Let me tell y'all something about Eddie Cantor. I know his daughter Janet, the last surviving child of Eddie's... And she told me some wonderful stories about him. She told me that he had such respect for African-Americans... That he would never hire them as servants in his home... He would only hire black people to work in his office. The blackface was not considered an insult it was considered a compliment at the time.... Although Eddie stopped the practice altogether in the late 1930s. Janet told me that she used to have her father come into her room and kill spiders for her because she was terrified of spiders. She said it was a wonderful father... And he is a wonderful human being. People look at the blackface and think... Oh how horrible... But most did it is a *homage to Black entertainers. I'm not defending black face in any way shape or form it was a horrible practice with misguided human beings that were products of their time. But I can personally vouch for Eddie Cantor... For not having a racist bone in his body. He told all of his children to respect every person equally depending on the content of their character and not their skin color. Eddie Cantor was a wonderful, brilliant intelligent performer and a wonderful man by all accounts. BTW .. I'm a black woman and I became acquainted with Eddie's daughter, Janet, when I wrote on Facebook that I could see a *humanity* in Eddie Cantor... That I couldn't see in any other blackface performer. Eddie Cantor was a wonderful performer... And a wonderful human being who stood up against racism his entire life. He was a man AHEAD of his time... But also... a man OF his time.... f his time.
Eddie is one of my favorites. Thanks for posting! On a somber note, one of my great uncles was killed on the set of one of Eddie's movies while testing out a special effect (flying carpet).
Interesting. He introduces Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw, who, may have been filming, "Coconuts" with the Marx Brothers in that very same building at the same time.
That's true, the Astoria Studios, Paramount's major location on the East Coast at that time. Animal crackers was also filmed there. , although this is a Paramount short... But I have to agree with the poster that it really looks like Cantor is at ziegfeld's midnight frolic. If it could be wired to shoot a film there, why not? I doubt they would build such a lavish set for a simple short subject. It looks like the Roof Garden Oh, and it probably is. Cantor could have been shot in his medium shot where he delivers the song at the end, with a close-up lens from the back of the audience. He could have also have a remote mic or a boom to use that we can't see.
The reference to Henry Ford is interesting. He had recently apologised for publishing anti-Semitic articles in a newspaper he owned. Cantor pokes fun at Ford cars, refers to Ford's apology and his own Jewishness, then makes a stereotypical joke about Jewish business acumen, and all the time in blackface!
+postscript67 it's classic, scathing, new york sarcasm (imho) and it's freakin' hysterical! unfortunately, lots of folks don't get it. i grew up with it so...
Seems like Hypocrisy to me. Neither Jews, Blacks, Italians, Irish were accepted back when, and he, being Jewish, would lamb-baste people in similar straits as his own? #Rhetorical #SayItAintSo
jgraif people do not know “Funny” anymore. And can’t even poke fun at themselves and their own stereotypes. I’m Hispanic and there’s a lot to have fun with.....and before anyone jumps on me for that, checkout Cheech and Chong. Lighten up America, you’re hysterical!,
Wayne Jones I don’t get your point, the op said he made jokes about his own people. Who knows what all of that blackface was actually about. So far as I’m watching it, there’s not much about black people in it. I’ll keep your words in mind, though.
Firstly, in the books that he has written, he has made no secret of the facts that Bert Williams taught him comedy, that he was, in fact, a mentor to Mr. Cantor. That is why Eddie Cantor had a new character. He was playing, for the time, an intellectual Black character, complete with white horn-rim glasses, . & just back from college---complete with uke!
Yes, that's how they matched up in a famous comedy scene from the Ziegfeld Follies. Cantor played the young intellectual in black face and white glasses so they would show up, and Bert Williams played his disgruntled father. I've seen photos taken of this scene and I wish I could show them to you now, they're quite hilarious.
2 роки тому
@@rufust.firefly2474 i wish there were videos of it. we have so few footage of Bert Williams :(
The set mimics the famous New Amsterdam Roof Garden theatre. Noting the ceiling height and long shot detail I wonder if it was actually filmed IN the theatre! The reason Eddie is in blackface is due to the conceit that he has just come from a full Follies show downstairs.
