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{{Short description|American actor and comedian (1912–1989)}}
Was the first black child actor on the ''Our Gang'' short series.
{{More citations needed|date=December 2008}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sunshine Sammy Morrison
| image = Erniemorrison.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Ernie Morrison as Sunshine Sammy in ''[[Dogs of War (film)|Dogs of War]]'' (1923)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|12|20}}
| birth_place = [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1989|07|24|1912|12|20}}
| death_place = [[Lynwood, California]], U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|vaudeville|comedian|dancer|band leader}}
| years_active = 1916–1974
| birth_name = Ernest Fredric Morrison
| othername = Sunshine Sammy<br>Little Sambo<br>Smiling Sambo
}}


'''Ernest Fredric Morrison''' (December 20, 1912 – July 24, 1989) was an American [[child actor]], comedian, vaudevillian, and dancer who also performed under the stage-name '''Sunshine Sammy Morrison'''. He was the only [[African Americans|black]] member of the ''[[East Side Kids]]'' and was an original performer in ''[[Our Gang]]'', a 1920's [[silent film]] franchise.
[[Category:Our Gang kids|Morrison, Ernie "Sunshine Sammy"]]

==Early life==
Born in 1912 in [[New Orleans]], Morrison was the brother of Florence Morrison and stage- and screen-actress [[Dorothy Morrison (actress)|Dorothy Morrison]]. He entered show-business as a replacement for another infant actor who constantly cried. A crew member asked Morrison's father, Ernest Morrison Sr., to bring in his newborn son. Because Morrison sat perfectly and didn't cry during filming, the crew christened him with the name "Sunshine". Morrison's father added "Sammy" to his son's stage name to create the iconic character Sunshine Sammy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ernest Morrison Jr. |url=https://www.lordheath.com/menu1_855.html |website=Another Nice Mess}}</ref>

==Biography==
Morrison ultimately appeared in two-reel silent comedies opposite both [[Harold Lloyd]] and [[Snub Pollard]], two of the era's biggest comedians. He was the first [[African-American]] actor to be signed to a long-term contract, signing with studio executive and [[comedy]] [[Film producer|producer]] [[Hal Roach]] in 1919. When Roach conceived his ''[[Our Gang]]'' series, featuring child actors in a natural juvenile setting in 1921, Sammy was the first child recruited. Morrison left the series in January 1925; the young actor was then making $225 a week (equal to about $4,000 weekly in 2024), and his father demanded a pay raise of $75 a week, which Roach refused.<ref>"Sunshine Sammy Quits Hal Roach", ''The Afro-American'', January 10, 1925.</ref> Ernie Morrison's last Roach credits were [[James Parrott|Jimmie Parrott]] comedies; these had been filmed in 1923 but were not released to theaters until 1926.

Ernie Morrison went to make personal appearances in vaudeville, where his talents were featured on the same bills with such up-and-coming acts as [[Abbott and Costello]] and [[Jack Benny]].

After touring in [[Australia]] with partner Sleepy Williams, Morrison returned to the [[United States]] and was chosen by producer [[Sam Katzman]] to be one of the East Side Kids. From the beginning, Morrison tapped into his experiences growing up on the East Side of [[New York City]] to shape the character of "Scruno." He spent three years with the gang before leaving to pursue other opportunities, often doing promotional stints with [[Huntz Hall]] and [[Bobby Jordan]]. Morrison left the series when he was offered an opportunity to work with the [[The Four Step Brothers|Step Brothers]] act, a prominent black stage-and-film dance act. He was drafted into the [[United States Army|army]] during [[World War II]]. After being discharged, he was offered a part in ''[[The Bowery Boys]]'', the successor to the East Side Kids that was just being launched, but he declined the offer. Morrison "didn't like the setup":<ref>Hayes, David & Walker, Brent ''The Films of the Bowery Boys'' Citadel Press; 1st edition (October 1984)</ref> [[Leo Gorcey]] and Huntz Hall were now the stars of the troupe, and Bobby Jordan and the other gang members were now incidental players and paid much less.

Morrison later worked as a quality control inspector for an aerospace company in [[Compton, California]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/405620188/?terms=%22ernest%2Bmorrison%22|title='Little Rascal' player Ernest Morrison dies|last=Maharaj|first=Davan|date=31 Jul 1989|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=12 Nov 2019|page=F16}}</ref> In later years, Morrison appeared in a guest spot on the sitcom ''[[Good Times]]'' airing in 1974.

Morrison died of [[cancer]] in [[Lynwood, California|Lynwood]] aged 76, on July 24, 1989. He is interred at [[Inglewood Park Cemetery]] in Inglewood, California, where later ''Our Gang'' cast member [[Buckwheat Thomas]] is also buried.

