Remembering Hollywood’s First Interracial Pairing
If you’ve read or watched any of the coverage of Shirley Temple’s death in the last two weeks, you’ve probably seen a mention of Bill “Bojangles†Robinson, the dazzling tap dancer who co-starred with Temple in some of her most memorable films. Temple probably had no idea at the time, but her dance routines with “Uncle Billy†were remarkable not only for their seemingly effortless precision and beauty, but also because they managed to shatter one of Hollywood’s biggest barriers without many people even noticing.
As her New York Times obituary notes, Temple “may have been the first white actress allowed to hold hands affectionately with a black man on screen†(an act that was surely allowed only by the fact that she was seven years old at the time.)
It’s impossible to critically examine Shirley Temple’s film career without talking about race and the way ethnicity was portrayed on film throughout the 1930s. According to black film historian Donald Bogle, “Blacks appeared so often in her important films that there was an inside industry joke that a Temple picture was incomplete without at least one ‘darky.’†And out of all of her co-stars, both black and white, there was no one more important than Bill Robinson.
The pair’s first collaboration was 1935’s The Littlest Colonel, set immediately after the Civil War. Robinson plays Walker, Temple’s grandfather’s stereotypically loyal butler. The film’s most memorable scene is the famous “staircase dance,†which begins when Walker tries to convince his young charge to go to bed (the “affectionate handholding†starts about 2 minutes in):
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCFYpWDmfM&feature=player_embedded[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFc9uuAkUg&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Although Robinson’s preternatural talent and obvious charisma was obvious right from the beginning — Fred Astaire once called him the greatest dancer of all time – he wasn’t “discovered†by mainstream (that is, white) audiences until 1928, when he was 50 years old, after he was cast in Lew Leslie’s hit Broadway revue Blackbirds of 1928. His routine from the show included his now-famous staircase dance and his performance was both a popular and critical success. In this audio recording, listeners can hear how Robinson’s transforms his feet into a percussive instrument that accompanies Don Redman and his orchestra.
Despite the late start, Robinson’s film career soared, and by 1937 he was making $6,600 a week — an astonishing sum for an African American entertainer. As for Shirley Temple, she was making $10,000 a week during this same period.
Robinson was limited onscreen to playing butlers and other subservient roles. The Littlest Rebel – Robinson and Temple’s second film together — was released later that same year. As the title suggests, the movie takes place on a plantation during the Civil War. This time around Robinson plays “Uncle Billy,†a loyal slave to Temple’s six-year-old Virgie Cary. The film begins with Uncle Billy performing at Cary’s birthday party at the plantation — a dance that is interrupted when the news of the attack on Fort Sumter arrives.
Needless to say, The Littlest Rebel is filled with unrealistic moments, like when the duo heads to Washington to personally ask President Lincoln to pardon Virgie’s father. They decide to tap dance on the street for change when they realize they don’t have any funds:
http://the-toast.net/2014/02/27/remembering-hollywoods-first-interracial-pairing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=remembering-hollywoods-first-interracial-pairing
If you’ve read or watched any of the coverage of Shirley Temple’s death in the last two weeks, you’ve probably seen a mention of Bill “Bojangles†Robinson, the dazzling tap dancer who co-starred with Temple in some of her most memorable films. Temple probably had no idea at the time, but her dance routines with “Uncle Billy†were remarkable not only for their seemingly effortless precision and beauty, but also because they managed to shatter one of Hollywood’s biggest barriers without many people even noticing.
As her New York Times obituary notes, Temple “may have been the first white actress allowed to hold hands affectionately with a black man on screen†(an act that was surely allowed only by the fact that she was seven years old at the time.)
It’s impossible to critically examine Shirley Temple’s film career without talking about race and the way ethnicity was portrayed on film throughout the 1930s. According to black film historian Donald Bogle, “Blacks appeared so often in her important films that there was an inside industry joke that a Temple picture was incomplete without at least one ‘darky.’†And out of all of her co-stars, both black and white, there was no one more important than Bill Robinson.
The pair’s first collaboration was 1935’s The Littlest Colonel, set immediately after the Civil War. Robinson plays Walker, Temple’s grandfather’s stereotypically loyal butler. The film’s most memorable scene is the famous “staircase dance,†which begins when Walker tries to convince his young charge to go to bed (the “affectionate handholding†starts about 2 minutes in):
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCFYpWDmfM&feature=player_embedded[/video]
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFc9uuAkUg&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Although Robinson’s preternatural talent and obvious charisma was obvious right from the beginning — Fred Astaire once called him the greatest dancer of all time – he wasn’t “discovered†by mainstream (that is, white) audiences until 1928, when he was 50 years old, after he was cast in Lew Leslie’s hit Broadway revue Blackbirds of 1928. His routine from the show included his now-famous staircase dance and his performance was both a popular and critical success. In this audio recording, listeners can hear how Robinson’s transforms his feet into a percussive instrument that accompanies Don Redman and his orchestra.
Despite the late start, Robinson’s film career soared, and by 1937 he was making $6,600 a week — an astonishing sum for an African American entertainer. As for Shirley Temple, she was making $10,000 a week during this same period.
Robinson was limited onscreen to playing butlers and other subservient roles. The Littlest Rebel – Robinson and Temple’s second film together — was released later that same year. As the title suggests, the movie takes place on a plantation during the Civil War. This time around Robinson plays “Uncle Billy,†a loyal slave to Temple’s six-year-old Virgie Cary. The film begins with Uncle Billy performing at Cary’s birthday party at the plantation — a dance that is interrupted when the news of the attack on Fort Sumter arrives.
Needless to say, The Littlest Rebel is filled with unrealistic moments, like when the duo heads to Washington to personally ask President Lincoln to pardon Virgie’s father. They decide to tap dance on the street for change when they realize they don’t have any funds:
http://the-toast.net/2014/02/27/remembering-hollywoods-first-interracial-pairing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=remembering-hollywoods-first-interracial-pairing
