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African American Performers and Audiences in 1930S Hollywood by Miriam J

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African American Performers and Audiences in 1930S Hollywood by Miriam J Isabelle Williams Book Review: Stealing the Show: African American Performers and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood by Miriam J. Petty Representation (1992). In the introduction, Petty unpacks the meaning of the title by outlining slavery’s problematic relationship to stealing. Since slaves’ bodies were viewed as property, theft was complicated because it was stealing from the master to fuel the slave’s body which is also the property of the master. In other words, the property is maintained through stealing so ultimately the master prospers. Petty connects this history to Black performers and the idea of “stealing the show” specifically in the Hollywood system. By aligning the terms “shoat” (pig meat) and “show,” Petty parallels the structure of slavery with the structure of Hollywood through this notion of stealing in order to lay the foundation for Black performers’ problematic stardom. Petty elaborates through four chapters each highlighting different Black performers whose popularity peaked in the 1930s. University of California Press, 2016 The first chapter focuses on Hattie McDaniel $34.95 ISBN 978-0520279773 and her controversial role as Mammy in Gone With the Wind (1939). The Mammy, which is a fictional role for slave nanny-mother, became a myth In Stealing the Show: African American Performers disguised as a truth perpetuated by McDaniel’s and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood, Miriam Petty exceptional performance. Although McDaniel’s examines the problematic stardom of Black tried to defend her portrayal of Mammy, Petty performers during the 1930s. By limiting her claims that ultimately McDaniel’s performance examination to the 1930s and to specific Black created a “filmic monument” that perpetuated the performers, “Stealing the Show complicates this nostalgic fiction of slavery reflecting how white schematic [relationship between performers and creators’ constructed Black identity based on the Hollywood system] for African Americans problematic myths or stereotypes.2 While these in particular, arguing for the cultural significance constructed roles limited Black performers, it also of performers who would likely be considered was a way to become visible within the restrictive character actors at most, and scene stealers at system of Hollywood. 1 best.” Petty successfully constructs her argument Another such performer who had to navigate with extensive research exemplifying how “stealing these limitations was Bill Robinson. In the second the show” permeated Black performances during chapter, Petty examines how the concept of play the 1930s, differentiating her study from earlier was essential to Bill Robinson’s performance and work such as bell hooks’s Black Looks: Race and highlighted this duality of on-screen and off-screen 82 The System Beyond the Studios Luci Marzola, editor, Spectator 38:2 (Fall 2018): 82-83. WILLIAMS lifestyles. Due to Robinson’s involvement with Another face of this problematic stardom is mentoring as well as inspiring young Black children demonstrated by Lincoln Perry, the focus of the to become stars, Petty focuses on Black children’s fourth chapter. Petty connects the advent of sound spectatorship to show how Robinson’s use of play, to Perry’s creation of his onscreen persona: Stepin as shown by his signature “stair dance” sequences, Fetchit. While this chapter was at times hard to allowed him to maintain a visibility in Hollywood follow because he was referred to as both Perry while simultaneously extending it beyond that and Fetchit, her use of both names highlights this system. Robinson’s performance moments were able duality he had to inhabit. Perry/Fetchit created a to “steal the show” by stopping the central narrative distinct unintelligible voice for his persona, the and redirecting the focus from Shirley Temple to “Black voice,” that fit into a stereotypical belief him. Play also allowed Robinson to be viewed as that Blackness correlated to laziness and lack of devoid of masculinity and sexuality, making him intelligence. His creation of a “racialized sound- unthreatening and consumable to White audiences. image,” a direct call back to minstrelsy and Black Petty emphasizes the internal divide or duality vaudeville’s “indefinite talk,” played into racist between Robinson as the role model and playful White imaginings of Black identity while furthering movie character and Robinson as a hot-tempered the duality of Perry and Stepin. Perry/Fetchit also person. This duality of self and performer further created a legacy since other Black actors began to problematized Black stardom recreate Perry/Fetchit’s “Black voice.” Petty also In the third chapter, “Louise Beavers and Fredi analyses how the stereotypical animated versions Washington,” Petty examines how this duality of Perry/Fetchit are consequences of his limited continued to inform Black performers and their stardom and his problematic presentation of Black bodies. Petty focuses on Beavers and Washington identity. While his created voice was necessary for because the roles they received were dictated by Perry/Fetchit to gain visibility with the Hollywood their bodies and they were coupled together in system, his “Black voice” also allowed him to be Imitation of Life (Stahl, 1934). Beavers, cast mainly consumed by Hollywood after he fully embraced in maternal roles, purposefully kept her figure full, the duality they demanded of him. while Washington’s light skin allowed her more In the final chapter of her book, Petty extends romantic roles. This pairing created a divide between this problem of Black stardom from the 1930s the old Black identity, portrayed by Beavers, and to contemporary cinema while stressing the the new Black identity, portrayed by Washington. importance of spectatorship as a site of resistance. This juxtaposition created by White Hollywood, Petty claims that by resisting these representations acted as a way to perpetuate what Black identity of Black identity that Hollywood continues to should be according the creators. Another concept perpetuate, viewers are able to demand different discussed in this chapter is “passing,” as represented and varied representations. The underlying structure by Washington, which created a liminal existence that helps make Petty’s argument successful is how for those who would pass as white by isolating each chapter further emphasizes how embedded them from both the White and Black communities. duality is for Black stardom from the creation of Petty reveals how Black bodies were molded by the “film monuments” to the use of play to passing and Hollywood system which forced distance from self the creation of a persona. This further pressuring as well as sometimes from their communities. and problematizing of Black stardom unveils Isabelle Williams is currently a master’s student at Chapman University in Film Studies in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Her primary research interest is in representations of race particularly in science fiction media. Notes 1 Miriam J. Petty, Stealing the Show: African American Performers and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016), 6. 2 Ibid., 29. THE SYSTEM BEYOND THE STUDIOS 83.
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