Minstrel Man (1944 film)

Minstrel Man is a 1944 American film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and produced by Producers Releasing Corporation. It was nominated for two Academy Awards Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

Singing star Dixie Boy Johnson Benny Fields and his wife Caroline Molly Lamont are jubilant over Dixies headlining a Broadway show and Carolines impending motherhood. On opening night, Caroline is rushed to the hospital and Dixie begs to leave the theater and join her, but producer Lew Dunn Alan Dinehart refuses. Caroline dies in childbirth and Dixie is shattered. He leaves the baby in the care of his friends, Lasses and Mae Roscoe Karns and Gladys George, and drops out of sight. Presumed dead, Dixie stays under cover and takes an assumed name, as a shipboard entertainer. Years later, Lew Dunn grooms Dixies daughter Caroline Judy Clark for stardom in a revival of Dixies Broadway show. Dixies former agent Jerome Cowan sees an opportunity to sue Dunn for damages, and arranges for Dixie to confront his daughter and his old friends.

Source: Wikipedia