Beale Street Mama

About Beale Street Mama

Beale Street Mama is a 1923 popular song by J. Russell Robinson and Roy Turk. An early jazz standard, it was recorded by Bessie Smith, Ted Lewis, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, and many others. Beale Street Mama is a 1946 race film directed by and starring Spencer Williams and distributed by Sack Amusement Enterprises, named after the famous song. The film is set in Memphis, Tennessee and focuses on a street sweeper who comes upon a large parcel of money. He uses the newly acquired wealth to go on a spending spree, with the hope of getting back at an old girlfriend who dumped him for another man. However, complications arise when it is discovered the money is counterfeit. No copyright was filed for Beale Street Mama, which makes the production a public domain film. more »