Two Knights of Vaudeville is an American 1915 short comedy film with an African American cast. Luther Pollard produced and Ebony Film Corporation distributed the film. Jimmy Marshall, Frank Montgomery, and Florence McClain star in the film. [1] [2] A vaudeville spoof, it is preserved at the Library of Congress. [3] [4]
Montgomery and McClain were married performers. [5]
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent.
Jane Lee (1912–1957) and Katherine Lee (1909–1968), sisters, were child stars in silent motion pictures and vaudeville theatre. They were also known as the "Baby Grands," "Lee Kids," or the "Fox Kiddies" for their appearances in Fox Film productions.
Frank E. Montgomery was an early American silent film director and actor.
Francis Bernard McClain was the 11th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 1915 to 1919.
Flournoy Eakin Miller, sometimes credited as F. E. Miller, was an American entertainer, actor, lyricist, producer and playwright. Between about 1905 and 1932 he formed a popular comic duo, Miller and Lyles, with Aubrey Lyles. Described as "an innovator who advanced black comedy and entertainment significantly," and as "one of the seminal figures in the development of African American musical theater on Broadway", he wrote many successful vaudeville and Broadway shows, including the influential Shuffle Along (1921), as well as working on several all-black movies between the 1930s and 1950s.
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural, and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB's inception in 1988.
Salem Tutt Whitney and J. Homer Tutt, known collectively as the Tutt Brothers, were American vaudeville producers, writers, and performers of the late 19th and early 20th century. They were also known as Whitney & Tutt, Tutt & Whitney and the Whitney Brothers. They were prominent in black vaudeville and created over forty revues for black audiences.
The Battle of Rogue River is a 1954 American Western film starring George Montgomery, Martha Hyer, and Richard Denning, directed by William Castle and produced by Sam Katzman. The screenplay is written by Douglas Heyes. It is set during the Rogue River Wars in the Oregon Territory but features the standard costumes of a post American Civil War western and was filmed on the Newhall Ranch, California.
Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, more commonly known as Little Nemo, is a 1911 silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. One of the earliest animated films, it was McCay's first, and featured characters from McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Its expressive character animation distinguished the film from the experiments of earlier animators.
Gus Hill was an American vaudeville performer who juggled Indian clubs. He later became a burlesque and vaudeville entrepreneur. Hill was one of the founders of the Columbia Amusement Company, an association of burlesque shows and theaters, and became president of the American Burlesque Association. He also staged drama and musical comedies. He launched a highly popular series of "cartoon theatricals", musical comedies based on comic strips or cartoons. At one time he was running fourteen different shows.
William C. McClain was an African-American acrobat, comedian and actor who starred in minstrel shows before World War I. He wrote, produced and directed several major stage and outdoor extravaganzas, and wrote a number of popular songs. He was influential in extending the range of minstrel shows far beyond the traditional conventions of the time, giving them appeal to much wider audiences. He toured in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Later he promoted boxing and played several minor roles in movies.
The Explorer is a lost 1915 American adventure silent film directed by George Melford and written by W. Somerset Maugham and William C. deMille. The film stars Lou Tellegen, Tom Forman, Dorothy Davenport, James Neill and Horace B. Carpenter. The film was released on September 27, 1915, by Paramount Pictures.
Show Folks is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Eddie Quillan, Lina Basquette, and Carole Lombard.
Mayme Gehrue was an American actress and dancer in musical theatre, vaudeville, and silent film.
Gertie Brown Moore was a vaudeville performer and one of the first African-American film actresses. Brown is most famous for her part in the 1898 silent film Something Good – Negro Kiss, which went viral in 2018.
Lisa Carmella McClain is an American politician who serves as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 9th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she won election to the state's redrawn 9th district in the 2022 election. On November 15, 2022, McClain was elected to serve in congressional leadership as Secretary of the House Republican Conference.
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.
Ebony Film Corporation was a film company established in Chicago in 1915 as Historical Feature Film Company. Its films were distributed "exclusively" by General Film Company. The company's films and its depictions of African Americans caused outrage and opposition from African Americans. The company used a logo of a monkey in blackface. The business folded in 1919.
Henry Jines was an American vaudeville actor. He starred in stage productions including Irvin Miller's Broadway Rastus, and performed in blackface.
Historical Feature Films was a film production company in the United States. It was established in 1915 and produced at least 4 films. The company's films featured African American casts and included bigoted tropes and stereotypes that demeaned the characters. The studio's films were re-released by Ebony Film Corporation.