Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Birth of An Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation

Nicholas Sammond, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Performance, Page 60

The hand of the animator often appeared in the frame of early commercial
animation, a reminder of the performative roots of the craft. Here, a photograph of a hand, presumably that of Otto Messmer, draws Felix the Cat, who impatiently awaits his completion as a highly mutable animated minstrel, capable of metamorphosis and transformation.

The hand that drew Felix was like the hand that applied the greasepaint to the minstrel's face. In the final production number in the 1934 Warner Bros. film Wonder Bar, Al Jolson, in blackface, plays an old field hand who goes up to heaven and discovers it filled with stereotypical wonders such as a pork-chop tree, an endless supply of fried chicken, and public transportation that runs directly from an all-black heaven to Harlem and back. This is one example about the way the color line was extended beyond the physical world to its representational equivalent. (Note also that at one point Jolson's character reads a Yiddish newspaper...a nod to audiences about the Jewish performer under the burnt cork.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Performance, Page 60"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Performance, page 14 of 25 Next page on path

Related:  Space, Page 178Race, Page 229Labor, Page 128Performance, Page 84Space, Page 194Race, Page 219Race, Page 254Labor, Page 109Introduction, Page 29Race, Page 252Introduction, Page 4Race, Page 221Race, Page 231Space, Page 175Race, Page 232Race, Page 213Space, Page 155Space, Page 177Conclusion, Page 275Race, Page 261Conclusion, Page 298Introduction, Page 21Space, Page 191Conclusion, Page 290Space, Page 193Performance, Page 54Performance, Page 82Space, Page 141Space, Page 187Race, Page 230Performance, Page 43Space, Page 184Conclusion, Page 296Performance, Page 46Space, Page 188Space, Page 163Labor, Page 98Space, Page 170Race, Page 225Performance, Page 47Labor, Page 112Space, Page 171Labor, Page 122Space, Page 138Labor, Page 88Race, Page 253Conclusion, Page 303Conclusion, Page 273Performance, Page 80Labor, Page 119Space, Page 162Conclusion, Page 278Race, Page 235Space, Page 165Labor, Page 123Labor, Page 110Introduction, Page 23Space, Page 150Race, Page 206Race, Page 220Conclusion, Page 286Conclusion, Page 289Race, Page 224Space, Page 197Introduction, Page 14Performance, Page 72Labor, Page 132Performance, Page 77Race, Page 239Performance, Page 42Introduction, Page 1Performance, Page 74Introduction, Page 30Performance, Page 45Space, Page 183Labor, Page 131Introduction, Page 15Space, Page 137Labor, Page 113Space, Page 148Space, Page 182Space, Page 195Race, Page 204Conclusion, Page 300Space, Page 159Space, Page 181Performance, Page 52Space, Page 189Performance, Page 34Space, Page 146Race, Page 247Conclusion, Page 284Conclusion, Page 291Space, Page 152Introduction, Page 2Space, Page 190Introduction, Page 6Race, Page 251Conclusion, Page 302Performance, Page 41Labor, Page 133Introduction, Page 16Performance, Page 44Conclusion, Page 304Race, Page 258Conclusion, Page 292Space, Page 172Performance, Page 35Space, Page 143Race, Page 248Performance, Page 50