A theatrical producer puts aside his own success to boost the career of a talented singer.(73 min) Released 1938-06-01
Directors: William L. Nolte (as William Nolte), Ralph Cooper (uncredited)
Stars: Ralph Cooper, Lena Horne, Laurence Criner
Lew Crawford ... ensemble numbers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030089/
Watched on Amazon Prime, decent print. But very little control for ffwd. So dig out the disc: 3A of megapack: Classic Musicals 50 if you want to ffwd.
Lena Horne's (b. 1917) first film. She was married since '37 and had 2 children by 1st husband. Didn't marry Lennie Hayton until '47, 3.5 years after her divorce. They worked on 4 films together, starting with Ziegfeld Follies ('45). 17 credits as actress, 1938-1978 (The Wiz).
The poster shows the '43 re-release title (per Wikipedia), Lena now with first billing. Probably safe to assume this was after the '43 all-black releases Cabin in the Sky (3rd billing, MGM, April) and Stormy Weather (1st billing, Fox, July). But changing the billing and the title doesn't change the fact that this movie is primarily about Duke (Ralph Cooper, who also co-wrote and co-directed). RC has only 7 acting credits, and that's his dominant category.
- The first number is Blackberry Baby, Sung and danced by unidentified cast in the music hall, and not well, followed by
- LH singing I Know You Remember.
- At about 10 min in, we get Rubberneck Holmes doing his comedy tap specialty. It's clear that's him by his neck contortions. My fave: tapping with his hands while doing a handstand.
- At 41:28 LH sings her second song, Don't Let Our Love Song Turn Into a Blues at a nightclub.
- At 46:50 Killing Jive, Performed by Cats and the Fiddle at a medicine show.
In the Tap! Appendix for Willie Covan & chorus line, as part of the finale, which starts ~58:30:
- Harlem Is Harmony
- Sung by Ralph Cooper and the Harlemania Orchestra, then
- danced by male & female chorus and RC, who make way for
- Danced by Willie Covan and dance troupe
- Thursday Evening Swing, Sung by Basin Street Boys
- Chorus girls dancing in skimpy "African native" sequined bikinis with black tail and front feathers
- herded away by large native with a whip, to make way for the soloist in white wig and more elaborate white tail feathers. The black-feather girls sway and sit-dance from the sidelines.
- I Know You Remember, Reprised by Lena Horne
- chorus girls return in evening gowns, then more girls and boys, and they ensemble dance. (OMG, I think this the 5th movie, all '38, where dancers do the Suzie Q for a moment: hands together, wiggle)
- bows for the soloists, re-reprise of You Remember, and credits
I'll not put this on the Worthwhile Dancing list. WC's dance didn't dazzle me. BTW, the sound seemed to be recording the taps live (and the band was playing minimal notes, as if to allow the taps to come out.)
The whole medicine show plot seems borrowed from WC Fields, but I like the finale, so I'll stick with prior 6.
