The Black Network (1936)

Director:

Roy Mack

Writer:

A. Dorian Otvos (story)

Release Date:

4 April 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Short

Plot:

The owner of a shoe polish company sponsors a radio show that showcases black performers. Since his wife's father put up the money to be the sponsor...

Plot Keywords:

Broadway Brevity | Radio

Cast

Nina Mae McKinney	...	Herself
Fayard Nicholas	...	Himself
Harold Nicholas	...	Himself
Emmett 'Babe' Wallace		(as Babe Wallace)
Amanda Randolph	...	Mezzanine Johnson
Bill 'Basement' Brown	...	Brutus Johnson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Washboard Serenaders	...	Themselves

Runtime:

20 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Yiddish

Color:

Black and White

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

The film's title is a satirical reference to radio's National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which divided its programming between two networks, "The Red Network" and "The Blue Network."

Movie Connections:

References Broadway Gondolier (1935)

Soundtrack:

Ochi Chornya (Dark Eyes)

Nina is The Greatest!

Nina Mae McKinney, I have to say is the greatest, its ashame she's been forgotten, she was before Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge, but because she wouldn't kiss anyone's butt or play maids or stereotype roles she didn't last long in Hollywood, she was a tough woman. She did great in Hallelujah, the best first talkie all black musical. She does wonderful in this short, I went through hell finding and collecting these black short musicals of that 30s and 40s era but their worth it. This short film is great. Nina Mae looks beautiful and sings a great low-down song with scat. I have it and its beautiful, and I watch it over and over again, its great better over and over again, the whole cast Amanda Randolph and the WashBoard Serenaders. You'll love it, Turner Classic Movies may show it, but you have to catch it, because they have no schedule for shorts.