Bear in mind that a blackface variety program called The Black and White Minstrel Show was still airing on British television in 1978 - and the live touring version didn’t close until 1989.
Still this episode aired in 1991. And I recognize that the storyline is from an old Woodhouse story but it’s not one that aged well.
Unacceptable as part of contemporary performance practice in the 1980s, certainly (the notorious Black and White Minstrel Show was getting pushback for the racism of its blackface numbers already in the ‘60s and ‘70s).
Evidently considered more okay as a plot point in a show set in the 1920s, though.
Kind of like wearing Nazi uniforms, I guess; widely considered gross as a modern costume choice in its own right, but still indispensable when portraying Nazi characters in shows set in that time period.
(Not, I hasten to add, that there’s anything indispensable about including a minstrel troupe (who in the original story were actually racially black as well as performing in blackface makeup) in a Bertie Wooster story. As you note, there are plenty of superior Jeeves and Wooster stories to choose from.)
In one episode of the 2017 ITV sitcom Timewasters (about a jazz quartet time-traveling back to the 1920s), one character encourages his friend’s butler to start a singing career. The gag at the end is that the butler becomes a successful singer…in blackface. (In this case, it’s a Black TV writer poking fun at blackface.)
His skin is definitely green, and his feet certainly look ranine.
But…
Frogs tend not to have big caucasian-skinned areas around their mouths.
You know which representation often does?
Although Flip is more of the Paddy stereotype.
Let’s not mention Impie…
I remember cringing when reading that story.
It’s not the same as some of these, but…I watched a 1970 Mission Impossible where white New Jersey dude Robert Ellenstein was given a spray on “tan” to either pass as a middle eastern or an Indian scientist.
Mad Men S3 E3 features a scene with John Slattery in blackface singing “My Old Kentucky Home”. Obviously it was done to point out the casual racism of the early 60s but it was still kinda cringey to watch.
I wonder how much leeway actors have? Let’s say it’s me. I may have a contract, but there ain’t no way in hell I’m donning blackface. Nope. They can take me to court if they want.
(no drag either but I’d have put that in my contract. I’d have probably not considered putting in a “no blackface” clause, because, who’d think that would be a thing?)
Yeah that style was widely used in drawn representations. And of course there were variations by world region — here in PR I recall blackface played straight on TV into the early 70s, and the abovementioned caricaturesque style of black characters kept appearing in Latin American comics past the end of the century
Another minor brouhaha arose over Othello when he was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, in brownface makeup rather than blackface. When the BBC and PBS decided to broadcast every one of Shakespeare plays, the producer wanted to cast James Earl Jones as Othello, but the British actors union threatened to strike if an American was cast.
Another notable white actor who played Othello was Patrick Stewart on stage in Washington, DC. However, the production was even more notable because the entire cast, except for Stewart, was made up of black actors.
As you note, the scene was meant to demonstrate the racism of not just the character in blackface, but also the people enjoying his performance.
Mission Impossible again. This time Pernell Roberts “bronzered” to be a Central American killer Manuel Corba. It’s more subtle than some of these examples. Maybe he just has a good tan?
In the last scene of Hopscotch, Walter Matthau’s character shows up disguised in brownface as a bearded and turbaned Sikh. (At least his co-star calls him out for his “ridiculous charade.”)
Didn’t they all play as their own race? That is, I think they called it reverse casting or something like that. Stewart’s Othello was a white man played by a white man, and the rest of the characters were black people played by black people.
One that I never saw anyone comment on was Neil Diamond’s acting debut in The Jazz Singer (1980). Based on the same play as the 1927 Al Jolson version, they updated the story 9for which they DID catch a lot of critical flak). I suppose because it was related to the Al Jolson film, and Jolson was known for his blackface work (“Mammy” in particular), someone felt that Diamond ought to do somethin in blackface. Well, it turned out to be very light brownface. But it wasn’t necessary, which makes me wonder why they did it.
Although I hadn’t seen any criticism of this scene before, apparently it did exist. Here’s one:
https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/431923/neil-diamond-jazz-singer-blackface-embarrassing-jewish/
In movie disguises are not in the same category as Blackface.
Stunt productions.
In the movie Holiday Inn, Bing Crosby has Marjorie Reynolds perform a minstrel show in blackface on Lincoln’s Birthday in order to disguise her from Fred Astaire. Maybe a Saint Patrick’s Day segment would have been a better idea.
That scene from 1942 is commonly deleted. I am not sure if that is a good idea, but O agree, it could have been done better.