20th Century "Colored" Entertainment Quiz

Answer: Lincoln Perry

Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry started his entertainment career in 1914, as a 12 year old singer and tap dancer in a traveling carnival. By the age of 20, Perry added working part time as a vaudeville comic. Perry continued to work and manage the traveling carnival. An avid horseracing fan, Perry enjoyed betting on the race horses. One of his biggest paydays from the track came after he bet on a horse named "Step and Fetch It". Perry later parlayed the name of the horse into the stage name that he would become famous for, Stepin Fetchit.

Often billed for his character as "The Laziest Man in the World", Stepin Fetchit appeared in 54 films from 1925 through 1976. Fetchit's roles often provided comic relief in films, and proved to be very successful and lucrative for him. Throughout his career, he was criticized by much of the African American community, who felt that his character perpetuated a negative image, and fed into the stereotype of African Americans being uneducated, slow moving, unproductive, and lazy.

Perry was the first African American actor to become a millionaire as well as the first black actor to receive feature screen credits for the films he played a role in.
Between 1925 and 1975, Fetchit appeared in over 50 motion pictures.

Lincoln Perry was born on May 30, 1902 in Key West, Florida, and passed away in Los Angeles, California on November 11, 1985, from pneumonia and heart failure.

Answer: Buckwheat

William Thomas co-starred in the Hal Roach "Our Gang/Little Rascals" (1922) series as "Buckwheat", one of the most recognizable and beloved character in the cast.
The character of Buckwheat was usually seen wearing a striped shirt, overalls held up by one suspender, oversized shoes, and an unkept "natural" hair style. Buckwheat was noted for his big toothy smile. From 1934, when at the age of three he made his first appearance on the series, he appeared in 96 episodes of the movie shorts. Thomas' last appearance came in 1944, when at the age of 12 he filmed "Dancing Romeo", the final movie of the series.

William Thomas chose not to continue his acting career, and worked in his latter years as a technician for a Hollywood movie processing company.

William "Billie" Thomas, a native of Los Angeles, California, was born on March 18, 1931, and died of a heart attack on October 10, 1980, in Los Angeles, California.

Answer: Josephine Baker

Freda Josephine McDonald performed and gained international fame under her stage name Josephine Baker.

From her very humble childhood, Josephine became a dancer and toured the United States in 1919, performing as a stage show comic. She eventually became one of the chorus girls with the "Dixie Steppers" dance group. Once considered too skinny to be a chorus girl, Josephine danced at the end of the chorus line, injecting an element of comic relief into the dance routines. Making funny faces, rolling her eyes, and appearing to be clumsy and not totally familiar with the dance routines, she soon became a standout feature on the show. She gained fame and recognition by later performing her uninhibited exotic dance routines, wearing little more than her custom-made costume made of feathers.

Josephine traveled to Paris, France, where she performed in the "La Review Nègre", "La Folie du Jour", and "The Folies Bergères with her suggestive and risqué custom-made stage costume that consisted only of a skirt made of 16 artificial bananas. Josephine gained unprecedented fame for her performances, becoming the first African American international superstar. By 1927, Josephine was earning more money that any entertainer in Europe.

In 1934, she became the first African American woman to star in a major motion picture "Zouzou", which featured French actors Jean Gabin and Pierre Larquey.

Josephine, who was fluent in both English and French, became a citizen of France in 1937. She found the environment in Europe to be free of the racial prejudices and restrictions that she encountered while performing in the United States.

Josephine Baker was born on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on April 12, 1975, in Paris, France.

Answer: George Stevens

In the television series "The Amos 'n' Andy Show" (1951), veteran stage comic Tim Moore played the role of the show's resident con artist, George "Kingfish" Stevens. The show, which aired from 1951 through 1953, frequently centered on "The Kingfish" as he tried "get rich quick" schemes usually at the expense of his Lodge Brothers, all members of "The Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge". The target of most of the schemes was his naïve and good-natured lodge brother, Andrew "Andy" Hogg Brown.

The series, which featured a nearly "all colored" cast was based in a Harlem, New York neighborhood that featured African Americans as business owner, doctors, lawyers, judges, and politicians.

