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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 appearing at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater than it is with providing audiences with a satisfying story." The movie features The Clark Brothers (tap dancers), Nat King Cole, Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, Butterfly McQueen, the Andy Kirk Orchestra and the Four Congaroos (dancing the Lindy Hop). René J. Hall was the film’s arranger. Plot Dusty Fletcher plays a comic, tap dancer and bad magician. While practicing his routine for that evening's variety show, he accidentally vanishes Lola, the girlfriend of the show's manager, Baltimore Dumdone. She was wearing a thousand-dollar string of pearls and it seems most likely that criminality is afoot. Dusty's slapstick antics take up a large portion of the film's first act, with some Keystone Cops- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 producing their films through his Harold J. Binney Productions division. He moved on to Canada and then Sonoma, California. Early life Harold Joshua Binney was born in Kansas City. He studied at the University of Washington and was an actor in vaudeville productions and with stock companies before becoming a film actor. He acted in films for Biograph, IMP, and Vogue. Career in film production He established Florida Film Corporation in Jacksonville and in 1918 producing and directed five comedies for the studio featuring Hillard “Fat” Karr who began his career in comedy films at Josh Binney Comedies in Florida. The films are ''Fabulous Fortune Fumblers'', ''Fred's Fictitious Foundling'', ''Freda's Fighting Father'', ''Fatty's Fast Flivv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a noted venue for African-American performers, and is the home of ''Showtime at the Apollo'', a nationally syndicated television variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008, encompassing 1,093 episodes; the show was rebooted in 2018. The theater, which has a capacity of 1,506, opened in 1913 as Hurtig & Seamon's Music Hall. It was designed by George Keister in the neo-Classical style. Alterations were made that year for showing movies, and it was renamed the Apollo Theater. (It was often referred to as the "125th Street Apollo" to distinguish it from the legitimate Apollo on 42nd Street). In 1924, the Minsky brothers leased the theater for burlesque shows. In 1934, it became a venue for black performers and was opened to black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Renard
Ken Renard (1905-1993) was an actor in the United States. He had roles in '' Strange Fruit'' on stage in 1945, the film ''True Grit'' (1969) and the television series ''Robert Montgomery Presents'' (1950–1957). He was born on November 19, 1905 in Port of Spain, Trinidad as Kenneth Fitzroy Renwick. He died on November 16, 1993 in Los Angeles County, California. He portrayed Toussaint Louverture in the film ''Lydia Bailey''. He appeared on the television show '' The Name of the Game'' (1968). Filmography Film *''Sugar Hill Baby'' (1932? 1938?) *''Murder with Music'' (1941) as Bill Smith, using parts of the film ''Mistaken Identity *'' Killer Diller'' (1948) as The Great Voodoo *''Lydia Bailey'' (1952) as Toussaint L'Ouverture (uncredited) *''Something of Value'' (1957) as Karanja, father of Kimani *''These Thousand Hills'' (1959) as Happy, the waiter (uncredited) *'' Home From the Hill'' (1960) as Chauncey (Hunnicutt butler) *''Papa's Delicate Condition'' (1963) as Walter *'' The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus Smith (actor)
J. Augustus Smith, also known as Gus Smith (born January 14, 1891), was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. In 1936 he was one of three theatre artists who succeeded John Houseman in leading the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in New York City. Biography Smith was born in Gainesville, Florida, in 1891. He made his stage debut during childhood, playing in minstrel shows. In 1911, Smith formed his own minstrel company, with which he toured the United States. He went on to have a career in acting and writing for theatre and film. Smith wrote and appeared in ''Drums O' Voodoo'' (1934). The film was based on his play ''Louisiana'', which premiered in 1933 on Broadway, starring Smith. The stage production featured an all-Black cast, members of the New Negro Repertory Theater Group, founded by Smith. The cast members reprised their roles for the film. Smith co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in ''Turpentine'', a play about conditions in turpenti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Easton
Sidney Easton (October 2, 1885December 24, 1971) was an African-American actor, stage performer, playwright, composer, vocalist, and pianist. He worked as a performer in minstrel shows, carnivals, burlesque, and vaudeville. Starting in the 1930s he appeared in films. Biography Sidney Easton was born on October 2, 1885, in Savannah, Georgia. However some sources have his date of birth as 1886 or 1891. Easton was the eldest of six children, his parents were Eva and King Easton. In childhood, Easton went to work for the John Robinson Circus and later with the A.G. Allan Minstrel Show. He was married to performer Sarah Dooley from 1913 to 1920, ending in her death. Easton was a member of the Easton Trio. Many of his songs were recorded by various musicians in the 1920s including , Margaret Johnson, Martha Copeland, Fats Waller, Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra, , Ethel Waters and the Ebony Four, George Bias, Stewart Wille, Virginia Liston, Clarence Williams and the Cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Martin
