Brownsville Weekly News

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1941

"FLINT BROWNSVILLE NEWS, FLINT; MICHIGAN

Raps Giggling, B
Hollywood Assigns Dark Stars

- Noted Orchestra Leader

Give Negro

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immy Lunce:
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Writes Searching Article
In New Hollywood Who~s Who ~
By JIMMIE LUNCEFORD

They're the handymen, the ladies~ maids, the ~cello- throated field
hands who scrape cheerfully, ragged cap in hand, before the * ~Cun
nel~

trembling horror before sheeted *
They~re Negroes.

Because they~re black, or brown,
or even a clark ivory, their horizons are limited in the world of
white-folk make-believe just *s
they are in the life that goes on
outside a studio lot.

(Colored actors, like their lighterskinned thespian brethren, come
from all walks of life. Too many
have had their, education curtailed
through lack of funds. Lacking the
talent that carries them even in
minor roles to,a position of public
prominence before the cameras of
Hollywood, they would inevitably
be one of the great army of drudges
that serve in the kitchens and at the
tables of a dominant white world.

- |

~SOME ACHIEVE FAME
Some achieve comparative and~
for Moltywood~lasting fame. The

Rochesters and the Stepin Fetchits,, who elicit a convulsed indu!gence from the vast movie-going
public. For most, screen popularity is a matter of three to five
yyears, at most. Their roles are
dull, stereotyped, and offer little
epportunity. for serious, creative
acting. They must laugh richly
and perform: the same menial gestures that they do in real lif2.
Those who are given the chance to
sing or dance or clown are merely
repeating the entertainment routines of a night slub or vaudeville
show, where their skill, or dexterity or singing ability brought them
to the attention of a film scout.

Even for the top-flight Negro
stars~Rochester, Bill Robinson,
Hattie McDaniel~there is none of
_ the bizarre, spotlighted shenani
~gang that an adulatory, glamorstarved public expects of its white
gods and goddesses. Their marriages
and divorces, their likes and dislikes are not good copy for screen

magazines. Their professional pride
must be subordinate to prejudice.
Many of them get a good deal of
fan mail~even from white admirers~but nothing to compare with
the flood of correspondence that
pours into the mailboxes of a Crosby or a Nelson Eddy.

Their photographs seldom appear on the dressing tables or bedroom walls of movie fans~not even
in Harlem, where their following
might be expected to be strongest.
But this is chiefly because such
photographs are not available. The
candid cameras pass them by. Press
agents do not bother to poke around
in their private lives for printable

tid-bits.:
NOT A SOLUTION

Some might argve that all-Negro
pictures would be the solution to
this problem of prejudice. But those
that have already been made have
had-only a limited success. Though
_gteadily iniproving, they are by no
gaeans good enough to compete with
ghe high-priced products of Hollywood. The talent is there, certainty. But technical problems remain
~ be solved. Special photogravhic,
jighting, and sound techniques are
peeded for a cast of ~uniformly
*~ @ark-skinned performers, whose
poices lack the higher pitch and

~Nation~ Shut
Down; NAACP In
Strong Protest

NEW YORK~Following vigorous
protest by the National office and
Wew York branch of the NAACP,
@nd other interested groups and
viduals. the showing of ~The
Birth of a_Nation~ at the Ambas
sedor Theatre here was. terminated.

two days ago.

~ The picture was scheduled for @
prevue benefit performance for
~Bundles for Britain~ on February
3, but upon the urging of the
NAACP and other Negro civic

groups, ~The Birth of a Nation~ |
was not shown, and ~Four Feath- |

~ers~ ~was substituted in its stead.
as > Walter White, secretary of the
Association for the Ad
of some gracious Southern plantation.
They~re paid to giggle richly, to roll their eyes, to aie in moci
~hants.~

sharp enunciation of white folks~
speech. |

There is no reason in| ~the world
why all-colored pictures) cannot be
as good as any now being produced
on California lots. Whether they
are the answer ig debatbble. Personally, I feel that there would be
No problem if a Negro actor were
cast properly in a role suited to his
individual talent~and then accepted ag such by an_ umprejudiced
movie audience.

What is being done to improve
the lot of the Negre film actor?
As much: as possible~though this
amounts to little. A few organizations have protested |vigorously,
and continue to do so. But the results have not been particularly enecuraging. Meanwhile,) Negro actors, while resenting | the roles
which reflect and help perpetuate
their caste position, continue to accept them. They must) eat, drink,
and have a place to sleep. Half
a loaf is better than~ none, and I
for one do not condemn them for
accepting it. They are not betraying the race by doing so.

