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Edna Mae Harris
Edna Mae Harris (September 29, 1914 – September 15, 1997), sometimes credited as Edna May Harris was an American actress and singer. Harris was one of the first African–American film actress of the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in films featuring mostly African–American casts. Biography Early life and career Born in Harlem, Harris parents were Sam, a boxer and customs inspector; Her mother Mary Harris (née Walker) worked as a maid. Harris' family is noted as one of the first families to have migrated to Harlem. Settling near the Lafayette Theater, Harris was convinced into pursuing a career in show business by Ethel Waters and Maud Russell who were frequent visitors to her family home. After being coached on her singing and dancing by Waters and Russell, Harris began performing in the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA). An African-American vaudeville circuit, Harris performed with TOBA from 1929 until 1933. Harris attended Wadleigh High School (later k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lying Lips
''Lying Lips'' is a 1939 American melodrama race film written and directed by Oscar Micheaux who co-produced the film with aviator Hubert Fauntlenroy Julian, starring Edna Mae Harris, and Robert Earl Jones (the father of James Earl Jones). ''Lying Lips'' was the thirty-seventh film of Micheaux. The film was shot at the Biograph Studios in New York City. Plot Elsie, a popular nightclub singer, refuses to go out with the customers at the request of the white owner of the club. The owner decides to get Benjamin, the black manager of the club, to talk to Elsie and try to persuade her to cooperate. Benjamin refuses and quits his job. Benjamin tells Elsie of his conversation with the owner and persuades Elsie to stay on because she is popular and can make a lot of money, but he warns her to be careful. Elsie stays, but still refuses to date the customers. Later, the owner hires John and Clyde, Elsie's uncles, to replace Benjamin. One evening, after the club closes, Elsie goes home and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. He was victorious in 25 consecutive title defenses, Heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics, a record for all weight classes. Louis had the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history. Louis's cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first person of African-American descent to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II because of his historic rematch with German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938. He was instrumental in integrating the game of golf, breaking the sport's color barrier in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midnight Ramble (film)
''Midnight Ramble'' is a 1994 documentary about the early history of Black American movies from the period between 1910 and 1950. Known as " race movies", these films, traditionally independent of Hollywood, were made primarily by, for and about the black community. This documentary is a tribute to a film genre that lasted for more than 40 years, produced over 500 movies, and created a foundation for contemporary films from directors such as Spike Lee and Tyler Perry. James Avery narrates this exploration of the early black film industry. There is a mistaken assumption that "race films" began largely in reaction to D. W. Griffith's 1915 ''The Birth of a Nation''. Nothing could be further from the truth. Race movies actually began around 1910 in Chicago in response to the Black Community longing to see themselves reflected on the silver screen via this new medium of film. Wanting to see themselves through their own eyes, on their own terms thus counteracting the Hollywood stereotyp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WMCA (AM)
WMCA (570 AM) is a radio station licensed to New York, New York. Owned by Salem Media Group, the station programs a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. The station's studios are in lower Manhattan and are shared with co-owned WNYM (970 AM). WMCA's transmitter is located along Belleville Turnpike in Kearny, New Jersey. WMCA's programming is simulcast on a 250 watt translator, W272DX (102.3 MHz), from a tower in Clifton, New Jersey. Prior to switching to its current programming in 1989, WMCA was a talk radio station during the 1970s and 1980s, and earlier a Top 40 outlet featuring a lineup of disc jockeys known as the "Good Guys". WMCA is credited with having been the first New York radio station to broadcast a recording by The Beatles. History Early years After first testing as station 2XH, WMCA began regular transmission on February 1, 1925, broadcasting on 428.6 meters wavelength (700 kHz) with a power of 500 watts. It was the 13th radio sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Banks (singer)
Billy Banks (c. 1908 – October 19, 1967, Tokyo, Japan) was an American jazz singer. Banks is most prominently remembered for being a successful female impersonator on record. Banks recorded in 1932 with the Rhythmakers; an all-star, multi-racial jazz lineup made up of Red Allen on trumpet, Pee Wee Russell on clarinet, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, Joe Sullivan on piano, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Fats Waller, also on piano; most of the black musicians were from Luis Russell's retinue, while the white ones had been brought to the studio by producer Irving Mills. The vocals were once thought to have been performed by Una Mae Carlisle, but Banks is the actual vocalist. Banks worked with Russell as a showman and vocalist, and later worked with Noble Sissle. He later performed in cabarets under Billy Rose, then toured Europe, Australia, and East Asia in the 1950s. One of his last recordings was done in Denmark in 1954 with Cy Laurie. Late in the 1950s, he relocated to Japan, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood. Horne advocated for human rights and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963. Later she returned to her roots as a nightclub performer and continued to work on television while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, '' Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'', which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, retreating from the public eye in 2000. Early life Lena Horne was born in Bedford–S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noble Sissle
Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Early life Sissle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, around the time his father Rev. George A. Sissle was pastor of the city's Simpson M. E. Chapel.Reef (2010) His mother, Martha Angeline (née Scott) Sissle, was a school teacher and juvenile probation officer. As a youth, Sissle sang in church choirs and as a soloist with his high school's glee club in Cleveland, Ohio. Sissle attended De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana on scholarship and later transferred to Butler University in Indianapolis before turning to music full-time. Career In early 1916, Sissle joined one of the society orchestras organized by James Reese Europe in New York. He persuaded Europe to also hire his friend, pianist and composer Eubie Blake, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paradise In Harlem
''Paradise in Harlem'' is a 1939 American musical comedy-drama film written by Frank H. Wilson and directed by Joseph Seiden. It was first shown in 1939 starring Frank H. Wilson. It was released by Jubilee Production Co. Premise An actor sees a mob execution and is run out of town by the aforesaid mob members. Cast * Frank H. Wilson as Lem Anderson *Mamie Smith as Madame Mamie * Norman Astwood as Rough Jackson *Edna Mae Harris as Doll Davis * Merritt Smith as Ned Avery * Francine Everett as Desdemona Jones *Sidney Easton as Sneeze Ancrum * Babe Matthews as Laura Lou *Lionel Monagas as Matt Gilson * Madeline Belt as Acme Delight *Herman Green as Ganaway *Percy Verwayen as Spanish *George Williams as Runt * Alec Lovejoy as Misery *Lucky Millinder as Himself - Bandleader *Juanita Hall as Singer in Audience Soundtrack * Lucky Millinder with band & chorus - "I Gotta Put You Down" (Written by Lucky Millinder) * Mamie Smith - "Lord, I Love that Man" * Edna Mae Harris and Lucky M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Garden Of Allah (1936 Film)
''The Garden of Allah'' is a 1936 American adventure drama romance film directed by Richard Boleslawski, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer. The screenplay was written by William P. Lipscomb and Lynn Riggs, who based it on the 1904 novel of the same title by Robert S. Hichens. Hichens's novel had been filmed twice before, as silent films made in 1916 and 1927. The supporting cast of the sound version features Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Schildkraut, John Carradine, Alan Marshal, and Lucile Watson. The music score is by Max Steiner. It was the third feature film to be photographed in Three-strip Technicolor, and (uncredited) cinematographers W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson received a special Oscar for advances in color cinematography. The filming locations were in Buttercup, California and Yuma, Arizona. Plot After the death of her invalid father, wealthy Domini Enfilden returns to Le Couvent de Ste. Cecile, where s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Number (1936 Film)
''Private Number'' is a 1936 American drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Loretta Young, Robert Taylor and Basil Rathbone. Sometimes known by the alternative title of ''Secret Interlude'', the film was based on the play '' Common Clay'' by Cleves Kinkead which had previously been made into a film of the same name in 1930. Following the more rigorous enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code after 1934, many of the more salacious elements of the earlier film were left out. Plot Ellen Neal is a 17-year-old woman looking for a job as a servant when she arrives at the home of the wealthy Winfield family. There, she meets servant Gracie who sets up an interview between her and the family's butler, Thomas Wroxton. Wroxton rules the household staff like a tyrant, demanding a large cut of their weekly wages as his "commission". Despite Ellen having no experience, he finds her attractive, so he agrees to give her a month's trial of work and tells her she must report ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bullets Or Ballots
''Bullets or Ballots'' is a 1936 American gangster film starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, and Humphrey Bogart. Robinson plays a police detective who infiltrates a crime gang. This is the first of several films featuring both Robinson and Bogart. Robinson's character, Johnny Blake, was based on Johnny Broderick, a New York City detective. Plot Detective Johnny Blake is a New York City cop who has made his reputation by cracking down on racketeers. When Blake gets kicked off the force, a powerful crime boss named Al Kruger hires him in an attempt to gain fresh ideas about sidestepping the law and expanding his criminal empire. Masterminding the mob are three very powerful bankers, who are only known by the crime boss. Blake soon gains Kruger's trust and rises through the ranks of the criminal organization, much to the distaste of Bugs Fenner, who believes Blake to be a police informer. To compensate for a reduction in the mob's revenue, Blake sugges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940 In Film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney films ''Pinocchio'' and '' Fantasia''. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1940 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * February 10 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon '' Puss Gets the Boot''. *February 23 – Walt Disney's second animated feature film ''Pinocchio'' is released. Although not a box office success upon its initial release, the film receives critical acclaim and wins two Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Song for " When You Wish Upon a Star". Over the years, ''Pinocchio'' has gained a cult following and is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. * April 12 – Alfred Hitchcock's first American film '' Rebecca'' is released, under the production of David O. Selznick. It would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture the following year. * May 17 – ''My Favorite Wife' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
