Swing! (1938)

Swing! (1938)

„Swing!“ is a 1938 Black & White low budget musical race film written and directed by Oscar Micheaux, based on his own story „Mandy“.

As Amanda „Mandy“ Jenkins wakes up to go to work as a cook for the white Hewitt family in Birmingham, Alabama, her husband, Cornell Jenkins, returns home from a night of gambling.

When Ethel and Liza Freeman, Mandy’s friends, learn that Cornell is having an affair with Eloise Jackson, the wife of Lem Jackson, they agree that wives should stick together when men two-time them.

Cornell takes Mandy’s money to pay for his entertainment and diverts suspicion by telling his wife that he is an automobile salesman. Liza, however, reveals the truth about Cornell when she informs Mandy that her husband is being driven around in Eloise’s car. Mandy goes to a nightclub looking for her husband, and when she finds him dancing with Eloise, a fight ensues.

Months later, Eloise is living in Harlem, where she is singing under the assumed name Cora Smith. Although Eloise works for producer Ted Gregory she pushes him around and intimidates him. When Lena Powell, Gregory’s secretary, suggests to her boss that her old friend, Mandy, be hired as the wardrobe mistress, he consents to it.

After punching Eloise when she is drunk, Lem delves into New York’s underworld, where he soon learns that he can go on relief and be paid for not working. Three days before the show’s opening, Eloise becomes intoxicated and breaks her leg, and Gregory replaces her with Mandy. Mandy, who has seen Cornell penniless, has a change of heart and takes her husband back. As Cornell soaks Mandy’s tired feet, he realizes that he must stray no more. When the show finally opens it is a huge success.

Soundtrack music:

• „Bei Mir Bist di Schön“ – Music by Sholom Secunda, English lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, Cora Green performs the Yiddish tune „Bei Mir Bistu Shein“ for her star-making musical sequence with Leon Gross’s orchestra
• „Heaven Help this Heart of Mine“ – Music and lyrics by Leonard Whitcup, Walter G. Samuels and Teddy Powell, Performed by Cora Green and Leon Gross’s orchestra
• „Once I Did“ – Performed by Hazel Diaz
• „I Got Rhythm, Boy“ – Performed by theTyler twins

Cast:

• Cora Green – Amanda „Mandy“ Jenkins
• Larry Seymour – Cornell Jenkins
• Hazel Diaz – Eloise Jackson/Cora Smith
• Alec Lovejoy – Lem Jackson/Big Jones
• Amanda Randolph – Liza Freeman
• Trixie Smith – Lucy
• Carman Newsome – Ted Gregory
• Nat Reed – Ted, Gregory’s Assistant
• Sammy Gardiner – Sammy, Gregory’s Assistant
• Dorothy Van Engle – Lena Powell
• Doli Armena – Miss Watkins, a Trumpet Player
• Columbus Jackson – A Hustler
• George R. Taylor – Mr. Becker, Theatrical Backer
• Leon Gross
• Consuelo Harris
• Leon Gross & His Orchestra
• The Tyler Twins

„Swing!“ ist ein schwarz-weißer Low-Budget-Musical-Film aus dem Jahr 1938, geschrieben und inszeniert von Oscar Micheaux, basierend auf seiner eigenen Geschichte „Mandy“.

Als Amanda „Mandy“ Jenkins aufwacht, um als Köchin für die weiße Familie Hewitt in Birmingham, Alabama, zu arbeiten, kehrt ihr Ehemann Cornell Jenkins von einer Glücksspielnacht nach Hause zurück.

Als Ethel und Liza Freeman, Mandys Freundinnen, erfahren, dass Cornell eine Affäre mit Eloise Jackson, der Frau von Lem Jackson, hat, sind sie sich einig, dass Ehefrauen zusammenhalten sollten, wenn Männer sie betrügen.

Cornell nimmt Mandys Geld, um seine Unterhaltung zu bezahlen, und lenkt den Verdacht ab, indem er seiner Frau erzählt, er sei Autoverkäufer. Liza enthüllt jedoch die Wahrheit über Cornell, als sie Mandy mitteilt, dass ihr Mann in Eloises Auto herumgefahren wird. Mandy geht in einen Nachtclub, um ihren Mann zu suchen, und als sie ihn beim Tanzen mit Eloise findet, kommt es zu einem Streit.