After Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack on November 22, 1955 at age 60, Moe Howard was said had been observing Moreland's act for years and offered Moreland to join the act as the new "third stooge" at the behest of his late brother Shemp. Bamboozled: New Millennium, Same Bullshit. On the case we have a page boy who aspires to be an executive producer and his sidekick , Mantan Moreland. ... (a reference to the controversial 1930s and ’40s black comic actor Mantan Moreland) and Sleep’n Eat. Blackface! It features a black actor named Mantan Moreland , who is another version of the better known " Rochester " of Jack Benny fame. Mantan Moreland parlayed his cocky but jittery character into a recognizable presence in the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in a long string of comedy thrillers and more than 300 films in all. Although his brand of humor has been reviled for decades, black character actor Mantan Moreland parlayed his cocky but jittery character into a recognizable presence in the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in a long string of comedy thrillers . Slave masters and overseers often described slaves as "slow," "lazy," "wants pushing," "an eye servant," and "trifling." At the center of the narrative is a TV production, “Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show,” which revives minstrel-era entertainment and stereotypes including the use of blackface makeup. With Frankie Darro, Marjorie Reynolds, Mantan Moreland, Lorna Gray. At the age of 12, Mantan Moreland joined the circus and found success in vaudeville for many years before coming to Hollywood. Mantan Moreland, Actor: Charlie Chan in the Secret Service. Price, Michael H. Mantan the Funnyman: The Life and Times of Mantan Moreland. African American actor-performer Mantan Moreland, best known today for playing the terrified comic relief in films like the Charlie Chan series, and for his immortal catch phrase “Feets, don’t fail me now!” was born this day in 1902 in Monroe, Louisiana. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson 1878-1949 During the 1940s, Mantan Moreland (the inspiration for Savion Glover's character Mantan on the New Milliennial Minstrel Show") became one of America's top black stars. Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen. Norton, 2012. Most of Moreland's early adult years were spent on the "Chitlin Circuit," the nickname given by performers to all-black vaudeville. The Chitlin’ Circuit; Race Films; Mantan Moreland, Comedian; The Stooge That Almost Was; Mantan the Funnyman Mantan Moreland 1902-1973. Mantan's biographer, Michael Price, states Moreland was briefly considered as a possible addition to the Three Stooges. With the great success of Al Jolson the Jewish movie Moguls who built Hollywood made many movies with the Sambo figure, even when they began to employ real black actors – like Stepin Fetchin, Willie Best, Mantan Moreland, Eddie Rochester Anderson, etc. . Appropriately nicknamed "Google Eyes" by his childhood friends, African-American actor Mantan Moreland joined a carnival at 14 and a medicine show a year later - and both times was dragged home by juvenile authorities. The film was Horne's first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name.Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film stars Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne.Waters and Rex Ingram reprise their roles from the Broadway production.