St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-09-21

SIn1Ln s DeSC-Selllng novel Dy I
here in New York last week. Con-
troversy has ragged among think
ing persons over the matter, many
contending that "Strange Fruit"
will duplicate it's accomplishment
on the stage as in the novel Of
putting educated Negro woman
hood in a bad light. Selection of
Jane White, daughter of the execu-
tive secretary of the NAACP, is
thought to have been made to quiet
criticism of the proposed play.
AS they did in "Uncle Toms
Cabin" the "Uncle Remus" tales,
and more recently, in est. Louis
Woman" which is to star Lena
Horne, those who see issues more
clearly than those who look to tenn
porary applause and a little gold
along with it, have sharpened their
pencils, their tongues, and their
daggers to cry down Strange
Fruit" on the stage. Since Ferrer, as
producer and director, plans to stick
close to the text of the novel in his
dramatic version, theatregoers are
in for a good dose of the love of
Negro girl, graduate from college,
and pretty, also, for a weak-willed,
white youth, son of a leading small
town Georgia family. This love
affair is portrayed as typical, show
ing how white men carry on after
dark romances with Negro women
and then attempt to avoid conse-
quences by marrying white women.
Drama in "Strange Fruit" is
heightened by a lynching of the
wrong man who was accused of
Staying Nonnie's lover.
The situation in a nutshell is
this: The condition of the Amer
lean Negro today, socially, eco
nomically, and morally, is at such
a low ebb that all thinking per-
sons are devOting time and energy
to help him climb to his proper
place in American life. Impress
siOns are paramount in this eff
fort and when the white major
ity sees Negro performers on the
screen, stage, or nightclub, or
hears them over the radio in
crap-shOOting, watermelon eat
ing, chicken-stealing, razor-tOt-
ing and loud and wrong charac-
teristics, it does the cause of the
race no good at all. 1t has been
found that white producers, both
in Hollywood and on Broadway,
have suddenly done an about face
in the type of colored woman
they pick for theatrical or screen
roles. The trend today is away
from the Hattie Mcdaniel, Louise
Beavers, Ma Rainey type, big,
black and buxOm, to slim, trim,
peachbud beauties of the Lena
Horne or Hilda Sims variety.
Where they employed the Nc
Daniels, the Beavers, the Ma
Raineys (she wasn't in pictures,
but on the stage) to portray
nanny" roles or parts calling
for blackness and a whole lot of
white shiny, teeth, they have
found a new use for the Lena
HOrnes, the Hilda Simses, the
Edna Mae HAIRLESS and the
Katherine Dunhams.
These advanced types of Negro
womanhood are almost exclusively
portrayed on the screen or on the
stage as fallen women, concubines,
'hot" lovers, glorifed street-walk-
ers, etc. This, then, is the idea one
gets at the choice of pretty Jane
White for the role of Nonnie! It is
out of the question, at least so far,
for a Negro woman with looks,
education, and background like
Hilda Sims, Katherine Durham
or Lena Horne to be seen in digni-
fed, cultural roles that show Negro
womanhood at its highest level. No,
the door is closed there. The I'M
speakable lowness of NOMINEES re-
lationship with the white youth in
Lillian Smiths novel is now about
to be glorified and made authorita-
tive through the employment of