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BEEN RICH ALL MY LIFE Send This Review to a Friend
Let’s hear it for old age. They’re called the Silver Belles, made up of dancing gals who once entertained audiences in Harlem at the Apollo Theater, The Cotton Club and various popular nightspots. Thanks to director Heather Lyn MacDonald’s spirited new documentary, we can meet them both through vintage clips from their heyday and their later make-hay day when they continued to keep up their friendship and make dance appearances as the Silver Belles. At ages from 85-96, they could still put on a rousing show.
More than personal stories are packed into this film. We get a cultural panorama as well through their recollections of what the early days were like for them. They were beauties all, undoubtedly an attraction for men who appreciated their looks as well as their talent.
But it went beyond being beautiful. For example, they once took part in a strike at the Apollo, an action which not only got them more money but helped pave the way for the founding of the integrated American Guild of Variety artists. During World War II they participated in the first African-American USO tour while having to endure the indignities of racism as they toured the South and elsewhere.
It is fascinating to hear their tales and watch them in action. The group lionized includes Bertye Lou Wood, Cleo Hayes, Marion Coles (she was married to renowned tap dancer Honi Coles), Fay Ray, Elaine Ellis and their manager Geri Kennedy. There is a sad note in the course of the film—the death of Wood. But the upside is that we do get to know her making it to 96.
As one might expect in a film packed with so much show business lore, there is a good music track, with references to some of the major musicians of the time. Some of the interviews get to sound repetitious, but there are so many good stories that emerge.
Above all, we are left with the determination of ladies who can teach a lesson to everyone—don’t let aging stand in the way of doing what you do best. A First Run Features release.
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