Jews stars at that time were very good to the black actor. And they all knew that blackface was just blackface. They all respected one another. If you disagree with this, DO YOUR HOMEWORK and stop looking for trouble where there is none!
I believe that the "Paramount Long Island Studios" is now the "Kaufman Astoria Studios. It was the home to much of early sound movies before everyone moved west to Hollywood.
+Cats01 Yes, that is correct. Some segments for the Max Fleischer Screen Songs were filmed there. Others were filmed and recorded at The Paramount News Lab as well.
Verboten stuff. I don't condone blackface but some stuff you gotta see and there it is. My Pop sang Horsey with a ukulele to me. This video means a lot to me.
"As far as I can ascertain, this was mastered as NTSC 24fps, then sped up to 25FPS PAL, then converted back to NTSC 29.97 via standard video conversion rather than slowing down. That's why there's jerkiness when I tried to IVTC for UA-cam's 24fps standard. I did the best I could." Nevertheless it provided quite nice source material for the 16mm print I had made. I thank you.
Hey Folks.. A clarification. The Blackface is an indicator of a comic.At the time it was a sign that the guy on-stage was a comic, not a romantic singer, a dancer,etc. A sign, like baggy pants. As you can see, he is not speaking as a cartoon version of a black guy. He does a 1929 comic monologue. He sings, in a normal voice, vaudeville novelty songs. Please folks, you must remember it was 1929. Consider how bizarre 2015 culture will seem to people a century from now.
in the silent era, black people were always the butt of the joke and were always played by white people in blackface. And that carried on where comedy acts were typically black face dudes acting like stereotypes of black people. Why couldn't Eddie Cantor just make these jokes without the blackface? You can't tell me that Blackface was supposed to only be a way for people to recognize that the performer was a comic. If that was true, then why didn't each type of performer (dancer/singer/etc)have a different color makeup on their face to distinguish them from other types of performers? It because Blackface was a racist joke. People liked to laugh at the dimwitted/silly/big lipped black man. That being said, this is a great piece of history and I'm really glad it has been preserved. We all just need to come to terms with the fact that America was super fucking racist back in the day. They still did Blackface in films up into the 1950's. We have grown a lot and should be proud to recognize that we have moved so far away from the old days. We don't need to make up excuses for how racist people were. We need to recognize our history in that regard and to continue grow.
@Emil Jansson I was talking about the origins of Black face and how people liked to laugh at the racist stereotypes. Black face is supposed to look like a racist stereotype of a Black person, plain and simple. If you do t see that, you're in denial. You can look past it as see Eddie Cantor's performance, but the makeup is the traditional and racist stereotype of a "big lipped, wide eyed" black man. This was well be for the civil rights movement
What is the real reason that you like Eddie Cantor, you young people as you say
2 роки тому+8
@@alexandermarquis6197 I'm 24 and I like Eddie for the same reason why I like all the other old time entertainers that I enjoy. they sing and dance to catchy happy songs with an unique arrangement that you won't find in any time period before or after. they perform with so much emotion that you end up wanting to sing and dance too
ohhh. I think its goo people have moved on from these types of entertainers and that time.. I`m happy for each young person who invests their time into the future and not into old racists this Eddie Cantor
2 роки тому+3
@@jasongreen3905 yes, it's good that society have evolved away from normalizing racism but enjoying old music has nothing to do with that. ironically, enjoying old media has been my biggest gateway into getting more conscious about the US racist history
Years ago I tried to find out where in the world this blackface thing came from. In the 1970s black & white minstrel shows, still played on UK, Australian & New Zealand TV. From memory back further past the minstrel shows it was apparently a device often used in theatres as a visual indicator to that part of the audience at the back who could not hear the performance well. Notice it was not just blackface it was blackface with white highlights (eyes mouth) and white gloves. This meant that a performers movement could be seen from a distance. Later some performers dropped the white features, and it slowly morphed into something that had no real practical use and for obvious reasons unsavoury. The mistral shows however kept the white features. "The Eddie Cantor Story" in at least one scene erroneously shows Canter without the white makeup. I should say I'm talking about the "legitimite" use of blackface that even some black performers utilised and people like Cantor and Jolson who commonly mixed with black performers. There WERE others that used blackface to make fun of black people who were not in a position to complain. This added other things such as braided hair.
