- He made his film debut in 1914.
- He experienced the height of his film career in the 20s and he impersonated roles in the productions "Nachtgestalten" (1920), the title role in "Der kleine Muck" (1921) and "Der König und das kleine Mädchen" (1925).
- After his film career he founded the jazz band "The Black Band", later he was also part of other bands like "William's Ragtime".
- With the rise of the National Socialists he left Germany and he was working successfully as a musician abroad. Only at the end of the 40s he returned to Germany where he also made a contribution to the jazz in the FRG.
- Both his father who came from Somalia and his mother who was from Germany were musicians and therefore Willi Allen grew up in an artistic impressed environment.
- The 1950s were a period of great work and success for the jazz band directed by Allen.
- In 1949 Allen returned to Berlin. Jazz is now very popular and in great demand, thanks also to the arrival of numerous African American musicians.
- With Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the situation immediately became difficult. Jazz for the Nazis is "degenerate" music and the racial laws individually affect Allen as an Afro-German as well. Taking advantage of the English passport he leaves Germany and works in other European countries (Switzerland, Hungary, Italy) as long as possible and then in Turkey during the years of the Second World War.
- In the sixties, also due to alcoholism problems, Allen worked much more occasionally. Received from the German government compensation for discrimination suffered during the Nazi period and a monthly pension, Allen retires from the scene and died in1969 at the age of 60.
- At the beginning of the thirties, meanwhile, for Willi Allen, now under the name of William "Mac" Allen, a new career began as a musician and jazz band director, initially together with the famous African-American virtuoso Sidney Bechet, present in those years in Europe.
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