''Swing!'' is a 1938 American

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, produced and written by

Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...

Plot

Mandy Jenkins (

Cora Green Cora Green (December 10, 1895 – died after 1949) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, billed as "The Famous Creole Singer". Early life Cora Chambers was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895, the daughter of Alexander Chambers and El ...

), an African American cook for a wealthy white family in Birmingham, Alabama, discovers her husband Cornell is having an affair with Eloise Jackson (Hazel Diaz). When she confronts her husband and Eloise at a nightclub, a violent fight ensues. Eloise leaves Birmingham and relocates to the Harlem section of New York City, where she gets a job as a cabaret vocalist under the false name of Cora Smith. She is followed to Harlem by her husband, Lem, who becomes mixed up in the local crime scene. Mandy also arrives in New York, having left Cornell. She gets a job as the wardrobe mistress at the cabaret where Eloise is performing. When Eloise breaks her leg during a drunken fall, Mandy is recruited as the last-minute substitute and becomes a musical star as the revue is transferred to Broadway. Cornell, who is now destitute, reunites with Mandy and agrees never to cheat on her again.

Cast

as Amanda "Mandy" Jenkins * Larry Seymour as Cornell Jenkins * Hazel Diaz as Eloise Jackson / Cora Smith * Alec Lovejoy as Lem Jackson / Big Jones * Amanda Randolph as Liza Freeman *

Trixie Smith Trixie is a shortened form of the given names Beatrix or Beatrice (given name), Beatrice or Patricia or adopted as a nickname or used as a given name. Trixie may refer to: People * Trixie Friganza (1870–1955), American vaudeville performer a ...

as Lucy *

Carman Newsome Carman Newsome (June 21, 1912 - July 17, 1974) was an African-American actor, musician and band conductor in the United States. His work includes leading roles in five Oscar Micheaux films. Born in Kansas, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was a ...

as Ted Gregory * Nat Reed as Ted, Gregory's Assistant * Sammy Gardiner as Sammy, Gregory's Assistant *

Dorothy Van Engle Dorothy Van Engle (August 14, 1910 – May 10, 2004) was an American actress who performed throughout the 1930s. She starred in Oscar Micheaux films, including ''Murder in Harlem'' and ''Swing!''. History Early life Born Donessa Dorothy Van En ...

as Lena Powell * Doli Armena as Miss Watkins, a Trumpet Player * Columbus Jackson as A Hustler * George R. Taylor as Mr. Becker, Theatrical Backer

Soundtrack

* Played by Leon Gross's orchestra and sung by Cora Green - " Bei Mir Bist di Schön" (music by Sholom Secunda, English lyrics by Sammy Cahn and

Saul Chaplin Saul Chaplin (February 19, 1912 – November 15, 1997) was an American composer and musical director. He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York. He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. In film, he won t ...

) * Played by Leon Gross's orchestra and sung by Cora Green - "Heaven Help this Heart of Mine" (music and lyrics by

Leonard Whitcup Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek Λέων ("lion") through the Latin '' L ...

Walter G. Samuels Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

and

Teddy Powell Teddy Powell (March 1, 1905 – November 17, 1993) was born in Oakland, California, United States, as Teodoro Paolella, and became a respected American jazz musician, band leader, composer, and arranger. Some of his compositions were written unde ...

) * Hazel Diaz - "Once I Did" * Tyler twins - "I Got Rhythm, Boy"

Production

Green performs the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

tune ''

Bei Mir Bistu Shein "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" ( yi, בײַ מיר ביסטו שעהן, or yi, בײַ מיר ביסטו שיין, , "To Me You're Beautiful") is a popular Yiddish song written by lyricist Jacob Jacobs and composer Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish lang ...

'' for her star-making musical sequence. Actress Dorothy Van Engle, who had a supporting role as an assistant producer, is credited for inventing a key scene in ''Swing!'', where her character and Mandy are sewing together. Van Engle, who was also a seamstress, created her own clothing for the film. Elvera Sanchez Davis, the mother of entertainer

Sammy Davis, Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

, had a small role in ''Swing!'' as a tap dancer. ''Swing!'', which is a public domain title, has been frequently shown in film festivals and retrospective series celebrating the creative output of Oscar Micheaux, a pioneering African-American filmmaker, and it has also been broadcast on U.S. television in programming devoted to the history of African-American cinema.McNatt, Glenn
"'A Separate Cinema'; A TCM film series examines the works of black movie makers"
''Los Angeles Times'', July 2, 1998 (fee access required).

References

External links