(77 mins.) Released 1930-10-03
Director: Melville Brown
Stars: Freeman F. Gosden, Charles J. Correll, Sue Carol, Irene Rich
comedy
originally posted 23 Oct 2017 18:15
[CM50.2B] I must have put this on the musicals list when I saw it on Duke Ellington's page. Only saw one scene of Duke Ellington Orchestra, without the usual closeup of Duke; soundtrack credits 3 songs played by DEO (but Bing Crosby doesn't appear, despite his vocal credit.)
Looks like first use of Three Little Words on film.
So what is worse: black actors portraying demeaning versions of Negros (and getting paid), or white actors in blackface doing the same? At least it's not self-denigration? [word origin: Latin denigratus, from de- + nigrare to blacken, from nigr-, niger black]
The actors playing Amos & Andy are white, and played them on radio since 1928, then the 1951 TV show hired black actors. We'll see these white actors again as A&A in The Big Broadcast of 1936, and hear them as the voices of A&A in 2 cartoons.
RKO, dir. Brown; 5-
