Straight to Heaven is an American film released in 1939. [1] It was produced by Million Dollar Productions. It was advertised as having an all colored cast. Arthur A. Leonard directed. Sack Amusement Enterprises was the distributor.
The story features a cabaret singer, her singer son, and the criminal underworld. [2] The film starred Nina Mae McKinney in her last major film role and Jackie Ward, a 12 year old performer from Harlem. [3] Ward performs three songs in the film and McKinney one. [2]
Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was an American soul and rock and roll singer and performer. Wilson was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock and roll history, earning the nickname "Mr. Excitement".
Clara Mae Ward was an American gospel artist who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. A gifted singer and arranger, Ward adopted the lead-switching style, previously used primarily by male gospel quartets, creating opportunities for spontaneous improvisation and vamping by each member of the group, while giving virtuoso singers such as Marion Williams the opportunity to perform the lead vocal in songs such as "Surely, God Is Able", "How I Got Over" and "Packin' Up".
The Berlin Stories is a 1945 anthology consisting of two novellas by Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood: Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939). The two novellas are set in Jazz Age Berlin between 1930 and 1933 on the cusp of Adolf Hitler's ascent to power. Berlin is portrayed by Isherwood during this chaotic interwar period as a carnival of debauchery and despair inhabited by desperate people who are unaware of the national catastrophe that awaits them.
Nina Mae McKinney was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed "The Black Garbo" in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.
Hallelujah is a 1929 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical directed by King Vidor, and starring Daniel L. Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney.
Pepi Lederer was an American actress and writer. She was the niece of actress and philanthropist Marion Davies. A high-spirited young woman, Lederer was a lesbian who had relationships with actresses Louise Brooks and Nina Mae McKinney. Due to either her sexual orientation or a drug addiction, Lederer was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward at the behest of either Davies or influential partner, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
Sanders of the River is a 1935 British film directed by the Hungarian-British director, Zoltán Korda, based on the stories of Edgar Wallace. It is set in Colonial Nigeria. The lead Nigerian characters were played by African Americans Paul Robeson and Nina Mae McKinney. The film proved a significant commercial and critical success, giving Korda the first of his four nominations for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Carolyn Ann Stewart, known professionally as Carol Speed, was an American actress, singer-songwriter and author. Speed was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s blaxploitation era, most notably starring as Abby Williams in the American International Pictures 1974 blaxploitation horror film Abby (1974).
Sally Bowles is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella Sally Bowles published by Hogarth Press, and commentators have described the novella as "one of Isherwood's most accomplished pieces of writing." The work was republished in the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin and in the 1945 anthology The Berlin Stories.
The Devil's Daughter, also known as Pocomania, is a 1939 American film directed by Arthur H. Leonard.
Pie, Pie Blackbird is a 1932 Vitaphone pre-Code short comedy film released by Warner Bros. on June 4, 1932, starring African American performers Nina Mae McKinney, the Nicholas Brothers, Eubie Blake, and Noble Sissle.
Stephen Bourne is a British writer, film and social historian specialising in Black heritage and gay culture. As noted by the BBC among others, Bourne "has discovered many stories that have remained untold for years".
Kentucky Minstrels is a 1934 British musical film directed by John Baxter. It was made at Twickenham Studios as a quota quickie for release by Universal Pictures. Scott and Whaley, the stars of the film, were an African American comedy duo, and the first black performers to take a leading role in a British film. It also featured American actress Nina Mae McKinney. The show derived from the BBC radio programme, The Kentucky Minstrels, first broadcast in 1933, which was written and performed by the same team.
A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may also be referred to as a nightclub act. A scheduled performance, such as a wedding gig, is a club date.
Million Dollar Productions was a movie studio in the United States active from 1937 until 1940. It was established to produce films with African American casts. It was a partnership between Harry M. Popkin, Leo C. Popkin and Ralph Cooper.
Neva Mary Peoples was a singer and dancer who appeared in several films in the United States. She performed as a singer, dancer, and chorus girl.
Gang Smashers, also released as Gun Moll, is an American film released in 1938. It features an African American cast. The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a poster for the film in its collection. Leo C. Popkin directed the Million Dollar Productions film from a screenplay by Ralph Cooper. The University of South Carolina libraries have an 8-page pressbook for the film. Nina Mae McKinney stars in the film a thriller about the Harlem underworld and racketeering.
Adorjan Dorian Otvos was a writer and composer in Hollywood. He was born in Hungary. He worked on several Broadway productions as well as Vitaphone short films, often as a co-writer.
Mantan Messes Up is a film produced in 1946 in the United States. It stars Mantan Moreland. Sam Newfield directed. The film was produced by Lucky Star Production Company. It was advertised as having an "All Colored Cast". The Museum of the Moving Image has a still from the film.
The Black Network is an American short musical film released in 1936 that was directed by Roy Mack and released through Vitaphone. It is extant.