==Selected filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1916
| ''[[The Soul of a Child]]''
|
| Uncredited
|-
| 1918
| ''[[Dolly's Vacation]]''
| Ebenezer Eczema Abraham White
| Credited as Sambo

|-
| 1919
| ''[[Peggy Does Her Darndest]]''
| Snowball Snow
|
|-
| 1919
| ''[[The Little Diplomat]]''
| George Washington Jones, Jr.
| Credited as Little Sambo
|-
|1920
|''[[Haunted Spooks]]''
|House Boy
|Uncredited
|-
| 1920
| ''[[All Lit Up]]''
| The Kid
|
|-
| 1920
| ''[[Number, Please? (1920 film)|Number, Please?]]''
| Suit Duster
| Uncredited
|-
| 1920
| ''[[Waltz Me Around]]''
|
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1920
| ''[[Get Out and Get Under]]''
| Child on the street
| Uncredited
|-
| 1921
| ''[[Rush Orders]]''
| Narcissus
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1922
| ''[[One Terrible Day]]''
| Booker T.
|
|-
|1922
| ''[[Saturday Morning (1922 film)|Saturday Morning]]''
| Sorghum
|
|-
| 1923
| ''[[The Champeen]]''
| Sammy
|-
|1923
| ''[[Sunday Calm]]''
| Sammy
|-
| 1923
| ''[[The Cobbler (1923 film)|The Cobbler]]''
| Ernie
|
|-
| 1923
| ''[[A Pleasant Journey]]''
| Ernie
|
|-

| 1923
| ''[[No Noise]]''
| Sunshine Sammy
|
|-
| 1924
| ''[[Fast Company (1924 film)|Fast Company]]''
| Sunshine Sammy
|
|-
| 1924
| ''[[It's a Bear]]''
| Sunshine Sammy
|
|-
| 1926
| ''[[Between Meals]]''
| In Need
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1940
| ''[[I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (film)|I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby]]''
| Joe
| Credited as Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1940
| ''[[Boys of the City]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1940
| ''[[That Gang of Mine]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1940
| ''[[Pride of the Bowery]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1941
| ''[[Spooks Run Wild]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1941
| ''[[Flying Wild]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1941
| ''[[Bowery Blitzkrieg]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1942
| ''[[Mr. Wise Guy]]''
| Scruno
| Uncredited
|-
| 1942
| ''[[Let's Get Tough!]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1942
| ''[[Smart Alecks]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy
|-
| 1942
| ''[['Neath Brooklyn Bridge]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Kid Dynamite (film)|Kid Dynamite]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sunshine Sammy
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Clancy Street Boys]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1943
| ''[[The Ape Man]]''
| Copyboy
| Uncredited
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Ghosts on the Loose]]''
| Scruno
| Credited as Sammy Morrison
|-
| 1944
| ''[[Follow the Leader (1944 film)|Follow the Leader]]''
| Scruno in a dream sequence only
| Uncredited
|-
| 1944
| ''[[Greenwich Village (film)|Greenwich Village]]''
| One of the Four Step Brothers
| Uncredited
|-
| 1974
| ''[[Good Times]]''
| Messenger
| Episode: "The TV Commercial"
|-
|}

==References==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Holmstrom, John. ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995'', Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp.&nbsp;56–58.
* Dye, David. ''Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p.&nbsp;165.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ernie Morrison}}
*{{IMDb name|0607138}} Retrieved on 2009-05-18
*{{Amg name|50827}} Retrieved on 2009-05-18
*{{Find a Grave|8797561|accessdate=2009-05-18}}
{{Our Gang}}
{{East Side Kids}}

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| before=Ernie Morrison
| title=''[[Our Gang]]''
| years=1922-1924
| after=[[Allen Hoskins]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Sunshine Sammy}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:American male child actors]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American male silent film actors]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in California]]
[[Category:Hal Roach Studios actors]]
[[Category:Male actors from New Orleans]]
[[Category:American vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:African-American male child actors]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male actors]]
[[Category:Our Gang]]
[[Category:Comedians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:Comedians from Los Angeles County, California]]

Latest revision as of 05:05, 8 November 2024

Sunshine Sammy Morrison
Ernie Morrison as Sunshine Sammy in Dogs of War (1923)
Born
Ernest Fredric Morrison

(1912-12-20)December 20, 1912
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedJuly 24, 1989(1989-07-24) (aged 76)
Lynwood, California, U.S.
Other namesSunshine Sammy
Little Sambo
Smiling Sambo
Occupations
  • Actor
  • vaudeville
  • comedian
  • dancer
  • band leader
Years active1916–1974

Ernest Fredric Morrison (December 20, 1912 – July 24, 1989) was an American child actor, comedian, vaudevillian, and dancer who also performed under the stage-name Sunshine Sammy Morrison. He was the only black member of the East Side Kids and was an original performer in Our Gang, a 1920's silent film franchise.

