Rex Ingram

Rex Ingram, as “Lucius” / “Lucifer Jr.”, and Lena Horne, as “Georgia Brown”, both part of an all African-American cast, on the set of the American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film, ‘Cabin in the Sky’ (1943), adapted from the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name The film marked the directorial debut of Vincente Minnelli.

The movie also features Ethel Waters as “Petunia Jackson”, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson as “Little Joe Jackson”, Louis Armstrong as “The Trumpeter”, Kenneth Spencer as “The General” / “Rev. Green Bubbles", John W. Sublett as “Domino Johnson”, Oscar Polk as “The Deacon” / “Fleetfoot”, Mantan Moreland as “First Idea Man”, Willie Best as “Second Idea Man”, Fletcher Rivers as “Third Idea Man”, (as Moke Fletcher Rivers, Leon James Poke as “Fourth Idea Man”, Bill Bailey as “Bill ‘Buck’ Ford”, L. Washington as “Messenger Boy”, Butterfly McQueen as “Lily”, and Duke Ellington as Himself.

The film begins when compulsive gambler Little Joe Jackson (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson) dies in a drunken fight, he awakens in purgatory, where he learns that he will be sent back to Earth for six months to prove that he deserves to be in heaven. He awakens, remembering nothing and struggles to do right by his devout wife, Petunia (Ethel Waters), while an angel known as the General (Kenneth Spencer) and the devil's son, Lucifer Jr. (Rex Ingram), fight for his soul.

Ethel Waters and Rex Ingram reprised their roles from the Broadway production as “Petunia” and “Lucifer Junior”, respectively. The film was Lena Horne's first and only leading role in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical. Two of the great highlights of the film are jazz greats Louis Armstrong featured in the film as one of Lucifer Junior's minions, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performing a showcase musical number in the film.