That's Black Entertainment
Encyclopedia
That's Black Entertainment is a 1990
documentary film with African-American performers and the clips from black films from 1929-57.
Many entertainers, along with their musical numbers, and the film they starred in, include:
Not only musical clips were shown, but dramatic clips as well, like Murder in Harlem
(1935), Juke Joint
(1947), Four Shall Die (1940), and Souls of Sin (1949).
It also included are clips from white films stereotyping blacks, including D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation,
and a blackfaced Bing Crosby
in Crooner's Holiday (1932).
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
documentary film with African-American performers and the clips from black films from 1929-57.
Many entertainers, along with their musical numbers, and the film they starred in, include:
- Paul RobesonPaul RobesonPaul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
(Song of Freedom) - Bessie SmithBessie SmithBessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
(St. Louis BluesSt. Louis Blues (1929 film)St. Louis Blues is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues"...
) - Eubie BlakeEubie BlakeJames Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
, Nina Mae McKinneyNina Mae McKinneyNina Mae McKinney was an American actress who worked internationally in theatre, film and television after getting her start on Broadway and in Hollywood...
, and The Nicholas Brothers (Pie-Pie Blackbird) - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
(The Duke Is TopsThe Duke is TopsThe Duke Is Tops is a 1938 American musical film released by Million Dollar Productions and directed by William Nolte. The film was later released in 1943 under the title The Bronze Venus, with Lena Horne given top billing....
) - Nat 'King' Cole and Moms MableyMoms MableyJackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken , was an American standup comedian and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.-Early years:...
(Killer DillerKiller Diller (1948 film)Killer Diller is a 1948 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Josh Binney and released by All American.The movie features The Clark Brothers , Nat King Cole, Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, Butterfly McQueen, the Andy Kirk Orchestra and the Four Congaroos .-Plot summary:Dusty Fletcher plays a...
) - Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
and Ethel WatersEthel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
(Rufus Jones for PresidentRufus Jones for PresidentRufus Jones for President is a 1933 satirical musical-comedy short subject directed by Roy Mack, starring Ethel Waters and Sammy Davis, Jr. in his first onscreen appearance...
) - Cab CallowayCab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
(Cab Calloway's Jitterbug PartyCab Calloway's Jitterbug PartyCab Calloway's Jitterbug Party is a 1935 American musical short film which was released by Paramount Pictures...
) - Ethel WatersEthel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
(Carib Gold)
Not only musical clips were shown, but dramatic clips as well, like Murder in Harlem
Murder in Harlem
Murder in Harlem is a 1935 American race film written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, who also appears in the film...
(1935), Juke Joint
Juke joint
Juke joint is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly...
(1947), Four Shall Die (1940), and Souls of Sin (1949).
It also included are clips from white films stereotyping blacks, including D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation,
and a blackfaced Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
in Crooner's Holiday (1932).
Celebrity appearances
- Billie Allen
- Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
- Albert AmmonsAlbert AmmonsAlbert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:...
- Eubie BlakeEubie BlakeJames Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
- Clarence Brooks
- Cab CallowayCab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
- Nat 'King' Cole
- Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
- Dorothy DandridgeDorothy DandridgeDorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
- Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
- Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
- Francine EverettFrancine EverettFrancine Everett was an African-American actress and singer who is best known for her performances in race films, independently-produced motion pictures with all-black casts that were created exclusively for distribution to cinemas that catered to African American audiences.-Early life:Born as...
- Stepin FetchitStepin FetchitStepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry....
- William GreavesWilliam GreavesWilliam Greaves is a documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of African-American filmmaking. He has produced over two hundred documentary films writing and directing more than half of them...
- Alfred Hawkins
- Billie HolidayBillie HolidayBillie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
- Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
- Pete JohnsonPete JohnsonPete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most...
- July Jones
- Moms MableyMoms MableyJackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken , was an American standup comedian and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.-Early years:...
- Nina Mae McKinneyNina Mae McKinneyNina Mae McKinney was an American actress who worked internationally in theatre, film and television after getting her start on Broadway and in Hollywood...
- Clarence MuseClarence MuseClarence Muse was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years, and appeared in more than 150 movies.-Life and career:Born in...
- The Nicholas Brothers
- Jesse OwensJesse OwensJames Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...
- Paul RobesonPaul RobesonPaul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
- Frank 'Sugar Chile' Robinson
- Bessie SmithBessie SmithBessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
- Fredi WashingtonFredi WashingtonFredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington was an accomplished dramatic film actress, most active in the 1920s- 1930s. Fredi was a self-proclaimed Black woman, who chose to be identified as such, and wished for others to do so as well...
- Ethel WatersEthel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
- Spencer WilliamsSpencer WilliamsSpencer Williams was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Tishomingo Blues", "Careless Love", and many...