Contrary to what’s politically correct today, racial and ethnic stereotypes were sources of humor for early comedians, Dr. Frank Scheide told about 65 Keatonphiles at the opening session of the 18th annual Buster Keaton Celebration Friday. Each celebration has a theme and this year’s is “Tragic Clowns and America’s Melting Pot.”
Scheide, of the University of Arkansas, spoke on “Gaining Ethnic Appreciation through Laughter: An Ironic Legacy of America’s Comic Melting Pot” in the Bowlus Fine Arts Center auditorium.
Comedians who populated silent films were equal opportunity offenders, Scheide said. They were without compunction when it came to portraying Jews as unscrupulous money lenders or making blacks look like doofuses. Germans, Slavs and other immigrants also were targeted. Racial stereotypes also were used in cartoons to poke fun and to provide opportunities to thumb noses at convention.
But some entertainers were not so condescending, Scheide said.
Scheide used the play, “The Melting Pot,” first staged in 1908, as an example.
The play, written by Israel Zangwill, depicts the life of a Russian-Jewish family whose lone pogrom survivor wishes to forget the horrible event.
He looks forward to life in America, in a society free of ethnic divisions and hatred. He calls America God’s crucible, where all races of Europe are melting and reforming.
Also mentioned was Bert Williams, a popular black vaudevillian of the era whose comedy defused the images of blacks that white actors created to get laughs.
“The British,” Scheide said, “found it easier to throw off the old ways” and be more comfortable in the United States.
BILL SHAFFER of KTWU, Topeka’s channel 11 public television station, discussed the role of Max Davidson, “Hollywood’s forgotten Jew.” He included several film clips to show how Davidson, slight of build at 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds, used facial expressions, arms and hands to accentuate points and draw laughs. He had his first film roles about 1910, but after appearing in “The Rag Man” in 1925 with Jackie Coogan, his career was launched.
“Davidson never meant to be offensive and his work universally was funny,” Shaffer said.
“He was a stereotypically Old World man adrift in a new world, usually playing the role of a ragman or junk dealer.”
When actors were needed to portray stereotypical Jewish roles, Davidson topped the list of those sought, Shaffer said.
THE KEATON Celebration continues today with registration starting at 8:30 a.m. Presentations carry on through the afternoon.
At 7:30 is a series of films. First are three shorts: “Limousine Love,” 1928, starring Charley Chase; “Nobody’s Business,” 1926, starring Lloyd Hamilton; and “A Dash through the Clouds,” 1912, starring Mable Normand. Following intermission the feature film, “The Cameraman,” made in 1928 and featuring Buster Keaton, will be shown.
