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Hollywood Cowboy and Singer
Long-time actor and singer Herb Jeffries was the first black man to star as a cowboy hero in American movies, and continues entertaining audiences with his powerful singing style.
Born in Detroit in 1911, Herb Jeffries is a great singer ... and his rich baritone enhanced the legendary Duke EllingtonOrchestra beginning around 1940. Prior to his connection with Ellington, Jeffries had sung with the Earl 'Fatha' Hines.
In between all of this, and most often billed as Herbert Jeffrey, he strapped on a six-gun and rode the Hollywood range in a quartet of B westerns in the late 1930s.
In westerns (and other films), it was common to typecast performers based on their race, ethnicity, etc. That was a time of Hollywood stereotypes, and black performers were generally given minor roles as a servant, porter, cook, et al. While I'm no expert on the subject, there was a market for films featuring black performers and there were many black only theaters.
Herb Jeffries' first oater was HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE(1937), and the producer was none other than Jed Buell. Handling the directing chores was prolific Sam Newfield. Buell's career began with the Mack Sennett studio and later, he produced many of the Fred Scott singin' westerns which were released by Spectrum. And in 1938, Buell created a film that remains unique in Hollywood history --- the movie was THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN which featured an all midget cast playing cowboys and cowgirls.
Over the course of the next year or two, Jeffries did three more sagebrush yarns, TWO GUN MAN FROM HARLEM(1938), THE BRONZE BUCKAROO(1939), and HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE(1939). Buell was not involved in these productions --- Richard C. Kahn had assumed those duties. The films were distributed by Al Sack via his Dallas-based Sack Amusement Enterprises. Three of the four films are available on videotape, and have been shown on Ted Turner's cable networks.
Cast members in the Jeffries films included Mantan Moreland, best remembered for his role as chauffeur 'Birmingham Brown' in the Charlie Chan series. Spencer Williamsworked in front and behind the camera --- Williams was 'Andy Brown' in the AMOS & ANDYTVer of the early 1950s.
Hans Wollstein provided info on the vocal groups that appeared in the films: In HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE, two vocal groups appear: The Four Tones (Lucius Brooks, Rudolph Hunter, Leon Buck and Ira Hardin) and The Four Blackbirds (James Davis, Edward Brandon, Reg Anderson and Jack Williams). The Four Tones also appeared in HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE, THE BRONZE BUCKAROO, and TWO-GUN MAN FROM HARLEM.
Another film or two were in the planning stages, but were never made. Any chances to continue the series ended when Jeffries signed on as the lead vocalist with the Ellington band, circa 1939 or '40. He served in WW2 and, after the war, he lived for a dozen years in France. Jeffries was a recipient of a Golden Boot award in 1996.
The first and only black hero/lead in the old B westerns deserves a page on the Old Corral.
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