Gee Gee James

Regina Theodora James, better known as Gee Gee James[4] (born 1902 or 1903,[5] died 1971[2]), was an African American radio and theater actress and singer most notable in the 1930s and '40s.[6][7] James was racially typecast as a domestic worker.

Gee Gee James
Born
Regina Theodora James

circa 1903
Philadelphia[1]
Died1971
Philadelphia[2]
EducationJ. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School[3]
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)[1]
Signature

Career

After high school, she sang with Claude Hopkins' band.[3]

She was a cast member in Will Morrissey's Hot Rhythm (1930),[3] along with George Wiltshire.[8] (note mention below)

She played Tillie on The O'Neills.[9]

Fay M. Jackson described her in 1935:[10]

Over the kilocycle waves, she is the light hearted Mignonette, one of the bright lights of radio’s original musical comedy, The Gibson Family [...] Off the air, she is the equally pert and lively Gee Gee James. First as a chorus girl, then as a soubrette, she followed her star. Radio fans first heard Gee Gee over a local station in Philadelphia and shortly thereafter she was signed for her first network commercial — The Gibson Family. Miss James is determined to become a headliner. A topnotch voice, pluck, persistence, and constitutional good humor combine to further her ambition.

An episode of The Gibson Family that aired on May 12, 1935 featured a wedding between James' character Mignonette, and Theophilus (played by another African American actor, Ernest Whitman; see Personal life below), with Hall Johnson's choir performing.[11]

She performed comedy with Eddie Green on Louis Armstrong's radio program in 1937.[5][12][13]

A 1938 profile highlighted her role as Tulip on Hilltop House, and described her as "one of the best known radio actresses on the air today. Gee Gee not only acts with the best, but sings equally as well."[14]

She played an eponymous role on Her Honor, Nancy James in 1939.[15]

She voiced performances on three episodes of The Jack Benny Program in 1940-41.[5]

She was in the original cast of the plays:[16]

Personal life

A March 1939 news article stated she was the wife of George Wiltshire, and had a 6 year old daughter who used the name Gee Gee as well.[3]

Elva Diane Green, daughter of Eddie Green, stated that James was later married to Ernest Whitman.[6]

References
  1. "Gee Gee James To Open Broadcast". Indianapolis Recorder. 1 June 1935. p. 5. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  2. Tim Brooks (2019). The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media: 20th Century Performances on Radio, Records, Film and Television. p. 260. ISBN 9781476676760. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  3. "THE SAME ON STAGE AND OFF [part 2]". Pittsburgh Courier. 4 March 1939. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. "THE SAME ON STAGE AND OFF [part 1]". Pittsburgh Courier. 4 March 1939. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  5. "Encyclopedia of Black Radio in the United States, 1921-1955". Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  6. "1939 "NO KITCHEN DOOR FOR ME"". Retrieved 27 July 2020. In 1939, after being invited to see a play by the general manager of the Whites-Only Club Plantation in St Louis, Gee Gee was unpleasantly surprised to find when she got there that she would have to go in through the back door and through the kitchen. She said that she "did not see why she should not be allowed to go through the front door like all the other paying guests." She also said she "just can't quite get used to prejudice and jim crowism." ...the Club Plantation was a hot spot in 1939 and was considered one of the outstanding spots In the nation and one of the most pleasing places for Black artists and entertainers to work, however Blacks were not allowed in to see the shows. Gee Gee was invited in because she was in vogue at the time as an actress, but they still would not let her arrive through the front door.
  7. Tim Brooks (2019). The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media: 20th Century Performances on Radio, Records, Film and Television. p. 124. ISBN 9781476637303. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  8. Dan Dietz (2018). "Regina+James"+"george+Wiltshire"&pg=PA54 The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538102770. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. Frank Buxton, and Bill Owen (1966). "Radio's Golden Age" (PDF). Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  10. Fay M. Jackson (20 April 1935). "Among the Stars". Indianapolis Recorder. Associated Negro Press. p. 13. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  11. "Over the Radio - HALL JOHNSON CHOIR TO SING". The Royal Gazette (Bermuda). 11 May 1935. Retrieved 1 August 2020. The Gibson Family, radio's first original musical comedy, will add a touch of realism to the broadcast over an NBC-WEAF network on Sunday at 10.00 p.m., when the famous Hall Johnson Negro Choir sings at the "wedding" of Theophilus and Mignonette, two Negro servants in the Gibson family. Theophilus and Mignonette, who have provided the comedy in the full hour broadcasts, are played by Ernest Whitman and Gee-Gee James, both well known Negro actors. Their "nuptials" will feature the broadcast, when Conrad Thibault and Lois Bennett will also be heard.
  12. "James, Gee Gee (Associated Records)". Louis Armstrong House. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  13. "Standard Brands Sets Details of Negro Show" (PDF). Radio Daily. 2 April 1937. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  14. "She's Tulip, the Maid". Indianapolis Recorder. 23 April 1938. p. 13. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  15. Harold Jovien (2 September 1939). "On Air". Evansville Argus. Associated Negro Press. p. 3. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  16. "Gee Gee James (Performer Roles)". Playbill. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  17. "Possibly Gee Gee James..." Museum of the City of New York. 1939. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  18. "Gee Gee James..." Fort Worth Public Library. 1940. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  19. Note: a review from earlier that year (Harry Poole (16 January 1943). "The Wife Takes a Child". Billboard. Retrieved 2 August 2020.) has her performing the same play in Boston under an alternate title.
  20. "Robert Burton as Sam Whitaker and Gee Gee James as Another Maid in "Three's a Family"". Museum of the City of New York. 1943–1944. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  21. "Gee Gee James as Another Maid and Ethel Owen as Irma Dairymaple in "Three's a Family"". Museum of the City of New York. 1943–1944. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  22. John Simon (critic) (5 October 1998). "A Fare to Remember". New York. Retrieved 28 July 2020. I met Tennessee Williams, who tried to persuade me that [...] of all the actresses only Gee Gee James, in a tiny part, was truly interesting.
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