Kathleen Fitzpatrick mentions--
 
>This just reminded me -- and I don't think it's been mentioned yet -- of
>the "Lincoln's Birthday" >sketch in "Holiday Inn," with both Fred and Bing
>in blackface...
 
Don Larsson states:
 
>Actually, it's Bing and Virginia Dale.
 
        The woman appearing onstage in blackface is actually Marjorie
Reynolds -- dubbed by Martha Mears.  Interesting sound-image impersonation
going on here.
        Don't forget the white musicians onstage and the waitstaff, also in
blackface.
 
>The premise is that Bing is trying to "hide" her from being stolen away by
>Fred--about as >emabarrassing a number as you can find, overall.  It's
>been suggested that shots of Louise Beavers >(who plays the housekeeper at
>the Inn) and her two little children were edited out of prints shown in
>>the South.
 
        Could you provide a reference for this, please?
         Those "lucky" Northerners who were able to watch Mamie-Beavers and
the children sing a refrain of  Irving Berlin's "Abraham" song sung by Bing
Crosby were treated to lyrics such as:
 
        When black folks lived in slavery
        Who was it (sic) set the darky free?
        Abraham, Abraham
 
        Also, Don mentioned editing practices that cut certain segments out
of prints distributed in the South. I feel compelled to provide the example
of Lena Horne, who appeared in films in which her musical numbers were
*constructed* so as not to distrupt the diegesis when they were cut from
the films for distribution in the South.
 
        Gloria Monti
 
 
 
 
 
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gloria monti
film studies program, yale university
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~godard/index.html
 
many years later, as he faced the firing squad, colonel aureliano buendía
was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover
ice.
 
gabriel garcía márquez, *cien anos de soledad*
 
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