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:

Radio | Broadway Brevity

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

Also Known As:

Broadway Brevities: The Black Network (USA) (series title)

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:

Lucky Numbers

Simply Fantastic

Glamorous Harlem fashions coincide with great music and that particular Jazz Age buzz that you don't find anywhere else in this short about a 1930s radio station!

Nina Mae McKinney shines with a great vocal and acting performance, and The Nicolas Brothers astound with their amazing and precocious dancing. In fact, all the performers in this short are extremely talented, and are very under-acknowledged.

If you are want to see this short, buy the DVD of King Vidor's 'Hallelujah' (available from Amazon). 'The Black Network' is included as an extra on the 'Hallelujah' DVD, along with another short that Nina Mae McKinney appeared in, 'Pie Pie Blackbird', which is not quite as good as this one.