King for a Day

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A talented tap dancer who can't get an audition uses his prowess at playing craps to gain ownership of a musical show, making himself the star.A talented tap dancer who can't get an audition uses his prowess at playing craps to gain ownership of a musical show, making himself the star.A talented tap dancer who can't get an audition uses his prowess at playing craps to gain ownership of a musical show, making himself the star.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

222

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos12

+ 6

Top cast10

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Bill Robinson

Bill Green

Ernest Whitman

Mr. Brownie Brown

Dusty Fletcher

Dusty Fletcher

Babe Matthews

Babe Matthews

Muriel Rahn

Muriel Rahn

Hattie Noel

The Bride - Harlem Honeymoon

Alice Barker

Dancer
(uncredited)

Limehouse Brown

Limehouse Brown
(uncredited)

Eddie Matthews

Eddie Matthews
(uncredited)

Lionel Monagas

Interlocutor
(uncredited)

Director
- Roy Mack
Writers
- A. Dorian Otvos
- Eddie Moran
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The street signs behind the opening credits - W. 142nd St. and Lenox Ave. - are at an intersection in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Lenox Avenue is a continuation of Sixth Avenue north of Central Park, renamed for philanthropist James Lenox (1800-1880) in 1887. It was co-named Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987 for the civil rights leader.

Quotes
Bill Green: [singing] Girls, I sat up last night - right on side the bed / Why, I wrote a song that's just too bad, children it'll knock you dead. / I know you've all danced the Charleston, the Black Bottom away. / Now, just stand at attention, prance awhile, do just as I say. / Get up hot, don't you stop. Woo-doodle-ee-do!
Black Orchids: What's that?
Bill Green: Bill Robinson's Stomp.

Connections
Featured in Hollywood and the Stars: The Fabulous Musicals (1963)

Soundtracks
Old Folks at Home
(uncredited)
aka "Swanee River"
Written by Stephen Foster
Played briefly during the opening credits
Also performed by Bill Robinson (tap dance)

User reviews11

Featured review

9/10

Not Enough Bill Robinson

Bill Robinson wants to get into the show, but the man who owns it doesn't want any amateurs (heh), so Bill wins it and finances it in a crap game, then the entertainers start singing and dancing.

It's one of the several all-Black short subjects that Vitaphone and other short-subject producers turned out. Although they played many theaters, they were conceived as something to offer the Blacks-only theaters of the era; producing a long-form race film (as films starring Blacks in the era were called) was not considered a viable business model, but a short subject was much cheaper to turn out, and the polish that Vitaphone could bring to a production like this was appreciated.

Although I could watch Bill Robinson and his easy-going, self-assured dancing endlessly, the big number is "Got the Jitters" featuring Babe Matthews, the chorus line and some great lighting by Vitaphone cameraman E. B. DuPar.