"W.C. Handy has been called "The Father of the Blues", although he modestly said that he merely transcribed the music and made it available to a wide audience. Nevertheless, his music defined the blues, the best known being "St. Louis Blues", which was used as the title of the film biography Paramount Studios made of his life in 1958. The cast of St. Louis Blues reads like a list of some of the best African-American talent of the mid 20th Century: Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Ruby Dee, Juano Hernandez, and Pearl Bailey. There is also a future star in the cast: the young boy who plays W.C. Handy as a child would grow up to make a name for himself ten years later when he played with The Beatles: Billy Preston. 

 

Starring as W.C. Handy was the great Nat King Cole, whose velvet voice and piano prowess had taken him to the top of the musical charts for two decades. Not a natural actor and being a shy man in his private life, Cole worked hard to create a credible portrayal, but it must have been difficult for him to concentrate on his role. At the time that St. Louis Blues was in production (October 7th to November 1st, 1957) Cole was under a lot of pressure doing his fair share of multi-tasking: nightclub singer, film actor, and star of his own television show which had been very popular with viewers, but was in danger of being pulled by the network because they could not find a sponsor. Ad agencies at the time were not enthusiastic about programs starring African-Americans, or as Cole famously declared, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."

 

 

- Lorraine LoBianco for TCM

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