Minstrel Man

Benny Fields stars as Dixie Boy Johnson, a vaudeville singer who performs in black face. His signature tune, "Remember Me to Carolina", is sung each night to his wife, also named Carolina. When she dies in childbirth, Johnson skips town, leaving the newborn, also named Carolina, in the care of friends Mae (Gladys George) and Roscoe (Roscoe Karns). Years later, the now grown Carolina (Judy Clark) tries to follow in her father's footsteps as a minstrel performer. Also featuring Jerome Cowan, Alan Dinehart, Molly Lamont, and Lee "Lasses" White.

I had never heard of Benny Fields before watching this. I've since learned that he and his wife Blossom Seeley had a very successful vaudeville singing and comedy act in the 1920's. They lost their fortune in the Great Depression, and Fields took the act solo. This movie was another comeback attempt for the 50-year-old Fields, and it was a hit at the time, leading to Fields having a number of recording hits. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the movie is awful, a hackneyed backstage melodrama with cliche after cliche. The stereotypical minstrel stuff is bad enough, and there's a lot of it here, but the handful of songs are sung over and over again. The movie still managed to nab two Oscar nominations, for Best Score (Leo Erdody & Ferde Grofe), and Best Song (Remember Me to Carolina").