Stormy Weather

Bill Robinson's Biopic

Producer William LeBaron contracted Andrew L. Stone to direct a biographical musical about [Page 2021]Robinson, who had risen to fame as a hoofer on the vaudeville circuit and in a number of 1930s films from 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and RKO. Although Stone had helmed a few musical comedies, including 1937's The Girl Said No and The Great Victor Herbert in 1939, he was mostly known for his work on gritty dramas; he was not an obvious choice for Stormy Weather.

The plot of the film, developed by songwriter Koehler, Frederick J. Jackson, H. S. Kraft, Jerry Horwin, and Seymour B. Robinson, is simple: Bill Williamson, recently returned from World War I, is pursuing a career as a dancer. He meets a beautiful aspiring lounge singer, Selina Rogers, and the two immediately fall in love. Bill's desire to settle down with Selina is compromised by the ups and downs of their careers. They separate for a number of years, and each finds success before they agree to reunite.

Though marketed as biographical film about Robinson, its primary function was to showcase the virtuosity of a number of African American performers. For example, neither Robinson's upbringing in Richmond, Virginia, details about his military service, nor his career struggles is depicted. Furthermore, Robinson never actually had any romantic relationship that resembled the two-decade-long affair of Williamson and Rogers.

The studio hired an unprecedented assemblage of African American stars for the film: Dooley Wilson, Harold and Fayard Nicholas, Vivian Dandridge, Florence O'Brien, Ada Brown, Emmett “Babe” Wallace, and vaudevillian comedic duo F. E. Miller and Johnny Lee. Thomas “Fats” Waller and Cab Calloway, alongside his Cotton Club Orchestra, performed a few songs as themselves. In addition, Katherine Dunham and her dance troupe executed a dream ballet to the title song.

A number of popular songwriters contributed to the film's score, including Nat “King” Cole, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen, Jimmy McHugh, Johnny Lange, Benny Carter, Irving Mills, Andy Razaf, Leon René, and stars Robinson, Waller, and Calloway. Indeed, in less than 80 minutes, there are more than 20 songs, including “That Ain't Right,” “I Can't Give You Anything but Love,” “Camptown Races,” “Over There,” “The Jumpin’ Jive,” “Rang Tang Tang,” “I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City,” “There's No Two Ways About Love,” “Geechy Joe,” “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” and “Ain't Misbehavin.’”

...