Our discomfort with blackface shouldn't let us avoid the fact that this racist amusement been a huge part of American comedy. In the 19th century, minstrelsy rivaled circus for popularity. In the 20th century, at least into the 1920s, how-to guides for church and youth groups included blackface. Many of our heroes, the vaudeville comics who became movie & TV stars, did blackface. The Marx Bros. movies usually included a "happy darky" number, and the 1954 movie White Christmas included a blackface-style routine.
This was Al Ackerman's walk-around on the Polack Show!!
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I recall Felix Adler doing a similar walkaround; Felix had a pair of false legs/feet protruding from the top of the basket. I only saw a photo.
ReplyDeleteOur discomfort with blackface shouldn't let us avoid the fact that this racist amusement been a huge part of American comedy. In the 19th century, minstrelsy rivaled circus for popularity. In the 20th century, at least into the 1920s, how-to guides for church and youth groups included blackface. Many of our heroes, the vaudeville comics who became movie & TV stars, did blackface. The Marx Bros. movies usually included a "happy darky" number, and the 1954 movie White Christmas included a blackface-style routine.
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