Our Gang Follies of 1938
Encyclopedia
Our Gang Follies of 1938 (later reissued as simply Follies of 1938) is a 1937 American musical
short subject
, the 161st short subject entry in Hal Roach
's Our Gang
(Little Rascals) series. Directed by Gordon Douglas
as a sequel to 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936
, the two-reel short was released to theaters on December 18, 1937 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
.
Deriving its title from the concurrent MGM feature film The Broadway Melody of 1938, Our Gang Follies of 1938 is a spoof of the Broadway Melody films and other movie musicals of the time. In the film, Alfalfa (Carl Switzer
) decides to quits a pop music revue put on by Spanky (George McFarland
) and become an opera singer, famously singing a pastiche song entitled "The Barber of Seville" several times throughout the film. The bulk of the film is made up of a dream sequence
, in which Alfalfa imagines himself twenty years later failing as an opera singer, while Spanky owns a Broadway
nightclub with a lavish floor show.
) and many of the other neighborhood kids. However, "King of Crooners" Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), the intended star of the show, crashes the show full of swing music with his off-key rendition of "The Barber of Seville" , having secretly decided that he's only going to sing opera
from now on. After Spanky closes the curtain on Alfalfa and sends out another act to replace him, the would-be opera prodigy walks out on the show, taking his voice "where it'll be appreciated!"
With Porky (Eugene Lee) as his right-hand man/hanger on, Alfalfa turns up at the Cosmopolitan Opera House, wanting to appear in their next opera. Barnaby (Henry Brandon), the impresario of the Cosmopolitan, jokingly offers the young boy a contract - provided he come back in twenty years. Elated, Alfalfa returns to Spanky's cellar with Porky, gloating about his presumed good fortune and illustrious future in the face of Spanky's pleas for Alfalfa to appease his customers and take the stage. Spanky tears into his best friend, telling him that "someday I'll be a big producer on Broadway, and you'll be singing your opera in the streets with a tin cup in your hand!" Alfalfa brushes off Spanky's warnings, and sits down to rest (the opera singer at the Cosmopolitan told him to make sure he gave his voice "plenty of rest" and "kept it quiet").
Alfalfa falls asleep backstage, and dreams that the twenty years have elapsed and he and Porky are waiting at the steps of a Broadway opera house. Barnaby, now a wizened old man, has decorated Broadway with lighted signs heralding Alfalfa's opera debut, and invites Alfalfa in to perform. However, when the opera house curtains finally open, Alfalfa barely gets through a few bars of "The Barber of Seville" before the audience members begin to boo him and pelt him with rotten vegetables. An angry Barnaby literally throws Alfalfa out into the streets. Bound by the iron-clad contract he signed twenty years ago, Alfalfa is forced to sing for pennies in the cold, snowy streets of New York. Hungry, tired, and broke, Alfalfa and Porky happen upon a shocking sight several blocks away: "Club Spanky", an ornate nightclub on Broadway. Sure enough, Spanky himself, now rich and famous, rides up in a limousine to greet them, and graciously invites them inside for something to eat.
Club Spanky is a child's dream fantasy of a New York nightclub, with decor derived from toy block
s and candy cane
s, and a menu which includes hamburgers, ice cream
, and jellybeans. Darla, dressed in furs and diamonds, comes over to sit at Spanky's table. She tells Alfalfa that she performs at Club Spanky, and is now rich and making "hundreds and thousands of dollars." Alfalfa gets a second shock when he learns that Buckwheat (now "Cab Buckwheat
") is still Spanky's bandleader, and is also rich, dripping with diamonds, and making "hundreds and thousands of dollars."
Spanky offers to let Alfalfa and Porky work for him again; Porky immediately accepts the offer, but the stubborn Alfalfa declares himself "a slave to my art" and refuses to "croon". Instead, Alfalfa sits and watches Club Spanky's lavish floor show, with featured songs by Spanky, Darla, Buckwheat, Porky, and several other performers, supported by large, ornate sets and scores of dancers. At the show's conclusion, Alfalfa finds himself so impressed with the show that he decides to go back to "crooning". Spanky announces the return of the "King of Crooners" to a rapturous crowd, but before Alfalfa can begin to sing, Barnaby storms into the club, and begins to drag Alfalfa back out into the streets to sing opera. By now, Alfalfa is complaining that he doesn't want to sing opera anymore, but Barnaby only laughs and continues to drag Alfalfa towards the door.
The Club Spanky patrons' cries of "we want Alfalfa" melt into those of the kids in Spanky's cellar. Alfalfa awakens to find Spanky, not Barnaby, tugging at his arm, begging for Alfalfa to at least join in the last act and croon for the kids. Alfalfa needs no further convincing, and rushes onstage with Spanky, Porky, Darla, and the other kids to sing Bing Crosby
's "Learn to Croon" for the show's finale.
