The Melancholy Dame

The Melancholy Dame is a short American comedy film made with an African American cast and released in 1929.[1] It was an Al Christie film based on the Octavus Roy Cohen comedy series called "Darktown Birmingham" published in the Saturday Evening Post . Arvid Gillstrom directed and Florian Slappey was portrayed by Charles Olden. The film was produced and released by Paramount Pictures, and includes racial caricatures.[2] It has been described as the first African American talkie.[3] It featured a vision of high society[4] and comic dialogue[5] set in a Birmingham restaurant with a piano and dance show. The Los Angeles Times summarized the plot as, "A cabaret owner’s wife demands that her husband fire the sexy star attraction (if he doesn’t, she warns, 'there’s going to be a quick call for an undertaker'). Little does she (or the singer’s husband) know that the singer and the club owner were once married."[2] It is a 2-reel film. The film is extant and posted on YouTube along with other films from the series.

Cast

References
  1. "Evelyn Preer The Melancholy Dame". 20's Jazz.
  2. Liebenson, Donald (October 12, 1997). "Amos Shelved, but Not Andy". Los Angeles Times.
  3. "Film legend and pioneer, Spencer Williams Jr". amsterdamnews.com.
  4. Cripps, Thomas (February 3, 1977). Slow Fade to Black. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199727872 – via Google Books.
  5. Donald, James; Friedberg, Anne; Marcus, Laura (January 1, 1998). Close Up: Cinema And Modernism. A&C Black. ISBN 9780304335169 – via Google Books.


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