These three early musical short subjects (1929-1933) feature rare filmed performances by African American luminaries of the Jazz Age, including Besie Smith, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and James P. Johnson, along with a full cast of otherwise underrepresented black talent. The films capture top performers in action along with some painful reminders of the limited roles available to entertainers of color in the early sound era (TRT: 36:17).

1) Bessie Smith in “St. Louis Blues” (1929). This two-reel short film starring the “Empress of the Blues” represents the only motion picture footage of Smith, and literally interprets the W.C. Handy standard composition in a rare recording not controlled by Columbia Records. The band features the great James P. Johnson on piano, Joe Smith on cornet, Bernard Addison on banjo and guitar, plus the Hall Johnson Choir with vocal harmonies. Opening titles: The “Mark of Merit” logo of “Sack Attractions” (aka Sack Amusement Enterprises), a San Antonio, Texas-based studio specializing in all-black “race films” 1937-1941 (0:07). “Produced at Gramercy Studio of RCA Photophone, Inc. Under the Supervision of Dick Currier, Story and Direction by Dudley Murphy, Cinematographer Walter Strenge” (0:29). A dice game in a stairwell (0:51). Actor Jimmy Mordecai appears in a suit (1:50). He and a female companion enter a bedroom (3:19). Bessie Smith appears, then bursts in on the couple, attacking her rival. She pleads with Jimmy to no avail (4:21). Smith drinks, then sings (7:00). She continues in a bar (7:25). An audience and band join (7:51). A dance break. Jimmy takes center stage (11:11). Bessie takes him back, but he cruelly robs her (13:00). (0:07-15:50).

2) Mills Blue Rhythm Band (1933). This Vitaphone production centered around a night club and a “rent party” features a Harlem-based band led by Bingie Madison, which began as the Coconut Grove Orchestra, and worked at the Cotton Club in Manhattan. The pioneering actress Fredi Washingon appears as a dancer. Featured vaudeville comedian Hamtree Harrington helped found the Negro Actors Guild of America. Opening titles: “Vitaphone Presents Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Directed by Roy Mack, Photographed by E.B. DuPar, Featuring Sally Gooding, Fredi Washington, Gumtree Harrington, “Blues” McAllister and The Three Dukes” (16:00). Outside the “Blue Rhythm Club.” Inside, a bandstand and a crowded dance floor. Songs: “Underneath the Harlem Moon, I Would Do Anything For You” (16:22). A tap dancer jumps rope (17:08). Sally Gooding sings “There Goes My Headache” (18:44). “Rhythm Spasm” features Shelton Hemphill on trumpet (20:20). The house party begins (20:58). The Three Dukes dance to “The Peanut Vendor” (21:41). Sally Gooding sings “Love is the Thing” (23:18). The band plays on, the dance floor fills (24:49). An offensive scene change sees the cast in pseudo-African “jungle” costumes, a reminder of the often degrading context that Vitaphone producers placed even the most talented black performers in (26:01). Crossfade back to the dancehall (26:26). (15:57-26:36)

3. “ Yamekraw ” by James P. Johnson (1930). This experimental dialogue-free short illustrates a rural man’s trip to the big city and back with stylized sets that tend towards expressionism and surrealism. The imagery also includes racist stereotypes indicative of the compromised, sometimes disrespectful conditions under which such films were produced. Jimmy Mordecai plays the man and Margaret Simms plays his wife. Louise Cook appears as the dancer and Hugo Mariani as the bandleader. Opening titles: “Presented by Vitaphone, A Subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures. A negro rhapsody which expresses the moods and the emotional side of negro life. Yamekraw is a settlement on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia. Directed by Murray Roth, ” (26:37). A rural shack in disrepair. A farmer smokes a pipe. A young man steps out with his wife. A chorus joins in, waving their arms in shadows (27:10). The wife sings, the man departs. A child cries (30:41). A steam locomotive engine (32:45). Funhouse mirrors, dancing, dutch angles, a mirror ball (33:19). A cabaret dancer makes an impression (34:16). The crowd scatters, the man returns home, the lovers reunite (35:00). (26:37-36:08).

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