Known for Acting
DJ Hal Jackson is the all-rhyming onstage host of this all-black musical.
A young boy finds himself in a home for retired minstrel acts. He's anxious to find out as much as he can about them, and flashbacks show what it was like back in the days of the minstrel shows.
Two men search the jungle for a woman who has been captured by a tribe of murderous gorillas. When they finally find her, they must fight off attacks by the gorillas, who are determined to keep her.
Mr. Wilson hires Mantan to travel out West and clean out an old property. Mantan runs into trouble in believing the house is haunted while a gang uses it as a hideout. A race film Western produced by the Toddy Company; made for $500 over two days. Restoration by the Academy Film Archive and Blackhawk Films with funding from the estate of David Shepard from the only surviving 35mm nitrate print donated by Giancarlo Esposito and Laurence Fishburne.
Mantan Moreland's comedy feature.
In order to make some cash, buddies Mantan and Alex found the "Ghost Association," which will hold mock seances for the local residents. After studying the details of the locals' various deceased relatives, Alex insist that the reluctant Manta, who is afraid of ghost, play "Prince Alabastar Amsterdam" and fool people into thinking that he is in communication with their dead loved ones.
After collecting his usual meager paycheck, Mantan, a part time janitor at the local courthouse, commiserates with his ne'er-do-well friend Alex, who is similarly poorly paid. Since Mayor Henry Corbit has been arrested for drunken driving and sentenced by the famous "poetical" judge, Alex comes upon the idea of having Mantan run for mayor, with Alex serving as his campaign manager.
The relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.
While serving time in county prison, Wallingford sees a story in the newspaper that his cellmate, Schenectady, has inherited a mansionfrom his recently deceased uncle. Hearing this, Schenectady dreams of luxury.
Two cut-rate private detectives are broke, hungry and down to their last nickel. They decide to hock their banjo in order to get some money for food, and while one partner is negotiating the deal, the other one falls asleep and dreams that a wealthy society matron has hired them to investigate a string of suitors.
An all-black horror comedy starring Mantan Moreland and sometimes partner (and straight man) F.E. Miller, Lucky Ghost is amusing low-brow fare that exploits the more base, stereotypical elements of old-time black life (chicken thievin', gamblin', runnin' from ghosteses) for laughs -- sort of like the BET of its day. Mantan and Miller win a house-cum-casino in a craps game, only to discover that the deceased former owners aren't too pleased that their old home is being used for "jitterbugging, jiving, and hullaballooing". I hate hullaballooing. The ghosts decide to scare everyone off by opening doors and windows, pulling out chairs, even playing the drums.
In and around some great blues, swing and jazz music, a very unpopular band-leader. Prince Ellis, is killed in a Harlem nightclub, and, in and around some more great music, a detective finds the lists of suspects is very long, as Prince Ellis was indeed very unpopular with many citizens.
