Minstrel Man

Minstrel Man

1944 · 70 min · ★ 5.5 · Music

Unusually elaborate for a PRC film, Minstrel Man is a lively musical drama built around the talents of veteran vaudevillian Benny Fields. The star is cast as Dixie Boy Johnson, who rises from the ranks of minstrel shows to become a top Broadway attraction. On the opening night of his greatest stage triumph, Dixie Boy's wife dies in childbirth. Profoundly shaken, he walks out of the show, leaving the baby to be raised by his showbiz pals Mae and Lasses White (Gladys George, Roscoe Karns). The kid grows up to be an attractive young woman named Caroline (Judy Clark), who follows in her dad's footsteps by billing herself as-that's right-Dixie Girl Johnson. This leads to a tearful reunion between Caroline and the father she'd long assumed to be dead. If Minstrel Man seems at times to be a dress rehearsal for Columbia's The Jolson Story (1946), it shouldn't surprising: the PRC film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Jolson Story's musical highlights.

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis · Written by Irwin Franklyn

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Cast

Benny Fields Dixie Boy Johnson
Gladys George Mae White
Alan Dinehart Lew Dunn
Roscoe Karns Lasses White
Jerome Cowan Bill Evans
Judy Clark Caroline Jr.-16 years old
Molly Lamont Caroline Johnson
John Raitt Singer

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Minstrel Man

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