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Gang Smashers
''Gang Smashers'', also released as ''Gun Moll'', is an American film released in 1938. It features an African American cast. Leo C. Popkin directed the Million Dollar Productions film from a screenplay by Ralph Cooper. The University of South Carolina libraries have an 8-page pressbook for the film. Nina Mae McKinney stars in the film a thriller about the Harlem underworld and racketeering. The opening of the film is a dedication to African American in law enforcement signed by Harry M. Popkin. Cast *Nina Mae McKinney *Laurence Criner *Monte Hawley *Mantan Moreland *Reginald Fenderson * Eddie Thompson *Neva Peoples Neva Mary Peoples was a singer and dancer who appeared in several films in the United States. She performed as a singer, dancer, and chorus girl. Peoples was from San Francisco. A 1936 news clipping refers to her as the "colored blues singer and da ..., performing a song References {{Reflist 1938 films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Leo C. Popki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo C
Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts and entertainment Music * Leo (band), a Missouri-based rock band that was founded in Cleveland, Ohio * L.E.O. (band), a band by musician Bleu and collaborators Film * ''Leo'' (2000 film), a Spanish film by José Luis Borau * ''Leo'' (2002 film), a British-American drama film * ''Leo'', a 2007 Swedish film by Josef Fares * ''Leo'' (2012 film), a Kenyan film * Leo the Lion (MGM), mascot of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio Television * Leo Awards, a British Columbian television award * "Leo", an episode of ''Being Erica'' * Léo, fictional lion in the animation ''Animal Crackers'' * ''Léo'', 2018 Quebec television series created by Fabien Cloutier Companies * Leo Namibia, former name for the TN Mobile phone network in Namibia * Leo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Million Dollar Productions
Million Dollar Productions was a movie studio in the United States active from 1937 until 1940. It was established to produce films with African American casts. It was a partnership between Harry M. Popkin, Leo C. Popkin and Ralph Cooper. History Ralph Cooper was an experienced black actor nicknamed "Dark Gable" who was also a singer, dancer, comedian and emcee at the Apollo Theatre Amateur Night in Harlem. While contracted to 20th Century Fox, Cooper learned film making skills. Together with George Randol, he formed Cooper-Randol Productions to produce ''Dark Manhattan'' (1937). Using the experience he went into partnership with the Popkin brothers, Harry and Leo to form Million Dollar Productions. Harry Popkin owned and managed a chain of Circle Theatres in Los Angeles. One of these was the Million Dollar Theatre that catered to a black clientele. The production company made several fast moving genre pictures with budgets, despite its name, of approximately $8,000 to $10,000 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Cooper
Ralph Cooper (January 16, 1908 – August 4, 1992), was an American actor, screenwriter, dancer and choreographer. Cooper is best known as the original master of ceremonies and founder of amateur night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City in 1935. He wrote, produced, directed and acted in ten motion pictures. Titles include, ''The Duke Is Tops'', ''Dark Manhattan'', '' Gangsters on the Loose'' and '' Gang War''. Because of his debonair good looks, he was known as "dark Gable" in the 1930s. Biography Cooper was born on January 16, 1908 in Harlem, New York City. He worked as a dancer in small downtown clubs near New York University, which he attended with plans of becoming a medical doctor. In July 1935, Cooper began the Apollo's Amateur Night which ran every Wednesday night. In 1937, Cooper formed Cooper-Randol Productions with black actor George Randol and soon afterwards Million Dollar Productions with white producers Harry Popkin and his brother Leo Popkin to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Mae McKinney
Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed "The Black Garbo" in Europe because of her striking beauty,Bourne, Stephen. ''Nina Mae McKinney: the Black Garbo''. BearManor Media, 2011. McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television. Biography Early life McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney's birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic. By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook for Cynthia Withers, her daughter Irene, and other white lodgers. McKinney s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Criner
Laurence Criner (19 July 1898 - 8 March 1965) born John Laurence Criner, occasionally credited as J. Lawrence Criner, was an actor in the United States. An African-American, he had numerous film roles including as the male lead and star. He was a member of the Lafayette Players and worked at Norman Studios in Jacksonville, Florida where he starred in two of their race films. He later worked at African American studio Million Dollar Productionshttp://normanstudios.org/films-stars/norman-players/laurence-criner/ The Smithsonian Institution has a lobby card for ''The Flying Ace''. The Library of Congress has a movie poster of '' Life Goes On'' that features an insetimage of Criner. The National Museum of African American History has a herald for ''Flying Ace''. Theater *''Meek Mose'' (1928), credited as J. Lawrence Criner Filmography *''The Flying Ace'' (1926) as Capt. Blly Stokes *'' The Millionaire (1927 film)'' *''Black Gold (1928 film)'' *''Black Moon'' (1934), as high pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Hawley