Many of the schemes hatched by the Kingfish, and his inter-actions with friends and neighbors were believed to project a negative image on the African American community. It was further felt that the show perpetuated the stereotype image that African Americans were simple minded, gullible, and lazy.
As the only show of the time with an all African American cast (thus representing the image of African American communities), the show received strong criticisms from many groups, including the powerful N.A.A.C.P (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) who protested and boycotted the shows sponsors, demanding that the show be removed from the air. In 1953, the show was canceled.

The show featured an all-star cast including Alvin Childress as the mild mannered, level headed Amos Jones, the owner of the Fresh Air Taxi Cab Company of America. Amos served as the show's narrator, who explained the plot of the stories at the beginning of each episode.
Spencer Williams played Andrew Hogg Brown, a rotund man who was always seen wearing a derby hat and smoking a cigar. His easy going and trusting nature made him an easy target for the Kingfish to swindle and bamboozle.
Ernestine Wade starred as Sapphire, Kingfish's wife, who kept him in his place. Johnny Lee starred as the spectacled, sometimes slightly shady lodge brother and lawyer, Algonquin J. Calhoun.
Nick Stewart, who at the time billed himself as Nick O'Demus, played Lightnin', the slow moving, dim-witted janitor of the lodge hall.

The show was a television adaptation of the long running radio series, "Amos 'n' Andy", which remained on the radio from 1928 until 1960. Radio actors and show creators Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll provide the voices for the title characters. For the TV series, the Caucasian voice actors were replaced by African American actors.

Answer: first to produce a feature length film

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an author, a director of early motion pictures, and a producer of both silent films and talkies.

In 1920, Micheaux became the first African American to produce a full length feature film. The movie, entitled "The Homesteaders" (1919) was a black and white silent film that featured an all "colored" cast. Micheaux served as the screenwriter, co-director, and producer on the film.

Micheaux was considered the most prolific African American film maker and producer of the first half of the twentieth century, producing in excess of 44 films. Micheaux authored seven novels, including "The Homesteaders", his first novel and the subject of his first feature length film.

Honors bestowed on Micheaux included receiving a 'star' on the famed "Hollywood Walk of Fame" in 1987, being honored by the U.S. Postal Service by having his image on a 44 cents stamp in 1910, being awarded the "Golden Jubilee Special Award" in 1989 by the Director's Guild of America and the creation of an annual achievement award in his name by the Guild.

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was born on January 2, 1884, in Metropolis, Illinois, and died of a heart attack on March 25, 1951, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Answer: Sleep n' Eat

Willie Best was often cast in movies playing the roles of a domestic servant, a chauffeur, a train porter, or a shoe shine boy. Unlike most movie bit players of the time, Best was one of the very few to receive "screen credit" for his work.
Of the 124 films he appeared in, Willie Best received screen credits on 57 films. Best was often credited with his given name, but the screen name he often used and received recognition for was "Sleep n' Eat".

His "Sleep n' Eat" character was that of a stereotypical African American, who spoke slowly and walked with a slow shuffle. He was portrayed as being illiterate, and had big bulging eyes when he was startled or surprised. For many, especially in the African American community, his unflattering and untrue stereotype drew much criticism, but for Willie, it was a vehicle that led to steady employment and movie acting success.

Best was featured in the role of Chattanogga Brown, the chauffeur for Chinese detective Charlie Chan in two movies of the Charlie Chan series, "The Red Dragon" (1945) and "Dangerous Money" (1946), with actor Sidney Toler in the role of Charlie Chan. His television credits included a recurring role as Charlie, the elevator operator, on the comedy series "My Little Margie" (1952) starring Gale Storm.

Willie Best was a native of Sunflower, Mississippi, born on May 27, 1916. Best passed away on February 27, 1962, at the age of 45. During his 21 year career, Best was credited with 123 movie and television roles.

Answer: garbage man

Benjamin Crothers is maybe best remembered for the role of "Louie, the garbage man" on the series "Chico and the Man". Crothers was billed under his stage name, Scatman Crothers.

During his career, Scatman Crothers was a published songwriter, a singer, dancer, actor, comedian, and musician.
Crothers picked up his nickname in 1932, when an audition director told him that his real name was not catchy enough for a show business career.
"Scat" refers to a style of jazz singing where the performer used improvised lyrics, words and rhythms without meanings sung in a melodic manner.