Early life

[edit]

Born in 1912 in New Orleans, Morrison was the brother of Florence Morrison and stage- and screen-actress Dorothy Morrison. He entered show-business as a replacement for another infant actor who constantly cried. A crew member asked Morrison's father, Ernest Morrison Sr., to bring in his newborn son. Because Morrison sat perfectly and didn't cry during filming, the crew christened him with the name "Sunshine". Morrison's father added "Sammy" to his son's stage name to create the iconic character Sunshine Sammy.[1]

Biography

[edit]

Morrison ultimately appeared in two-reel silent comedies opposite both Harold Lloyd and Snub Pollard, two of the era's biggest comedians. He was the first African-American actor to be signed to a long-term contract, signing with studio executive and comedy producer Hal Roach in 1919. When Roach conceived his Our Gang series, featuring child actors in a natural juvenile setting in 1921, Sammy was the first child recruited. Morrison left the series in January 1925; the young actor was then making $225 a week (equal to about $4,000 weekly in 2024), and his father demanded a pay raise of $75 a week, which Roach refused.[2] Ernie Morrison's last Roach credits were Jimmie Parrott comedies; these had been filmed in 1923 but were not released to theaters until 1926.

Ernie Morrison went to make personal appearances in vaudeville, where his talents were featured on the same bills with such up-and-coming acts as Abbott and Costello and Jack Benny.

After touring in Australia with partner Sleepy Williams, Morrison returned to the United States and was chosen by producer Sam Katzman to be one of the East Side Kids. From the beginning, Morrison tapped into his experiences growing up on the East Side of New York City to shape the character of "Scruno." He spent three years with the gang before leaving to pursue other opportunities, often doing promotional stints with Huntz Hall and Bobby Jordan. Morrison left the series when he was offered an opportunity to work with the Step Brothers act, a prominent black stage-and-film dance act. He was drafted into the army during World War II. After being discharged, he was offered a part in The Bowery Boys, the successor to the East Side Kids that was just being launched, but he declined the offer. Morrison "didn't like the setup":[3] Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall were now the stars of the troupe, and Bobby Jordan and the other gang members were now incidental players and paid much less.

Morrison later worked as a quality control inspector for an aerospace company in Compton, California.[4] In later years, Morrison appeared in a guest spot on the sitcom Good Times airing in 1974.

Morrison died of cancer in Lynwood aged 76, on July 24, 1989. He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California, where later Our Gang cast member Buckwheat Thomas is also buried.

Selected filmography

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1916 The Soul of a Child Uncredited
1918 Dolly's Vacation Ebenezer Eczema Abraham White Credited as Sambo
1919 Peggy Does Her Darndest Snowball Snow
1919 The Little Diplomat George Washington Jones, Jr. Credited as Little Sambo
1920 Haunted Spooks House Boy Uncredited
1920 All Lit Up The Kid
1920 Number, Please? Suit Duster Uncredited
1920 Waltz Me Around Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1920 Get Out and Get Under Child on the street Uncredited
1921 Rush Orders Narcissus Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1922 One Terrible Day Booker T.
1922 Saturday Morning Sorghum
1923 The Champeen Sammy
1923 Sunday Calm Sammy
1923 The Cobbler Ernie
1923 A Pleasant Journey Ernie
1923 No Noise Sunshine Sammy
1924 Fast Company Sunshine Sammy
1924 It's a Bear Sunshine Sammy
1926 Between Meals In Need Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1940 I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby Joe Credited as Sammy Morrison
1940 Boys of the City Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1940 That Gang of Mine Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1940 Pride of the Bowery Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1941 Spooks Run Wild Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1941 Flying Wild Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1941 Bowery Blitzkrieg Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1942 Mr. Wise Guy Scruno Uncredited
1942 Let's Get Tough! Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1942 Smart Alecks Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy
1942 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy Morrison
1943 Kid Dynamite Scruno Credited as Sunshine Sammy
1943 Clancy Street Boys Scruno Credited as Sammy Morrison
1943 The Ape Man Copyboy Uncredited
1943 Ghosts on the Loose Scruno Credited as Sammy Morrison
1944 Follow the Leader Scruno in a dream sequence only Uncredited
1944 Greenwich Village One of the Four Step Brothers Uncredited
1974 Good Times Messenger Episode: "The TV Commercial"

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Ernest Morrison Jr". Another Nice Mess.
  2. ^ "Sunshine Sammy Quits Hal Roach", The Afro-American, January 10, 1925.
  3. ^ Hayes, David & Walker, Brent The Films of the Bowery Boys Citadel Press; 1st edition (October 1984)
  4. ^ Maharaj, Davan (31 Jul 1989). "'Little Rascal' player Ernest Morrison dies". Los Angeles Times. p. F16. Retrieved 12 Nov 2019.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 56–58.
  • Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 165.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ernie Morrison.
  • Sunshine Sammy Morrison at IMDb Retrieved on 2009-05-18
  • ‹The template AllMovie name is being considered for deletion.› Sunshine Sammy Morrison at AllMovie Retrieved on 2009-05-18
  • "Sunshine Sammy Morrison". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
Preceded by
Ernie Morrison
 Our Gang
1922-1924 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sunshine_Sammy_Morrison&oldid=1256096015"