Emmett 'Babe' Wallace

Sylvia Walton returns from Harlem to take over a Jamaican plantation from her vindictive half-sister, amid the growing sound of drums.

The owner of a shoe polish company sponsors a radio show that showcases black performers. Since his wife's father put up the money to be the sponsor, she insists on singing on the show. She goes on after the main star, singer Nina Mae McKinney. The wife sings so badly that the sponsor's customers abandon him. He is forced to shine shoes on street corners, while Nina Mae and her boyfriend win a bet on a daily number and end up on easy street.

Ce film raconte la naissance de la première communauté Emmaüs de Neuilly-Plaisance, fondée par l'abbé Pierre en 1949 et qui engendrera le mouvement Emmaüs.

Alors qu’on lui amène un magazine où il figure en couverture, Bill Williamson (Bill 'Bojangles’ Robinson) se remémore sa légendaire ascension au firmament des danseurs de claquettes et, sur le perron de sa confortable demeure californienne, la conte aux enfants de ses voisins venus lui rendre visite… Après la Première Guerre mondiale, il fait la connaissance et tombe sous le charme de Selina Rogers (Lena Horne), une chanteuse à succès de l’orchestre de Chick Bailey. Celle-ci l’encourage à développer ses talents de danseur.

Billy Martin, whose band is rebelling against him for lack of paying gigs, scores an important audition with Joe Corwin, who is opening a new club and needs a premier act.