Mae E. Johnson

Biography

Mae Johnson became well-known within the black entertainment world in the 1930's and 1940's. Mae Johnson started her career performing in Harlem nightclubs. She was a sensational personality who had a lot of sex appeal but with class. She was a great singer and all around wonderful entertainer. She started out with a small part in Earl Carroll's Artists and Models which got her a lot of attention. Mae said in an interview that Duke Ellington discovered her and told her if she went to New York she could take New York by storm, and he was right. She performed at many premier black nightclubs like the Grand Terrace, Ubangi Club, and the legendary Cotton Club where she was a huge success. She shared the bill with Cab Calloway, The Nicholas Brothers, and The Berry Brothers, she was such a huge success as a featured artists that Walter Winchell selected her for three consecutive years as the most outstanding artist. One of her acts was doing a Mae West impersonation which was always a hit. Her resemblance to Mae West in face and body and name made her one of the best Mae West impersonators in her time. Mae gave an outstanding performance in "Keep Punching," her first and only starring film. Mae played the role of a femme fatale perfectly attempting to lure legendary boxer Henry Armstrong, her co-star in "Keep Punching," to the ruins but she secretly falls in love with him. She redeems herself by going to a church and emotionally praying to God for forgiveness for drugging his drink and to help him win a victory in the ring and she promises to turn her life around. Mae Johnson's versatile performance made "Keep Punching" one of the best of Black Cinema. Mae went West and appeared in a handful of Hollywood films that had black musical numbers. She gave a memorable performance in Lena Horne's "Stormy Weather" singing the legendary song "I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City," since being an actress was hard for blacks in the 1930s and 1940s, Mae didn't get a lot of opportunities deserved to her, so she hooked up with Austin McCoy and recorded some songs and she appeared in one of her last successes, a hit play titled "Two In A Bed" with Louise Beavers, where Mae received favorable reviews.