Monte Hawley (? - November 30, 1950) was an American actor from Chicago, Illinois. Biography He began his entertainment career as one of the original Lafayette Players. He studied under Richard B. Harrison and, after moving to New York City, acted in works on Broadway. He then moved to Hollywood and appeared in movies, including Oscar Micheaux's first film production. He was an actor in, and stage manager for, the original traveling production of the play '' Anna Lucasta''. According to the ''Philadelphia Tribune'', Hawley was considered one of the most prominent Black "stage and screen actors". He was in several theatrical productions on Broadway. Hawley died on November 30, 1950, in New York City. Filmography *''A Son of Satan'' (1924) *'' Life Goes On'', as District Attorney *''The Duke Is Tops'' (1938), as George Marshall *'' Double Deal'' (1939), as Jim McCoy *''Reform School'' (1939), as Jackson *''Four Shall Die'' (1940), as Dr. Hugh Leonard (credited as Monty Hawley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films. Early years He was born in Monroe, Louisiana, to Frank, an old-time Dixieland bandleader, and Marcella. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, but his daughter told Moreland's biographer she doubts this date is correct. She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen. Career After "nearly ten years of working the small, small time", Moreland gained an opportunity in 1927 when he was hired as a comedian in ''Connie's Inn Frolics'' in Harlem. He next worked in the musical revue ''Blackbirds of 1928'', which ran for 518 performances. By the late 1920s, Moreland had made his way through vaudeville, working with various sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reginald Fenderson
Reginald Hartley Fenderson (December 28, 1911 – August 16, 1986) was an American actor in theatrical productions and films in the United States. He appeared in various films with African American casts in the 1930s and 1940s. Reginald Fenderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 28, 1911. His father, Alfonso Fenderson, was the original actor who portrayed Moses in the play, ''The Green Pastures''. Reginald Fenderson was an actor on the stage version and road tour of ''Green Pastures'', playing the characters Joshua and the magician for at least five years. He played a feature role in the 1939 film ''Reform School'', as an inmate named Freddie Gordon. The newspaper ''The Washington Afro-American'' stated that Fenderson " andledthe role Freddie Gordon with admirable restraint, and is never guilty of melodramatics in a part that easily lends itself to over-portrayal." Fenderson married Ella J. in 1933. They filed for divorce in 1938. Fenderson served as a Private i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Thompson (businessman)
Edward Henry Thompson OBE (16 July 1940 – 15 October 2008) was a Scottish businessman. A well-known figure in the Scottish retail industry, he founded the convenience store chain Morning, Noon and Night in 1991, which he later sold for £30 million in 2004. He was awarded the OBE for services to the Scottish grocery industry in 2005. A long-time supporter of Dundee United F.C., Thompson bought the club in 2002 and remained chairman until his death in 2008. Business career Born in Glasgow, where he attended Hyndland Secondary School, Thompson qualified as an accountant prior to working in managerial positions for Dundee-based Watson & Philip, owners of the VG chain of convenience stores. In 1991, he left them to become founder and chief executive of a similar chain called Morning, Noon & Night. He continued to run the company until selling it to Scotmid in 2004 for £30m. He was awarded the OBE in June 2005, in recognition of his services to the Scottish grocery industry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neva Peoples
Neva Mary Peoples was a singer and dancer who appeared in several films in the United States. She performed as a singer, dancer, and chorus girl. Peoples was from San Francisco. A 1936 news clipping refers to her as the "colored blues singer and dancer from Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club in Hollywood." Her film debut was in the 1938 melodrama ''Gang Smashers'' singing "That's What You Get in Harlem". She played Ella in ''The Duke is Tops'' (1938). She was in a cabaret scene in the 1939 movie, ''One Dark Night''. A 1942 photograph captured her and fellow performers in zoot suit costumes for the Republic Studio film, ''Hit Parade of 1943''. She married Phil Moore in 1937 and had a son, George Phillip Moore III, in 1939. Moore's orchestra backed one of her performances. Filmography *''Gang Smashers'' (1938) *''The Duke is Tops'' (1938) as Ella *''Hit Parade of 1943'' *''Mantan Messes Up Mantan Messes Up is a film produced in 1946 in the United States. It stars Mantan Moreland. Sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1938 Films
Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the authoritarian regime. ** State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo. * January 27 – The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam. February * February 4 ** Adolf Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military. In addition, he dismisses political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies. General Werner von Fritsch is forced to resign as Commander of Chief of the German Army following accusations of homosexuality, and replaced by General Walther von ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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