Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, and Roy Rogers were among the most famous film stars of the 1930s & 1940s. They portrayed cowboys of the Wild West who chased down bad guys and, at various times throughout their movies, broke into song.
Less well known was Herb Jeffries, the lone African American singing cowboy of the era.
Between 1937-39, Jeffries starred in Harlem on the Prairie (1937), Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938), Rhythm Rodeo (1938), The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939).
Jeffries’ movies never became as popular as his singing cowboy contemporaries, though, because his films were shown in black-only movie theaters. Using the name Harlem in the title was a dog whistle for black entertainment.
However, young Herb Jeffries was born in Detroit, Michigan, not in Harlem. His father was a man of mixed race who identified as black while his mother was born in Ireland. Herb’s grandfather owned a Michigan farm, which was where he learned horseback riding.
Originally, Herb was a jazz singer. He had a rich baritone voice. Louis Armstrong heard teenage Herb Jeffries sing and encouraged him moved to Chicago. Herb took the advice and sang with Earl Hines and his band in the early 30s. He appeared on several of the bandleader’s record albums.
As a boy in Detroit, Herb loved watching silent movies starring cowboys like Tom Mix. He thought black children should have a hero like that, too, and wondered if he could become a singing cowboy.
However, his main inspiration (according to the official Herb Jeffries website) was a movie called Terror of Tiny Town. It was a B-movie western with a cast that was exclusively little people. Herb felt that if a movie that appealed to that minor demographic could be made, why not a black singing cowboy? So Jeffries met with Tiny Town’s producer in Texas and persuaded him to make him into a movie hero.
One problem: Although Jeffries could sing, ride a horse, act, and perform his own stunts, he didn’t look black enough. His father was of mixed race, and his mother was white. The producer worried that black audiences would doubt whether Herb was authentically African American. The solution: Jeffries wore dark-skin makeup.
Each of the five motion pictures featured all-black casts. They had historical significance for portraying blacks as heroes, not just as servants to whites. Also, in truth the majority of cowboys in the American West were either black men or Latinos.
Jeffries wrote and sang all of the tunes for his movies. With his black backup singers, the Four Tones, Jeffries went on tour across the US. But after just three years making those films, Herb Jeffries retired from the saddle for a new opportunity.
1939: Duke Ellington invited Jeffries to sing with his band, and they went on tour. One year later, he and Ellington recorded the tune ‘Flamingo,’ which became a multi-million-selling hit. That song made Jeffries more famous than his black cowboy movies ever did.
But just as his fame was on the rise, so was America’s involvement in World War II. Jeffries was drafted and was assigned to perform for the troops.
In the 50s, Jeffries opened a jazz club in France. In the 60s, he moved to Los Angeles. He remained in show business for the rest of his long life, occasionally appearing on TV, in films, and making records.
Herb Jeffries, the Bronze Buckaroo, died in 2014. He lived to age 100.
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