Brownsville Weekly News

=

- SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1941

FLINT BROWNSVILLE NEWS, FLINT, MICHIGAN

PAGE SEVEN

la Belle Beavers Is Congratulated

HOLLYWOOD,

mete expression.~

Calif~(NPB)~In
~gnytiing can happen~, is something more than a

The picture above should prove
that a very evident fact. Here we behold~a real Hollywood rarity. Cecil B. DeMille, veteran and eminent
screen director, is here pictured extending his hand

Hollywood

and flowers to Louise Beavers, lovable screen actress,

in congratulation for the excellence which. accom-.panied her. playing the role of Maum Marie, in the

film production ~Read The Wild Wind~ which she

just completed on the Paramount studio lot. Mr. De| Mille directed the screen play.

~Ol Satchmo Gets Ready To
Observe Silver Anniversary

i

Footlite....
Flickers. oe

ee:
By, ALVIN MOSES FOR THE ANP
~ NEW YORK~I met with an exSerience newsmen should grapple
with daily, if the Negro press is to
be respected by its own group.
During our early. morning rounds
of cabarets, we ran into a former
honor sti. Ent of City College of
New York. After the customary
greetings, he drew forth an edition
of the N. ~. Times, and with a
sweeping flourish of the hand,
proudly displayed ~a news item telling of the chances of ETHEL WATERS to receive a starring role in
a planned stage extravaganza.

~You know what that means, Alvin, when one of us can make the
Times?..~~It~s fine to see our names
in papers like you and the other
boys write for, but alongside of the
Tunes..they just don~t figure Al..
they just don~t figure.~

~"T~S RIGHT IF IT~S WHITE~

While we readily admitted to our

| Hollywood In Bronze

early yowning interrogator that it
did represent something or other
to make the grade in the bible of
journalism.. (meaning the N. Y.
Times); that we were of the opinion that too often we slurred our
own news mediums without first
giving careful thought to what we
were saying.

' Fresh out of college, our friend
warmed up to the subject and proceeded to duel with us like a true
~fencing master. Said he ~~Have
you éver seen a cut in any of your
so-talled better Negro newspapers
where the subject, nearly white in
complexion, appeared to, be entirely
derk?..~ White column seem, ih
papers like PM, and World-Teleigram, to write less laborously than
our writers and on both counts,.
We agreed with our learned friend
But when he ventured the statement..~There~s absolutely no hope
for the future of thé Negro press,~
we advanced this argument:

~As long as Negro readers like
yourself stand off and criticise
without lending yourself to the task
of remedying these mechanical and
writing faults you claim exist, the
case Will be hopeless indeed. The
thing to do is to sell the idea of
ravial improvement in all:of out
enterprises. Go out and get others
to pool their monies into Negro enterprises such aS newspapers and
plan for news mediums that will

up with the best.~

The matter of ~poor - visibility~
we: explained to our college friend,

war purely a matter of dollars and
Samat 1eioet Canes. The matter of

pond ~Style was something that

easily corrected, and pos
it just didn~t exist among the
gh id newspaper staffs of the race
~Must we always give credence tc
this ~or that simply because a te
newspaper manages.to squeeze i
7? we asked him. He admitted
such a view was not entirely propits advantages from a
and news-reader standpoint, As we left, I told him thai

~

jee g &

at his former home lot.

Louis Armstrong Started His
Career at Tender Age of 17

NEW YORK~(ANP)~Louis Armstrong, world-famed
trumpet king of swing, will reach a historic point in his colorful career when. he celebrates ~his silver jubilee shortly.

Almost 25 years ago when he
was in his 17th year, Louis started
as a professional musician. After
leaving the New Orleans Waif~s
home where he first learned to
master the trumpet, he worked as 4
newsboy and later in a dairy, before -starting to do an occasional
engagement with Sidney Bechet
and other jazz pioneers. Shortly
afterwards, under the influence of
the late Joe ~King~ Oliver, Louis
went to work as.a full time Inusician. Niall all

Since making his first records
with Oliver in mid-1923, Louis has
appeared on at least 1,400 recordings under his own and _ other
names, and has traveled a total of
a quarter - million miles playing
end singing in 14 countries.
Hugues Pannassie, noted French
jazz artist of all time,.and other

os

strong as the greatest individual
jozz artist of afi time, and other
swing critics in America and
Furope agree unanimously.

Benny Goodman, who declares
that Armstrong~s influence on jazz
styles has been ~unique and. permanent~. is one of the hundreds of
bandleaders who have paid tribute
t. celebrate Armstrong~s jubilee on
a big scale when he. returns to
New York from his current tour.

A rant that will be built
Firazil for the production
plastics for coffee will
about 5,000,009 bags

Ffat springs thet can be inserted to replace broken window
sash cords without removing windows from frames have been invented.

in
of
corsume
annually.

