Ernest Morrison was an actor and vaudeville performer who was born in New Orleans on December 12th, 1912. He performed and was credited under a number of stage names, the most famous of which being Sunshine Sammy Morrison. He was the first African American actor to be signed to a long-term Hollywood contract, specifically to Hal Roach Studios in 1919, where he performed alongside Harold Lloyd in a number of comedy shorts before being the first actor cast in Roach’s Our Gang serials. Morrison eventually left the studio over a payment dispute in 1926, and began to perform on the vaudeville circuit. He returned to film in 1940, when he was cast in The East Side Kids serials, playing a teenager, despite the fact he was almost 30. He was drafted in the American Military late in the war alongside a number of his East Side Kids costars, and was among the lucky few to survive. Upon returning from the war, he was offered a role in the successor series to The East Side Kids, but turned it down. He would not return to acting until 1974, for a bit part in an episode of the American sitcom Good Times. He spent most of his adulthood after the war working as a quality control inspector for an aerospace company. Morrison died of cancer on July 24th, 1989.

The Ape Man (1943) starrring Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford In The Ape Man, a mad scientist’s experiments have transformed him into a half-man, half-ape. With the aid of his gorilla sidekick, he’ll murder as many people as he needs to reverse it! (more…)

Derby Day (1923) A Silent Film Review

Hal Roach’s Rascals opens a hot dog stand outside a race track but the kids are soon enchanted with the idea of organizing their own derby. Soon, the gang has a track set up and a collection of thoroughbreds (a cow, a mule, two dogs, a kitten, a tricycle, etc.) ready to race for the generous $5 purse. (more…)