Georgia Burke

{{Short description|African-American actress, active between late 1920-1960s}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Georgia Burke

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Georgia Burke

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|2|27}}

| birth_place = La Grange or Atlanta, Georgia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|11|28|1878|2|27}}

| death_place = Manhattan, New York City

| other_names =

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = late 1920/early 1930s - 1960s

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Georgia Burke (February 27, 1878 — November 28, 1985) was an American actress who had performed on television, radio, and Broadway theatre between the 1930s and the 1960s. In 1934 Burke made her debut in Broadway in They Shall Not Die, and in 1944 she won a Donaldson Award as the third choice for Best Supporting Actress in Edward Chodorov's play, Decision. Burke had performed in the 1952 U.S. State Department-sponsored international production of Porgy and Bess and had taken a role as a nurse in the radio program When a Girl Marries, which had been broadcast for 18 years. She had also performed in the 1944 Broadway production of Anna Lucasta and its second film counterpart in 1958.

Burke has been credited as one of the early appearances of the "stereotyped humorous black maid" in entertainment since her appearance in the radio soap opera Betty and Bob.

She died in 1985 at the age of 107, at the De Witt Nursing Home in Manhattan.

Early life and career

Burke was born on February 27, 1878, in La Grange or Atlanta, Georgia, to a minister and a nurse. She attended Claflin University and New Orleans University and worked as a public school teacher in Wilson, North Carolina. Due to a slapping incident by superintendent Charles L. Coon towards another teacher, Burke, along with other colored teachers at the school, protested the incident by resigning from her teaching position and continued teaching at another school. Burke later moved to New York City, where she attended Columbia University in 1929.

During a visit to Lew Leslie's first rehearsal of Blackbirds of 1928, a friend of Burke's urged her to sing St. Louis Blues in front of the rehearsal cast, where Leslie had walked in and—among hearing her voice—persuaded her to join the pre-existing choir for Blackbirds of 1928. She was given a year's leave from teaching but never returned to her former teaching career.

Filmography

=Television=

The Big Story
Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Little Foxes (1956)
ABC Theater - If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band

=Film=

Anna Lucasta

=Theatre=

Source:

Blackbirds of 1928
Decision - 1944
The Grass Harp
Porgy and Bess
Five Star Final
Savage Rhythm
Anna Lucasta
In Abraham's Bosom
Old Man Satan
They Shall Not Die
Mamba's Daughters
Cabin in the Sky
No Time for Comedy
Interlock
The Sun Field
Mandingo
Tambourines to Glory
The Wisteria Trees

=Radio=

John Henry: Black River Giant
When a Girl Marries
New World A-Comin'

References

{{Reflist|50em|refs=

{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/04/theater/georgia-burke-107-acted-character-roles.html |title=Georgia Burke, 107; Acted Character Roles |date=1985-12-04 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-04-11 |issn=0362-4331}}

{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyMvBQAAQBAJ |title=Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era |last1=Bracks |first1=Lean'tin L. |last2=Smith |first2=Jessie Carney |date=2014-10-16 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780810885431 |pages=33–34}}

{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94Vkm-y_3CEC |title=Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960 |last=Peterson |first=Bernard L. |date=2001 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313295348 |pages=39–40}}

{{Cite journal |last=Jefferson |first=Miles M. |date=1945 |title=The Negro on Broadway--1944 |journal=Phylon |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=49 |doi=10.2307/271804 |issn=0885-6818|jstor=271804 }}

{{Cite magazine |date=1952-04-10 |title=Playgoers Cheer Georgia Burke On Broadway |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEMDAAAAMBAJ |magazine=Jet |issn=0021-5996|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=2019-04-11}}

{{Cite news |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92063852/1944-04-29/ed-1/seq-13.pdf |title=GREAT ACTRESS IN GREAT PLAY Negroes Well Portrayed In "Decision" |last=Campbell |first=Dick |date=1944-04-29 |work=The Detroit Tribune |access-date=2019-04-11}}

{{Cite magazine |date=1944-07-08 |title=Billboard, July 8, 1944 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eAwEAAAAMBAJ |magazine=The Billboard |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |page= 5 |access-date=2019-04-16}}

{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/theatreworld42will |url-access=registration |title=John Willis' Theatre World |last=Willis |first=John A. |publisher=Crown Publishers |year=1987 |isbn=9780517565308 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theatreworld42will/page/227 227]}}

{{Cite web |url=http://jfredmacdonald.com/blacks.htm |title=DTTD!: African-Americans in Radio: Blacks As Blacks |last=MacDonald |first=J. Fred |website=jfredmacdonald.com |access-date=2019-04-18}}

{{Cite web |url=http://www.mwotrc.com/rr2002_10/expert.htm |title=Radio Recall - MWOTRC |website=www.mwotrc.com |access-date=2019-04-30}}

{{Cite web |url=https://jfredmacdonald.com/bawtv/bawtv4.htm |title=Bias in Video Drama |last=MacDonald |first=J. Fred |website=jfredmacdonald.com |access-date=2019-04-30}}

{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EpWpDQAAQBAJ |title=100 Greatest American Plays |last=Hischak |first=Thomas S. |date=2017-03-06 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442256064 |pages=174}}

{{Cite magazine |date=June 1918 |title=NORTH CAROLINA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dloEAAAAMBAJ |magazine=The Crisis |publisher=The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. |pages=70–71 |access-date=2019-05-02}}

{{Cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/playbillpagegallery/inside-playbill?asset=00000150-aea5-d936-a7fd-eef542a20004&type=InsidePlaybill&slide=1 |title=Inside the Playbill: Anna Lucasta - Opening Night at the Mansfield Theatre |date=1944-09-17 |website=Playbill |access-date=2019-05-02}}

}}