Maceo Bruce Sheffield

Maceo Bruce Sheffield (September 8, 1897 – August 20, 1959)[1] was a police detective and an actor in American films. He worked in Los Angeles as a policeman[2] before acting and assisting in the production of films with African American casts. He was also a stuntman and pilot.[3] He portrayed a swindler in Lucky Ghost as Dr. Brutus Blake in the sequel to Mr. Washington Goes to Town. He was the associate producer of both Lucky Ghost and Mr. Washington Goes to Town.[4]

He was notorious for his work as a police officer with the Black press describing him as someone who beat people up and he and his partner producing a large number of arrests of African Americans. Protests in 1927 resulted from his shooting in the head of a suspect.[5] He later owned a cafe and club.[6][7]

He was critical of the opportunities for African Americans in the film industry and referred to the exploited actors as "stooges". He was involved with the production company behind Harlem on the Prairie, a groundbreaking Western themed musical film featuring Black actors.[8][9] He is credited with inspiring Count Basie's song "Every Tub".[10]

Filmography

References
  1. Doyle, Billy H.; Slide, Anthony (1999). The Ultimate Directory of Silent and Sound Era Performers: A Necrology of Actors and Actresses. ISBN 9780810835474.
  2. Robinson, Cedric J. (September 1, 2012). Forgeries of Memory and Meaning: Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film before World War II. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469606750 – via Google Books.
  3. "The Light-Years and Micromillimeters of Our History". Los Angeles Times. 24 February 1999.
  4. Sampson, Henry T. (1995). Blacks in Black and White : A Source Book on Black Films. Scarecrow Press. pp. 374, 391, 403, 623, 680. ISBN 0-8108-2605-4. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  5. Hernández, Kelly Lytle (February 15, 2017). City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771–1965. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469631196 – via Google Books.
  6. Govenar, Alan (December 10, 2008). Untold Glory: African Americans in Pursuit of Freedom, Opportunity, and Achievement. Crown. ISBN 9780307492418 – via Google Books.
  7. "Letter from the Los Angeles Police Department to the NAACP Los Angeles branch, May 14, 1927".
  8. Sampson, Henry T. (October 30, 2013). Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810883512 – via Google Books.
  9. "Indianapolis Recorder 23 October 1937 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program".
  10. Cox, Bette Yarbrough (1996). Central Avenue--its Rise and Fall, 1890-c. 1955: Including the Musical Renaissance of Black Los Angeles. ISBN 9780965078306.
  11. Lemmo, David (January 26, 2017). Tarzan, Jungle King of Popular Culture. McFarland. ISBN 9781476626222 – via Google Books.
  12. "The Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures". Film and Television Daily. October 12, 1941 – via Google Books.
  13. "Maceo Sheffield". Archived from the original on October 17, 2020.
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