Explore Black History

ca. 1950

A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab Calloway during a tour of South America, with both Kodachrome and black-and-white film edge codes indicating years of 1950 and 1955.
The initial (somewhat under-exposed) color footage is inside the Teatro Solis in Montevideo, Uruguay, and features musicians and dancers on stage. The following exterior daytime scene depicts a group of men with cameras in front of a motor coach bus. Scenes of the same motor coach in front of a large estate and garden feature Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway and a group of men. Subsequent scenes depict city streetscapes with men wearing gaucho pants, two of which emerge from an antique Model A Ford car. This is followed by a brief shot of a sunset filmed from a moving car. The camera roll ends with slightly overexposed footage of a ivy-walled palatial building, and race horses with jockeys; laboratory punch holes are visible at the end of the roll. The next camera roll opens with under-exposed interior footage of couples dancing in a ballroom; Cab Calloway is visible performing on stage and wearing a plaid blazer. The next scenes are exteriors, near a body of water, with Cab Calloway wearing shorts and a white tunic with black polka dots and hugging another man. Pleasure craft, docked in a harbor, are visible. Subsequent panorama shots feature Mrs. Calloway outdoors in a kimono-like bathrobe, and pans of seaside houses and gardens and of the ocean.
The next roll in this compilation reel is in black and white, and features a tilt pan of an apartment building, women, and children who walk down its stairs. One of the women is Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway and palm trees are present in the gardens in front of the apartment. Subsequent shots from the same location include young girls, and groups of men posing for the camera. There is also a panorama shot of a garden with palm trees. A building is visible with the sign: "Pan American World Airways Compania [illegible] Aviacion." A young girl with a doll has her photograph taken in front of a fountain. In the following scene, Cab Calloway is seen in a white tuxedo, escorting a bride in what appears to be a backyard wedding ceremony. The camera roll ends with an unfocused interior shot, before a cement splice appears. The next camera roll begins with black-and-white footage of the beach, with several beach goers posing in front of the camera, including Mrs. Calloway. The final scenes of this roll are interior shots of what appears to be an Argentinian asada, with plenty of grilled meat and people seated at a long table eating.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

The Cabell “Cab” Calloway III Collection

Archival Collections
Time-based Media - Moving Images

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Cabella Calloway Langsam

National Museum of African American History and Culture

A2015.273.2.4.1a

silent films
home movies
color films (visual works)
16mm (photographic film size)

Creative Arts By Calloway, LLC
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

acetate film

Length (film strip): 450 Feet
Duration: 00:16:03

Title • Cab Calloway Home Movie #4

nmaahc_A2015.273.2.4.1a

NMAAHC

CAB CALLOWAY HOME MOVIE #4

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1940s • 1950s

Calloway, Nuffie • Calloway, Cab

South America • Uruguay • Montevideo • Latin America

Description and travel • Conductors (Musicians) • Composers (Musicians) • Family • Motion pictures • Entertainers • Jazz (Music) • Singers (Musicians) • Marriage • Holidays and festivals

City • Montevideo • Country • Uruguay • Region • Latin America • Continent • South America

silent films • color films (visual works) • 16mm (photographic film size) • Home movies

Video recordings

Copyright Owned