Mantan Moreland

Mantan Moreland (born Manton Moreland, September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen.

Career

The earliest surviving notice for Manton Moreland dates from 1923, when the 21-year-old actor was part of the Shuffle Along roadshow company, touring America in an all-black-cast revue. Moreland's specialty was then dancing: "Manton Moreland is a dancing phenomenon." In 1925 he was in Jimmie Cooper's Revue, with a company of both white and black entertainers. "Jimmie is not content with staging a 'white and black' show, but departs a bit further from the beaten path by staging a 'ramble' every Friday night at midnight. In this midnight offering Jimmie promises the regular performance and some 'extras'." During the mid-1920s Moreland was listed variously in newspaper reviews as "Manton" or "Mantan".

The musical revue Blackbirds of 1928 reached Broadway and ran for 518 performances. Drama critic Brooks Atkinson commented on "Manton Moreland's nervous card-concealing art in the poker game." However, when listing the cast members in the same review, either Atkinson or the typographer spelled the actor's name as "Mantan Moreland." Moreland himself continued to be billed as Manton Moreland through 1940, but he adopted "Mantan" as his permanent professional name in 1941.

By the late 1920s, Moreland had made his way through vaudeville, working with various shows and revues, performing on Broadway and touring Europe. Following the death of Aubrey Lyles, one half of African American vaudeville act Miller and Lyles, in 1932, Flournoy Miller asked Moreland to team up with him for personal appearances. With Moreland, Miller performed comedy routines he had done with Lyles. The pair performed together in the one-reel short film That's the Spirit (1933) as a pair of night watchmen and for stage productions by Miller, Dixie Goes High Hat (1938) and Hollywood Revue (1939). Moreland appeared in low-budget "race movies" aimed at African American audiences, including One Dark Night (1939) with Bette Treadville, Lucky Ghost (1941), Mr. Washington Goes to Town (1941) and Mantan Runs for Mayor (1946), again with Miller. Their version of "indefinite talk" can be seen in two Charlie Chan pictures, The Scarlet Clue and Dark Alibi, as well as in the big-budget Universal musical Bowery to Broadway. The partnership lasted until Carter died in 1946. Moreland and Nipsey Russell performed this routine in two all-black variety films in 1955.

During the second half of the 1940s, the public attitudes toward the portrayals of African Americans in the cinema had changed. When filmmakers began to reassess roles given to black actors, Moreland's characterization in his film appearances was considered demeaning to the African-American community, resulting in his being offered fewer roles in the 1950s.

Moreland's steady employment in the Charlie Chan film series came to an end in 1949. With no other screen offers, and facing financial difficulties, Moreland made personal appearances during the late 1940s and the early 1950s with Bud Harris, Tim Moore, Redd Foxx, and Nipsey Russell as his straight men.

According to Moreland's biographer Michael Price, Moreland was briefly considered as a possible addition to the Three Stooges. After Shemp Howard died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 22, 1955, at age 60, Moe Howard was said had been observing Moreland's act for years and offered Moreland a chance to join the act as the new "third stooge" at the behest of his late brother Shemp. Moreland was reported to be enthusiastic about the offer, but Columbia Pictures insisted on a comedian already under contract.

Later career and death

Moreland's last featured role was in the darkly humorous horror film Spider Baby (1968, filmed in 1964), which was patterned after Universal's thrillers of the 1940s. After suffering a stroke in the early 1960s, Moreland took on a few minor comedic roles, working with Bill Cosby, Moms Mabley and Carl Reiner. He later partnered with Roosevelt Livingood to form the comedic team of Mantan and Livingood; they recorded a number of albums for Laff Records.

Moreland died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973 in Hollywood, aged 71, and is interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Recognition In 2004, Moreland was inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame.

