possiblt controversal question about black actors

[The Wolf]

I would really like to hear peoples opinions on black actors from the golden age.
There were some actors that played dignified roles then, such as Clarence Brooks in Arrowsmith. The black characters in Petrified Forest are not typical of the time. However, many black characters in old movies are tough to watch now.
Some movies are so much fun and then the stereotype black character comes in it is hard to watch. "daredevils of the Red Circle" is a great serial but when the comic relief of "Snowflake" the butler comes on screen it is less enjoyable.
Watching the 40s Charlie Chan movies I cringe more at what Mantan Moreland has to play than the white guy playing Charlie Chan. Stepin Fetchit was also cringewothy. However they were both talented men that got moments to shine. Like Moreland scene with stage partner Ben carter in "The Scarlet Clue".

Now for my controversial opinion, I think their careers are a start of something good. Some films had white actors in "black face". I think the more the writers, directors, etc. get to know black actors the more they can see them less as charactures and maybe start writing and thinking differently about black characters. If they talk to the actor that always plays a pullman or butler and get to liking him they might want to make the characters more rounded or more like the actor.
That was long winded and maybe not well written (or thought out) but I would like to hear others' opinions.

Sincerely,
the Wolf

 

[Tomasso]

I would really like to hear peoples opinions on black actors from the golden age.

The list begins with Paul Robeson and then there's...........................................

Actually, he's a once in a lifetime human being.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's important to note that, after a handful of pioneers in the 19th century, there were no serious African American professional actors in the US (as opposed to minstrel-style comedians) prior to the early 1900s. It wasn't until the formation of the Lafayette Theatre Company in Harlem in 1914 that there was anything resembling a serious African-American theatre movement in the US -- so there wasn't a lot of time for a pool of acting talent beyond minstrel-style comics and singer-dancer entertainers to develop by the 1930s. There were, however, some names that people ought to know.

-- Charles Gilpin: one of the founders of the Lafayette company, and the original Brutus Jones of "The Emperor Jones" on Broadway, creator of the role Paul Robeson would make famous on film in the thirties. He was primarily a stage actor, although he dabbled briefly in films in the twenties, and died in 1930.

-- Clarence Muse: a veteran of the Lincoln Theatre company in Chicago who made inroads in film during the early talkie era, most notably as the patriarch in 1929's "Hearts In Dixie." Throughout the thirties if casting directors wanted an actor to play a serious, dignified black character, Muse was the first actor they called on.

-- Evelyn Preer: leading lady of the Lafayette company in the '20s, and a pioneer in serious dramatic roles for African-American women. She was a star on both the stage and in film, worked with some of the top talent of the era, had a strong career on the side as a blues singer, and undoubtedly would've achieved even more had she not died of pneumonia in 1932.

-- Juano Hernandez: a writer/director/performer who first gained attention in the original Broadway cast of "Show Boat," he created, wrote, and starred in the first all-African-American radio drama, "John Henry: Black River Giant" in 1933, and went on to a distinguished career on Broadway and in films and television that lasted through the 1960s.

These are just a few names that tend to be overlooked -- there's others, and they become more and more numerous as you move into the WW2 era. The Mantan Morelands and the Willie Bests may be better known, but they aren't the whole story by any means.

 

[Lady Day]

In a more working capacity of black actors, most of those roles were all they could get. So even a lot of black people were offended by their own to continue a stereotype. An unspoken rule is most audiences didnt want to see actors of color on peer with themselves, so all they could get were comical versions of whatever they could be portrayed.

A lot of that I see today in so many movies and pictations of black people in film. Still people are seen as dancing fast talking etc etc. But thats not to say that TONS of progress has been made. Still I wish there was more

LD

 

[dhermann1]

Leroy Daniels

He had a tiny cameo as a shoe shine man in Fred Astaire's "The Band Wagon". His shtick was the rhythmic shoe shine, but you can see so much more potential there. That's what's often heartbreaking, someone who is allowed is split second in his whole life to shine (sorry . . .) and that's it. Leaves you wondering what the world missed. He went on to play "Leroy" in several episodes of Sanford and Son." I would assume he was a star on the Chitterling Circuit.
also:
Theresa Harris. Check her out in Barbara Stanwick's "Baby Face". Terrific character actress.

 

[ScarlettTurner]

My DH is a big "Snowflake" fan, and enjoys him tremendously ~ according to DH, he was "a great actor."
DH is a big movie serial buff, and has quite a collection!

 

[Benny Holiday]

I shudder when I think of what old Hollywood would've done to a Don Cheadle, Will Smith or Denzel Washington. How much talent was limited to belittling, stereotyped roles because of racism? Steppin Fetchit, Willie Best - this stuff is hard to watch. The talents of greats like Dorothy Dandridge and of course Paul Robeson were so great they couldn't help but stand out. I wonder what they would have been able to achieve today?

One thing that still bugs me, not to do with movies per se but related, is that the name Sammy Davis Jnr is mentioned behind those of his Rat Pack co-stars. I dig Sinatra and Martin, they're greats, but they could only sing. Joey Bishop, he could only do comedy. Peter Lawford was an actor. But Sammy, what couldn't he do? He could sing, he could do comedy, he could play a vibraphone, trumpet, and drums, he acted, he did impressions, and of course he danced. He was a talent to thrill the talented. His name ought to be first, always.

But of course, he wasn't white. :rage:

 

[magneto]

Donald Bogle's (the Black cinema scholar/historian) books have very interesting theses and observations on the "hidden subtexts" of ostensibly insulting/stereotypical film and radio roles... and how for example portrayal of Blacks in 30s films is very different from films of the 40s (contrary to the popular opinion that, say, dignified Sidney Poitier sprung from a vacuum and nothing changed for Blacks in film until after the onset of the civil rights movement...) Anyway I would definitely recommend reading any of his books if anyone interested in the subject hasn't already. This is probably the canonical one:

http://www.amazon.com/Toms-Coons-Mulattoes-Mammies-Bucks/dp/082641267X

 

[Katie Brookes]

The list begins with Paul Robeson and then there's...........................................

Actually, he's a once in a lifetime human being.

agreed wholeheartedly