By RUBY BERKLEY GOODWIN

BEN CARTER~S PAY DOUBLED
IN FIRST FREE LANCE
ASSIGNMENT

HOLLYWOOD. Calif... ~ Ben
Carter is ~dump like a fox.~ A few
weeks ago when this column fifst
released the news that Ben Carter
bad left 20th Centurv Fox to free
lance, he was called 57 varieties of
fools by sepia movie friends. Now

from the casting office of. 20th~

Century-Fox comes the report
that Carter~s first free lance assignment as an actor will be back
Carter
goes into the new Jane Withers~
picture, ~Young America.~ It will
be his finest part in his movie

career toppng ~Maryland,~ ~Little

Old New York~ and ~Heep the
Wild Wind.~ His managers
busy now trying to work out 2
three-picture-a-year deal with the
Westwoog studio. Meanwhile Carter~s salary has been doubled for
his role in the Jane Withers picture.

NEWS AROUND TOWN:
Mantan Moreland finally agreed
to go into ~Louisiana Purchase.~
Moreland, who at first refused
the role because it had been shaved
down, signed on the dofted line
when the price was quoted to him.
Joe Crawford, General White,
Laurence Harris and Carl Jones
were added to the list of singers to

the CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN
NEGRO. WAS WRAPPED UP IN
HIS OWN CHAMPTONING NEWS
are~

~unches. strike a ~few good telling

be signed at Paramount.

~The Birth of Jazz~ has changed
to ~Synctcpation~ ~and aside from
Ruby Elzy, Hattie Noel, Philltp
Herlick and Paul White: Bob
Evans, tap dancer deluxe, and Mercer Ellington, Duke~s Own son, are
being considered for narts,

Mr. and Mrs. Nicodemus Stewart
are in the film ~colony househunting. ~Tis said that they are
inquring about hospitals and nursery furnishings. The Kenny
Washingtons rae expecti gn
Washingtons are. expecting
stork too. oO
~WE TOO, SING AMERICA~ IS
NEW MUSICAL~S TITLE

Gilbert Allen, popular young
choral leader who makes no bones
about admittine stylins his youth
chorus after his maest-o Hal!
Johnson, is whipring a new musiCal into shape. He has sent out a
call: for singers. dancers, musicisns
and all types of novelt: y acts, The
ney musical has ~yeers * ~tentativelv
titleg ~We, Too. Sing America.~
Sounds as though Langston
Hughes: might have something to
do with it. Allen plans to mix
propoganda with entertainment in
that he intends to show some of
the ills in current U 8S, democrecy. He'll have to be a master to
do it for with the old anii- sedition
law-bobbing its kead un again and
@8 We become more 2nd more psychologized for war, we will be altowed to say less and~ less about
the ikks in curren~: U. S, Democracy. If I were young Allen, I'd
put on a sHow and leave the heavy
stuff to Schuyler, Scott, White,
Randolph and ihe rest of the boys,
Once Allen is_ established as _ - a
rireducer of gcmd 2ntertainment,
he can by a few subtle, deft

the

To: Fill In

" ~Questions

wise old sa,
concerned,

with ho I first started ~scat~

The answer goes back some ten
years ago when I first came to
New York at the helm of a band.
Fresh out of Chicago, my old
stamping grounds, my band was
signed to play at the famous Cotton Club. Radio was then a new
thing as far as night clubs and
cafes are concerned. Little attention was paid to the broadcast
wires. The band took the radio
broadcasts in stride. If the manager told me that we were broadcasting on a given night, I called a
light rehearsal; went over the numbers the band ~was scheduled.to
play and promptly forgot it. Today, for a broadcast, I rehearse
my band for hours and in addition,
I spend countless hours selecting
the numbers So that they would
harmonize. me ark 4
BAND ON AIR

At any rate, this one evening a
half. decade ago, the band went on
the air. I was scheduled to do a
vocal of a tune I have since forgotten. Not having rehearsed the
number, I had the lyrics typewritten on a sheet of paper. The
band played the first two choruses
and as I transferred my baton

~from one hand to the other while

~approaching the microphone, the
shet of paper lipped from my hand
and sailed beneath the bandstand.
There wapnt time to_ retrieve it.
So, not knowing the lyrics and
the band playing the vocal introduction, there was nothing I could
do. except to step up and sing...
so Tsang. Instead of the Ivrics as
written by the composer, I began
with ~skeetin~, scatten~, hi de ho. it~s a rankin~, tatting, veal
eye... with the reetin~ ~beetin~
sarry mo, ete., ete... ~
When the band finished the
number, I wanted to jump into a

