The Brits and some Americans became quite upset upon hearing whispers that the British actor Idris Elba could possibly become the first Black James Bond, the popular worldwide fictional secret agent 007, martini’s shaken, not stirred.
Elba would make a great James Bond, but the concept of a Black man having sex with all those ladies and killing a bunch of fictional diabolical white villains would just be too much for producers.
The total sacrilege of the race issue didn’t become toxic until the Brits had the audacity to cast British actor Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop.”
Jackson was one of the most talented performers (dancer, singer, songwriter, actor, arranger) to walk this Earth. To have a white actor portray him in an upcoming British TV movie on the Sky Arts channel is beyond disrespect. Fiennes should have enough dignity and respect for Jackson’s family to decline the role in favor of a Black actor, although it is very rare that an actor would turn down a role, and let’s face it, Fiennes will be playing the role of one of the most creative entertainers ever.
A brief walk through Hollywood’s history reveals that whites assuming people-of-color roles is not new. Remember those “cowboy and Indian” movies? Most of those Indians were white men in make-up. In the late 1920s, the fictional detective Charlie Chan was originally played by an Asian, but in 1931, the Fox Films Corporation cast Swedish actor Warner Oland as Chan. After Oland’s death, the American actor Sidney Toler took over the role. More than 30 Charlie Chan movies were made, and the detective’s sons, who came on the scene in the mid-1940s, were played by Asians.
During the late 1940s, the comedy team of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll had a long-running radio program called “Amos ‘n Andy.” For the show, they adopted a definitive derogatory Black dialect, and in the film “Check and Double Check” (1930), the duo performed in blackface.
On moving to television, Gosden and Correll showed more respect than the Brits by actually seeking out Black actors to play the various roles. “Amos ‘n Andy” was the first U.S. television program with an all-Black cast, running for 78 episodes on CBS from 1951 to 1953.
Don’t forget Disney’s film, “The Lone Ranger” (2013), In which Johnny Depp played the masked man’s devoted friend and scout Tonto, a native American.
However, the greatest charade Hollywood ever pulled on America and maybe film-goers around the world, with the exception of France, are the nearly 200 high-adventure films that included “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Twenty Years After” and “The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later.”
These films were adapted from the now historical novels written by Alexandre Dumas (July 24, 1802– Dec. 5, 1870), a Black Frenchman. The playwright and novelist is one of the most widely read French authors; his books have been translated into more than 50 languages.
Dumas’ father, Thomas-Alexandre, who was born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was the first soldier of Afro-Antilles origin to reach the rank of general in the French army. It was his father’s adventures in the army, told to him by his mother, a former slave, that sparked Dumas’ imagination for his later novels.
Would a Black man with such pride, being the son of a general and a proud Black (Creole) mother want his characters to be portrayed as adventurous, daring white men? Absolutely not!
The totality of his legacy was greatly diminished when Hollywood chose to interpret his novels’ great swash-buckling adventurers as white heroes. Surely, his imaginative fair maidens and adventurous men were written in the images of his proud Black parents.
Who will become white next under the lights of Sky Arts and Hollywood? Maybe in coming years it will be Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker or Noble Sissle.
It seems the idea of kidnapping identities and substituting white faces for people of color is just another good ole American tradition, similar to their systematic terrorism.
Black actors once again not receiving nominations for this year’s Academy Awards is par for the course. Jada Pickett-Smith and other actors shouldn’t be in this fight alone. Black folks and all who believe in equality should be involved.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called it “sustained diligence.” Boycott, picket, march or hold whatever peaceful demonstration for the duration until the problem is resolved. Just reacting over and over to the same racist events isn’t helping, as history continues to demonstrate. The bully will keep bullying while promising everyday to stop and make things better. The walls of institutional racism will never come down without “sustained diligence.”
While we are on the subject of Hollywood, why is it that the two Black film pioneers, Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams, were never honored by the Academy with posthumous Lifetime Achievement Awards? They wrote, directed, produced and sometimes financed their own films.
Williams’ film, “The Blood of Jesus” (1941), was produced by his own company, Amnegro, on a $5,000 budget. Time Magazine counted the film among its “25 Most Important Films on Race.” In 1991, “The Blood of Jesus” became the first race film to be added to the U.S. National Film Registry.
Tulivu Donna-Henry, aka Donna Lynn Cumberbatch, daughter of baritone saxophonist Harold Cumberbatch, a native of Brooklyn, has earned an international reputation as a jazz singer touring in Europe, the Caribbean and Japan. On Feb. 12, she will treat fans to a one-night performance at the BAM Cafe Live (30 Lafayette Ave., 2nd Floor). The concert begins at 9 p.m. and is free.
Her operatic timbre offers great projection to touch souls on her gospel-spirited songs and swing hard on those bouncy jazz tunes. She will be accompanied by Seasoned Elegance, with pianist Anthony Wonsey, bassist Rachiim Ausar-Sahu, violist Melanie Dyer and drummer Mark Johnson.