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Mae Johnson (September 13, 1917 - March 29, 1999) was a singer and dancer who performed in several American films.
She had a leading role in the 1939 film Keep Punching and appears on a lobby card promoting the film. [1] She was also in the 1943 film Stormy Weather performing the song "I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City". [2]
She was billed as a sepia Mae West for a show at the Apollo Theater and was also referred to as Harlem's Mae West. [3] She married "Buck" West in June 1942. [3]
"Stormy Weather" is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. Also in 1933, for the first time the entire floor revue from Harlem's Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities. The revue was originally called The Cotton Club Parade of 1933 but for the road tour it was changed to Stormy Weather Revue; it contained the song "Stormy Weather", which was sung by Adelaide Hall.
Ethel Waters was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Waters notable recordings include "Dinah", "Stormy Weather", "Taking a Chance on Love", "Heat Wave", "Supper Time", "Am I Blue?", "Cabin in the Sky", "I'm Coming Virginia", and her version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Waters was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was the first African American to star on her own television show and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Mae West was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy sexual independence, and her lighthearted bawdy double entendres, often delivered in a husky contralto voice. She was active in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned over seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.
Ella Mae Morse was an American singer of popular music whose 1940s and 1950s recordings mixing jazz, blues, and country styles influenced the development of rock and roll. Her 1942 recording of "Cow-Cow Boogie" with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra gave Capitol Records its first gold record. In 1943, her single "Get On Board, Little Chillun", also with Slack, charted in what would soon become the R&B charts, making her one of the first white singers to do so. Morse stopped recording in 1957 but continued to perform and tour into the 1990s. In 1960 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered as Sam in the 1942 film, Casablanca; in the film, he performed its theme song, "As Time Goes By".
Paulette Jiles is an American poet, memoirist, and novelist.
Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox, adapted by Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler and H.S. Kraft from the story by Jerry Horwin and Seymour B. Robinson, directed by Andrew L. Stone, produced by William LeBaron and starring Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Cab Calloway. The film is one of two Hollywood musicals with an African American cast released in 1943, both starring Lena Horne, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky. Stormy Weather is a primary showcase of some of the leading African American performers of the day, during an era when African American actors and singers rarely appeared in lead roles in mainstream Hollywood productions. The supporting cast features the Nicholas Brothers in arguably the screen's most bravura dance sequence, Fats Waller, Katherine Dunham and her dancers, and Dooley Wilson.
"Jumpin' Jive" is a famous jazz/swing composition, written by Cab Calloway, Frank Froeba, and Jack Palmer. Originally recorded on 17 July 1939, on Vocalion Records, it sold over a million copies and reached #2 on the Pop chart. Calloway performs the song with his orchestra and the Nicholas Brothers in the 1943 musical film Stormy Weather.
Marcia Mae Jones was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years.
William LeBaron was an American film producer. LeBaron's film credits included Cimarron, which won the Academy Award for Outstanding Production at the 4th Academy Awards ceremony for 1930/1931. LeBaron also produced landmark comedy features from W. C. Fields, Mae West and Wheeler and Woolsey. In addition to being a producer, LeBaron served as the last production chief of Film Booking Offices of America and at FBO's successor, RKO Pictures, where he was replaced by David O. Selznick.
Horace Winfred "Nick" Stewart also billed as Nick O'Demus was an American television and film actor. Stewart was known for his role as Lightnin' on TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show.
Ada Scott Brown was an American blues singer. She is best known for her recordings of "Ill Natural Blues", "Break o' Day Blues", and "Evil Mama Blues.
Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. is a 1946 race film directed by Spencer Williams and produced and distributed by Sack Amusement Enterprises.
Ernest Whitman was an American stage and screen actor. He was also billed in some Broadway plays as Ernest R. Whitman.
Keep Punching is a 1939 film about boxing. Its primary character is Henry Armstrong. Unlike most films of the era, its cast was composed entirely of African Americans.
Juanita Boisseau, also known as Juanita Boisseau Ramseur, was an American dancer. She is best known for starring at the world famous jazz club Cotton Club in New York.
Tommie Moore was an actor in theater, film, and television. She was born Pretty Tomiwitta Moore and shortened her name, though she was sometimes credited as Tomiwitta Moore.
Anise Margaret Boyer (1914–2008) was an American dancer and actress known for her work during the Harlem Renaissance. She joined the Cotton Club chorus line when she was a teenager and starred in the 1932 film Harlem is Heaven. She also danced in the duo Anise and Aland, travelling extensively with Cab Calloway's band. She retired from the entertainment industry in 1948.
Lillian "Billie" Yarbo was an American stage and screen comedienne, dancer, and singer.
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