Featured Our Gang performers
Our Gang bit players and dancers
Frances Bowling, Tom Braunger, Bill Cody, Jr.
, John Collum
, Patsy Currier, Charles Flickinger, David Freeman, Betsy Gay, Joe "Corky" Geil, Bobbie Hickman, Philip Hurlic, Gloria Hurst, Dickie Jones, Darwood Kaye, Georgia Jean LaRue, Henry Lee, Ada Lynn, Philip MacMahon, Tommy McFarland, Billy Mindy, Raymond Rayhill Powell, June Preston, Josephine Roberts, Jimmy Sommerville, Harold Switzer
, Bobs Watson, Kenneth Wilson, Robert Winkler, Gloria Browne, Bobby Crockett, Tim Davis, Billy Diamond, Dorothy Heinrichs, Paul Hilton, Dorothy Horner, Don Hulbert, Patsy May, Roger McGee, Norman Salling, Clifford Severn, Nora Rita Stein, Helen Westcott
, Camille Williams, Laura June Williams, and Rhoda Williams
Adults
Often pointed out as one of the best entries in the series, Follies of 1938 was produced as a special one-shot return to the series' original two-reel (twenty minute) format, after a season and a half of shorter one-reel films. In addition, Follies of 1938, particularly its extended dream sequence, features lavish production design and filmmaking typical of feature length MGM musicals. MGM in fact helped finance the short beyond its usual contributions to the Roach shorts; as a result its opening titles read "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents Our Gang Follies of 1938, A Hal Roach Production," as opposed to the usual "Hal Roach Presents Our Gang in..." At a negative cost of $58 thousand, Follies of 1938 was the most expensive Our Gang short ever produced.
The short's cast includes over one hundred children, as nearly all of the parts in the film (even the "adults" in Alfalfa's dream sequence) are played by kids. The lone exceptions are Henry Brandon's "Barnaby" character (not named onscreen, but named as such in the script), and the other three adults seen at the Cosmopolitan Opera House. Brandon's villainous Barnaby character was re-purposed from another Hal Roach production, Laurel and Hardy
's 1934 feature Babes in Toyland
. One of the featured singers in Spanky's cellar show is Annabelle Logan, a girl who sings a swing rendition of the traditional Scottish
song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond
". Logan would grow up to become Annie Ross
, a successful jazz
singer and actress.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
, the 161st short subject entry in Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
's Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
(Little Rascals) series. Directed by Gordon Douglas
Gordon Douglas (director)
Gordon Douglas was an American film director, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures. He was a native of New York City.-Hal Roach and Our Gang:...
as a sequel to 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936
Our Gang Follies of 1936
Our Gang Follies of 1936 is a 1935 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gus Meins. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was the 140st Our Gang short to be released and the first of several musical entries in the series.-Plot:The gang stages a big musical revue...
, the two-reel short was released to theaters on December 18, 1937 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
.
Deriving its title from the concurrent MGM feature film The Broadway Melody of 1938, Our Gang Follies of 1938 is a spoof of the Broadway Melody films and other movie musicals of the time. In the film, Alfalfa (Carl Switzer
Carl Switzer
Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.-Early life and family:Switzer was born in Paris,...
) decides to quits a pop music revue put on by Spanky (George McFarland
George McFarland
George Robert Phillips "Spanky" McFarland was an American actor most famous for his appearances as a child in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s...
) and become an opera singer, famously singing a pastiche song entitled "The Barber of Seville" several times throughout the film. The bulk of the film is made up of a dream sequence
Dream sequence
A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. Commonly, dream sequences appear in many...
, in which Alfalfa imagines himself twenty years later failing as an opera singer, while Spanky owns a Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
nightclub with a lavish floor show.
Plot
The gang is putting on another big show in Spanky's cellar, complete with an orchestra led by Buckwheat (Billie Thomas), and planned performances by Darla (Darla HoodDarla Hood
Darla Jean Hood was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner...
) and many of the other neighborhood kids. However, "King of Crooners" Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), the intended star of the show, crashes the show full of swing music with his off-key rendition of "The Barber of Seville" , having secretly decided that he's only going to sing opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
from now on. After Spanky closes the curtain on Alfalfa and sends out another act to replace him, the would-be opera prodigy walks out on the show, taking his voice "where it'll be appreciated!"
With Porky (Eugene Lee) as his right-hand man/hanger on, Alfalfa turns up at the Cosmopolitan Opera House, wanting to appear in their next opera. Barnaby (Henry Brandon), the impresario of the Cosmopolitan, jokingly offers the young boy a contract - provided he come back in twenty years. Elated, Alfalfa returns to Spanky's cellar with Porky, gloating about his presumed good fortune and illustrious future in the face of Spanky's pleas for Alfalfa to appease his customers and take the stage. Spanky tears into his best friend, telling him that "someday I'll be a big producer on Broadway, and you'll be singing your opera in the streets with a tin cup in your hand!" Alfalfa brushes off Spanky's warnings, and sits down to rest (the opera singer at the Cosmopolitan told him to make sure he gave his voice "plenty of rest" and "kept it quiet").
