Show NEGROES GAIN OAIN PROMINENCE UPON STAGE Score of Theatres in New York Have Colored Actors By ny HARVEY HAnVEY ANDERSON 4 Copyright 1927 Consolidated Press Association NEW YORK YORI Oct 15 The The Ameri Amer- American can cm drama If Broadway Broad ay is to be taken as es a criterion will appear this year rear against a dark background The sea sea- season season ell ell- ellson son Just opening puts on view two or times snore more negroes than have in single ever vcr before appeared any theatrical I season Scouting plays during the last IlISt week this writer found 25 theatres exclusive of Harlem where negro neg 0 ac actors AC- AC ACtors tors and vaudeville vaude tile performers are In Included In- In Included Included in the casts Every branch of theatrical entertainment is represent represent- represented ed by bj negroes including straight dra dra- drama drama drama ma ma dancing singing burlesque ju- ju JUbilee jubilee bilee choruses comedy tragedy clowning legerdemain and nd musical specialties One show a n big Broad Broad- Broadway Broadway Broadway way success has 40 negroes another has hIlS 60 and another 80 NEW rW SCHOOLS One of or last years year's biggest dramatic hits hI Is s now on the road rood with 30 ne nee negroes negroes groes in the t cast The straight drama in which negroes negroes participate participate Includes one ambitious Broadway play another now no on the road and four tour or five plays in the little theatres of Green Green- Greenwich Greenwich Village Four new schools of dramatic art have been established In Harlem ne ne- negro negro ne- ne negro gro capital of the world during the summer Booking agents of or all kinds are besieged with negroes seeking en en- en Shakespeare and nd Ibsen are now in rehearsal with black all-black casts under the direction of a Har Har- Harlem Harlem lem lcm producing company organized by negroes This company it Is under under- understood understood stood will be maintained as a stock company in Harlem Inri em At one of the largest moving mo picture houses hou es In 10 New York advertised as the most famous moving picture theatre in the world a negro conductor leads ads a a. white hiLe orchestra Many picture houses which give vaudeville programs pro pro- programs programs grams have ha negro performers EMPEROR E JONES JOrES Until Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones Joner came out of Greenwich Village about rive five years ears ago negroes In the theatre worked for the most part put at lit their old established trade of sing sing- singing singing ing Int and hoofing The success of Emperor Jones stimulated negro playwrights and actors and since then more and more negroes have been finding a place both on the legitimate stage sta e and in big musical productions The present wave of or color in the entertainment world is somewhat to the sensational success of ofa ofa a Harlem in Paris who vho was erroneously reported as having ha vine been married mamed to an Italian count She started a vogue ogue of negro performers both in Paris and London This stimulated stimulated Imitators on this side and brought a deluge of ot dark show folks to the doors of booking offices seek seek- seeking seekIng seeking ing night club vaudeville aude and theatrical the the- theatrical theatrical engagements Their numbers were Vere Increased by recruits from all sections of or America The deepening color hue appears not only on the stage but in night clubs cabarets and other places of entertainment LUXURIOUS HOTELS Several SC luxuriously appointed hotels have ha been fitted up in Harlem for forthe forthe forthe the patronage of the new elite of the negro stage aristocracy Negro news news- newspapers newspapers newspapers papers are featuring the attainments of this race in dramatic arts and a anew anew anew new and dazzling form of night life lire is de dev eloping around the dark town theatrical centers of Harlem Harlem Har Har- Harlem Harlem lem theatres are nearly all dark but not in the usually accepted sense of the term Several Se of ot these theatres are arc supposed not to admit whites but buta ft II few privileged Caucasians always ahas may ma be seen at their performances Mark Elsmann booking agent and theatrical producer who vho has specialized special special- specialized in placing negro attractions said this would be by far the biggest year of his business Every time some same negro show scores a big success you jOU find more and more of or them crowding in said Mr Eis- Eis mann It was as that way after atter Em Em- Emperor Emperor Jones' Jones got over o and after that negro play In Abrahams Abraham's Bosom got the Pulitzer prize While the latter play was a 3 flop commercially the theaward theaward award ard of or the prize was a big sensation In the negro world For weeks after after- afterward afterward afterward ward we had visits from negroes who h wanted anted to write or produce plays or who wanted to get on the stage There never ne has been a time in my experience ence when negroes were as busy or oras oras oras as successful as they are now They have an idea that tha tat at last they are doing their stuff and they certain certain- certainly ly are working hard |