Selected filmography

That's the Spirit (1933) as Night Watchman The Green Pastures (1936) as Angel Removing Hat (uncredited) Harlem on the Prairie (1937) as Mistletoe Spirit of Youth (1938) as Creighton 'Crickie' Fitzgibbons Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938) as Bill Blake Frontier Scout (1938) as Norris Family Butler Next Time I Marry (1938) as Tilby Gang Smashers (1938) as Gloomy There's Always a Woman (1939) as Porter (uncredited) Tell No Tales (1939) as Sport Black at the Wake (uncredited) Riders of the Frontier (1939) as Chappie (Cookie in credits) Irish Luck (1939) as Jefferson One Dark Night (1939) as Samson Brown The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940) as Robbins (uncredited) City of Chance (1940) as Anxious Man (uncredited) Chasing Trouble (1940) as Thomas H. Jefferson Millionaire Playboy (1940) as Bellhop Viva Cisco Kid (1940) as Memphis - The Cook (uncredited) Star Dust (1940) as George, Dining Car Steward (uncredited) Girl in 313 (1940) as Porter On the Spot (1940) as Jefferson White Maryland (1940) (uncredited) Pier 13 (1940) as Sam - Elevator Operator (uncredited) Laughing at Danger (1940) as Jefferson Up in the Air (1940) as Jeff While Thousands Cheer (1940) as Nash Drums of the Desert (1940) as Sergeant 'Blue' Williams Four Shall Die (1940) as Beefus - Touissant's Chauffeur Lady from Louisiana (1941) as Servant (uncredited) You're Out of Luck (1941) as Jeff Jefferson Sleepers West (1941) as Porter (uncredited) Footlight Fever (1941) as Willie Hamsure - Elevator Operator (uncredited) Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) as Roy Sign of the Wolf (1941) as Ben Mr. Washington Goes to Town (1941) as Schenectady Jones King of the Zombies (1941) as Jeff Hello, Sucker (1941) as Elevator Boy Bachelor Daddy (1941) as Club Janitor (uncredited) The Gang's All Here (1941) as Jefferson 'Jeff' Smith Cracked Nuts (1941) as Burgess Accent on Love (1941) as Prisoner in Courtroom (uncredited) Dressed to Kill (1941) as Rusty World Premiere (1941) as Train Porter (uncredited) Let's Go Collegiate (1941) as Jeff It Started with Eve (1941) as Railway Porter (uncredited) Birth of the Blues (1941) as Black Trumpet Player (uncredited) Marry the Boss's Daughter (1941) as Cook (uncredited) Up Jumped the Devil (1941) as Washington Freckles Comes Home (1942) as Jeff - the Hotel Porter Treat 'Em Rough (1942) as 'Snake-Eyes' Four Jacks and a Jill (1942) as Cicero - Wash Room Attendant (uncredited) Law of the Jungle (1942) as Jefferson 'Jeff' Jones Lucky Ghost (1942) as Washington Professor Creeps (1942) as Washington The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942) as Horatio B.Fitz Washington Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) as Sam, the Nightclub Janitor (uncredited) Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942) as Lightnin' Footlight Serenade (1942) as Amos. Tommy's Dresser A-Haunting We Will Go (1942) as Porter (uncredited) Phantom Killer (1942) as Nicodemus Girl Trouble (1942) as Edward Eyes in the Night (1942) as Alistair The Palm Beach Story (1942) as Diner Waiter (uncredited) Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942) as Prentiss the Benedict Butler (uncredited) It Comes Up Love (1943) as Janitor (uncredited) The Crime Smasher (1943) as Eustace Smith Cabin in the Sky (1943) as First Idea Man Slightly Dangerous (1943) as Waiter at Swade's (uncredited) He Hired the Boss (1943) as Shoeshine Man (uncredited) Sarong Girl (1943) as Maxwell Hit the Ice (1943) as Porter with Snowshoes (uncredited) We've Never Been Licked (1943) as Willie Melody Parade (1943) as Skidmore Revenge of the Zombies (1943) as Jeff Hi'ya, Sailor (1943) as Sam You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith (1943) as Porter My Kingdom for a Cook (1943) as Train Porter (uncredited) Swing Fever (1943) as Woody, Nick's Valet (uncredited) She's for Me (1943) as Sam Chip Off the Old Block (1944) as Porter Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944) as Birmingham Brown See Here, Private Hargrove (1944) as Porter on Train (uncredited) Moon Over Las Vegas (1944) as Porter Pin-Up Girl (1944) as Red Cap #2 (uncredited) This Is the Life (1944) as Porter (uncredited) The Chinese Cat (1944) as Birmingham Brown South of Dixie (1944) as The Porter Black Magic (1944) as Birmingham Brown Mystery of the River Boat (1944, serial) as Napoleon the ship steerer Bowery to Broadway (1944) as Alabam The Jade Mask (1945) as Birmingham Brown The Scarlet Clue (1945) as Birmingham Brown The Shanghai Cobra (1945) as Birmingham Brown Captain Tugboat Annie (1945) as Pinto She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945) as porter (uncredited) The Spider (1945) as Henry Mantan Messes Up (1946) as Mantan Riverboat Rhythm (1946) as Mantan Dark Alibi (1946) as Birmingham Brown Shadows Over Chinatown (1946) as Birmingham Brown The Trap (1946) as Birmingham Brown Tall, Tan, and Terrific (1946) as Mantan Moreland Mantan Runs for Mayor (1946) The Chinese Ring (1947) as Birmingham Brown Ebony Parade (1947) as Mantan What a Guy (1947) The Dreamer (1947) Docks of New Orleans (1948) as Birmingham Brown Best Man Wins (1948) as Ice Cream Vendor (uncredited) Shanghai Chest (1948) as Birmingham Brown The Golden Eye (1948) as Birmingham Brown The Feathered Serpent (1948) as Birmingham Brown The Return of Mandy's Husband (1948) She's Too Mean for Me (1948) Come on, Cowboy! (1948) Sky Dragon (1949) as Birmingham Brown Rock 'n' Roll Revue (1955) as Himself Rockin' the Blues (1956) as Himself Basin Street Revue (1956) as Himself The Patsy (1964) as Barbershop Porter (uncredited) Spider Baby (filmed in 1964, released in 1968) as Messenger Alvarez Kelly (1966) as Bartender (uncredited) Enter Laughing (1967) as Subway Rider The Comic (1969) as Passerby at Billy's Funeral (uncredited) Watermelon Man (1970) as Counterman The Biscuit Eater (1972) as Waiter The Young Nurses (1973) as Old Man (final film role)

Television 1957 Hallmark Hall of Fame (1 episode) 1969 Julia (1 episode) 1969 Love, American Style (1 episode) 1970 The Bill Cosby Show (1 episode) 1970 Adam-12 (1 episode)

Recordings That Ain't My Finger (Laff Records) Elsie's Sportin' House (Laff Records) Tribute to the Man (Laff Records)

Cultural references

Robert B. Parker makes allusions to Moreland in A Catskill Eagle and Hush Money, both being part of his long-running series of Spenser novels.

Bamboozled, a 2000 film directed by Spike Lee, centers around a fictional television show called Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show featuring stereotypes of minstrel theater and starring a tap dancing character, played by Savion Glover, named Mantan. Clips of Moreland are featured during a montage at the end of the film.

"B-Boys Makin with the Freak Freak", a song by Beastie Boys featured on their 1994 album Ill Communication, samples a line from Mantan's comedy album That Ain't My Finger, referencing a bit about a party and mashed potatoes.