''Killer Diller'' is a 1948

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

musical comedy

race film The race film or race movie was a genre of film produced in the United States between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for black audiences, and featuring black casts. Approximately five hundred race films were produce ...

directed by

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 pr ...

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 Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

's legendary

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 not ...

than it is with providing audiences with a satisfying story." The movie features

The Clark Brothers The Clark Brothers, consisting of Steve (1924 – February 2017) and James ("Jimmy") (23 July 1922 – 30 October 2009), were an American double act, who achieved success in Britain in the postwar period. They were thought to be the las ...

(tap dancers),

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

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 ...

Dusty Fletcher Clinton "Dusty" Fletcher (July 8, 1900 – March 15, 1954) was an African-American vaudeville performer, who was best known for the comedy routine which became a hit record in 1947, "Open the Door, Richard". Routine "Open the Door, Richard!" ...

Butterfly McQueen Butterfly McQueen (born Thelma McQueen; January 8, 1911December 22, 1995) was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen first appeared in films as "Prissy" in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939). She was unable to attend the film's premiere be ...

, the Andy Kirk Orchestra and the Four Congaroos (dancing the

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 danc ...

). René J. Hall was the film’s arranger.

Plot

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 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 ...

-type schtick thrown in when four police officers begin chasing Dusty in and out of his disappearance cabinet.

Cast

as Dusty *

George Wiltshire George Wiltshire (also known as George Wilshire, born October 21, 1901 - died December 4, 1976) was an American character actor He appeared on stage, film, and television. He was perhaps best known for portraying Ed Smalls, the proprietor of famed ...

as Dumdone, the manager *

as Butterfly, his secretary * Nellie Hill as Lola, his fiancee *Freddie Robinson as Sarge *William Campbell as Policeman *

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 6 ...

as Policeman *

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 ...

as Policeman * Augustus Smith as Stage Hand *

as Vaudeville Star (as Jackie Mabley) *

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 i ...

as Voodoo Man, a magician As themselves: Clark Bros.,

Nat 'King' Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

The King Cole Trio Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

, Four Congaroos, Johnny Miller,

Irving Ashby Irving Conrad Ashby (December 29, 1920 – April 22, 1987) was an African-American jazz guitarist. Ashby was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and started playing guitar when he was nine. His career started in 1940 when he became a member of L ...

and Patterson & Jackson.

Music

The variety show features Ray Abrams and Gator Green playing the two-tenor sax number "Gator Serenade," written by Green, supported by the rest of the Andy Kirk and His Orchestra. Beverly White sings the racy jazz tune "I Don't Want to Get Married." Her second song, "Ain't Nobody's Business What I Do," is likewise racy, about the joy of carousing and cheating: "If I feel like going out and having some fun/ With some young cat who looks like he might be my son/ That ain't nobody's business what I do." The act of Warren Patterson and Al Jackson sing Jule Styne and Sammy Kahn's "I Believe," Warren leading off and Al doing his part as a Louis Armstrong impersonation. Then Al sings the Fats Waller classic " Ain't Misbehavin'" as Warren tapdances. He is still dancing when Al adds "Wonderful One" to his medley. Lastly, they impersonate the Ink Spots, though there are only two of them to recreate "If I Didn't Care," Warren duplicating the tenor lead until he intentionally becomes comical, while Al does the spoken bridge with new silly words. Jackie "Moms" Mabley sings the comic song "Don't Sit on My Bed." The King Cole Trio is up next. Nat at the piano sings "Oo, Kickerooni." The trio follows up with the Don Wolf and Alan Brandt composition "Now He Tells Me," another humorous bit of cool jazz, before closing with "Breezy and the Bass" written by Nat and Johnny "Breezy" Miller. The Four Congaroos do the

while Andy Kirk's orchestra plays "Basie's Boogie." Kirk's Orchestra performs two more songs, featuring guitar, bass guitar, and saxophone solos. The "Varietettes Dancing Girls" (from Katherine Durham's School of Dancing) close the show with "Apollo Groove," with Andy Kirk and His Orchestra backing them.

Soundtrack

*The King Cole Trio featuring Johnny Miller - "Breezy and the Bass" (music by Nat King Cole and Johnny Miller) *Andy Kirk and His Orchestra - "Basie Boogie" (music by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and Milton Ebbens) *Andy Kirk and His Orchestra - "Gator Serenade" *Andy Kirk and His Orchestra - "Apollo Groove" *The King Cole Trio - "Ooh, Kickeroonie" (music and lyrics by Nat King Cole) *The King Cole Trio - "Now He Tells Me" (music and lyrics by Don Wolf and

Alan Brandt Allan Morris Brandt (born 1953) is a historian of medicine and the Amalie Kass Professor of History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. He is an author of several books, including ''The Cigarette Century: The ...

) *Patterson & Jackson - "If I Didn't Care" (music and lyrics by Jack Lawrence) *Patterson & Jackson - "I Believe" (music by

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became s ...

, lyrics by

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premier ...

) *Jackson, with dancing by Warren Patterson - "Ain't Misbehavin'" (music by

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

and Harry Brooks, lyrics by

Andy Razaf Andy Razaf (born Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo; December 16, 1895 – February 3, 1973) was an American poet, composer and lyricist of such well-known songs as " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose". Biography Razaf was born in Washi ...

) *Beverly White - "It Ain't Nobody's Business What I Do" (music and lyrics by S.G. Stampsel, Morris Markowitz and J.A. Browne) *Beverly White - "I Don't Want to Get Married" *Jackie Mabley - "Don't Sit on My Bed!"

Production

It was shot at the RKO Pathé studio. The acts were performed and filmed before a live, segregated audience, with African Americans seated in the balcony.

Reception

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

reviewer Phil Hall wrote:

It suffers from all of the vices that were prevalent in the race films: painfully low budgets, inadequate direction, uneven performances and wobbly writing. But that is just for the narrative section of the movie. The rest of "Killer Diller" is blessed with an extraordinary cast of talented performers who went far above and beyond the limitations of their material.

Author and journalist

Mel Watkins Melville Henry Watkins (May 15, 1932 – April 2, 2020) was a Canadian political economist and activist and professor emeritus of economics and political science at the University of Toronto. He was a founder and co-leader with James Laxer o ...

noted "that Moms Mabley was so obviously disengaged in ''Killer Diller'', since her usual routines were much too indelicate to be filmed."

Home media

It is available on DVD and as a free download from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

References

External links

*
AFI Catalog entry
*

in the Department of the Afro American Research Arts & Culture archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Killer Diller 1948 films 1940s musical comedy films American musical comedy films American black-and-white films Race films 1948 musical comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films