Void. 4

Cab Calloway ~Guest Columns for Harold joven

chee paid ana and maybe they

notes ~one ~question that is always asked of me
and one which I will never tire of answering. It has to do

base of @ man~s existence~, some:
are; but as far as I~m

singing.
ashamed of myself for not oobs

*

Cab Recalls How He

failing the radio but the boys in],

my band as well as the menagement of the Coiton Club. -Somehoy, I stumbled
mainder of the broadcast -and was
on My way to the dressing room

ough the re-|!

when the radio engineer rushed up 4 ~

to me and said: ~Cab, what kind

of lyri~s did you sing in that third - ase

number?~
I tried to answer him as. best I

could when he continued in a tor-|.

rent of words, ~Tt. was the best
tune on the program and a millioh
laughs~. +4 Ky
PROGRAM ITS SENDER

I~ thought he was slightly ~of?
the beam~ mentally. Later that
evening, my manager, Irving Mills
called me from his home and repeated the same thoUght expressed
ty the engineer. Well, that evening finally managed to pass. The
next day I received a call from
the National ~Broadcasting Company, who aired the program... It
seams that they had received ovér
5000" letters, phone calls and telegrems from listeners who wanted
more of the ~mixed up~ music.
When I arrived at the Cotton Club
that evening, I found two mail
sacks full of postcards and letters
asking that I repeat the song.

Need I state here that I was flabbergasted... I was more than
that... I was knocked right out
from under my pins. Here by the
slimmest of chances, I had stumbled: on a style of singing which
had tickled the resibilities of the
nation.,:

The next best thng, I reasoned,
was to repeat the song. If any
more letters came in, then I had
something. I sought out my pianist, and we began rehearsing the
~ad lib~ lyrics. They didn~t come

crack in the floor. I felt so

So easy. I spent. the better part of

NEW YORK~G
tinguished Negro

Because of a very, obvious lack

ime

blows at social issues.

RL DITONMMitis) 6 fel
NP" n Dixon; the.
aymphonk jean ize ts
ternationally famous ~Philharmonic ~Symphony orchestra
Sunday night at the Lewisohn stadium, This is the first
time in the history of the organization that a Negro has so
officiated, and the even signalized a most welcome milestone in the musical progress of the race.

Dean Dixon In Philharmonic

young but dis.
iducted ~the in
the Mendelssehn Scherzo ~~
~Midsummer Night~s Dream,~

the Liszt ~Les Preludes.~ From the
full-throated lyricism of the Bach
through the delighif summer
softness of the Mendelssolin to the
climatic Liszt, the young star led
the seasoned players, to whom all
of this was but casual routine, with;| meticulous care,

May we say in closing that only, | in the final number may one have
discerned the hand of youth and

-
tt

It wasn't long. after: that, the
public began singing. scat. ~songs
and with other band leaders and
vocalists picking up the theme,
the style swept the country. I
felt that the vogue, like all vogues,
would ~soon pass into the limbo of

(*

sun all over the world. Maybe
with not so much fervor as ten
years ~ago but who amone us, hasn~t
slowed up in ten years?
OEE

SEEIN~
STARS

NEW YORK--(0)~Fxtra! SABU
TO JOIN R.A-F Sad news
girls: Your hero, Sabu. the little
thief of Bagdad; is~ quitting the
victures!....Just.17, Sabu has. an
ides, he can fiy and is aiming to
join the RAF to fight for Britian.

THIS IS NEWS: Eddie (Rochester) Anderson is billeq bigger than
witty Oscar Levant of Information
Please, and blonde songstress Conhie Boswell for his new pic, ~Kiss
the Boys Goodbye,~ due at the
Paramount this week. Just shows
how high ~Roch~ has climbed....
Bojangles did an impromptu bit of
tapping for the navy last nite
(Tuesday) in South~ Brooklyn dock
yard....The Duke afd Dutchess,

(Se ee Pe Se it's

of next month or the first ~of October.:

TH FOX ON BROADWAY:
This k, Ben Marden, ofay ~biggest. spender of them all in the
nite club rages ~ who began oe

Negroes, is celebrating Kis

birthday....Marden, who has eet
|i thé business since 1916; _ first

started when he brought a _part
nership in the old Yankee Cafe on
Harlem's 116th street. Four bartendérs weren't ~enough for extraVagant Marden, who within a week
hired 12 more.., Ignoring protests

forgotten fads, but I am delighted |.
te state, scat singing is stil] being |

i mid) weer ly tha aiid I

ister~s daughter, she has appeared

~Miiag Sellica Pettitord, nationally known musician, porteming, Wi
canal facility on the piano, Novachord and electric.ergan, oo ee
| booked this fall in the floor show at Atlanta~s Hotel Biltmore... A

~as ~Understudy to~ the great~ Ethel -

Waters in two Broadway productions and has been guest artist on ~the
nation~s major network programs. Miss Pettiford makes her first chufth
appearance Sunday morning, August 24, at the Central Methodist
Charch of which the Rev. E. W. ~McMillan is ~Pastors.

