Beale Street Mama is a 1923 popular song by J. Russell Robinson and Roy Turk and a 1946 film with an African-American cast named for the song. An early jazz standard, the song was recorded by Bessie Smith, Ted Lewis, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, and many others. The 1946 film Beale Street Mama was named after the song. A race film, it was directed by and stars Spencer Williams. It was distributed by Sack Amusement Enterprises. The film is set in Memphis, Tennessee, and focuses on a street sweeper who comes upon a large parcel of money. He uses the newly acquired wealth to go on a spending spree, with the hope of getting back at an old girlfriend who dumped him for another man. However, complications arise when it is discovered the money is counterfeit. No copyright was filed for Beale Street Mama, which makes the production a public domain film.

Cast

The cast includes: