Lucky Sambo
(1925)
Freddie Johnson (Book, Music, Lyrics)
Porter Grainger (Book, Music, Lyrics)
6 June – 13 June, 1925
Musical farce comedy wherein Sambo Jenkins and Rufus Johnson, two porters at a local hotel, are tricked into buying stock in a phony oil-drilling scam by Jim Nightingale, after oil is discovered in some of the slum dwellings in the all-black section of the town. The swindle is eventually uncovered with the help of a detective, and the swindler and his cohorts are jailed. However, the tables are turned when oil is really discovered on the land. The oil swindle plot is combined with a love story involving June Whitby, the daughter of the hotel proprietors, and Jack Stafford, which ends happily for the couple. The musical ends with a celebration of the discovery of oil and the forthcoming marriage, by a floorshow at a midnight cabaret, where a number of specialty acts are performed.
