MR. BLANDINGS’S

DREAM PLANTATION

Last night, my partner and I watched Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House—classic movie, Myrna Loy and Cary Grant. It’s pretty good, except at the end: The closing shot is of the family’s black housekeeper, done up like Aunt Jemima—it’s like something straight out of a minstrel show.

When I said it was revolting, my partner said to lighten up and take it in context, appreciate the filmmaking and so on. Fine, but this isn’t a film seminar; it’s movie night at home. Isn’t it wrong to watch these movies for pleasure? Should I (if I could) just chill and enjoy them?

—Black and White Film Lover

The Gay Perspective: You are right to be appalled by the racism of these films, but wrong to judge the past by the standards of the present. Also, I’m afraid that if your idea of movie night at home is a 1948 domestic comedy, a film seminar is your idea of fun. There is no reason to feel guilty, either for enjoying the film or for being revolted by its racism.

Still, while I agree that depictions of African-American women like the one you describe are imbued with racism, it might comfort you to know that they actually represented the first opportunity for African-American actors to establish a positive presence in Hollywood. It is universal for members of oppressed groups to make their first entry into entertainments of the dominant culture through ridiculous depictions. Consider all of the moronic sissies who represented gay people in films of the 1930s through the 1970s. Think of the heavily accented Mexicans who said things in Hollywood films like “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.”

Then consider that the woman you see decked out as Aunt Jemima in Mr. Blandings is Louise Beavers, one of the most prominent African American actors of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. You might also have seen Miss Beavers as Mae West’s feisty and quick-witted maid in She Done Him Wrong (1933).

Before condemning such performances outright, consider that the original “Aunt Jemima” was actually the stage name of a white Italian-American actress named Tess Gardella (1894-1950). Gardella appeared in black face and was billed as “Aunt Jemima” in the original Broadway production of Showboat in 1927.

The fact that women of color began to play these characters themselves on stage and in film was a positive development at the time. Hattie McDaniel went on from such roles (including one of Mae West’s maids in I’m No Angel) to win an Oscar for her performance in Gone with the Wind (1939). Consider Amos and Andy, the most popular African-American characters in the history of radio—played by white men on the wireless but by African-American actors on television. Louise Beavers starred on television in Beulah, the first nationally broadcast weekly television series to feature an African American in the leading role. Beulah was first played on radio by a white male actor, but upon his death Hattie McDaniel took over the part. On television, Beulah, “Queen of the Kitchen,” was first played by the great Ethel Waters, before Louise Beavers took over the part.

Rather than dismiss the work of an important African-American actress like Louise Beavers with a superior sniff, you might make an effort to appreciate her contributions. She appeared in dozens of films, running the gamut from the original Imitation of Life (1934) to The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) and Tammy and the Bachelor (1957). Those mammy roles paved the way for many other actors at a time when, in the words of Hattie McDaniel, it was better to play a maid than to be one.

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