Edgar Everett Martin (July 6, 1898 – August 31, 1960), known to his family and friends as Abe Martin, was an American cartoonist, who kept his comic strip, ''Boots and Her Buddies'', running for decades, eventually reaching an audience of 60 million readers. Biography Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the youth moved with his family to Nashville, Tennessee and then to Monmouth, Illinois where his father, George Martin, was a Monmouth College biology professor. As a Monmouth College freshman, he drew frogs, grasshoppers and salamanders in his father's biology classes. He met and married Mary Armsby while attending Monmouth College. (Two of their three daughters also went to Monmouth.) Martin left his junior year to study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, joining Newspaper Enterprise Association in 1921 as a cartoonist. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nellie Hill
Nelly (born 1974) is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. Nelly or Nellie may also refer to: Places * Nellie, Ohio, an American village * Nellie, Assam, a town in Nagaon district * Nelly Island, Antarctica * Nelly Island, Bermuda * Mount Nelly, Bolivia, a stratovolcano in the Andes People * Nelly (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname Nelly or Nellie * Nelly (Egyptian entertainer), Egyptian singer, actor, and radio and television personality and presenter * Nelly Furtado, a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer * Nelly's (1899–1998), Greek photographer (real name Elli Souyioultzoglou-Seraïdari) * Harry Nelly, head coach of the Army college football program from 1908 to 1910 Arts and entertainment * Nelly (2004 film), a French film * Nelly (2016 film), a Canadian film * ''Nellie'', a boat in Joseph Conrad's novella ''Heart of Darkness'' Other uses * , a Danish steamship in service between 1928 and 1936 * "Nellie", a proto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keystone Cops
The Keystone Cops (often spelled "Keystone Kops") are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. History The idea for the Keystone Cops came from Hank Mann, and they were named for the Keystone studio, the film production company founded in 1912 by Sennett. Their first film was '' Hoffmeyer's Legacy'' (1912), with Mann playing the part of police chief Tehiezel, but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short ''The Bangville Police'' starring Mabel Normand, which had Ford Sterling in the role of chief. As early as 1914, Sennett shifted the Keystone Cops from starring roles to background ensemble in support of comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. The Keystone Cops served as supporting players for Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature '' Tillie's Punctured Romance'' (1914); '' Mabel's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages." Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René J
René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine form). In some non-Francophone countries, however, there exists the habit of giving the name René (sometimes spelled without an accent) to girls as well as boys. In addition, both forms are used as surnames (family names). René as a first name given to boys in the United States reached its peaks in popularity in 1969 and 1983 when it ranked 256th. Since 1983 its popularity has steadily declined and it ranked 881st in 2016. René as a first name given to girls in the United States reached its peak in popularity in 1962 when it ranked 306th. The last year for which René was ranked in the top 1000 names given to girls in the United States was 1988. Persons with the given name * René, Duke of Anjou (1409–1480), titular king of Naples a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz dance, jazz, tap dance, tap, breakaway (dance), breakaway, and Charleston (dance), Charleston. It is frequently described as a jazz dance and is a member of the swing (dance), swing dance family. In its development, the Lindy Hop combined elements of both partnered and solo dancing by using the movements and improvisation of African-American dances along with the formal eight-count structure of European partner dances – most clearly illustrated in the Lindy's basic step, the swingout. In this step's open position, each dancer is generally connected hand-to-hand; in its closed position, leads and follows are connected as though in an embrace on one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moms Mabley
Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975), known by her stage name Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was an American stand-up comedian and actress. Mabley began her career on the theater stage in the 1920s and became a veteran entertainer of the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American vaudeville. Mabley later recorded comedy albums and appeared in films and on television programs including ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. Early life Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina, US, on March 19, 1894. She was one of 16 children born to James Aiken and Mary Smith, who had married in 1891. Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, while her mother kept house and took in boarders. Her teenage years were tumultuous. Aiken had given birth to two children that had resulted from her being raped at age 11, by an elderly black man, and at age 13, by a white sheriff. Both children were given up for adoption. Career Early career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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