A Canção de Dixie

Dixie

Throughout history there has been hardships for African Americans. Slavery, obtaining human rights, and discrimination are examples of the hard times that African Americans have gone through. Many movies that were made around the 1940's can be offensive to many African Americans because these hardships such as slavery and discrimination are portrayed within them. Within the comical musical Dixie directed by A Edward Sutherland, 1943, it lets its viewers see and recognize what the time period was really like.

Although the movie was well directed, written and acted out, the truth of the time period shines through. Although this film was not made to be offensive, it is. Slavery and discrimination are shown through the song "Dixie," and by characters within the movie. When Daniel Emmett went and performed with his, at first three partners, they used makeup to paint their faces black and over exaggerate the size of their lips. They talked as if they were uneducated and didn't understand things. Also characters from the audience at first were insulted and appalled that "darkies" were performing on stage. This attitude is not make- believe. This was the reaction of people during this time period to African Americans.

During this time period Minstrel entertainment was popular during the 19th century. White performers would mimic African Americans as a main attraction by coloring their faces and using makeup to make it look like they have big lips and eyes. Later African Americans did participate in there own form of festivities called the Pinkster celebrations in which black and white performers would gather and celebrate the change of the season. This would ultimately change into a primarily African American holiday that slaves and free blacks would catch up with family and friends. This gave them a chance to express and pass on their traditions and cultures.

Dixie portrays the discrimination and slavery that was still going on during this time period. The racism of the audience and reference to slavery within the song "Dixie" all show how this can be offensive to a wide majority of viewers. Although these are within the film, overall the film does a good job at showing what the time period was like and had a good story.

Dixie is a highly fictionalized biography of Daniel Decatur Emmett who was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio and was twice married: to Catherine Rives, who died in 1875 and then to Mary Louise Bird, a widow with two daughters.

Emmett performed his first song Old Dan Tucker at the age of fifteen. He was one of four men in the "Original Virginia Minstrels," with Frank Brower. Billy Whitlock, and Dick Pelham. Emmett later performed with Bryant's Minstrels in New York and then with Leavitt's Gigantean Minstrels. Emmett wrote the song Dixie in the spring of 1859, while with Bryant's Minstrels in New York. At the beginning of the Civil War both armies marched to the tune of Dixie but by 1861 Dixie had become a Southern tune.

The movie is essentially a series of songs and 'black-face' acts. The latter, although generally considered humorous in 1943, will probably offend many viewers today.

DIXIE (Paramount, 1943), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, capitalizes on the then current trend of musical biographies of popular songwriters of the twentieth century, a cycle that appeared to have begun with the life of George M. Cohan in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (WB, 1942). Unlike this and others made during this period, DIXIE goes back a century, prior to the Civil War in fact, depicting the life of a composer named Daniel Decatur Emmett. His life-story is as unknown as his name itself. The fictional screenplay does toy with the facts before leading to the purpose of its film title, the composition that's to become Emmett's most recognizable American song of all, "Dixie." Bing Crosby, one of Hollywood's top box office attractions, is properly cast as Dan Emmett. It reunites him with HOLIDAY INN (1942) co-star, Marjorie Reynolds, and re-teams him opposite Dorothy Lamour, in her only film opposite Crosby outside from the seven "Road to" comedies all featuring Bob Hope as part of the funny trio.

Dan Emmett's life is portrayed more to the personification of Çrosby himself, that of a good-natured singer/composer whose only weakness is his forgetfulness, especially when it comes to leaving his lit up smoking pipe around that causes a fire. He is engaged to Jean Mason (Marjorie Reynolds), a beautiful blonde Southern belle whose father (Grant Mitchell) disapproves of their courtship because he feels Dan to be irresponsible and won't amount to anything. Mason's more convinced now after Dan's lit-up pipe has caused the burning and destruction of Mason's old Kentucky home. However, Mason consents to Jean's marriage only if Dan can prove himself capable by doubling his $500 life savings to $1,000 within six months. (A similar opening lifted from the more familiar Fred Astaire musical, SWING TIME, in 1936). Leaving his clerical job, Dan seeks his fortune in New Orleans. While riverboat bound, he loses all of his $500 to Mr. Bones (Billy De Wolfe), a suave actor and cardsharp. After discovering that he had been cheated, he sets out to find Mr. Bones. Instead of beating him for the return of his money, composer and actor form a partnership leading to the origins of what was to be known as a Minstrel Show. Dan, who has already encountered Millie Cook (Dorothy Lamour) at the boarding house to whom Bones and other out-of work actors (Lynne Overman and Eddie Foy Jr.) owe back rent for their lodgings to her trusting father (Raymond Walburn), finds himself in love with her, in spite that she's the aggressor who made the first move. Dan decides to return to Kentucky and break his engagement to Jean. Upon his return, Dan finds the girl he once loved to be a victim of a crippling disease, polio, that puts him in a difficult situation as to which girl he should marry, and which should get his swan song.

Oddly enough for a life-story about a composer, one would expect a handful of selections by Emmett himself, however, with the exception of "Old Dan Tucker," and "Dixie," many were by others, new ones by James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. The motion picture soundtrack includes "Sunday, Monday or Always," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," (both sing by Bing Crosby); "Kinda Peculiar Brown" (sung/performed by Eddie Foy Jr. and Lynne Overman); "Old Dan Tucker," "The Last Rose of Summer," "She's From Missouri," "Let the Minstrel Show You How," "Kinda Peculiar Brown" (dance number); "The Horse That Knew the Way Back Home," "If You Please," "Sunday, Monday or Always," and "Dixie." While "Dixie" is the song in question, "Sunday, Monday or Always" is the film's most romantic ballad, and one of many most associated with Crosby. The Lynne Overman and Eddie Foy Jr. number early in the story is another highlight.

