I was watching the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musical Babes on Broadway (1941) last night, and was taken aback by the long blackface/minstrel show number in it. It’s not the only one, of course: Holiday Inn (1942) has a rather famous blackface number for Lincoln’s Birthday. The melody of that song is also used in White Christmas (1954) but just as an instrumental in a number with Vera Ellen and two male dancers , with no reference to Lincoln or blacks. There is a minstrel number in White Christmas as well, though none of the leads at least (I haven’t seen it in a few years and I can’t remember whether any of the chorus does) appears in blackface.
So apparently sometime between 1942 and 1954 it became less acceptable to do blackface … does anyone know anything more specific than that? There’s got to be additional examples during that period.
Anecdotally, my Mom did blackface for a Dance Recital (it was part of a dance school affiliated with Teresa Brewer) as well as participating in a blackface skit and musical number for a variety show put on by PTA members for the kids at the local Elementary school. This was all during the sixties.
It was not at all controversial and just part of the entertainment repertoire at the time. Different Times, fer sure.
‘A Day at the Races’ - the big musical number features the Marx Brothers covering their faces with axle grease and trying to pass themselves off as Black people to evade the police.
Interestingly, there is a clause in the performance agreement for the Gershwin - Heyward opera ‘Porgy and Bess’ that the performers cannot be white people in blackface, but must be Black singers, at the insistence of Ira Gershwin. (Porgy and Bess - Wikipedia)
If “blackface” includes any white actor made up in an attempt to look black (rather than being limited to minstrel-show-type performances), then several film versions of Othello would qualify, including Laurence Olivier’s 1965 film.
Lots of films and TV shows have had whites in blackface to make satirical points. Bamboozled (2000) had black actors in blackface.
• Holiday Inn (1942) — mentioned above.
• Born to Sing (1942) — Virginia Weidler, disguised in blackface, visits her father in prison (long story) in this musical.
•Daring Young Man (1942) — Joe E. Brown, while disguised in blackface, infiltrates a group of spies in this comedy.
• Dixie (1943) — Biography of Daniel Decatur Emmett, one of the originators of blackface entertainment in the theatre.
• Redhead from Manhattan (1943) — Contains a scene in which Lupe Velez appears in blackface, speaking Southern jive talk.
• The Merry Monahans (1944) — Donald O’Connor does an impersonation of Al Jolson singing “Rockabye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody.”
• Minstrel Man (1944) — Low-budget musical about a 19th century minstrel performer.
• Zombies on Broadway (1945) — To hide from the hostile natives on an island, the lead characters in this comedy take refuge in a hut, where one disguises himself in blackface.
• The Jolson Story (1947) — Biography of singer Al Jolson, who was famous for performing in blackface.
• If You Knew Susie (1948) — Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis perform the song “My, How the Times Goes By” in blackface.
• Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951) — A low-budget musical in which an old minstrel man recreates his act in blackface, which leads to a long flashback of a 19th century minstrel show.
• Crazy Over Horses (1951) — Bowery Boys comedy, in which Sach (Huntz Hall) sneaks into a stable in blackface, as a stablehand, to switch a horse.
• I Dream of Jeanie (1952) — Biography of composer Stephen Foster which contains a recreation of a 19th century minstrel show.
• The Eddie Cantor Story (1954) — Biography of the singer, who was famous for performing in blackface.
• Her Wedding Night (1955) — Low-budget film of burlesque acts, includes comedian Clyde Hodges in blackface impersonating male and female singers as he sings “Big Fat Cadillac.”
Neil Diamond’s version of The Jazz Singer had a scene where he was in blackface, trying to fill a spot in a group performing at a black club. He looked awful.
I cringe a little every time I see that segment, but looking at it in perspective it was not exploitative. More than fifty black performers were seen in a mainstream movie, and Ivie Anderson of the Duke Ellington Orchestra sang a solo. When the Marx Brothers donned blackface it was not in mockery, but as a disguise.
Fred Astaire did a tribute to Bill Robinson for the song Bojangles of Harlem (Bill Robinson’s nickname) in the movie Swingtime. It’s an excellent piece (youtube clip) but the blackface does make me uncomfortable.
On a similar note, there was ex-Python Michael Palin in blackface, dreads wig and knit hat, trying to off that little old lady witness in A Fish Called Wanda. Most. Unconvincing. Rastafarian. Ever.
An episode of the UK series Jeeves & Wooster features most of the Drones Club made up in blackface (as performing minstrels). However, the story is set in the 1920s or thereabouts; it seems to fit the times, isn’t played for racist humor, and is actually a rather funny part of the plot. Beware Old Boggy on Lammas Eve!
Yes, it isn’t so much the sight of them in blackface that I find cringe-worthy; it isn’t like they’re supposed to be convincing. It’s the whole idea that Harpo is supposed to show up, twiddle his tin whistle and the Black folks think he’s the archangel Gabriel. I’ve never been able to decide if they meant this scene to be a satire of other movies that used minstrel show type scenes, or what. It’s not like the Italians in the steerage deck of the ship in ‘Night at the Opera’ were all Italians in authentic national costumes, either…
Somebody told me recently that Chico Marx wasn’t really Italian, either. Can you believe that?
All in the Family: When Gloria went into labor, Archie was doing a minstrel (or, as he prounced it, “menstrual”) show. He came to the hospital without taking the makeup off, leading to this exchange
Edith: The next time I see you, you’ll be a mother.
Gloria: The next time I see you, you’ll be a grandmother. And the next time I see Daddy…he’ll be white.
