''The Duke Is Tops'' is a 1938 American

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

released by Million Dollar Productions and directed by William Nolte. The film was later released in 1944 under the title ''The Bronze Venus''. It features top-billed

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

in her film debut, along with Ralph Cooper. The film was one of the low-budget musical film " race movies" made in the 1930s and 1940s for the

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

market. The casts and production teams of these films were almost all black, and the music reflected current tastes in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

Plot

Duke Davis (Cooper) is a stage-show promoter in love with Ethel Andrews (Horne), a popular singer in his company dubbed "the Bronze Venus". Duke finds out that big-time promoters from

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 ...

want to propel Ethel into the big leagues, but Ethel, out of loyalty and love for Duke, refuses to leave his small-time show. Duke, in a selfless act, orchestrates a deception to force Ethel to leave his show in order to better her career. However, the loss of the Bronze Venus causes Duke's own career to collapse and he soon finds himself working on a travelling

medicine show Medicine shows were touring acts (traveling by truck, horse, or wagon teams) that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European Charlatan, mountebank shows and were common ...

where he goes from town to town, introducing a series of specialty musical acts and helping to sell Doc Dorando's all-purpose

elixir An elixir is a sweet liquid used for medical purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's illness. When used as a dosage form, pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orall ...

. But when he hears that Ethel's New York gig is a flop, Duke goes to New York, where he is reunited with her. Soon after, Duke combines his stage show, the medicine show and Ethel's singing into a top nightclub act.

Cast

* Ralph Cooper as Duke Davis *

as Ethel Andrews * Laurence Criner as Doc Dorando * Monte Hawley as George Marshall * Neva Peoples as Ella * Vernon McCalla as Mason * Edward Thompson as Ferdie Fenton * Johnny Taylor as Dippy ("Prince Alakazoo") * Ray Martin as Joe * Guernsey Morrow as Ed Lake * Charles Hawkins as Sam, the Stage Manager * Everett Brown as the Sheriff * Arthur Ray as the druggist Speciality acts appear throughout the film, including Willie Covan, the Basin Street Boys, Rubberneck Holmes, Cats and the Fiddle, the Marie Bryant Swing Band, and the Harlemania Orchestra.

Production

The film was shot in 10 days on a shoe-string budget.

Casting

Ralph Cooper planned to star alongside Nina Mae McKinney as the female lead, but her delayed return from her appearances in Australia led to the role to be recast. ''The Duke Is Tops'' features the film debut of singer Lena Horne, then aged 20, who had yet to develop the style she would use in her later films for

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

. She has a rare major acting role in this film, absent from her later career except for 1943's '' Cabin in the Sky'', '' Stormy Weather'' and a few others. The original top-billed star, Ralph Cooper, was host of Amateur Night at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

for 50 years.

Music

The movie features singer

and the Cats and the Fiddle singing group. Horne as Ethel sings the Harvey Brooks & Ben Ellison composition "I Know You Remember", with lyrics apropos of the film, "You and I have made a small beginning..." Horne also sings "Don't Let Our Love Song Turn Me Blue", with a lyric that foreshadows one of her future great roles: "True love will guide us through stormy weather"; and she reprises "I Know You Remember". The Cats & the Fiddle sing "Killin' Jive." "I Know You Remember" and "Don't Let Our Love Song Turn Into a Blues," had words and music by Ben Ellison and Harvey Brooks. The composers of "Harlem is Harmony," "When You Smoke" and "Thursday Evening Swing" are undetermined.

Reception

'' Variety'' wrote about Lena Horne that she was "a rather inept actress, but something to look at and hear." The film's premiere was a benefit for the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, but Lena Horne's husband – who was opposed to her making the film – refused to allow her to attend, because she hadn't yet been paid for her work on the film.

Distribution

''The Duke Is Tops'' has been released on DVD in North America. The film is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

in the U.S., and as such is available in multiple editions.Peter Rogers Organization
"Public Domain"
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke Is Tops, The 1938 films American romantic musical films American black-and-white films Films set in New York City Race films Articles containing video clips 1930s romantic musical films Toddy Pictures Company films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language romantic musical films