Harlem on the Prairie (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Harlem on the Prairie (1937)


caption = Harlem on the Prairie Movie Poster
director = Sam Newfield Jed Buell (co-director)
producer = Jed Buell
writer = Flournoy E. Miller Fred Myton
starring = Herbert Jeffrey Spencer Williams Connie Harris Mantan Moreland George Randol
music = Lew Porter
cinematography = William Hyer
editing = Robert Jahns
distributor = Sack Amusement
released = 9 December 1937
runtime = 57 min.
language = English
country = USA
imdb_id = 0028978|

"Harlem on the Prairie" (1937) is a race movie, billed as the first "all-colored" western musical. [Sampson, Henry T. "Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films" (1997), page 63 - ISBN 0810826054] The movie reminded audiences that there were black cowboys and corrected a popular Hollywood image that until that time had been consistently false, lopsided, and vastly exclusionary. [Berry, S. Torriano. "The 50 Most Influential Black Films: A Celebration of African-American Talent, Determination, and Creativity", Citadel Press (2001), page 43 - ISBN 0806521333] It was produced by Associated Features which was organized in 1937. The picture premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood and was first shown in New York City at the Rialto Theatre on Broadway. The company had offices at 937 N. Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood, California, and the officers of the company were Jed Buell, president; Bert Steinbach, vice president; and Sabin W. Carr, secretary-treasurer.

"Harlem on the Prairie" was filmed on location at Murray's Dude Ranch, Apple Valley, California. The ranch was founded by N. B. Murray, a black businessman from Los Angeles. [Sampson, Henry T. "Blacks in Black and White" (1997), page 142] President and chief producer Jed Buell, spent less than $50,000 on this picture. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758607,00.html Time Magazine] , "The New Pictures", Monday, December 13, 1937 - (Retrieved August 14, 2007)]

Cast

*Herbert Jeffrey: Jeff Kincaid
*Spencer Williams: Doc Clayburn
*Connie Harris: Carolina, Doc's daughter
*George Randol: Sheriff
*Maceo Bruce Scheffield: Wolf Cain
*Mantan Moreland: Mistletoe
*Flournoy E. Miller: Crawfish (is credited with some of the writing) [ [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0028978/ "Harlem on the Prairie" (1937) credits] ]
*Lucius Brooks: Musician (as The Four Tones)
*Leon Buck: Musician (as The Four Tones)
*Ira Hardin: Musician (as The Four Tones)
*Rudolph Hunter: Musician (as The Four Tones)

Plot summary

The story concerns events in the life of Doc Clayburn, who returns with his medicine show and young daughter, Carolina, to the country where twenty years before he had been a rider with a gang of outlaws and assisted in a gold robbery. The gold was hidden when all but Doc were killed in a fight with a posse, and was never recovered. When Doc is on his way to recover the gold and wipe out the memory of those early days and his straying from the straight and narrow, his caravan is trailed by a rival gang and he is killed. As he dies, Doc gives a map of the gold cache to Jeff Kincaid, a younger rider whom he entrusts with the plan of finding the gold and restoring it to its rightful owners. In doing this, Jeff encounters the heavies, and Mistletoe and Crawfish supply the comedy relief.

Background

The film combines all the typical elements of a good old-fashioned western. Melodrama, comedy, romance, action, and suspense are woven together as the characters strive to complete the old man's last wish and search for the gold. Somewhere within all of the riding, shooting, and fighting bad guys Kincaid and his pistol toting back-up group, the Four Tones, manage to sing both the title song, "Harlem on the Prairie," and the once popular hit "Romance in the Rain." The film's hero, Herbert Jeffrey, who at the time was a popular singer with Earl “Fatha” Hines Band, [Michael R., Pitts. "Hollywood Songsters: Singers Who Act and Actors Who Sing: A Biographical Dictionary", Routledge (2001) page 413 - ISBN 0415937752] initially conceived of making an all-black cowboy picture. He intended to distribute the film to the hundreds of black movie houses that had been set up across the South due to racial segregation. But, fortunately, with the help of Gene Autry, another well-known screen cowboy, Jeffrey made a deal with Dallas-based Sack Amusement for national distribution. [Berry, S. Torriano. "The 50 Most Influential Black Films" (2001), page 45]

"Harlem on the Prairie" (1937) was so successful that company owner Richard C. Kahn approached Jeffrey about continuing the saga of the black cowboy. Since rights to the original character of Jeff Kincaid were tied up with the original producer, Jed Buell, they created the character of Bob Blake and introduced his trusty horse Stardusk. The first film produced through this new partnership was "Two-Gun Man from Harlem" (1938). [Berry, S. Torriano. "The 50 Most Influential Black Films" (2001), page 45] [ [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0135694/ "Two-Gun Man from Harlem" (1938)] ]

Footnotes