Boarding House Blues 1948 ★★★ CC: Musical/Comedy [1:26:35]

About this film

Boarding House Blues is a 1948 American musical race film directed by Josh Binney which featured the first starring film role by Moms Mabley. It was the penultimate feature film of All-American News, a company that made newsreels about black Americans. The film was the first starring role for Mabley and showcased her "vaudeville-circuit comedy and captured her signature stances and expressions." The film was also one of the early iterations of Mabley's "Moms" persona. Plot: Mom (Moms Mabley) runs a boarding house for struggling entertainers, similar to the situation decades earlier when Mabley had lived in a boarding house for black entertainers in Buffalo, New York. When the boarding house is threatened with closure and all the tenants evicted due to non-payments, everyone gets together to put on a show to raise the money needed to save Mom and their home. The plot functions as a showcase for performance and comedy sketches.

Directors & creators

E.M. Glucksman

Subjects

Moms Mabley, Boarding House, Buffalo New York, Vaudeville, Comedy, Sketches, All-American News

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