Wow I never heard that about making it easier to see features--that's the first thing I've seen that makes sense. I don't understand it otherwise... Totally distracting. And he's not using it for character here or as a prop in a joke...
@@davidz9741 Wowsers! Perhaps because I am 81 and grew up in Boston I seem to know the old vaudeville stuff. And everything is just common sense for the times. There was no electricity, so no lights and no mics. The performer would lean into the kerosene lamp to get the light and have to shout to be heard. Blackface evolved to highlight stage movements. Even a well-known black performer, "Pigmeat" Markham used blackface, and he said it was not to denigrate anybody, it was simply to be seen. So when movies came along, people wanted to see the old vaudeville acts that they had never seen. Al Jolson, singing "Mammy" was something that people wanted to see. The Marx brothers first movie was just their stage act. Much, much later some people took this the wrong way, and there were bad performances. But it did not start out that way. It was just a way to be seen.
@@williamheyman5439 it was a way to be seen, performed in the character that everyone was already familiar with... Like going to see a movie with your favorite star actor or actress. Performers in Minstrel C could walk in and the audience could immediately visually identify the character regardless of who was playing it. The reason why Cantor is in blackface, as was noted in earlier reply to a comment, what's that he had just finished a performance downstairs in the Ziegfeld theater and head Zoom dried up to appear before another audience. Otherwise I don't think he would have been in blackface for this performance, it certainly wasn't necessary. When Eddie appeared in a stage show with a plot and appeared in blackface, it was always for a reason. He might be part of a performance that was Nostalgia Cleary creating a Minstrel show, or he might have put on the black face to hide from the villains and was forced to pretend he was someone else.
@@williamheyman5439 You're trying to minimize and negate the real origin of blackface. It predates vaudeville and it's whole point was to mock black people. That it evolved later on to be adopted by black actors and changed in it's use after minstrelsy doesn't negate that it's origin or that it was a bad product of it's time.
@@cjaquilino It is a bad product of this time, but was not originally made to mock black people, but turned into that. This is the problem with history. People look at one aspect and say, "that's it!" when the actual history is more convoluted. I am now 84 years old, and convinced that any recent revelation of history, especially on TV, and especially PBS, has a "corrective" factor to applaud some, and denigrate others, when it suits their purpose, discounting any aspect which does not support their view. Anyway, it may be only seen, in its entirety, over time. Probably not our time. So I grew up with black people, the senior class president in high school was black, and I served in the army for 26 years, from private to colonel, working for black NCOs, then officers, and had the same later work for me, so I know. And it's complicated, and there are still non-understanding people out there, but we have to soldier on and I have not lost hope that eventually every person will be seen for what they are, themselves, and not some bad imagination. So take care!
mica steph see what you mean. Who emulated who is the question. Jolson was good, but he was only offered the jazz singer after Jessel and Cantor passed on it. In the end they were both great. Personally Cantor's personality was preferable.
As I understand it Jessel was originally offered the role because he had the starring role in the stage production of The Jazz Singer and Warner Bros considered Cantor ahead of Jolson purely as a cost issue. When it comes to who had the best personality even though I am a die hard Jolie fan my late Father on the other hand, like yourself, also preferred Cantor. If only we were able to see them both live and put them to the ultimate test!
@@TheStoneageRomeo I know a little of the etcetera even when it's in abbreviation. I believe that the deal came through for Jolson because he accepted stock in Warner Brothers as opposed to a straight amount of cash to do the movie. The author of the play had, indeed, been inspired to write it by the true story of jolson's youth.
Given Eddie Cantor's known track record of friendship at considerable risk with black artists as Bert Williams, Sammy Davis Jr, and the Nicholas Bros as well as his support of the civil rights movement late in life, I cannot get as mad seeing Eddie do this as I would from other artists.
