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THE SIGNIFIER RETURNS TO HAUNT THE REFERENT Blackface and the Stereotyping of African-Americans in Hollywood Early Sound Film by Corin Charles Willis BA, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film Studies University of Warwick Department of Film and Television Studies December 2002 BEST COpy AVAILABLE TEXT IN ORIGINAL IS CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF THE PAGE CONTENTS List of Dlustrations llI-IV AcknowledgementslDeclaration v Abstract VI Prologue 1 Introduction 12 1:The Stereotypical Portrayal of African-Americans in Hollywood film. 13 2:The 'Nature' of the Blackface Medium 16 Chapter One: The Persistence of Blackface in Early Sound Film 29 1:Past Accounts of Blackface in Early Sound Film 29 2:Four Categories of Blackface in Early Sound Film. 35 3:Conclusions on the 'Map' of Blackface Persistence 81 Chapter Two: Shadows of Blackface: The Racial Marking of 93 African-American Actors and Performers in Early Sound Film 1:Film Practices Involved in the Racial Marking of 97 African-Americans in Film 2:Aspects of Film Form Involved in the Racial Marking 106 of African-Americans in Film 3 :Minstrelsy Rebuilt 119 Chapter Three: Co-presence in the Films of AI Jo)son and Eddie Cantor 127 1:Co-presence in The Singing Fool 133 2:The Afterlife of lolson's Blackface Mammy 148 3:Blackface By Proxy, Whiteface and Afiican-American 171 Association in Hallelujah I'm a Bum 4:Co-presence and African-American Vernacular in lolson/Cantor Films. 185 11 Chapter Four: Minstrelisation Shots, Blackface and the Racial 219 Containment of African-American Music and Dance Vernacular 1: A Day at the Races and The Lindy Hop 222 2:Black and White Looks in Operator 13 245 3 :The Wider Co-presence of Blackface with Mrican-American 257 Vernacular in Early Sound Film Chapter Five: Unraveling the Minstrel Mask, African-American 261 Self Expression in Stormy Weather 1 :Stormy Weather's Historical Context 263 2 :The Origins ofMinstrelsy~ the Minstrel Mask and 284 African-American Signifyin(g) 3 :The Reclamation of Expressive Mrican-American 311 Vernacular in Stormy Weather Conclusion 335 1:Blackface as an Irredeemably Racial Medium 336 2:The Textuality of Hollywood's Mrican-American Stereotypes 338 3 :The Minstrel Gaze 340 Epilogue 353 Bibliography 366 Filmography 373 Teleography 387 Appendix: Chronological List of the Persistence of Blackface 388 in Early Sound Film 111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS All Illustrations are Frame Captures From American Films 1927-1953. Front Cover - The Singing Fool (1928) 0:1-0:8 The Birth ofa Nation (1915) 9/10 0:9 The Jazz Singer (1927) 10 0:10-0:12 The Birth ofa Nation (1915) 10 1:1-1:4 The Jazz Singer (1927) 86 1:5 Saratoga Trunk (1945) 86 1:6 Check and Double Check (1930) 86 1:7 Swing Time (1936) 87 1:8 Torch Song (1953) 87 1:9 Stand up and Cheer (1934) 87 1: 10-1:11 Rhapsody in Blue (1945) 87 1:12 King ofJazz (1930) 87 1:13-1:15 Dimples (1936) 88 1: 16-1 :17 Show Boat (1930) 88 1: 18-1: 19 /fYou Knew Susie (1948) 88 1:20 Babes in Arms (1939) 89 1:21 Babes on Broadway (1941) 89 1:22 Kid Millions (19340 89 1:23 Coney Island (1943) 89 1:24 Here Come the Waves (1944) 89 1:25 In Old Kentucky (1934) 90 1:26 The Spoilers (1942) 90 1:27 The Littlest Rebel (1935) 90 1:28 Dream House (1932) 90 1:29 Whoopee! (1930) 90 1:30 Roman Scandals (1933) 90 1 :31 Hard to Get (1938) 91 1:32 Everybody Sing (1938) 91 1:33 Up in the Air (1940) 91 1:34 Boston Blackie 's Rendezvous (1945) 91 1:35 A Day at the Races (1937) 91 1:36 Round up Time in Texas (1937) 92 1:37 You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939) 92 2:1-2:2 The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) 124 2:3 The King ofJazz (1930) 124 2:4 ShowBoat (1936) 124 IV 2:5 The Big Broadcast oJ 1936 (1935) 124 2:6 The Great Ziegfeld (1936) 124 2:7 Ali BaBa Goes to Town (1937) 125 2:8-11 Show Boat (1936) 125 2:12 Round up Time in Texas (1937) 125 2:13 Show Boat (1936) 126 2:14 The Littlest Rebel (1935) 126 2:15-2:16 The Birth oja Nation (1915) 126 2:17-2:18 Dimples (1936) 126 3:1-3:8 The Singing Fool (1928) 211112 3:9-3:10 Mammy (1930) 212 3:11-3:13 The Singing Kid (1936) 213 3:14 The King ojJazz (1930) 213 3:15 Stand up and Cheer (1934) 213 3:16-3:17 Musical Doctor (1932) 214 3:18 The Kidfrom Spain (1932) 214 3:19 Thank Your Luck Stars (1943) 214 3:20-3:28 