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| Birmingham
Black Bottom ... First All-Black Cast
Talkies. |
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Synopsis: This video contains the
first sound comedy shorts that featured Black actors from the
Lafayette Stock Players Company of Harlem.
It was adapted from the "Darktown Birmingham" column
in the "Saturday Evening Post. They were inspired by the
wild parodies of Black life. Racial in nature and not too funny
by todays standards. The supposed Black dialect is very exaggerated
and poorly recorded. It is evident it is a predecessor of the
kind of high-energy humor that later generations would see in
"Amos and Andy," "Sanford and Son, etc.
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This is a fairly new release and I haven't purchased a copy yet
but am hoping it does have some Black
Bottom dancing in this film as well as any dancing for that
matter. When I get a copy, I will review it here. From what I
can tell so far it does. Video includes "Framing
of the Shrew," "The Melancholy
Dame," "Oft In the Silly
Night," and "Music Hath
Harms. |
