Backstage at Harlem’s Standard Cabaret, Lem Anderson, long typecast as a comedian, yearns to be a dramatic actor and play Shakespeare’s Othello . After Lem witnesses the gangland killing of Slim Jewett, he is warned not to talk, and two of the gang, Ganaway and Spanish, follow him home, where his wife Emma is gravely ill. Hearing the strangers, Emma climbs out of her bed and dies. When the criminals warn Lem that his beloved nephew, Ned Avery, will be hurt unless he leaves town, Lem goes south, where he becomes a drunkard and loses his acting job. In Tennessee, singer Sneeze Ancrum and his partner find Lem asleep in a bar and offer him a part in a play, which Lem refuses because he does not want to play “Uncle Tom” anymore. When Sneeze telegraphs Ned, Ned sends for his uncle and arranges to cast him in a local church production of Othello . Meanwhile, the gang, angered by Lem’s return, sends Ganaway to knock Ned unconscious as a warning to Lem. Later, the gang leader orders a reluctant Doll Davis to tempt Lem into a drunken escapade and disgrace him. Not realizing that Doll is widely known as a “bad” cabaret girl, Lem hires her for the play, and she entices him to her apartment. As Ganaway shoots Lem, the repentant Doll jumps in front of Lem, taking the bullet, but she escapes a fatal injury. Back at the Standard, Lem enters drunk and attacks Rough Jackson as a warning to the gang that he will not leave. The police arrest Lem and only release him long enough to do the play. At the hospital, Mamie urges Doll to confess, which she does in the presence of the police. At first, Othello is heckled, but when it becomes a musical production, the audience joins in and dances. Outside, in an alley, the gang leader and Milt face off in a shootout and both are killed. Lem is soon cleared of suspicion, and the play, a hit, is headed for Broadway. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Paradise in Harlem (1939)
