A famous bandleader, suffering from overwork and exhaustion, goes to a sanitarium for a rest. While there he dreams of being out west at a dude ranch, where he finds himself involved in the beautiful owner's struggle to keep her ranch from falling into the hands of the villain, who wants either her...
Ware College is a small Black college in Ware, Ohio. Once prominent, it is now low in attendance, low in enrollment and low on money; and at a meeting with instructors Drury and Annabelle Brown, Dean Hargreaves reveals that CEO Benjamin Ware III, grandson of the college's founder, claims the estate...
A star-studded tribute (from the creators of That's Entertainment) to the contributions of Afro-Americans in film over the last century. Vanessa Williams traces the struggles and triumphs of the superstars of music and film. Among the many artists featured are: Whitney Houston, Ella Fitzgerald,...
Old-time musical star Schyler Jarvis, now wealthy, is dying; his last act is a visionary plan for the future happiness of his son, swing bandleader Louis Jarvis, and Honey Carter, daughter of his long-lost love. But crooked lawyer Talbot has a nefarious scheme to get his hands on the Jarvis...
Paying homage to two of Hollywood's central icons, the film creates an unparalleled portrait of two very different personalities amidst the demise of the studio system.
Louis Jordan's Orchestra perform Jordan Jive. Setting is a canteen, with the orchestra and audience in US military uniform. The Swing Maniacs go through some extremely strenuous acrobatic dancing.
Louis Jordan, with his band, sings and performs the title song, "Caldonia,", and "Honey Child," "Tillie" and 'Buzz Me", wowing the jitter-buggers, zoot suits and bobby-soxers of the mid-1940s, all built around a wisp of a plot dealing with the difficulties of production in Harlem.
Chronicling the Harlem Renaissance era, this retrospective documentary tracks the origins of the soulful music of the period, along with the challenges many of the genre's artists faced when trying to gain recognition within conventional society. Included are anecdotes from musicians and...
After a presumably hard day at work, Dudley Dickerson plunks down at the kitchen table and sings a dry lament about his wife’s roving eye. Meanwhile, his aforementioned better half, Theresa Harris, flirts hilariously with a series of deliverymen.
This rare collection of early music videos -- known as "soundies" -- from the 1930s and '40s features jazz legend Louis Jordan and his band performing their hits, including collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Nat King Cole. Songs are "Five Guys Named Moe," "Caldonia," "Shine,"...
