United States, Georgia, Bibb County, Macon, 32.84069, -83.6324Douglass Theatre (Macon, Ga.)1929-12-01Handbill for the Douglass Theatre, dated December 1, 1929, advertising the films The St. Louis Blues, The Unholy Night, A Texan's Honor, and Thundering Thru. The handbill promises a midnight double feature for Sunday, featuring legendary blues singer Bessie Smith in Paramount's The St. Louis Blues, billed as "all-talking," along with The Unholy Night, described as "some talkie." The handbill further emphasizes that The St. Louis Blues has an "all-star colored cast." A story about a blues singer who catches her gambler lover with another, The St. Louis Blues is Bessie Smith's only filmed performance. The handbill describes the MGM film The Unholy Night as a weird, fantastic drama of ghosts and murder, to be shown through Tuesday, its last day. Directed by Lionel Barrymore, The Unholy Night is a murder mystery starring Roland Young and features Boris Karloff in his second talkie role. Wednesday, the "first all-talking Western" premieres at the Douglass Theatre, A Texan's Honor, a film concerning ranchers' water rights, starring Yakima Canutt, a rodeo cowboy and stuntman who later choreographs and directs the chariot race action in William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959). The Pathé Exchange distributed comedy Big News, featuring sound, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Based on the play For Two Cents, written by George S. Brookes, Big News concerns a reporter with a drinking problem, falsely accused of murder, and stars Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard. Finally, the handbill promises the Action Films silent Western Thundering Thru [sic] on Saturday. Concerning land rights and the railroad, the film Thundering Through (1925), distributed by Weiss Brothers Artclass Pictures, stars Buddy Roosevelt and Jean Arthur.Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2005, as part of Georgia HomePLACE. This project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.text/htmlimage/jpegdbr073Blues, Black vaudeville, and the silver screen, 1912-1930s (Digital Library of Georgia) GAGALhttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/St. Louis blues (Motion picture : 1929)Women blues musicians--United StatesBlues musicians--United StatesBlues (Music)--GeorgiaBlues (Music)--To 1931African Americans--MusicWestern films--Georgia--MaconMotion picture theaters--Georgia--MaconEntertainment events--Georgia--MaconAdvertising fliers--Georgia--MaconAdvertising--Georgia--MaconRace films--United StatesAfrican Americans in the motion picture industryAfrican Americans in motion picturesTexan's honor (Motion picture : 1929)Ben-Hur (Motion picture : 1925)Big news (Motion picture : 1929)Thundering through (Motion picture : 1925)Unholy night (Motion picture : 1929)Douglass Theatre (Macon, Ga.)Handbill for the Douglass Theatre advertising films, probably 1929 Dec. 1Text