Rufus Jones for President

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Rufus Jones for President
Directed by	Roy Mack
Starring	Ethel Waters Sammy Davis Jr
Release date(s)	1933
Running time	21 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Rufus Jones for President is a 1933 musical-comedy film directed by Roy Mack, starring Ethel Waters and Sammy Davis Jr.

[edit] Synopsis

Rufus Jones, an African American child, is elected president of the USA in this short musical comedy, which features song and dance numbers by a seven year old Sammy Davis Jr.

Ethel Waters is in this short film. She sings songs, probably some white people will take offense to one of her songs "Underneath our Harlem Moon", but black folks understand it. Ethel Waters set the standards in music and movies for blacks, she was one of the first blacks to sing on white radio, her songs were sung by everyone, she was praised by both black and whites, her voice appealed to everyone. Sammy Davis Jr. is great, he's young, but its evident to many to see why he made it. Great dancing and singing by well-known singing of that time.

The whole movie is framed as literally a mother's dream for her child. There's a driving dynamic for the whole film between the hopes and aspirations of the dream that takes up 90% of the 21 minute film versus the framing caution of the worried (black) mother. Both before and after the dream Ethel Waters sings to her son an admonition to "stay on your side of the fence."