Hallelujah I'm a Bum! (1933) 214-216 3:29-3:34 The Singing Kid (1936) 216-217 3:35-3:36 Roman Scandals (1933) 217 3:37 Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) 217 3:38-3:43 Kid Millions (1934) 218 4:1 Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) 259 4:2 Rhapsody in Black and Blue (1932) 259 4:3 Jitterbug Party (1934) 259 4:4 -4:7 A Day at the Races (1937) 259-60 5:1-5:4 This is the Army (1943) 331 5:5-5:18 Stormy Weather (1943) 331-334 6:1 A Day at the Races (1933) 364 6:2-6:10 Pardon Us (1931) 364-365 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to my Supervisor, Richard Dyer, for his long standing support. Thanks also to Trevor Long and Phil Markey, Nickianne Moody, and other work colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University, and also Peter Stanfield and Robyn Stilwel. Thanks also to family, Dad, Mom, Qucie, Nan, Jan and John, and especially, for waiting, Claire and Charlie. DECLARATION I declare that the work which follows is my own. This thesis has not been submitted for a degree at any other University VI ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the persistence of blackface in Hollywood's early sound era 1927-1953. It establishes the extensive and complex nature of this persistence against previous historical accounts of its decline after the introduction of sound. Specifically this thesis considers the overlooked phenomenon of co-presence where blackface was juxtaposed with the increased visibility of African-Americans in Hollywood film. It argues that the primary historical significance of the persistence of blackface lies in its involvement in, and exposure of, the formal stereotyping of African Americans in film. The thesis is founded on research which identified 124 blackface films and on viewings of75 of these films. Primarily the argument is advanced on the basis of close textual analysis. In addition to its theoretical engagement with key positions on blackface and related areas the thesis also makes use of secondary sources in order to establish the historical context behind its persistence in film. Principle areas discussed include the formal practices used to racially mark African­ Americans in film, co-presence in the films of AI Iolson and Eddie Cantor, and blackface and the racial containment of African-American vernacular dance and musIc. This thesis contributes to an understanding of the place of blackface in Hollywood history by setting down what is, to the best of its author's knowledge, the most extensive account to date of its persistence in the early sound era. In doing so it brings new material to the debates on the 'nature' of blackface and argues that current attempts to revise understandings of its racial bias may be misguided. In conclusion this thesis finds that the case study of co-presence indicates that one explanation for the longevity of Hollywood's African-American stereotypes lies in the sheer density of their textual construction. 1 PROLOGUE Many of the key points of interest discussed in this thesis are exemplified in the textual detail of The Birth ofa Nation, the founding historical moment of Hollywood racial representation. Donald Bogle notes that it was the first film to "articulate fully the entire pantheon" (1997,18) of the stereotypes that would dominate Hollywood's portrayal of African-Americans through the rest of the silent era and through the first few decades of sound film. Clyde Taylor argues that the film was responsible for shaping a Hollywood film aesthetic that has since operated "simultaneously and harmoniously with a kindred ideology, that of western racial superiority" (1996,35). One of the most frequently noted aspects of the racial representation involved in The Birth ofa Nation is Griffith's use of blackface as a 'replacement' for African­ American actors. Taylor writes that Griffith "reject[ed] black actors in favour of white actors in burnt cork" (1996,26) and that all of the "foregrounded" (ibid) black characters in the film are whites in blackface. The notion that Griffith made a conscious decision to avoid using African-American actors is widely supported in other accounts (Leab, 1973,34) (Nesteby, 1982,49). The fact that there are actually African-Americans in the film is occasionally suggested by comments such as Griffith "mostly" (Modleski, 1991,119) (Null, 1977, 14) used whites in blackface.