Celebrate Black History Month
Black history in America is known for focusing significantly on those who were the first to achieve success in different areas of life. This is mostly because success is a reward that one receives at the end of a journey fueled by intention, focused determination, blessings and favor from a divine higher power, and hard work. It is common knowledge that the first one to do anything new or to take on a new adventure is sure to leave a trail and to map out a path of least resistance for those who will follow behind. It is when these new adventures lead to a better way of living for others that we realize that we can and should also walk along that same trail. Trailblazers make life easier for people who also want to do better and for those who want to be successful. It is for these reasons that making these courageous stories known is so important, so helpful, and so very necessary.
According to Wikipedia.org, animation is a filmmaking technique whereby pictures are generated or manipulated to create moving images. The pictures or images are either drawn, painted, or made as photographs. Animated films began in the United States as silent films. However, by 1927, films called “talkies” were being made that synchronized sound with the movement in the images. The new technology that made talking and sound effects possible in the films utilized real people who worked as voice actors.
A voice actor is an individual who uses their voice to portray characters in films. They are used to provide sound to animated images in films for fictional characters, and they also work as narrators in various forms of media. Voice actors are credited for their work in projects such as animated films, video games, and commercials. They bring characters to life through their vocal performances that may be animated or not visually present onscreen.
Voice actors have been providing the voices for animated characters since the 1920s. In 1928, it was Walt Disney who began providing the voice himself for his new character Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat Willie.” Disney’s animated short film was the first of its kind to feature synchronized sound with talking, sound effects and music. Since then, the animation industry has grown tremendously, and technology has greatly improved the overall viewing experience for animated films. The industry has also become more racially diverse over time and films include stories about minorities and those that originated in other countries. Black actors more often than not, have also gained opportunities to voice characters of color on the big screen.
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Harman and Ising began working as animators with Walt Disney eventually leaving to work for other studios such as Schlessinger Productions and Warner Bros. According Wikipedia.org, Bosko was created in 1928 and is described as an animated character that is “a Negro boy” on the copyright registration application. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was modeled after racial stereotypes of that time. Although initial cartoons were voiced by White actors, by the late 1920s and 1930s, Black actors Philip Hurlic and Eugene Jackson provided the voice for the character.
Although Black performers were prevented from working in many forms of entertainment by laws that strictly enforced segregation and racial discrimination in the early 20th century, singers, dancers, and actors such as Ethel Waters and Sammy Davis Jr. began appearing in motion pictures. The first silent films in America were released as early as 1909, but African Americans would not be recorded as actors on film until 1933. The first television drama aired in 1928 with sound but it was in 1939 that Waters, a singer and actress who had performed on Broadway, became the first Black person – male or female, to appear on television. “The Ethel Waters Show” aired on NBC as a variety special.
Other Black actors and actresses began appearing in film in 1933, and on television after 1939. These include Hattie McDaniel, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
Black entertainers such as Cab Calloway began working in animated projects on film in the 1930s. With the invention of the rotoscope technique by Max Fleischer of Fleischer Studios, Calloway’s dance moves were used in Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. Fleischer recorded and traced Calloway’s moves resulting in realistic dance routines, which added to the popularity of the characters. Calloway is featured in Fleischer’s films singing and performing with his orchestra in Minnie the Moocher (1932), Snow-White (1933), and The Old Man of the Mountain (1933).
Black Voices on the Radio
Black entertainers began performing and using their voices over the airwaves in radio in 1929. The All-Negro Hour was a sixty-minute radio variety show created and hosted by Jack L. Cooper. It first premiered on November 3, 1929, on World Stage Battery Company (WSBC), a White-owned radio station in Chicago, and ran until 1935.
The Kraft Music Hall was a radio variety show that aired on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Bing Crosby worked as one of the hosts on the show and discovered a singer named Nat King Cole. According to Wikipedia.org, Crosby introduced Cole to songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1938. Impressed with Cole, he signed a singing contract with Cole when he later founded Capitol Records. Cole produced hits and even hosted radio shows like the Nat King Cole Trio Time in1946. The 15-minute radio program was the first of its kind to be hosted by a Black musician.
He went on to become the first major Black performer to host a network variety series on television, The Nat King Cole Show, which premiered on November 5, 1956.
Black Voices in Animated Films
In 1946, the Disney film Song of the South featured a Black actor in the lead role. Actor James Baskett portrays Uncle Remus, an elderly worker on a plantation in the Deep South, who shares stories of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear with accompanying moral lessons. At times, Baskett also provides the voices of some of the other characters. Baskett’s performance in the live-action/animated musical drama film earned him an Honorary Academy Award in 1948, making him the first Black male performer to receive an Oscar.