Alfalfa falls asleep backstage, and dreams that the twenty years have elapsed and he and Porky are waiting at the steps of a Broadway opera house. Barnaby, now a wizened old man, has decorated Broadway with lighted signs heralding Alfalfa's opera debut, and invites Alfalfa in to perform. However, when the opera house curtains finally open, Alfalfa barely gets through a few bars of "The Barber of Seville" before the audience members begin to boo him and pelt him with rotten vegetables. An angry Barnaby literally throws Alfalfa out into the streets. Bound by the iron-clad contract he signed twenty years ago, Alfalfa is forced to sing for pennies in the cold, snowy streets of New York. Hungry, tired, and broke, Alfalfa and Porky happen upon a shocking sight several blocks away: "Club Spanky", an ornate nightclub on Broadway. Sure enough, Spanky himself, now rich and famous, rides up in a limousine to greet them, and graciously invites them inside for something to eat.
Club Spanky is a child's dream fantasy of a New York nightclub, with decor derived from toy block
Toy block
Toy blocks , are wooden, plastic or foam pieces of various shapes and colors that are used as building toys...
s and candy cane
Candy cane
A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
s, and a menu which includes hamburgers, ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
, and jellybeans. Darla, dressed in furs and diamonds, comes over to sit at Spanky's table. She tells Alfalfa that she performs at Club Spanky, and is now rich and making "hundreds and thousands of dollars." Alfalfa gets a second shock when he learns that Buckwheat (now "Cab Buckwheat
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
") is still Spanky's bandleader, and is also rich, dripping with diamonds, and making "hundreds and thousands of dollars."
Spanky offers to let Alfalfa and Porky work for him again; Porky immediately accepts the offer, but the stubborn Alfalfa declares himself "a slave to my art" and refuses to "croon". Instead, Alfalfa sits and watches Club Spanky's lavish floor show, with featured songs by Spanky, Darla, Buckwheat, Porky, and several other performers, supported by large, ornate sets and scores of dancers. At the show's conclusion, Alfalfa finds himself so impressed with the show that he decides to go back to "crooning". Spanky announces the return of the "King of Crooners" to a rapturous crowd, but before Alfalfa can begin to sing, Barnaby storms into the club, and begins to drag Alfalfa back out into the streets to sing opera. By now, Alfalfa is complaining that he doesn't want to sing opera anymore, but Barnaby only laughs and continues to drag Alfalfa towards the door.
The Club Spanky patrons' cries of "we want Alfalfa" melt into those of the kids in Spanky's cellar. Alfalfa awakens to find Spanky, not Barnaby, tugging at his arm, begging for Alfalfa to at least join in the last act and croon for the kids. Alfalfa needs no further convincing, and rushes onstage with Spanky, Porky, Darla, and the other kids to sing Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
's "Learn to Croon" for the show's finale.
Cast
Main Our Gang cast- Carl "Alfalfa" SwitzerCarl SwitzerCarl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.-Early life and family:Switzer was born in Paris,...
- George "Spanky" McFarlandGeorge McFarlandGeorge Robert Phillips "Spanky" McFarland was an American actor most famous for his appearances as a child in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s...
- Eugene "Porky" LeeEugene LeeEugene Lee may refer to:* Eugene Gordon Lee , U.S. child actor* Eugene Lee , U.S. radio deejay, actor, and cable television host* Eugene Lee , Tony-Award winning designer*Eugene Lee -See also:...
- Darla HoodDarla HoodDarla Jean Hood was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner...
- Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
Featured Our Gang performers
- Annabelle LoganAnnie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
- Georgia Jean LaRue
- Philip MacMahon
Our Gang bit players and dancers
Frances Bowling, Tom Braunger, Bill Cody, Jr.
Bill Cody, Jr.
Bill Cody, Jr. was an American motion picture child actor.Born William Joseph Cody, Jr. in Los Angeles, California, where his father Bill Cody was a cowboy star of B-movie westerns, the youngster was reportedly 7 years old when he accompanied his father on a personal appearance tour throughout the...
, John Collum
John Collum
John K. Collum was an American child actor of the 1930s.-Career:Born in Illinois, Collum was the son of Hal Roach's casting director, Joseph Collum, and appeared in twenty-six of Roach's Our Gang comedies from 1932 to 1938...
