Mantan Moreland

American actor (1902–1973)

Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen.

After "nearly ten years of working the small, small time", Moreland gained an opportunity in 1927 when he was hired as a comedian in Connie's Inn Frolics in Harlem. He next worked in the musical revue Blackbirds of 1928, which ran for 518 performances. With Moreland, Miller performed comedy routines he had done with Lyles. The pair performed together in the one reel short film That's the Spirit (1933) as a pair of night watchmen and for stage productions by Miller, Dixie Goes High Hat (1938) and Hollywood Revue (1939). Moreland appeared in low budget "race movies" aimed at African American audiences, including One Dark Night (1939) with Bette Treadville, Lucky Ghost (1941), Mr. Washington Goes to Town (1941) and Mantan Runs for Mayor (1946), again with Miller. Moreland and Carter had developed an excellent rapport and impeccable timing. During World War II, they performed at the then segregated USOs such as one in Riverside, California. Their version of "indefinite talk" can be seen in two Charlie Chan pictures, The Scarlet Clue and Dark Alibi, as well as in the big budget Universal musical Bowery to Broadway. The partnership lasted until Carter died in 1946. Moreland and Nipsey Russell performed this routine in two all black variety films in 1955. During the second half of the 1940s, the public attitudes toward the portrayals of African Americans in the cinema had changed. When filmmakers began to reassess roles given to black actors, Moreland's characterization in his film appearances was considered demeaning to the African American community, resulting in his being offered fewer roles in the 1950s. Financial difficulties forced Moreland to tour making personal appearances during the late 1940s and the early 1950s with Bud Harris, Tim Moore, Redd Foxx and Nipsey Russell as his straight men. Mantan's biographer, Michael Price, states Moreland was briefly considered as a possible addition to the Three Stooges. After Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack on November 22, 1955, at age 60, Moe Howard was said had been observing Moreland's act for years and offered Moreland a chance to join the act as the new "third stooge" at the behest of his late brother Shemp. Moreland was reported to be enthusiastic about the offer, but Columbia Pictures insisted on a comedian already under contract.

Moreland's last featured role was in the darkly humorous horror film Spider Baby (1968, filmed in 1964), which was patterned after Universal's thrillers of the 1940s. After suffering a stroke in the early 1960s, Moreland took on a few minor comedic roles, working with Bill Cosby, Moms Mabley and Carl Reiner. He later partnered with Roosevelt Livingood to form the comedic team of Mantan and Livingood, which produced a number of recorded albums on Laff Records. Moreland died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1973 in Hollywood, and is interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

In 2004, Moreland was inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame.

Robert B. Parker makes allusions to Moreland in A Catskill Eagle and Hush Money, both being part of his long running series of Spenser novels. Bamboozled, a 2000 film directed by Spike Lee, centers around a fictional television show called Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show featuring stereotypes of minstrel theater and starring a tap dancing character, played by Savion Glover, named Mantan. Clips of Moreland are featured during the montage at the end of the film. "B Boys Makin with the Freak Freak", a song by Beastie Boys featured on their 1994 album Ill Communication, samples a line from Mantan's comedy album That Ain't My Finger, referencing a bit about a party and mashed potatoes.