Handle with Care

Swami (Leroy Daniels], an employee at the Brass Rail, a nightclub frequented by blacks, loses several hundred dollars of the club's receipts in a holdup. Afraid to tell "Second Rate Kate," the club's owner, Swami convinces Weary (Ernest Mayhand), another employee, to help him return the money before Kate discovers that it is missing. They plan to steal the money from Lonesome (Otis Greene), a young Texan newly arrived in the city, whom they mistake for a millionaire. Lonesome, an aspiring jazz pianist, is actually a man of very limited means. Unfamiliar with city life and a novice drinker, he gets drunk at the Brass Rail and falls for Melody (Georgia Carr), a singer who dislikes all musicians. The next night, Lonesome returns to the club and finds Melody talking to a drunk who is holding a canvas bag with the club's name on it. Swami spots the money bag, discovers that the drunk acquired it from a man in the alley, and persuades him to return it to the club. When the club closes for the night, a party is held in Kate's upstairs apartment. Lonesome, who has passed out after running up a sizable bill, awakens in the deserted nightclub and begins to play the piano. Kate hears Lonesome's haunting blues and offers him a job, and Melody decides that she likes him too. Featuring the songs: "Handle With Care," "Too Little and Too Late," "Sad Dreams and Bitter Teardrops." An all African-American musical comedy written, produced and directed by John K. McCarthy, with photography by William G. Troiano.