Noble Lee Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry".
Harold Lloyd Nicholas was an American dancer specializing in tap. Nicholas was the younger half of the tap-dancing pair the Nicholas Brothers, known as two of the world's greatest dancers. His older brother was Fayard Nicholas. Nicholas was featured in such musicals as An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (1935), Stormy Weather (1943), The Pirate (1948), and The Five Heartbeats (1991).
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.
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.
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.
Russell Brown was an American actor of stage, television, and screen. He also had a career as a journalist, working for several newspapers in the city of Philadelphia. On stage, he is a best known for his Tony Award-winning role of Benny Van Buren in the 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees; a role he also reprised on film in 1958. Other highlights of his work in film were his portrayal of Captain Brackett in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1958 movie version of the 1949 Broadway musical South Pacific, and as park caretaker George Lemon in the classic courtroom drama, Anatomy of a Murder (1959). On television he portrayed the recurring character of Thomas Jones, the father of the title character, in the legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones from 1960–1962.
Safe in Hell is a 1931 American pre-Code melodrama directed by William A. Wellman and starring Dorothy Mackaill and Donald Cook, with featured performances by Morgan Wallace, Ralf Harolde, Nina Mae McKinney, Clarence Muse, and Noble Johnson. The screenplay by Joseph Jackson and Maude Fulton is based on a play by Houston Branch.
Roy Mack, born Leroy McClure, was an American director of film shorts, mostly comedy films, with 205 titles to his credit.
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.
The Big V Comedies were two-reel comedy film shorts produced by Warner Bros. and Vitaphone between 1931 and 1938, contemporary of the more famous Hal Roach, Mack Sennett and Columbia Pictures comedies.
Stephen Bourne is a British writer, film and social historian specialising in Black heritage and gay culture.
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.
Straight to Heaven is an American film released in 1939. 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.
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.
An All-Colored Vaudeville Show is an extant American film featuring vaudeville acts released in 1935. Acts include Adelaide Hall, the Nicholas Brothers, and Eunice Wilson backed by the Five Racketeers. It was distributed by Warner Brothers. It was produced by Vitaphone. The nine-minute film was directed by Roy Mack. The film includes a performance by the Nicholas Brothers.
Gang Smashers, also released as Gun Moll, is an American film released in 1938. It features an African American cast. 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.
That's the Spirit is an American short musical film released in 1933. It features an African American cast starring Noble Sissle and was directed by Roy Mack. The Vitaphone film was distributed by Warner Brothers. The film survives.
Mantan Messes Up is a 1946 film produced in the United States. It stars Mantan Moreland. The film was directed by Sam Newfield. 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.
