Company in Jacksonville, Florida in 1918 and produced and pr ...

directed some of the films. Some of these films included ''Chicago After Dark'' and ''Lucky Gamblers.'' The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

has a collection of 35 All-American newsreels and films released from 1942 to 1945.

Production

While being headquartered in Chicago, filming was conducted across the United States. Newsreels were filmed with camera crews located and operating in major cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Additional film material was purchased from freelance camera crews in other cities. Printing of the newsreels were handled at the former New York motion film lab, DuArt Film Laboratories, that shut down operations in 2021.

Films

Chicago After Dark

''Chicago After Dark'' is a 23 minute American comedy film from 1946. It was directed by

. A poster for the film advertised it as "An All-American Streamlined Feature" with " Lollypop Jones and a cast of all colored stars." The

Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Am ...

has a

lobby card A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...

from the film. It was an All-American News production. The film is part of the Black Film Center collection at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. In 2000, ''Chicago After Dark'' featured at the Harlem Week Black Film Festival; according to the festival, it was the film's first showing in forty years. The plot description read, "A lady escapes from the 'nut' house in this comedy classic." Cast * Lollypop Jones * Allen McMillen * Artie Belle McGinty * Tops & Wilda (Thomas Lee and Wilda Crawford) * Edgar Lewis Morton * James Dunsmore

Lucky Gamblers

Lucky Gamblers is a 1946 American action comedy short film. It was advertised as having an "all-colored cast of stars". It was an All-American News production, directed by

. The film follows the character of Lollypop Jones' who begins working at the 7-11 club as a waitress when she hears gamblers plotting to take ownership of the club and she steps in to try stop the plot. ;Cast * Sybil Lewis (actress) * Lollypop Jones * J. Augustus Smith

Filmography

*''

The Negro Sailor ''The Negro Sailor'' is a 1945 documentary short film made for the U.S. Navy and shown by All-American News, a company producing newsreels and later feature films for the race film market. It was directed by Henry Levin. The film was inspired by ...

'' (1945) *''

It Happened in Harlem ''It Happened in Harlem'' is an American musical comedy film directed by Bud Pollard and starring Chris Columbus, Phil Gomez, and Nicky O'Daniel. The film was partly shot at Smalls Paradise and released in 1945. However, no prints of the film a ...

'' (1945) *''Chicago After Dark'' (1946) *''Lucky Gamblers'' (1946) *'' Midnight Menace'' (1946) *''

Boarding House Blues ''Boarding House Blues'' is a 1948 American musical race film directed by Josh Binney which featured the first starring film role by Moms Mabley. It was the penultimate feature film of All-American News, a company that made newsreels about blac ...

'' (1948) *''

Killer Diller (1948 film) ''Killer Diller'' is a 1948 American musical comedy race film directed by Josh Binney and released by All American. Academic and comedienne Eddie Tafoya wrote that "''Killer Diller'' is really more concerned with showcasing black talent appear ...

'' (1948) *'' The Joint is Jumping'' (1949)

Production

Films

Chicago After Dark

Lucky Gamblers

Filmography

References

Further reading