This all-black movie was produced in 1943, and it marks the changing of the guard in how blacks were portrayed in Hollywood movies. The movie is a hallmark of black performers: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, the Nicholas Brothers, and the lesser remembered Dooley Wilson, Katherine Dunham, Miller and Lyles, and Ada Brown.
The movie is important to me because it shows the watershed of American racism: Bojangles represents the old "Negro" view from Hollywood before World War II. Blacks were shown in genteel poverty, costumed in artful rags with prominently displayed holes in the soles of their shoes. The actors may have been costumed in rags, but they showed no signs of starvation. The black characters shuffled and smiled, danced and sang, and were respectful to their betters. Bill Robinson, in fact, sang and danced with America's favorite child, Shirley Temple, in "The Little Colonel," when he played the family retainer.
In "Stormy Weather," we start out with Bill Robinson's character leaving for home after World War I service in Europe. He works on a steamboat on the river and dances with a band of poor black entertainers, then works as a waiter in a dive featuring Fats Waller's group. (Mr. Waller died a few months after making the movie.) Mr. Robinson's character, Bill Williamson, faces all disasters with a smile and the knowledge of something better coming in the future. Eventually, Williamson gets his chance to make it big, and he does, moving to New York where he produces a musical revue.
It's here that the scene shifts from the southern, rural, genteel poverty of black America to the northern, urban, wealth of black America: Cab Calloway performs in white tie and tails, as do the Nicholas Brothers. Instead of shuffling and smiling, the new urban black is a competent adult who makes money from his talent. Messrs. Robinson, Wilson, Miller and Lyles represent the old school racist view of blacks. Lena Horne, Katherine Dunham, and Messrs. Calloway and Nicholas show us the new Hollywood racist view of blacks in the Forties and later: accomplished performers with polish and wealth. Urbane and well-mannered, these blacks still don't threaten overtly, but their obvious wealth exceeds that of most white Americans of the Forties, and their zoot suits started white riots.
All the performances in the movie are top-notch. For those too young to remember Miller and Lyles, their minstrel routine shows their classic banter of unfinished sentences and completed thoughts in blackface. If you search for Miller and Lyle on YouTube you'll get some hits on this classic bit. Later, there's also a "cakewalk" minstrel dance routine by the chorus. All of the pre- war material is cringe-worthy today, and the performances by Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers stands in contrast to the race-tinged earlier material. By the Forties, the performances of black artist didn't revolve around racial stereotypes, but showed professional, competent performers every bit as good as the whites in the movie.
1943 was a good year for all-black movies. MGM produced "Cabin in the Sky," with Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Mantan Moreland, and more. Ethel Waters is superb, and her "Taking a Chance on Love" is marvelous.
The movie is important to me because it shows the watershed of American racism: Bojangles represents the old "Negro" view from Hollywood before World War II. Blacks were shown in genteel poverty, costumed in artful rags with prominently displayed holes in the soles of their shoes. The actors may have been costumed in rags, but they showed no signs of starvation. The black characters shuffled and smiled, danced and sang, and were respectful to their betters. Bill Robinson, in fact, sang and danced with America's favorite child, Shirley Temple, in "The Little Colonel," when he played the family retainer.
In "Stormy Weather," we start out with Bill Robinson's character leaving for home after World War I service in Europe. He works on a steamboat on the river and dances with a band of poor black entertainers, then works as a waiter in a dive featuring Fats Waller's group. (Mr. Waller died a few months after making the movie.) Mr. Robinson's character, Bill Williamson, faces all disasters with a smile and the knowledge of something better coming in the future. Eventually, Williamson gets his chance to make it big, and he does, moving to New York where he produces a musical revue.
It's here that the scene shifts from the southern, rural, genteel poverty of black America to the northern, urban, wealth of black America: Cab Calloway performs in white tie and tails, as do the Nicholas Brothers. Instead of shuffling and smiling, the new urban black is a competent adult who makes money from his talent. Messrs. Robinson, Wilson, Miller and Lyles represent the old school racist view of blacks. Lena Horne, Katherine Dunham, and Messrs. Calloway and Nicholas show us the new Hollywood racist view of blacks in the Forties and later: accomplished performers with polish and wealth. Urbane and well-mannered, these blacks still don't threaten overtly, but their obvious wealth exceeds that of most white Americans of the Forties, and their zoot suits started white riots.
All the performances in the movie are top-notch. For those too young to remember Miller and Lyles, their minstrel routine shows their classic banter of unfinished sentences and completed thoughts in blackface. If you search for Miller and Lyle on YouTube you'll get some hits on this classic bit. Later, there's also a "cakewalk" minstrel dance routine by the chorus. All of the pre- war material is cringe-worthy today, and the performances by Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers stands in contrast to the race-tinged earlier material. By the Forties, the performances of black artist didn't revolve around racial stereotypes, but showed professional, competent performers every bit as good as the whites in the movie.
1943 was a good year for all-black movies. MGM produced "Cabin in the Sky," with Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Mantan Moreland, and more. Ethel Waters is superb, and her "Taking a Chance on Love" is marvelous.