Help me out, then, please, because after Decades of knowing of Eddie Cantor and loving his antics, I Now find out he at least came off as a bigger Rat than Al Jolson in the blackface portrayals. Yet both these guys, from what I read, came vehemetly alongside other Black performers and individuals, so .....IDK how to keep enjoying the guy who was ribbed for wanting that son after five daughters, the Warner Bros. cartoon references......oh, and I used to sing with a Barbershop Chorus where Cantor and Jolson lyrics and schtick abounded!! How do I go on appreciating either of them? Particularly Eddie? :'(
I'd break bread with Cantor before most of the actors of the time who would never dream of touching black face. The musical number for keep young and beautiful. The non segregated children eating icecream at the end of kid millions when his ship comes in. Tap dancing with the kids, giving the middle finger to the studio by inviting sammy davis jr back on and wiping sweat from his head. He was pretty progressive. So he stuck with an antiquated minstrel tradition I don't see a lot of him belittling us for being black. It doesn't bother me.
@@keithbrings9053 that black face is a tradition is the key word here. Our friend who commented does not considered deeply how different the background of that time was. Cantor and Jolson and the black face that we see in early sound films from the late twenties and very early 30s represent the very last gasp of minstrelsy. All Minstrel performances at that time were presented as being set in a distant and almost legendary past. When julson appears in blackface in The Jazz Singer it is because he is portraying a dramatic character who emphasizes his emotions on stage by applying makeup that emphasizes his facial features and invokes a commonality to the audience that is born from tradition The technical aspect for the success of blackface is the same reason that they used masks in the plays of ancient Greece. When all entertainment came to us from a distance on the stage, a lifted eyebrow could be invisible to a person in the back row. A wide-eyed look of astonishment might appear to be as if the actor had gone up in his lines. The blackface helped exaggerate expression for Comic effect from Center Stage all the way to the back row in the upper balcony of the theater. It had been going on for nearly a hundred years by that time. It was America's only true original form of entertainment. But you'll find it used for the purpose of portraying real black people as opposed to a musical or comic performance extremely rare. Black face was Unreal, even at that time. If you see Eddie Cantor in blackface it's because he's either performing a Minstrel show Recreation of minstrelsy, as in kid Millions, or because he's hiding from jealous Rivals by disguising himself, as in"Whoopee". " The Jazz Singer" stages one of the most compelling scenes in a dressing room where Al Jolson is applying his makeup before a performance. First time you see Jolson in blackface in that film is in the scene following where we watch him apply the makeup.
@wholly33 that's up to the individual. I was merely explaining things to you so that you could use and enlightened view when passing a judgement as opposed to an ignorant one.
@wholly33 if I give you a fact that does not necessarily mean that I think the action represented by the fact I've just giving you is right or wrong. It means that I've given you a fact. Judge attacks you would but you can't change the fact that it's a fact! I'm trying to Enlighten you, explaining the reasons why people did things they did in another time. To know why someone did something is not necessarily approving of it. I am not giving an excuse, nor am I attempting to justify any transgression in the past committed by America or any of its citizens. I'm merely giving you the facts and telling you that if you wish to understand them you must consider them in the context of the time. In which they occurred.
Thats an interesting video to watch, thanks! Ziegfeld lost it all in the great crash and had to sell the movie rights to Hollywood quickly, even though Whoopee was playing to packed houses on Broadway in 1929. Interesting also to see Eddy talking about Ford and his antisemitism views of the Jews.
@@antoniod doing 3D is easier than color as any historian of Motion Picture processes can tell you. But I've never heard of any 3D used in this early sound era. Where did you get this reference?
Before. This would be filmed in 1928 or early 29 during the run of Ziegfeld's "Whoopee!" A story of interracial love between an American native brave and a white lady! Taboo in its day. Eddie Cantor had just finished starring in Ziegfeld's Follies of 1927 at that same location. That show featured Ruth Etting and the all girl band, the "Ingenues" performing "Shaking the Blues Away", written for the show by Irving Berlin. Cantor also would take the elevator to the "Roof". and entertain after the show, as he does here during the Whoopee! run. Look how natural Eddie is in front of those first Talkie cameras! What a pro he was! Eddie made a 78 record of his comic song he sings here, "If I Give Up the Saxophone" on Victor records. I found me one! 😋
The more I live in this era the more I yearn not having been born much earlier. A simpler time a more innocent and yeah tougher time but from all accounts my grandparents and parents happily made it through. Watching these old films only makes me resent the fact I gave to live in the 2020s I HATE it.