On Ford.

Sunday, August 24.

man, then 21, joined the Navy, but
returning to New York, became
crazy Over Harlem~s. famed ~Club:
DeLuxe and purchased it from ex
fighter Jack Johnson........ Time
~eltipsea atid Marden started ~the
most glamorous girls of Harlem
town....Now that the Cotton Club,
~when featuring nimble-footed Bill, went in a hole, Mar~den ~movéd downtown. Of course,
he~s still the biggest spender in
the business, and he~s got it to
Spend.. Sly! ~He's the slyest fox
on Broadway. -A-fox with platina
pelts. ~

SUBDUED WALLER
Those who think of Pat Waller

only as a f est exponent of
jump and jive will be astounded if |
they listen to the new. Victor al
bum entitleg ~Waller at the Console~ in which the Round One
Plays six songs, four of them
spirituals, as Pipe organ solos in

SOME ROAD, WATER BOY and
ALL GODS CHILLUN GOT
WINGS. Swing is entirely absent
but that does not mean rhythm

some of these. What he has fone
is take

the melody. The results should offend nobody and ought to meet the
approval of even the professional

jazz-haters.
_ Incidentally, there~s also a new
Fats Waller pintter for the jit
bugs. On Bluebird, it's TWENTYFOUR ROBBERS, ~the screwy opus
Yéceritly introtiiced on wax by
tamesteal. Waller~s piano sparkles

catches Pats-in a pretty mood

playing rather sweetly and quiet
ly on the Steinway. The tune is

DO You pg Pi GO...

ONE OF A KIN
Get

HOOTIE

for Joy~ are availahie on Vict

3 me

&

canhot be rather definitely elt on |:

and the boys ride. The coupling.

4 with: Jay Mc-'
Shann, another, of the many top-_

First peir Piped from oe

RATING THE RECORDS ~

By FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS

judging from the Jeffries vocal. It.
~also ~has a goodly portion of that
perfect sax choir, However; as
music; neither tune has enough
meat and Ellington -has. done:better.

Cab CalloWay tries his hand. et
TAKE THE ~A~ TRAIN and
a good job on OKEH although Rot
equal to either Ellington or Glenn
Miller, Muted trumpet and Chu

~s tenorestand out. Coupled

ts CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO,
an Ordinary filler....Tommy Dorsey hews to his ~yej] Never Smile
Again~ style on the i age of T
GuESsS. LL

de gutbucket and staying right in
the groove.

Jimmie Lunceford~s Decca veron of FLAMINGO is charming

pee hit song, beautifully ~render
June Evans end Gladys Neal
combined to write NOW THAT
YOU'RE ~MINE -vhich ~is. featured
by Lionel Hamnton~s sextet on Victor. A romantic tune, with Ruble
| Blakey singing,- it is: nevertheless

fhythmetic. On. the other side

i
\

Toes ~rage of an.

Maxine To Be

Hour

NEW YORK CITY~(SNS)~Percy Faith, who. conducted four broadcasts in June and~July is back at the head
of the orchestras and chorus on the ~Ford Sunday Hour~
~(WABC-CBS, 8 to-10 p. m., DST).
Maxine Sullivan, Negro singer of opular numbers, and Baer:
tone Gordon. tas are the keto

~

Miss. Sullivan swings. ~Loch Coord

"army 3

~thusic ~addicts the first~ ids ~whe

tried it, a few years back. ~ Her

~other ~Ford Summer. Hour~. solo

is ~The Hut Song in Sympfiony
Swing.~

The ~symphony orchestra plays

~Lecuona~s ~

~Gold and Silver~ ~waltz. and
Pierne~s ~Serenade.~ The rhythm
ordhestra does, Caresco~s | rhiwmiba,
~adios~; the string orchestra plalys
the gpiritual, ~Sometimes I Feel
Like a Motherless Child.~

Millie Best Is
~Given New Role

By LAWRENCE F. LaMar

HOLLYWOOD, Calif-~(NPB~) -
Willie-Best, clever sepia screen actor, for his next Warner
~studio film production role, ~ will
certainly have to be on his t0es..
In pee! = will be. pitted t veteran 5s
screen comic Edward 2. ree
~ton.

Both play comic roles.in.thecurent screenplay in production on
Warners Bros. studio lots: Ross
Latterman directs ~Black Widow~.
which includes in the cast Jean
Lyman and Geofrey er dae a
is cast as the ~professor~ who
covers the invisible man, only lanes
to became invisible himself. Willie
Best plays the frightened ~batler: ~

CHICAGO~(ANP)->A\. rags~ ~to
riches story came true:
when Lil Green of ~Romance in
thé Dark~ fame signed ~under the

pg mee of Moe ~

room, Chicago. From thefe,: she will
tour the nation~s theaters and ball
rooms.
Born in Mississippi and reared