Black Entertainers On Screen
Sammy Davis Jr. began performing as a child in 1933 but by 1949, he was also recording songs for Capitol Records under the pseudonyms Shorty Muggins and Charlie Green. His popularity increased as a performer and by 1959, he became known as a member of the Rat Pack, a group that included his friend Frank Sinatra and fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford.
The performers in the Rat Pack made several movies together, including Ocean's 11 (1960), Sergeants 3 (1962), and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964),
In 1935, Duke Ellington wrote and produced a musical short film titled Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. The film was also jazz singer Billie Holiday’s screen debut. In it, Holiday sings "Saddest Tale" and she plays the role of a woman abused by her lover. The film is one of the first films written by an African American describing African American life to reach wide distribution. According to Wikipedia.org, it also won the Best "musical short subject" Academy Award for its year.
By the 1940s and 50s, Black entertainers increasingly found their artistic voices in music. Black singers and dancers began working professionally and many of them signed recording contracts with what soon became well-known and popular recording studios such as Motown, Atlantic Records, Vee-Jay Records, Capitol Records/EMI, Columbia Records, Stax Records, and United Artists. Black entertainers also began promoting their music by performing on television shows such as American Bandstand, The Guy Mitchell Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and Soul Train. These were all television variety shows but American Bandstand and Soul Train were musical variety shows with studio audiences who were dancers. Soul Train in particular, primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists and was marketed to an African American audience.
Music and Dance TV Variety Shows
Variety shows are radio and television entertainment segments that are made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and such activities. Featuring performances that are introduced by a host or a “master of ceremonies,” the format is based in British Victorian era stage entertainment. Black entertainers began hosting and performing on these shows as early as 1939 when Ethel Waters hosted a variety special that aired on NBC.
Stars on Parade was a variety show on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network, airing from November 4, 1953, to June 30, 1954. Notably, one episode included singer Sarah Vaughan performing "My Funny Valentine" and "Linger Awhile".
The first Black singer to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show was Bo Diddley, who performed on November 20, 1955.
Nat King Cole was the first major Black performer to host a network variety series on television, The Nat King Cole Show, which premiered on November 5, 1956.
Jackie Wilson performed "Reet Petite" on American Bandstand on October 4, 1957.
The Supremes performed on The Guy Mitchell Show on October 7, 1957.
Chuck Berry made his television debut on November 8, 1957, performing "Rock and Roll Music" on American Bandstand. He was also a guest on ABC's Guy Mitchell Show in 1957 and sang his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". He appeared in two early rock-and-roll movies: Rock Rock Rock (1956), in which he sang "You Can't Catch Me", and Go, Johnny, Go! (1959), in which he had a speaking role as himself and performed "Johnny B. Goode", "Memphis, Tennessee", and "Little Queenie".
Sam Cooke performed on The Guy Mitchell Show on November 11, 1957. He sang “You Send Me.” He performed it again on The Ed Sullivan show later that year in December.
Fats Domino performed on American Bandstand on November 10, 1959, where he sang "Be My Guest".
Chubby Checker performed his popular song “The Twist” on The Ed Sullivan Show in July 1960. He also performed that song on American Bandstand on August 6, 1960.
Mary Wells sang on American Bandstand on April 1, 1962, where she performed "The One That Really Loves You".
“The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin made her television debut on American Bandstand on August 2, 1962, where she sang "Try a Little Tenderness".
The Sammy Davis Jr. Show was a television variety show that premiered in 1966.
Otis Redding sand "Try A Little Tenderness” on American Bandstand on January 21, 1967.
Ray Charles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 3, 1967: He performed "Double Oh Soul" with Billy Preston and sang "Yesterday" and "What'd I Say".
Dionne Warwick performed her song "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" from the film Valley of the Dolls (1967) on the January 29, 1968 episode of the CBS television variety series The Carol Burnett Show a month after the film was released.
Lou Rawls appeared on Sesame Street, an educational children's television series, on January 7, 1970 and sang the alphabet.
Black Voices in Comics
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes the years from 1938 to 1956 when comic books rose in popularity in America. This era was introduced by superhero characters Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Wonder Woman. The first African American superhero character created was Black Panther whose birth name is T’Challa. The character was created and the artwork was completed by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four #52, published in July 1966. However, it was not until 1994 that the character appeared on television. Voiced by actor Keith David, Black Panther was a character in the animated television series titled Fantastic Four: The Animated Series. The series aired for two seasons from September 24, 1994 to February 24, 1996. The feature film Black Panther was released February 16, 2018. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it was directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther. The film became the highest-grossing solo superhero film of all time.
Have fun learning!