Scatman Crothers' huge body of work included performing voiceovers for more than a dozen animated cartoon characters. His unique and recognizable voice brought cartoon characters Hong Kong Phooey from the "Hong Kong Phooey Show" (1974), and Meadowlark Lemon on "The Harlem Globe Trotters" (1970) to life.

Dramatic performances in feature films included the part of Mr. Turkel in the 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest" and as Dick Halloran in the 1980 suspense thriller, "The Shining", co-starring in both films with his real life friend, Jack Nicholson.

Crothers' trademarks were his bald head, his slightly bowed legs, and his ever present wide smile.

Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and passed away on November 22, 1986 in Los Angeles, California.

Answer: Edmund Anderson

Starting his entertainment career as a comedian on the vaudeville circuit, Edmund Anderson's most memorable role came in 1937, when he was selected to play the role of Rochester Van Jones on "The Jack Benny Program" radio show.
Rochester, as he was known, played the wise-cracking valet of penny-pinching comedian Jack Benny. Anderson played the role both on Benny's nationwide radio program, and on television when the show started airing in 1951. Anderson played the role for 28 years (1937-1965), and became one of the highest paid entertainers of the time.

During his career that span over 41 years, Anderson played recurring or guest roles on 12 television shows and appeared in over 65 feature length films and movie shorts.

Known for his trademark raspy voice, Anderson also did voiceover work, providing the voice of animated cartoon character basketball player Bobby Joe Mason of the famed Harlem Globe Trotters on both "The New Scooby-Doo Movie" television series (1972-1973) and on "The Harlem Globe Trotters" animated series (1970-1971).

Throughout his career, Anderson was rarely seen without one of his cigars, which became one of his most visible trademarks, both in and out of the Rochester character.

Edmund Lincoln "Eddie Rochester" Anderson, the son of "Big Ed" Anderson, a minstrel show performer and Ella Mae Anderson, a tightrope walker, was born in Oakland, California, on September 18, 1905, and died in Los Angeles, California on February 28, 1977.

Answer: Herb Jeffries

Herb Jeffries, born Umberto Alexander Valentino (or Umberto Alejandro Ballentino, depending on the source), was a baritone jazz singer who performed with many big bands of the swing era, including The Earl Hines Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Jeffries recorded for several major record labels, including RCA Victor and Columbia records.

In 1937, Jeffries starred as a "singing cowboy" in the first of four feature length, all-colored cast Westerns. Jefferies was known to his fans as "The Bronze Buckaroo".

Jeffries starred as Jeff Kincaid in the 1937 film, "Harlem On The Prairie".
In his next three films, he starred as protagonist Bob Blake in "Two-Gun Man From Harlem" (1938), "The Bronze Buckaroo" (1939), and "Harlem Ride The Range" (1939). Jeffries' trademark screen attire in his films were an all black outfit and a white Stetson hat. Jeffries' horse in all of his films was named "Stardusk".

During the course of his career, Jeffries had roles in 18 movie and television series.

In 2003, Jeffries was inducted into the "Cowboy Hall of Fame", at the Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the Hall of Great Western Performers.

In 2004, Jeffries was invited to sing for President George W. Bush at the White House.

Herb Jeffries was born on September 24, 1913 in Detroit, Michigan, and passed away at the age of 100 on May 25, 2014, in Los Angeles, California.

Answer: James Baskett

On March 20, 1948, at the 20th Academy Awards ceremony held at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences presented James Baskett with an honorary Academy Award.
This marked the first time that a male African American actor received an Academy Award "Oscar" statuette.

The citation that accompanied the award read, "for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world in Walt Disney's 'Song of the South'".

In the 1946 Disney classic, Baskett in the character of Uncle Remus sang a memorable rendition of the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah".
In the same film, Baskett provided the voice for Brer Fox, one of the story's antagonists, and in one sequence, provided the voice for the protagonist animated character, Brer Rabbit.
In an ironic twist, James Baskett was not permitted to attend the premier opening of "Song of the South" in Atlanta, Georgia, due to the fact that the city maintained racial segregation policies at the time.

In his 19 year entertainment career, Baskett performed on the Broadway stage in New York. He was considered a major radio voice actor, playing the recurring role of attorney Gabby Gibson on "The Amos n' Andy" radio program Baskett performed roles in 10 movies.

James Baskett was born on February 16, 1904, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and passed away on July 9, 1948, in Los Angeles, California.