Re: Fwd: A new klezmermusical in Berlin

[Trudi Goodman <goobietheg...>]

   About black minstrels...Wolf...I would refer you to any book, etc. about 
Bert Williams Or Bill Robinson, JR...who performed in minstrel as well as 
other work.
Blacks performed that way because it was the accepted "norm" for any 
performer doing minstrel.  It was however racist, as any black performer of 
Williams' or Robinson's caliber knew. It was not meant "nice."
   Has anyone seen or heard this purported klezmir musical. I seem to 
remember that Christian had not been able to.

    Trudi the G
>From: bloom (at) gis(dot)net (Bloom)
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: Fwd: A new klezmermusical in Berlin
>Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 23:22:29 -0500 (EST)
>
>Wolf wrote:
>
> >What I can't quite grasp were blacks who performed with burnt cork .
> >Would this be a way of fooling the audience into thinking that even
> >a genuine  black person on stage was, behind the make-up, white -- and
> >therefore non-threatening?
> >
> >Any thoughts from the "heartless and soulless ethnomusicologists"
> >who may have studied this phenomenon?
>
>I hesitate to respond, since I'm not well-educated on this topic - but
>since no one else responded, I'll throw in what I think I know, and let
>someone else correct me if necessary.
>
>As I understand it, blacks were allowed to perform in vaudeville if they
>portrayed stereotypical blacks, just as Jews were allowed to perform if
>they portrayed stereotypical Jews.  If you were a "stage Jew", you might
>use putty to make your nose look bigger.  If you were a "stage nigger", and
>your skin wasn't dark enough to fit the stereotype, then you had to put
>burnt cork on your face.  In either case, the act you performed had to
>reinforce the image that the audience already had of your ethnic group.
>Just a case of giving the audience what they wanted.
>
>
>

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+