Yes! She was thinking, "oh, how can I ever get this right? 'Down... Among the mangoes we're the monkeys Tango you can see them do... A little monkey doodle doo...'?"
Must admit to focus mainly on the material. More interested in the jokes and songs. That's what makes it enjoyable. The blackface thing was of the time. Thanks to hindsight we know of the implications and consequences, but we have that luxury.
A great clip of entertainment history form the 1920's! People who blindly criticize such things should attempt to put this in historical context & STOP being so reactionary. This was NEVER intended as "racist" at the time but merely a display of what had already pretty much disappeared from the stages of the time, the traditional minstrel show. Remember, in Vaudeville, Burlesque & even on Broadway, EVERYONE & EVERY ethnic group was fair game to have fun poked at them. Not malicious racist bigotry & obscene commentary like we have TODAY but just picking out certain well known & established characteristics & exaggerating them comedically. Maybe if people would return to learning how to laugh at THEMSELVES & dispose of all the "P.C." crap, the world would once again be enjoyable. Case in point, Redd Foxx used to make fun out of EVERYONE & not leave ANYONE out of his jabs.
+Todd Baxter Cantor, when singing, "Josephin-a Please No Lean-a On the Bell," would don a "babushka," to appear more like a old Italian woman. And that broken English now would be considered racist if held to the same standards as the imitation of blacks, no?
Yes, unfortunately. So-called "political correctness" is actually strangling free expression/speech although ironically, not when it comes to expressing anti-American hatreds. The double standard ALWAYS employed by socialists.
+Todd Baxter I admit that political correctness can be taken to extreme my wife was told off by an optician for saying that she was having difficulty seeing the blackboard in class and that she should use the term chalkboard. I know for a fact that Cantor was not racist. Neither was Jolson in his case it was possibly the only redeeming feature of his character. However from decades later it has to be said that entertainers in blackface looking like a grotesque parody of what a black man looks like is totally offensive. As a comparison what would think about a black singer made up with a fake hook nose and sidelocks pretending to be Jewish? Here in Britain we are proud our freedom of speech but we also understand that certain ideas are unacceptable. You can do nothing to change what people think but you can and should moderate what is public. As to socialism do you actually know what it is? And why do American right wingers always believe that any opinion at variance with their own is anti American? Cantor was a life long Democrat.
Well spoken. Regarding the depiction of Jews, how many Shylocks have you seen with large, putty noses? Plenty, I would guess. Playing to a stereotype was, for 100's of years, (maybe 1,000's) not only acceptable it was required. In the early days of vaudeville we found the extreme portrayals of Jews, Irish, Germans, and Italians, also Asians. It was a different world and different set of standards. No one, in 1961, took offense to Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a Holly Golightly's Japanese neighbor. It was funny. Now, it couldn't even be done by a Japanese actor. It's to the point where no one can be portrayed in any comical light that might be seen as derision with the exception of the straight white male.
Don't forget Al Jolson. I know Bert Williams taught comedy to Eddie, but I don't know how if Eddie was for civil rights or not. He probably was. A lot of Jewish actors and comedians of the era were.
@@Hotshotter3000 When Eddie talked about his early years with Bert Williams in his autobiography, he expressed how much he disapproved of the racism at the time. Finally knowing what he honestly thought about it, and knowing he was against it, was a huge relief for me
Cantor was one of the biggest stars of Early tv. He featured Sammy Davis with his father and uncle. When they were finished , Sam was sweating and Eddy put his arm around him , wiping his face with his own handkerchief. Sammy Davis says that Eddy knew exactly what he was doing, highlighting a young performer. There was a huge outcry from the south and threats to drop the show. Eddy’s response to the network was to book Sammy again. He was no kind of racist and took personal risks to make his shows more inclusive. When Sammy had the auto accident that cost him an eye, Eddy rushed to the hospital . He held Sammy’s hand as he was being wheeled to the operating room and pressed a Star Of David medal into his hand. Sammy gripped it so hard that the Star of David was cut into his hand. This was his first step toward Judaism.
