All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm featuring Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers is from the movie A Day at the Races (1937). The singer in the segment is Ivie Anderson from Duke Ellington’s Orchestra. The list of dancers is including Troy Brown, Dorothy Miller, Johnny Smalls, Norma Miller, Leon James, Snooky Beasley, Willa Mae Ricker, Ella Gibson, and George Greenidge. (Apparently, the dancer listed as John Bunch is in fact, Troy Brown). Whitey himself can be seen on the sidelines. He is identifiable by the streak of white in his hair.
Keeping it real the Lindy Hop sequence like in Hellzapoppin’, has no connection to the main plot of the movie, so that it could be cut from the film when it was shown in the Deep South and other segregated venues. The Black people in the dance scene are portrayed as innocent and happy, a common stereotype of the time. There is a brief appearance of the Marx Brothers covered in coal soot, a clear reference to blackface performance.
All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm featuring Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers – A Day at the Races (1937