, Patsy Currier, Charles Flickinger, David Freeman, Betsy Gay, Joe "Corky" Geil, Bobbie Hickman, Philip Hurlic, Gloria Hurst, Dickie Jones, Darwood Kaye, Georgia Jean LaRue, Henry Lee, Ada Lynn, Philip MacMahon, Tommy McFarland, Billy Mindy, Raymond Rayhill Powell, June Preston, Josephine Roberts, Jimmy Sommerville, Harold Switzer
Harold Switzer
Harold Frederick Switzer was an American child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as an extra...
, Bobs Watson, Kenneth Wilson, Robert Winkler, Gloria Browne, Bobby Crockett, Tim Davis, Billy Diamond, Dorothy Heinrichs, Paul Hilton, Dorothy Horner, Don Hulbert, Patsy May, Roger McGee, Norman Salling, Clifford Severn, Nora Rita Stein, Helen Westcott
Helen Westcott
Helen Westcott was an American stage and screen actor and former child actor....
, Camille Williams, Laura June Williams, and Rhoda Williams
Adults
- Henry Brandon: "Barnaby", opera impresario
- Gino CorradoGino CorradoGino Corrado was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 355 films between 1916 and 1954, almost always in small roles as a character actor.-Career:...
: Opera singer - Wilma Cox - Miss Jones, Barnaby's secretary
- Doodles WeaverDoodles WeaverWinstead Sheffield Weaver , who used the professional name Doodles Weaver, was an American actor and comedian on radio, recordings, and television. He was the brother of NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver.Born in Los Angeles, Weaver was given the nickname...
- Piano player
Production
The short's cast includes over one hundred children, as nearly all of the parts in the film (even the "adults" in Alfalfa's dream sequence) are played by kids. The lone exceptions are Henry Brandon's "Barnaby" character (not named onscreen, but named as such in the script), and the other three adults seen at the Cosmopolitan Opera House. Brandon's villainous Barnaby character was re-purposed from another Hal Roach production, Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
's 1934 feature Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland (1934 film)
Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical film released in November 1934. The film is also known by its alternate titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet , March of the Wooden Soldiers and Wooden Soldiers .Based on Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, the film...
. One of the featured singers in Spanky's cellar show is Annabelle Logan, a girl who sings a swing rendition of the traditional Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond
"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or simply "Loch Lomond" for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song . It was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland....
". Logan would grow up to become Annie Ross
Annie Ross
Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
, a successful jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer and actress.
Songs
Songwriters are listed in italics.- "Stagecoach Conversation" (Marvin HatleyMarvin HatleyThomas Marvin Hatley , professionally known simply as Marvin Hatley, was an American film composer and musical director, best known for his work for the Hal Roach studio from 1929 until 1940....
) - Buckwheat and His Orchestra (instrumental) - "Follies Introduction/King Alfalfa" (Hatley) - Spanky , Darla, and "Follies" chorus girls
- "The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
" (Gioacchino RossiniGioacchino RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
) - Alfalfa - "Pick a Star" (R. Alex. Anderson) - Harmonica Players (Henry Lee and Harold Switzer)
- "The Barber of Seville" (Reprise #1) -Gino CorradoGino CorradoGino Corrado was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 355 films between 1916 and 1954, almost always in small roles as a character actor.-Career:...
and Alfalfa - "Loch LomondLoch LomondLoch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...
" - Annabella LoganAnnie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:... - "Honolulu BabySons of the DesertSons of the Desert is a 1933 American film starring Laurel and Hardy, and directed by William A. Seiter. It was first released in the United States on December 29, 1933 and is regarded as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest films...
" (Hatley) - Buckwheat and his Band (instrumental) - "The Barber of Seville" (Reprise #2) - Alfalfa
- "Follow the Leader" (Arthur MortonArthur MortonArthur Morton was a former professional footballer, who played in 2 FA Cup matches for Huddersfield Town.-References:*99 Years & Counting - Stats & Stories - Huddersfield Town History...
) - "Cab Buckwheat" and His Orchestra - "The Love Bug Will Get You (If You Don't Watch Out)" (Pinky TomlinPinky TomlinPinky Tomlin was a singer, songwriter, and bandleader of the 1930s and 1940s. He also acted in occasional motion pictures. During his lifetime, he wrote and published 22 songs, several of which were in the top ten on the "Hit Parade." In 1938, a song he had written, titled "In Ole Oklahoma," was...
) - Darla, Spanky, Porky, Buckwheat and Georgia Jean LaRue - "That Foolish Feeling" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) - Georgia Jean LaRue
- "There's No Two Ways About It)" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) - Philip MacMahon and Ensemble
- "Learn to Croon" (Arthur Johnston, Sam Coslow) - Alfalfa
- "Follies Conclusion" (Hatley) - Alfalfa, Spanky, Darla, Porky, Harold SwitzerHarold SwitzerHarold Frederick Switzer was an American child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as an extra...
, Henry Lee, Gloria Browne, Gloria Hurst, and Laura June Williams