EDGAR ARCENEAUX AND FRANK LAWSON
BLACK FACE
MONOLOGUES
A Rarara! Production
EDGAR ARCENEAUX AND FRANK LAWSON
BLACK FACE
MONOLOGUES
IN 5 THEMES
A Rarara! Production
1.A. MIMICRY
IN ANIMALS
MIMICRY IN NATURE IS AN EVOLUTIONARY TRAIT THAT ALLOWS A SPECIES TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS.
MIMICRY
A MONARCH BUTTERFLY WING PATTERN MIMICKING A PREDATOR REMINISCENT OF A…
KOMODO DRAGON
MIMICRY AS CAMOUFLAGE.
THE SOUTH AMERICAN POTOO BIRD CAN CAMOUFLAGE ITSELF AS A TREE BRANCH.
DURING THE DAY, THE POTTO BIRD PERCHES MOTIONLESS ON A TREE FOR LONG PERIODS, WITH BOTH PARENTS TAKING TURNS TO INCUBATE A SINGLE EGG. THEIR POSTURE, PLUS THEIR MOTTLED BROWN AND GREY PLUMAGE, MAKES THE PERFECT CAMOUFLAGE.
A BLACK PANTHER USES THE SHADOWS AND THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT TO STALK ITS PREY. CAMOUFLAGE CONFUSES FOREGROUND AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION ALLOWING THE PREDATOR TO BLEND INTO THE ENVIRONMENT UNTIL…
ITS TOO LATE RUN.
1.B. MIMICRY
IN HUMANS
CAMOUFLAGE IN WARS IS ADAPTED FROM ANIMALS IN NATURE. USE OF GREENS MIMIC FOLIAGE ALLOWING THESE SNIPERS FROM THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR TO BLEND IN, OFTEN TUCKING BRANCHES, MOSS AND LEAVES INTO THEIR UNIFORMS.
IN 1865 THREE MAJOR EVENTS OCCURRED: THE ENDING OF THE US CIVIL WAR, THE DEFEAT OF THE CONFEDERATE SOUTH, AND THE FREEING OF ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS.
FROM THE ASHES OF THE REPUBLIC, VAUDEVILLE THEATER ENTERTAINED THE MASSES.
VAUDEVILLE THEATER WAS VARIETY ACTS THAT INCLUDED.
MUSICIANS, SINGERS, DANCERS, COMEDIANS, TRAINED ANIMALS, MAGICIANS, VENTRILOQUISTS, STRONGMEN, FEMALE AND MALE IMPERSONATORS, ACROBATS, CLOWNS, MIMES, ILLUSTRATED SONGS, JUGGLERS, ATHLETES, LECTURING CELEBRITIES, PLAYS, AND FILMS.
BUT THE MOST POPULAR ACTS WERE…
MINSTREL
SHOWS
THE NEW JEWISH BLACKFACE: AFRICAN AMERICAN
TROPES IN CONTEMPORARY JEWISH HUMOR
DAVID GILLOTA
AMERICAN JEWS HAVE OFTEN ARTICULATED THEIR ETHNIC IDENTITY IN RELATION TO AFRICAN AMERICANS. AT TIMES—SUCH AS DURING THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENTS OF THE 1930S OR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF THE 1960S—THIS HAS MANIFESTED ITSELF THROUGH JEWISH IDENTIFICATION WITH THE OPPRESSED STATUS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND RESULTED IN COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS.
OFTEN, HOWEVER, JEWS PARTICIPATED IN THE SUBJECTION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AS A MEANS OF MAKING THEIR OWN CLAIM UPON ASSIMILATED WHITE IDENTITY. ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING OCCURRENCES RELATED TO THIS PHENOMENON IS THE JEWISH DONNING OF BLACKFACE MAKEUP. IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, BLACKFACE MINSTRELSY WAS AMONG THE MOST POPULAR CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE COUNTRY, BUT AT THAT TIME, MOST BLACKFACE PERFORMERS WERE WORKING-CLASS IRISH AMERICANS. IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, HOWEVER, BLACKFACE MOVED FROM CONCERT HALLS AND MINSTREL PERFORMANCES TO VAUDEVILLE AND MOTION PICTURES, WHERE MOST OF THE ENTERTAINERS TO WEAR BLACKFACE WERE JEWISH.
THE MOST FAMOUS JEW TO BLACK UP WAS UNDOUBTEDLY AL JOLSON IN THE 1927 FILM THE JAZZ SINGER, BUT GEORGE BURNS, SOPHIE TUCKER, FANNY BRICE, EDDIE CANTOR, AND THE MARX BROTHERS ALL DONNED BLACKFACE AS WELL. MICHAEL ROGIN CONVINCINGLY ARGUES THAT JEWISH BLACKFACE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SERVED AS A CULTURAL “RITE OF PASSAGE,” TRANSFORMING THE IMMIGRANT JEW INTO AN AMERICAN.3 BY PARTICIPATING IN THE EXCLUSION AND STEREOTYPING OF BLACKS, AMERICAN JEWS MADE THEMSELVES WHITE. ROGIN EXPLAINS THAT FOR AMERICAN JEWISH ENTERTAINERS, “FOCUSING ATTENTION ON BLACKNESS PROTECTS [THEIR OWN] WHITENESS AS THE UNEXAMINED GIVEN.”
BY THE 1960S, THE BLACKFACE MASK HAD ALL BUT DISAPPEARED, AND LIKE THE N-WORD AND THE SWASTIKA, IT BECAME, IN JOHN STRAUSBAUGH’S WORDS, “UTTERLY TABOO.” 5 SINCE THEN, JEWISH BLACKFACE STILL MADE THE OCCASIONAL APPEARANCE, BUT IT TYPICALLY TOOK THE FORM OF WHAT STRAUSBAUGH CALLS “VIRTUAL BLACKFACE” OR “BLACKFACE AS LIFESTYLE,” IN WHICH WHITES ADOPT THE STEREOTYPICAL MANNERISMS, FASHION, OR LANGUAGE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WITHOUT LITERALLY BLACKING UP.6 THE BEST JEWISH AMERICAN EXAMPLE OF THIS SORT OF “VIRTUAL BLACKFACE” MAY BE THE JEWISH HIP-HOP TRIO THE BEASTIE BOYS, WHO SERVED AN INSTRUMENTAL ROLE IN BRINGING RAP MUSIC INTO THE CULTURAL MAINSTREAM.
VAUDEVILLE THEATER WAS A VARIETY ACT THAT COULD INCLUDE MUSICIANS, SINGERS, DANCERS, COMEDIANS, TRAINED ANIMALS, MAGICIANS, VENTRILOQUISTS, STRONGMEN, FEMALE AND MALE IMPERSONATORS, ACROBATS, CLOWNS, MIMES, ILLUSTRATED SONGS, JUGGLERS, ATHLETES, LECTURING CELEBRITIES, PLAYS, AND FILMS.
BUT BLACKFACE WAS THE MOST POPULAR…