Harlem Is Heaven

Harlem is Heaven is one of the many low-budget 1930s films designed to cater to the "all-colored" trade. The fabulous Bill "Bojangles" Robinson stars as the owner of a Harlem variety theater, who for the sake of his sweetie, dancer Jean Stratton (Anise Boyer), sets up his own nightclub. When he finds out that Jean is actually in love with young Chummy Walker (Henri Wassell), Bojangles gallantly steps out of the picture. The fragmentary plotline is merely an excuse to offer a parade of top-rank African American talent. Among the luminaries featured in Harlem is Heaven are James Baskette (best known as Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South) and Eubie Blake and his Orchestra.