REACHED THE TOP |

A handful of great Negroes have
gotten to the top in |spite of the
tremendous handicap of their color. Paul Robeson and |Marian Anderson come to mind immediately,
although one can~t help forgetting
that even these richly-endowed
artists had to go abroad for recognition before this country ~would

accept them. No Negro has- achiev -
ed comparable-- fame
though unprejudiced ~ritics more
and: more extol the work of Hattie
McDeaniel, Rochester, ~Bill Robinson, Louise Beavers, and Lawrence
Criner, to mention a| few of the
most outstanding colored stars.

The fact remains that the Negro
is one of that great chorus of
voices thundering out /the dynami?
ballad of America. Hé has proven
himself a useful citizen. He has
enriched the culture ~f this great,

polygot country. And he has the~)

latent potentialities to do~ much
more. One way to aid him in his

PLAN SALARY
EQUALIZATION FIGHT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.~ (ANP)
~Key officers of the Florida
Teachers~ association met _ last
week with Atty. S. D. McGill,
legal counse] for the organization, and laid plans for the first
drive in the effort) to increase
their saflaries.

owing

films, al-|~

cello, flute, and the oboe are more

creen Actors

A

Equal C

ance,

Pergo res

Roles|

never- -ceasing struggle for a place
in the sun ts to give-his tflent an
equal opportunity to assert itself
in the white man~s world of makebelieve~to iet him bring his own
artistic, message to the eyes and
of America~s movie-loving aiilicns. Do this, and he will have
ecme another long step out of the
shadows. (from Hollywood Who's
Who)

cfs

1

ford Begs Big Movie Producers:

News Of Thea

Morris Brown Quartet

Already a popular feature with Atlanta~s radio \
fans, the famed Morris Brown quartet is shown here

Heard In Broadcast

~

BS;
as they recorded an instantaneous electrical transcription ~Wednesday afternoon to be heard over

WSB in connection with the farm Program

Says College Students Have
Little Music Appreciation

Kemper Harreld Lays Part
Of Blame to Negro Newspapers, ATLANTA, ~(ANP)~ The average college student has little or
no appreciation of music says
Kemper Harreld in the ~Journal
ef Science,~ quarterly magazine
published at Morehouse College.

Blaming the student~s early musical mis-training, he says ~the
college cannot reach its highest
idea] in developing general music
appreciation and rendering its
best service to the aspiring young
artist until it can have entering
its walls young persons who
have had proper training in ithe
elementary and high schools,~

Entering college with an overwhelming Jove of jazz, the student
who thinks the saxophone is the
greatest of instruments is unaware
of the fact that the violin, violin
Visits Rouge River Plant

INTO THE GUEST BOOK at
recently went the sminé

celebrities from 2H over the world..| Masonic Temple, she came to Dearborn
ie Aeeibe ase Hs ike betes,

of Marian Anderson,

famed concert singer.
She is shown here as she signed a book in which are the signatures of

t for a concert at the
friends in order to visit

| gia; March 6,

satisfying even in the purely sensual aspect, Mr. Harreld points
out.

The Negro newspapers are in
part responsible for the students~
preoccupation with the popular music and musicians of the hour, he
believes, adding, ~In reading the
daily papers, we turn to the
amusement column for such news,
but now often do we see the anrnouncement of the coming of a
jazz king band on the front page
of a Negro newspaper?

We know the fact that a jazz
king has recently composed a new
blue and melancholy air; but how
much interest have we in the news
fhat the creations of the young
Negro composers, William Grant
Still or ~William L. Dawson,
are being played by the
great symphony orchestra of
the country, the New York Philharmonic or the Philadelphia
symphony? It is not common
knowledge among readers of Negro papers that the British broadeasting company, the largest in
the world, is using this music.~

The author suggests that the
college set about to correct the
know
deplorable state of music
ledge by exposing all college stu
~dents to the best and highest exLe

| Erskine Hawkins

Invades Georgia

|And Florida Way

By TED YATES

New York~(TYP) Erskine Hawkins, the 20th Centyry Gabriel,
With his band and ovely Ida
James is now touring the provinces.
Dates call for the ~young man with
&@ horn~ to be in Waycross, Georgia;
Jacksonville, Ficrida, Daytona
Beach, Florida; Miami, Florida;:: St.
Petersburg, Florida, and that up
along the sea line where jitterbugs in key cities in the South
will get a glimpse of this great
musical aggregation.

