About Herman Chittison
Herman "Ivory" Chittison was an American jazz pianist. It was Chittison... probably trying to earn enough money to escape the clutches of Stepin Fetchit." In 1950 Chittison recorded his first album for Columbia Records, called Keyboard Capers. Step helped Chittison get back to America, in return of which he became a slave of Step's.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.