Archives Collection

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"YES SIR, MR BONES" 92-034

VIDEO TAPE

Physical description:

1 three-quarter video tape (copy) (VCT-0163)

Date:

c. 1950

Provenance:

This video tape was made by Center audio specialist Bruce Nemerov in August 1992 from a half‑inch video tape lent for copying by Dr. Charles Wolfe, Murfreesboro TN.

Agency history:

No information has been provided on the original black and white film from which Dr. Wolfe's tape was made except that the film's opening credits attribute the film to Spartan Productions and list Ron Ormond as producer and director. The film appears to have been made in the early 1950's.

Scope and content:

This short (59 min.) feature opens to a scene of a group of former minstrel performers in a club reminiscing about their show days. A young boy wanders into their gathering and as they begin to explain minstrel shows to him the film fades to scenes of Negro singers along the Mississippi river and then to a minstrel show aboard a steam boat. The cast of this purported minstrel shows features male and female performers and white, black and black‑face performers and includes elaborate production numbers. The movie ends as the boy's mother comes to reclaim her son and is herself drawn into the vision of the long‑gone glory days of minstrel shows.

The log which follows, prepared by Center audio specialist Bruce Nemerov, includes a complete list of songs, sketches and performers in both the club scenes and the minstrel show.

Location:

This video is filed first by format, then by tape number in the audio visual archives.