On February 15 the band plays
an extraordinary engagement. at
the Keith~s Roof in Baltimore,
Maryland. March 2, Albany GeorColumbia, South
Carolina; Murch 7, Marion Virginia; March & Charleston, West
Virginia; March 9, Nashville, TenDessee; March 10 Bluefield, West
Virginia March 11,, West '

jun

the Nu-Elm~ Ballroom. in Youngstown, Ohio, |

pressions of musical ideas until
|) the studénts reath the Stage of
proper appreciation for themselves,

He concludes: ~We are in dire
need of an awakening among

greater interest in the means of
culture, and to the need of a close
study of our heritage in the world
of music. The college should cultivate an insuperable desire to develop that heritage and the artis~try of our- people to the highest
possible degree.~

our people to the importance of a

ee
oY:

tres.

Casting Of ~Native Son~
To Begin Early This Week

Doubt Drama Of |
Wri: ht~s Book
Will Be Hit

NEY. YORK CITY~({C)~The'}
casting of Pahl Green~s play ver- |
sion of ~Native Son,~ Richard
Wright's Semous novel, will begin early this week, it was learned here by this department. But
according io the general run of
opinion, the_ play laeks the essential factors whieh go to making
a successful Negro play on Broad-:
way.

~Broadway,~ said one observer,

ia)

They Send 5,000 Atlantans

Count ~One O'Clock Jump~ Easie, though he had been preceded three
days by Fats Waller, ~drew 5,000 joy-jumping Atlantans to the City
Auditorium Wednesday to hear his orchestra andthe vecal work of Jimmy Rushing and Helen Humes, pictured nae with him.:

~likes to see the gay legendary
side of Negro life. It likes the
fantasy of his ~ happy-go-lucky
made of living such as that, portrayed in ~Cabin in. the Sky,~
ret his social and economie problems.

~Nat:ve Son~ carries a messege to the publie, and according
to the cld-timers, there has never been a successful Negro play
tnat carried a message other than
cne of ridicule and fantasy. The
latest example of this is the recent Negro Playwright Co.~s prosuction. of ~Big White Fog.~
With the same preparation and
cast. had ~Big White Fog~ been
on the other side of the fence,
the Negro Playwrights Company
would have had a successful play

NEW YORK~(TYP) ~ Henry.
Armstrong, that game little. warrior of the prize ring (past tense)
wil] actually lead his own orchestra.

It was revealed by his~ brother
Harry Armstrong. who so eapably
lead Hank to three world~s titles,
at the Hotel. Theresa this week that
Armstrong, who recently lost, to

Fritzie Zivic in a second unsuccess
running now,
ful: but thrilling try.to regain his

Some of those questioned on

Henry Armstrong To
Lead His Own Band

lost laurels, would soon appear in
the role of band lJeader &t a near
future date under the management
and direction of Joe Glaser, the
latter of Glaser-Consolidaied.

Mr. Glaser also handles such
outstanding attractions as: Andy
Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of
Joy; Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Roy Eldridge and~ Band,
Don Redmond, and Billy. Holliday
among others.

the possible success of. ~Native
Son~ frankly advance the theory
that the play may prove detrimental to the cause in which it is
intended to help. In the face of
recent publiciay created by the
Joseph Spell case, some observers j
point out that there is a danger
of ereating a Negro scare among
the many housewives. employing |
Negro doniestics, Reports of domestics~ being discharged in the
Westchester county have already, '
reached the department.

EIVE DIE IN FIRE
DAVIDSON, N. C.~(ANP)~
Five -children from six: months te
six years old were burned to
death Friday. in their wooden cottage near here. They had. been
left in the home by their mother,
Naomi. Caldwell, while she went

ess of ~wars and rumors:
of wars~ Holiywood goes. moetrily
1 on. making motion pictures. However, the influence of that ~ holocaust that has inflamed the whole
world is plainly revealed in the
forthcoming -films, as _ practically
every studio here is makin defense propaganda films, Even,
~when the whole plot is not one
of war and army life, there are et

least episodes of references in the
dioalogue that is tacit admission to

the fact that the war idea is in
| WILD

By Harold Jovien for A

All time shown is E&
Standard. Subtract 1 ho
Central time; 2 hours for
tain and 3 hours for Pacifi
time. As is the unayv
case in radio scheduling,
grams are subject to last
time and talent changes.

INSTRUMENTAL AND
GROUPS

Basin Street Chamber
Society~-NBC~Monday; ~
m.~Guests.

Erskine Butterfield ~
Friday, 10:45 p.m.~piani
calist.

Chariotecrs ~ MB ~
12:30 a.m. Monday, 9:36
Thursday, 10:15 a.m. Sat
&.45 a.m.~vocal quartet,

Golden Gate Singers ~
Mon. Wed. Fri. Sat., 10:30

Lionel Hampton~s orche
WBBM~770K~Sun. _ thru
1:30) a.m. Sat., 1:45 a.m.
Terrace, Chicago.

