The heroines of Malt Shop Milestones: Vicky, Berta, and Ari

In Book Three of my postwar historical fiction series,
Malt Shop Milestones,
the heroine goes out on separate occasions to see two movies:
Junction 88 (1948)
and
Killer Diller (1948).

Reel News, Reel Features

Before most American households had televisions, taking a trip to the movie theater often meant spending a whole afternoon or evening there. With one ticket, you’d get to see not one movie but a bundle of them: one or two feature films along with a few short films, usually including a newsreel.

A lot of people were familiar with newsreels from, say, Fox Movietone News and Paramount News. But in the 1940s and ’50s, there was a film production company that focused on bringing news pertaining to Black Americans: All-American News, which made newsreels specifically for showing in Black American theaters.

Here’s a reel of All-American News from 1945.
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So, you can imagine more newsreels that would come before feature films like Junction 88 and Killer Diller.

Junction 88 is a small-town tale about a songwriter’s romantic dreams and the beginnings of his career. Killer Diller (also produced by the All-American film company) is a musical comedy packed with an array of performing artists.

These movies are two of about five hundred “race films” in America’s history.

Singers Wyatt Clark, Marie Cooke, and Bob Howard star in Junction 88.
—

Singer and pianist Nat “King” Cole, comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley, bandleader Andy Kirk, and more performers take to the stage in Killer Diller.

Race, Music, and Miracles

Race films featured Black American casts and were produced for Black audiences from around the time of the First World War until the early 1950s or so.

In Junction 88, Cooke and Clark play sweethearts, Lolly and Buster.
—

Musical numbers were common in race films, and the genre had some different levels of story content. For instance, in a movie that doesn’t appear in Malt Shop Milestones, Miracle in Harlem (1948), there’s a little collection of musical performances woven through a central story: a dramatic murder mystery seasoned with themes of romance and family.

Miracle in Harlem is considered to be one of the best race films, and it’s among those that I’ve watched myself. Aside from its comedy moments I didn’t care for, I as a lover of vintage cinema can say I dig Miracle. (And if you’ve checked out the soundtrack of Malt Shop Milestones Book Two, where Savannah Churchill sings “I Want to Be Loved,” you’ll recognize her delivering that romantic ballad in this movie!)

A couple of seconds are cut off of the beginning and end of this Miracle in Harlem trailer. But you get the idea of it!
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In contrast, when it comes to pictures like Junction 88 and Killer Diller, their light stories are pretty much or completely like secondary aspects of the pictures. It’s rather clear that for movies of their variety, the key purpose is to showcase Black American talent like singing and dancing, whether through several short scenes or through long central acts.

For instance, Junction 88 isn’t even 50 minutes long. But its share of music could satisfy a musical twice its length: seven original songs, one with a romantic reprise, and a dance number at a concert.

On a Junction 88 stroll, Howard (as himself) sings “Walking with Caroline.”
—

The musical emphasis in race films makes sense to me, given that the musical film genre was quite the sensation in those days. I also find it interesting that during a period when unjust civil codes and social inequities imposed limits on opportunities for Black American singers and dancers, there came the genre of race films, often serving as a musical stage.

How Sweet the Soundie

Now, there was a time when Americans could watch musical performances on Panorams: coin-operated movie jukeboxes located in public places like restaurants, hotel lobbies, and department stores. Those jukebox movies were called Soundies, and they featured all genres of music, from classical to country-western to jazz and more. And yes indeed, there were Soundies that featured Black American artists—but unlike musical feature films, Soundies were each only about three minutes long.

Here’s a 1945 Soundie, “Five Salted Peanuts,” performed by the jazz trio The Counts and the Countess.
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In addition to their short length, Soundies were only around for a fairly short time: for about six years during the 1940s. (By the start of my Malt Shop Milestones series, Soundies were already becoming a thing of the past.) And, of course, people back then couldn’t pull out smartphones to watch music and dance videos whenever they liked. Moreover, while the popularity of televisions did grow after the Second World War, again, they hadn’t become nearly as common in households as they are now.

So, for much of the time before most Americans had televisions, having the chance to see onscreen musical performances meant going out to watch movies in theaters.

Front. Center. Seen.

Although watching movies was as much a part of Black culture as it was for other Americans, the mainstream movie industry in America usually wouldn’t cast Black actors in integral roles, particularly beyond the racially stereotypical. (Stereotypical servant roles, for example.)

There were some cases when Black Americans would appear in short, entertaining sideshows in mainstream movies that weren’t about them. This included movies where the segments with Black actors would be cut out of the versions shown in various theaters in the American Deep South, where overt racism was heavy. And in plenty of cases, mainstream movie casts excluded Black people altogether.

So, although race films were mostly low-budget productions, they were popular among their segregated target audience.

While I quite enjoy listening to the record of Savannah Churchill singing “I Want to Be Loved,” it’s something else to not only hear her but to see her perform in Miracle in Harlem.
—

Race films were shown in designated Black theaters, in theaters in Black neighborhoods, and in certain other theaters that only allowed Black moviegoers to attend at assigned, separate hours for matinée or midnight movie showings. “Midnight rambles,” those late-night showings were called.

In whichever situation where Black Americans would watch race films, it was a big deal for them to see themselves onscreen, front and center. To see themselves in more than just supporting or minor roles. As more than just stereotyped characters.

(This looped Junction 88 clip of Buster and Lolly is playful and precious, as he sings “Somewhere Happy with You.”)

Hollywood, Harlem, and Hopping

The large majority of race films were made outside of Hollywood, and fewer than one hundred of them remain today. Still, some actors and artists in race films also had recognition in the wider entertainment industry.

Here’s a clip from a featurette about Butterfly McQueen, who plays a secretary in the comedy story portions of Killer Diller. The actress is most known for her Hollywood role as Prissy in 1939’s Gone with the Wind.
—

Nat “King” Cole, who performs jazz in Killer Diller’s variety show with the King Cole Trio, would soon gain wide recognition as a solo artist in mainstream pop music with the hit ballad “Nature Boy.”
—

During Killer Diller’s central act—a variety show jumping with jazz, dancing, and stand-up comedy—the Four Congaroos dance group performs the Lindy Hop: the original swing dance, born in Harlem.

In that performance, I recognized some of the choreography I’d seen from the Harlem Congaroos, a subgroup of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, in a clip from a 1941 musical comedy, Hellzapoppin’. (I know, that’s quite a title—and no, that isn’t a race film. 😀 ) The dance similarities are no wonder, as choreographer Frankie Manning dances in both films.

The autobiography Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop by Frankie Manning and Cynthia R. Millman
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Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, a group formed by Herbert “Whitey” White, disbanded when many of the group’s male dancers, including Manning, went to serve in the military during the Second World War. After his service in the U.S. Army, Manning formed the Four Congaroos group in 1947.

The Four Congaroos’ performance in Killer Diller may be my favorite part of the movie. ❤

Again, Junction 88 and Killer Diller tie in to Book Three in the
Malt Shop Milestones series,
but you’ll want to read all the books!