White folks call it madness but we call it Hi De Ho: An “All Colored” Vitaphone Program

Located in Brooklyn, Vitaphone Studios was a prolific producer of short films during the transition to sound. Between 1929 and 1936, Vitaphone used talent from the vaudeville circuits and nearby Broadway to make dozens of “live” shorts featuring the era’s biggest acts. Organized by artist and media archivist Ina Archer, this program features such legendary African American performers as the Nicholas Brothers, Cab Calloway, Nina Mae McKinney, Lester Young, Buck & Bubbles, and many more! (program approx. 120 mins.; DCP, 16mm, and 35mm)

• See the complete Cinema Revival 2020 lineup

Image: Ina Archer, courtesy Ina Archer

Program Lineup

Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
(1923, 3 mins., 35mm)

Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody
(1930, 10 mins., 16mm)
with James Price Johnson

All Colored Vaudeville
(1935, 9 mins., 35mm)
with the Nicholas Brothers and Adelaide Hall

That’s the Spirit
(1933, 10 mins., 16mm)
with Noble Sissle

Harlem Bound
(1935, 17 mins., 35mm)
with Buck & Bubbles

Harlem-Mania
(1929, 8 mins., 35mm)
with The Norman Thomas Quintette

Smash Your Baggage
(1933, 10 mins., 35mm)
with Small’s Paradise Orchestra

Cab Calloway’s Hi-De-Ho
(1933, 10 mins., DCP)

The Black Network
(1936, 20 mins., 35mm)
with the Nicholas Brothers and Nina Mae McKinney

Jammin’ the Blues
(1944, 10 mins., 35mm)
with Lester Young