August 20, 1929: The 1st Hollywood Film With an Entirely Black Cast

August 20, 1929: Hallelujah! premieres, the 1st Hollywood film with an entirely black cast. It's a musical, taking advantage of the new "talkie" technology.

Director King Vidor, though white, had wanted to make an all-black film. With the coming of sound, he thought including gospel music, "Negro spirituals," could make the film a hit, even with white audiences. He reasoned, "If stage plays with all-Negro casts, and stories like those by Octavus Roy Cohen and others, could have such great success, why shouldn't the screen make a successful Negro play?"

Cohen was a white and Jewish writer, whose stories had been harshly criticized, including by the leading civil rights figure of the time, W.E.B. Du Bois. And the black writer Oscar Micheaux had already graduated from writing novels to making movies based on them 10 years before Hallelujah!

The film stars Daniel L. Haynes, a minister in real life as well as a heavily tempted one in the film; and, as the temptress, movie debutante Nina Mae McKinney, at age 17 already being billed as "The Black Garbo," the difference being that McKinney could sing.

Given the coming of the Hays Code, and its lusty themes, this film could not have been made after the Spring of 1934, not even with an all-white cast.

Haynes died in 1954, McKinney in 1967, and Vidor in 1982.

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August 20, 1929 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Tom Zachary outpitched Red Faber. Zachary advanced to 9-0 on the season, and would finish 12-0, setting a record for most games won without a loss in a season. Babe Ruth went 0-for-5, and Lou Gehrig went 1-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at the Polo Grounds. The New York Giants won the opener, 4-1. Freddie Fitzsimmons outpitched Guy Bush. The Chicago Cubs won the nightcap, 1-0. Hal Carlson pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Carl Hubbell. Over the 2 games, Mel Ott went 3-for-5 with 2 walks and an RBI, and Bill Terry went 4-for-8. For the Cubs, Rogers Hornsby went 4-for-8.

* A doubleheader was split at Ebbets Field. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 3-2. Bill Sherdel outpitched Dazzy Vance. The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known at the time) won the 2nd game, 4-0. Ray Moss pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching Syl Johnson. Over the 2 games, Frankie Frisch went 3-for-7 with 3 walks.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Braves, 6-2 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-6 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Pie Traynor went 1-for-4 with an RBI, Paul Waner went 3-for-4 with a home run with 3 RBIs, and Lloyd Waner went 3-for-4 with a walk.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-8 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Alvin "General" Crowder outpitched George Earnshaw. Ralph "Red" Kress hit a home run for the Browns. For the A's, Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-4, Mickey Cochrane went 0-for-3 with a walk, and Al Simmons went 0-for-4.