Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, 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 actor to have a successful film career. His highest profile was during the 1930s in films and on stage, when his persona of Stepin Fetchit was billed as the "Laziest Man in the World".
Clean Pastures is a 1937 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 22, 1937.
Show Boat is a 1929 American romantic drama film based on the 1926 novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber. The film initially did not use the 1927 stage musical of the same name as a source, but scenes were later added into the film incorporating two of the songs from the musical as well as other songs. This version was released by Universal in two editions, one a silent film for movie theatres still not equipped for sound, and one a part-talkie with a sound prologue.
Stand Up and Cheer! is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Hamilton MacFadden. The screenplay by Lew Brown and Ralph Spence was based upon a story idea by Will Rogers and Philip Klein. The film is about efforts undertaken during the Great Depression to boost the morale of the country. It is essentially a vehicle for a string of vaudeville acts and a few musical numbers. The film is best known for providing the first big breakthrough role for legendary child actress Shirley Temple. A little known bit player before the film, by the end of the year, she appeared in 10 movies, including 4 starring roles in major feature-length films.
That's Black Entertainment is a 1989 documentary film starring African-American performers and featuring clips from black films from 1929–1957, narrated and directed by William Greaves. The clips are from the Black Cinema Collection of the Southwest Film/Video Archives at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It is 60 minutes long and was distributed by Video Communications of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Clarence Muse was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's Hearts in Dixie. He acted for 50 years, and appeared in more than 150 films. He was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973.
The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. (BFHFI), was founded in 1974, in Oakland, California. It supported and promoted black filmmaking, and preserved the contributions by African-American artists both before and behind the camera. It also sponsored advance screenings of films by and about people of African descent and hosted the Oscar Micheaux Awards Ceremony, held each February, from 1974 to 1993, in Oakland.
Judge Priest is a 1934 American comedy film starring Will Rogers. The film was directed by John Ford, produced by Sol M. Wurtzel in association with Fox Film, and based on humorist Irvin S. Cobb's character Judge Priest. The picture is set in post-reconstruction Kentucky and the supporting cast features Henry B. Walthall, Hattie McDaniel and Stepin Fetchit. It was remade by Ford in 1953 as The Sun Shines Bright.
Steamboat Round the Bend is a 1935 American comedy film directed by John Ford, released by 20th Century Fox and produced by Fox Film Corporation, based on the 1933 novel of the same name by author Ben Lucien Burman. It was the final film made by star Will Rogers and was released posthumously, a month after he was killed in an airplane crash on August 15, 1935.
Dimples is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by William A. Seiter. The screenplay was written by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman. The film is about a young mid-nineteenth century street entertainer who is separated from her pickpocket grandfather when given a home by a wealthy New York City widow. The film was panned by the critics. Videocassette and DVD versions of the film were available in 2009.
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood is a 1938 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The short was released on December 23, 1938. The film parodies several Mother Goose nursery rhymes using caricatures of popular Hollywood film stars of the 1930s. The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson and was the third-to-last Silly Symphony produced.
A Tough Winter is a 1930 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 99th Our Gang short that was released.
The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 American Comedy-Drama Western film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb "Judge Priest" short stories featured in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1910s, specifically "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides".
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.
Paul Sloane was an American screenwriter and film director who directed 26 films from 1925 to 1952, and wrote or co-wrote 35 films. His movies include Hearts in Dixie (1929) with Stepin Fetchit, The Woman Accused (1933) with Cary Grant, The Texans (1938) with Joan Bennett, Randolph Scott and Walter Brennan, and "Geronimo" (1939) with Preston Foster, Ellen Drew, Andy Devine, and Chief Thundercloud.
Thru Different Eyes is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by John G. Blystone and written by Tom Barry and Milton Herbert Gropper. The film stars Mary Duncan, Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter, Natalie Moorhead, Earle Foxe and Donald Gallaher. The film was released on April 14, 1929, by Fox Film Corporation.
A. C. Harris Bilbrew was an American poet, musician, composer, playwright, clubwoman, and radio personality known as Madame A. C. Bilbrew. She lived in South Los Angeles. In 1923, she became the first black soloist to sing on a Los Angeles radio program. She also hosted the city's first African-American radio music program, The Gold Hour, in the early 1940s. The A. C. Bilbrew branch of the LA County Library in Willowbrook was named in her honor.
Mildred Washington (1905–1933) was an American actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. Washington was African American.
Swing High is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Helen Twelvetrees, Fred Scott and Dorothy Burgess.
Bernice Pilot was an American actress. She appeared in numerous films including as the female lead in the 1929 film Hearts in Dixie. In most of Pilot's film roles, she portrayed maids.
