# Boogie Piano! Little Richard as a Kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670 "2011-06-07T21:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/1 "2011-06-07T21:47:52Z")
> **[Old school talent.](https://www.wimp.com/old-school-talent/)** > > "No Leave, No Love" is an American musical distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor and starring Van Johnson. This was sent to me with the following intro: > [@](#): > > FOR ALL OF YOU LITTLE RICHARD FANS OUT THERE, THIS WILL BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF JUST WATCHING HOW HIS TALENT SHOWED THROUGH AT SUCH AN EARLY AGE. > > This is amazing to see. It’s Richard Wayne Penniman (aka Little Richard) about > fifteen years before “Tutti Frutti, oh, Rudy…” If you’re familiar > with early period Beatles, you’ll know that McCartney was heavily > influenced by Little Richard. > A-whop bop-a-lu bop a-whop bam boom > Here is some very rare footage of “Little Richard” as a child, > when he was just starting out in the music biz’ … from some > movie with Van Johnson .. click on link below: - The kid, regardless of whether it is \*really \*Little Richard - is totally amazing and fun to watch work through that boogie classic “Caledonia” - But, really, it’s gotta be Little Richard - doesn’t it? Anyone have any backstory on this? I will look more into when I get some time over the next couple of days… ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/2 "2011-06-07T22:20:50Z")
Holy hell, that’s pretty amazing. I especially like his fist-style. Sure looks and sounds like Little Richard, but I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/3 "2011-06-07T22:31:40Z")
The doper dropzone PM’d me (only access online at the time) to state that it is Sugar Chile Robinson - links were included, which I will paste in when I’m not on a smart phone. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/4 "2011-06-07T22:32:52Z")
Nope. That film, [No Leave, No Love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Leave,_No_Love), was from 1946, when Little Richard was about 14. According to IMDB, it was[Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0732630/). Damn, I’m good. 😃 (Actually, there’s a link to a Wikipedia article on the movie right below the video player.) Drat! Beaten to the punch! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/5 "2011-06-08T00:39:41Z")
He’s singing the song as a direct imitation of [Louis Jordan’s original](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR6pHtiNT_k). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/6 "2011-06-08T13:01:22Z")
_bump_ Sugar Chile deserves a bit more attention 😉 ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/7 "2011-06-08T17:41:42Z")
Besides, at that age, I think Little Richard was still a church singer and faith healer. ---
**Author:** ![philliephanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@philliephanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/philliephanatic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/8 "2011-06-24T04:01:45Z")
Sorry…it’s not Little Richard aka R Penniman. The movie is “No Leave No Love” and the kid playing Caldonia is Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson. Here is the IMDB link…[Frank 'Sugar Chile' Robinson - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0732630/) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/9 "2011-06-24T04:26:52Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > Besides, at that age, I think Little Richard was still a church singer and faith healer. And in Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boogie-piano-little-richard-as-a-kid/584670/10 "2011-06-25T03:02:45Z")
> [@philliephanatic](#): > > Sorry…it’s not Little Richard aka R Penniman. The movie is “No Leave No Love” and the kid playing Caldonia is Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson. Here is the IMDB link…[Frank 'Sugar Chile' Robinson - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0732630/) And you were only beaten by 17 days! 😉