So is it true, as depicted on screen, that the birth of the minstrel show was due to white actors acquiring black eyes in a fight to cover up their bruises by darkening themselves up with cork? Hard to tell since minstrel shows have become part of American culture that remains to be a controversial issue. How much is true about the Mr. Bones character as portrayed by Billy DeWolfe (in his screen debut) is another issue. His amusing scenes, however, come off quite well, at best when cheating at cards, and, in a sense, tasteless, when obtaining a free meal in a restaurant by placing a cockroach in his food before being nearly finished, then complaining the "incident" to a waiter. The result to this colorful production finds Crosby satisfying, as always; Reynolds quite sympathetic; DeWolfe, Overman and Foy comical delights; with Lamour leaving a lasting impression long after the finish of the film as she joins in with other proud southerners singing to Emmett's immortal song of the south, "I wish I was in Dixie, hooray, hooray!!!" in full camera closeup.

Less dramatic than composer Stephen Foster's interpretation in SWANEE RIVER (1939), each film has benefited from its lavish Technicolor. During the sequence depicting Emmett's Virginia Minstrels as the troupe performs in an opera house to a sophisticated audience, where the song, "Dixie," is to be introduced, a patron (Norma Varden) observing the show quips about the show to be of "such poor taste." Due to extensive use of minstrel show numbers recapturing that bygone era from which this film is based, is the sole reason why DIXIE hasn't aired on television since the 1980s. A video copy, however, was obtained by a private collector from which this review is based. How DIXIE succeeds or fails if seen today depends on the individual viewer. (***)

Dixie is a biopic of a showman and musician, Daniel Decatur Emmett, who got his start in vaudeville performing in blackface in the 1840s. This is a touchy subject, because since that was a large part of his life-he was the first successful blackface performer-but it's not something American audiences like to watch anymore. Should Hollywood cut that part of the plot out and ignore part of this man's life, or keep it in and risk offending people? In case you're wondering why Hollywood decided to make a biopic of this man in the first place, he contributed something else to American culture, something so famous and crucial: the anthem of the South, "Dixie".

If you look at this film as recording the life of a man in the 1840s, it's actually tastefully done. Yes, there are too many blackface scenes to count, but the film doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to be exceedingly offensive. Without the makeup, most of the jokes and routines Bing Crosby and his troupe perform are just puns and pratfalls. "How was the trip?" he asks his fellow actor after he tumbles off the stage. "I don't know, I'll tell you next fall," the man answers. These aren't racist jokes, if you close your eyes when you hear them.

It really is too bad that so much of the movie is visually jarring, because the story itself is very interesting and heartwarming. At the start of the movie, Bing is engaged to Marjorie Reynolds, but he's not allowed to marry her until he makes his fortune. He's naïve and falls into the oily embrace of card shark Billy De Wolfe, but the two quickly join forces and pursue an acting career, where they meet Dorothy Lamour. Dorothy is completely different from Marjorie, and Bing falls in love. When Bing goes home to break his engagement, he finds out Marjorie's fallen ill and has become permanently paralyzed. Stricken with guilt, Bing marries Marjorie and sends a note of apology to Dorothy, with no intention of ever seeing her again.

What's missing from that synopsis? Racism! See what I mean, Dixie has a very compelling story behind it. If you can get past the several blackface numbers and realize it was a part of this man's history, this is a good movie. The Jazz Singer is universally revered, and audiences accept that blackface was a part of Al Jolson's history.

The movie will make you wait for it, but when you're finally treated to the "Dixie" number, it's well worth the wait. Since it happens so late in the film, I don't want to tell you what happens, but it's an incredibly moving scene. Dorothy gets to show off her acting chops, and Bing rouses the film audience to their feet; it feels like you're really taken back in time a hundred years when the song turned into an anthem. There's no true Southerner who can watch that scene and not be moved to tears.

In the movie Dixie (1943), it was apparent that at this civil war time entertainment there were different styles of dance emerging. During this time it became a popular diversion to spend evenings at a minstrel theater. Straying away from the traditional opera or ballet, minstrels offered a new sense of entertainment which promoted the class system. Fortunately our society today is accepting African Americans and prejudices are less prevalent. Subsequent to professional minstrelsy's decline in th 20th century, its appeal continued in the south. Though Minstrels proposed stereotypes, some good did result from this type of entertainment. These shows presented black performers the opportunity to build a foundation which later helped many of them to emerge as successful entertainers.

Minstrel shows exposed a wide selection of audiences to this unique type of entertainment. With its combination of eccentric dancing and diverse music, people enjoyed the allure of the entertainment. Closely similar to tap dancing, it boasted innovative and bizarre movements' pairs wit flamboyant eye-catching costumes.

This type of amusement contributed to later types of dancing and entertainment. As a big benchmark in the industry, without minstrels played a role in what dancing has evolved into presently. Without minstrels, who knows if the great such as Dizzy Gillespie, W.C Handy, and Bert Williams, would have been as successful as they were.