Mamie Smith was an American singer. As a vaudeville singer, she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. In 1920, she entered blues history as the first African-American artist to make vocal blues recordings. Willie "The Lion" Smith described the background of these recordings in his autobiography Music on My Mind (1964).
Forrest Meredith Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided funds and contacts for a trip to California, where party hostess Cobina Wright persuaded guest Wesley Ruggles to give Tucker a screen test because of Tucker's photogenic good looks, thick wavy hair and height of six feet, five inches.
"The Adventure of the Reigate Squire", also known as "The Adventure of the Reigate Squires" and "The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle", is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and Harper's Weekly in the United States in June 1893. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
The Sound of Fury is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Cy Endfield and starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson. The film is based on the 1947 novel The Condemned by Jo Pagano, who also wrote the screenplay.
Barnacle Bill is a 1941 American comedy drama film starring Wallace Beery. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe. Barnacle Bill was the second of seven MGM films pairing Beery and character actress Marjorie Main.
Brother Orchid is a 1940 American crime/comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sothern and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Donald Crisp, Ralph Bellamy and Allen Jenkins. The screenplay was written by Earl Baldwin, with uncredited contributions from Jerry Wald and Richard Macauley, based on a story by Richard Connell originally published in Collier's Magazine on May 21, 1938. Prior to the creation of the movie version of Connell's story, a stage adaptation was written by playwright/novelist Leo Brady. The script was originally produced at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C..
Charles Halton was an American character actor who appeared in over 180 films.
Paradise in Harlem is a 1939 American musical comedy-drama film written by Frank H. Wilson and directed by Joseph Seiden. It was first shown in 1939 starring Frank H. Wilson. It was released by Jubilee Production Co.
Are You with It? is a 1948 American musical comedy film directed by Jack Hively. The plot is about a young insurance man who quits his job to join a traveling carnival. The film is based on the 1945 Broadway musical of the same name and the 1941 novel Slightly Perfect by George Malcolm-Smith. The film stars Donald O'Connor, Olga San Juan, Martha Stewart and Lew Parker. Parker reprised his role from the musical.
Murder with Music is a 1948 American race film directed by George P. Quigley. The film used footage from the 1946 film Mistaken Identity and musical footage was reused in the short subject Bob Howard's House Party. Alfred N. Sack "presented" the film.
Porter Grainger was an American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher.
Moon Over Harlem is a 1939 American race film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.
Andrew Tombes was an American comedian and character actor.
Emily Eolian Williams was a pioneering woman in architecture who was active in Pacific Grove, San Jose, and San Francisco in the early 20th century, at a time, when very few women were able to enter the profession. She mainly designed houses, with conveniently planned interiors, and a few institutional buildings and an exhibition stand at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
In Cold Blood is an American true crime drama television miniseries directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Benedict Fitzgerald. It is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Truman Capote, which reconstructs the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. The miniseries stars Anthony Edwards, Eric Roberts, and Sam Neill, with Leo Rossi, Louise Latham, Gwen Verdon, Bethel Leslie, L. Q. Jones, Gillian Barber, and Kevin Tighe in supporting roles.
Renie Isabel Riano was an English-born American actress who, with the exception of the Jiggs and Maggie comedies, had minor roles in 1940s and 1950s films. She was sometimes credited as Reine Riano, Renee Riano, or Rene Riano.
Donald Heywood was a Trinidadian-born American songwriter, composer, writer and director. He composed for "I'm Coming Virginia" in 1926, which became a hit for Ethel Waters. He became a prominent figure in black musical theater, and produced scores for films such as Moon Over Harlem (1939) and Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941).
A Poor Relation is a 1921 American silent comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and written by Bernard McConville. It is based on the play A Poor Relation by Edward E. Kidder. The film stars Will Rogers, Sylvia Breamer, Wallace MacDonald, Sidney Ainsworth, George B. Williams, and Molly Malone. The film was released in December 1921, by Goldwyn Pictures.
J. Augustus Smith, also known as Gus Smith, was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. In 1936 he was one of three theatre artists who succeeded John Houseman in leading the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in New York City.
Sunday Sinners is a 1940 drama, comedy, musical and religious race film directed by and co-produced by Arthur Dreifuss and Jack Goldberg starring his wife Mamie Smith, Norman Astwood, Edna Mae Harris and Earl Sydnor.