Rocking in Rhythm~W
1480 - k~Thurs., Sat., 1:3
~Recordsing from Han
Ind. Eddie Honesty, Emcee

Artie Starks orchestra
-~560 k~-Nitely. 1 a.m. Col
Chieago.

Vagabonds~-NBC~exeep
~Mon., Tues.. Thurs., Fri.,
a.m.~vocal.quarte,.
VARIETY, INSPIRATION
PROGRAMS;

Amateur Nite in Har
WMCA~570 k~Wed. 11 p
Apollo theatre, New York.

Amos ~N~ Andy~-CBS ~
thru Fri, 7 p.m.~West Coas
p.m.;

Army Camp Variet:
NBC_Friday. 8 p.m. fe M
Sunday, 2 p.m. i~

Bing Crosby Music Hall
--Thurs., 9 p.m. Guests.

Clyde Barrie~Baritohe
~Sunday, 9:15 a.m.

Major Bowes Amateur Hf
Dedien oe 9 BE coat

for H:

feos A a, ~Symnhony 51
ong Contest, also
First Caurch

to the post of: office here to mail
~a package,
SES 2 4
-@* ) tended to be noticed. The war de
3 RAVES { partment is giving full cooperation: i = 1 as far as possible so far as a data
andtechnical advice is concerned
as anything to help keep the fire
of patriotism, burning brightly right
at this time is glady welcomed.

But the department cannot permit the use of equipmént: or posts
as locatiens in times of peace, for
all are in use as the intensified, ~preparations for the worst hurries
{cr apace. It is also impossible to
rent enough uniforms to fit out
even a squad, as the commissary
departments have gobbled up every bona-fide United States fight~ing suit in sight. Recently for
| Universal's ~Buck Privates,~ just
| released, the wardrobe department
~had to get busy and make up what
they needed, the goods used being
of the same colored but not. the
texture of the army OD~'s.
- But there is also another very
~noticeable fact. Except for Monogram~s ~Drums of the Desert~ that
depicted colored soldiers as Senegalese parachutists of British EngYish army, there are to date no
films being made that portray the
Negro as an important factor in
the war. If any are madé here of
American Negroes it is to be hoped

ey are dramatic realistic seala as the Monogram
pature, and not merely comic

stuff depicting him as ~seared to
death~ when the bullets whine.. For the patriotism and bravery of our soldiers under fire is
traditional.

According to schedule, 1941 will
be better for our stars than 1940.
~They are stars-to us even if the
the studios at present do list them
eapgamee players~) Some of
famous folk are working at
leet at dll studios except RKO
anc United Artists..

~ Hattie McDaniel, who ~ working |
for a long interval, in the same
picture with her brother Sam of
and screen and radio fame
just wound up in ~The Great Lie,~
She went

tie.

(@ Da

HARRY LEVET TE
/ ANCATED NEGRO FRCS!

2 a ef

~HOLLYWOOD, Cal; tANE) om, ah

in ~Robin
Pecos~ for Republic.
Clarence Muse and Theresa Hartis have been working in featured
iolés in ~The Flame of New Orleans~ at Universal, with Marlene. Dietrich starring. _Muse Was also

cast. in Columbia~s ~Adam had
Four Sons.~

Ben Carter, under contract to
Twentieth Century Fox, has as his
current picture ~~~Ride on Vaquero,~
a western, starring Ceasar
Romero, Willie Best, who had an

important role in, ~The High
Sierras,~ was also cast for. ~The
Lary from Cheyenne~ at Univer
sal,

Which shall it be, shall I deliver the spicy whispers I promised
you last issue first, or the straight,
cold prosdic news? Well as a compromise here~s a batch of pin-point
paragraphs, a sort of index of
news to come later (maybe).

SCOOP! Ground-hog saw his
shadow~six more weeks flu
weather. (Ground-hogs are good
eating, did you know that?)~Ceele
Burke drew them in to Alabam
last Sunday.in spite of competi
tion by California sunshine~Fight.

films of Louis-Burman massacre
at Roxie last Sunday;~ a record
for speed, two Gays after fight~
g00d crowds of colored fans. Hollywood hot-spots last Tuesday of last week.~-Ol~ Kolyum told
you Centra] Avenue wouldn~t remain the goat.~17 big shot bosses
gathered into hoosegow too. Louie
Colf, well known former movie
player rushing for councilman
against Bennet, white mcumbent
in 10th district, asks the boys and
gals to wish him luck. (He~]] - need
it.)~ Four Toppers leave Jade in
Hollywood after long run, ~now
ta El Rado~For Harris and Jones
big hit on tour after closing here;
left for repeated successes in Frisco,

Margaret~s Club gets cuter,
cleverer, -more popular every
minute.

Margaret Whitten may get pari
of Renee in new film;~Irma Young
sull making good at