Rochelle Hudson

Imitation of Life explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter. It is this latter relationship—attuned to America’s bitter racial realities and heartbreakingly enacted by trailblazing Black performers Beavers and Washington—that lends...

"Set in the 1890s, West plays a brash barroom entertainer with a soft spot for men in trouble, especially the mission director, young Cary Grant. She unknowingly gets caught up in a murder, as well as a white slavery ring, and sets about clearing things up as only Mae can. In between rescues she manages to perform some of her heated, hip-swinging classics including a steamy belting of 'Frankie and Johnnie'."

Big city blues: A free-wheeling chorus girl hooks up with the ultimate hick. Hell's highway: A cool convict works the road crew for a corrupt warden. The cabin in the cotton: Sharecroppers are taken advantage of by the planter who keeps them as virtual slaves. When ladies meet: A female novelist whose latest work extols the virtues of extramarital amour has a fling with her married publisher. I sell anything: A Second Avenue auctioneer gets played...

Disc 1: First, Bill and Jack are railroad men. When Bill comes to stay with Jack and his wife, Bill and Lily fall in love. Jack confronts Bill about his suspicions and the two fight, leaving Jack seriously injured. Last, Joan Gordon is a singer tiring of her relationship with Eddie. She flees to North Dakota to become a mail-order bride. Happiness is threatened by her stubborn husband, a lecherous neighbor and the appearance of Eddie. Disc 2: First,...