Carrie Artiemissia Snowden (January 16, 1900 – September 5, 1985), known professionally as Carolynne Snowden, was an American actress, dancer, and singer who broke new ground for black people working in the entertainment industry.

Biography

Carolynne was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, to Frederick Snowden and Nellie Derrick. Early on in her career, she performed on the theater circuit, traveling the country and earning acclaim. She was singing and dancing at New York City's famous

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

by the early 1920s. By 1925, she had relocated to Los Angeles to perform at the New Cotton Club and at Club Alabam on Central Avenue; she slowly began to get small roles in Hollywood films like ''

The Marriage Clause ''The Marriage Clause'' is a 1926 silent film drama directed by Lois Weber and starring Francis X. Bushman and Billie Dove. It was produced and released by Universal Pictures. The film marked a return to directing for Weber, who had taken a bre ...

'' and ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

''. Eventually she signed a five-year contract with

John M. Stahl John Malcolm Stahl (January 21, 1886 – January 12, 1950) was an American film director and producer. Life and work He was born Jacob Morris Strelitsky in Baku (Azerbaijan) to a Russian Jewish family. When he was a child, his family le ...

Tiffany Pictures Tiffany Pictures, which also became Tiffany-Stahl Productions for a time, was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921 until 1932. It is considered a Poverty Row studio, whose films had lower budgets, lesser-known stars, and overal ...

, which led to a bigger role in 1927's '' In Old Kentucky'' alongside

Stepin Fetchit Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black a ...

. Carolynne left Hollywood around 1933 after her Tiffany contract was up, taking her show on the road and refocusing her efforts on singing and dancing. She died in 1985 in Los Angeles, and was survived by her husband Manfred Montagu and her daughter, Esther Smith.

Selected filmography

* '' A Day at the Races'' (1937) * ''

The Green Pastures ''The Green Pastures'' is a play written in 1930 by Marc Connelly adapted from ''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' (1928), a collection of stories written by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It had th ...

'' (1936) * ''Strike Me Pink'' (1936) * ''

Murder at the Vanities ''Murder at the Vanities'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical film based on the 1933 Broadway show with music by Victor Young. It was released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Mitchell Leisen, stars Victor McLaglen, Carl Brisson, Jac ...

'' (1934) * ''

Flying Down to Rio ''Flying Down to Rio'' is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film famous for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing and the leading roles. Among the ...

'' (1933) * ''

The Sport Parade ''The Sport Parade'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Dudley Murphy and starring Joel McCrea, Marian Marsh, William Gargan, Robert Benchley, and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. Benchley also co-wrot ...

'' (1932) * ''Honey'' (1930) * ''

Playing Around ''Playing Around'' is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film with songs, starring Alice White, Chester Morris and William Bakewell. It was adapted from the story "Sheba", written by Viña Delmar. The film was produced and distributed by First ...

'' (1930) * ''

On with the Show! ''On with the Show!'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film produced by Warner Bros. Filmed in two-color Technicolor, the film is noted as the first all-talking, all-color feature length film, and the second color film released by Warner B ...

'' (1929) * ''

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 ''Fox Movietone Follies of 1929'', also known as ''Movietone Follies of 1929'' and ''The William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929'', is an American black-and-white and color pre-Code musical film released by Fox Film Corporation. Plot George Shel ...

'' (1929) * '' Innocents of Paris'' (1929) * ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' (1929) * '' The Wedding March'' (1928) * ''Sweet Sixteen'' (1928) * ''

Nameless Men ''Nameless Men'' is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Claire Windsor, Antonio Moreno and Eddie Gribbon.Monaco p.91 Cast * Claire Windsor as Mary * Antonio Moreno as Robert Strong * Eddie Gribbon as B ...

'' (1928) * ''

The Devil's Skipper ''The Devil's Skipper'' is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Belle Bennett, Montagu Love and Gino Corrado. It was based on a short story by Jack London.Goble p.736 It is now considered a lost film. Cast * ...

'' (1928) * '' In Old Kentucky'' (1927) * ''

The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...

'' (1927) * ''

Orchids and Ermine Orchids and Ermine is a 1927 silent film comedy starring Colleen Moore, filmed partly on location in New York. The film still exists. This was Mickey Rooney's first feature-length film (his first film being a short subject released in 1926). ...

'' (1927) * ''

'' (1926) * ''

The First Year ''The First Year'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film based on a 1920 play of the same name that originally ran on Broadway at the Little Theatre. The play was written by Frank Craven and produced by John Golden. It closed in 1922 after 760 perfo ...

'' (1926) * ''

The Gilded Butterfly ''The Gilded Butterfly'' is a 1926 American silent film, silent drama film directed by John Griffith Wray and starring Alma Rubens, Bert Lytell, and Huntley Gordon. Plot As described in a film magazine review, Linda Haverhill is left penniless a ...

'' (1926) * ''

'' (1925)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Carolynne 1900 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American dancers 20th-century American singers African-American actresses African-American female dancers 20th-century African-American women singers American film actresses American musical theatre actresses African Americans in California Actresses from Oakland, California

Biography

Selected filmography

References

Further reading

External links