Re Cantor and Blackface- Neal Gabler , in An Empire Of Their Own, suggests that Jewish stars adapted, or were steered toward blackface , because as Jews they were not welcome as leads, while in Black face they were comic figures, off to the side. It dispensed with both Jews and Blacks. I am sure it’s more complicated , but I think he has hit on something.
Hi vitajazz and Thank You for your reply. I know what you mean re the ceiling height and long shot detail and I would like to think it was shot there. There is a good deal of inconsistent info here (NYC) re that club (it eventually became a theatrical rehearsal hall after the configuration was considerably altered). Then it became a TV studio and I would like to know if any of it still exists. I distinctly remember problems in obtaining building permits during the primary renovation.
@@rufust.firefly2474 Hi! . . . Disney turned the entire floor where the Roof Garden and Midnight Frolic once existed into offices and preserved the prosenium arch and much of the other historic details (haha: like Ziegfeld's glass bridge). With what they could preserve they did a beautiful job
@@Montavanni1 if it weren't for the far left and their positions of social correctness I would suggest they show this film on a monitor 24 7 they're so that people could see what a show there look like
This was originally released in May 1929- a few weeks before "The Cocoanuts" had its world premiere in New York, so Mary and Oscar WERE featured in it at the same time this was filmed, at the same facilities {now known as the Kaufman Astoria Studios}.
@@fromthesidelines but what's this really filmed there? And it's good to know that both this film & the Coconuts were filmed right before the stock market crash came in October. It provides an absolutely necessary historical perspective. Thanks!
#SayItAintSo!! I deplored till now Al jolson for blackface, as well as his overall Narcissism. Now some simple, random reading on my greater fave, Eddie Cantor, brings up THIS? Now seems I'm going to get that nauseous SMH feeling with Cantor as well.
Oh, keep your shirt on. Cantor used black face as a theatrical tool and dropped it as soon as he was able to escape the Antiquated cliches of his forebears and he was directly in the process of molding it to his use before dropping it. And if Cantor is your favorite, how is it you didn't know he did blackface when he was known for using it in Vaudeville and occasionally in films as well? Is information on Canter and his films that hard to come by? I believe an excellent new biography of Eddie Cantor came out a few years ago.
You know, Jolson was one of the very last performers to ever use black face and he certainly didn't do it all the time. It's silly to try to blame Al Jolson for the show business tradition of blackface merely because his image from The Jazz Singer is one of the very few from that time that are well-known today. He didn't invent it and his Fame certainly didn't rely upon it. Get the facts right before you make a judgment
@@rufust.firefly2474 For starters, I never SAID he started it. So Who is passing judgement, or jumping to conclusions? READ a reply in full next time, ASK...if something is unclear! This is how these other ignorant arguments I've read on Y/T vids start, and I don't have the time.
Okay, hold up, man! It's disappointing that people back then did this blackface thing, it really is; as W.E.B. DuBois famously said, "the problem with the 20th century is the color line." Sadly, many of these films made for entertainment reek of racism, don't blame me for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
There is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist. This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists.
Dear Mr. Scottttt Smith I think you are right about a lot of things, but I think you are wrong about a few things and I am glad I don't live next door to you, MATE!!!
For a few yrs this was just something alot of acts did taken from Menstrual shows.. They did it to immitate and make fun of blacks in a time when they were considered entertainment and funny. It's called blackface.
That's what I was wondering Steve--is it like wearing a tux or is it supposed to be funny? He makes absolutely no reference to it... I just can't get a handle on it. The act is great, the blackface is just a distraction to me.
Please, please, especially if you're black oh, don't hate Bert Williams. No Bert Williams. Listen to Bert Williams, he made thousands of Records. Watch Williams do pantomime in his few remaining films of the silent era, it's obvious that he was a master. But please please don't hate Bert Williams just because he wore blackface. He was a great hero and a respected citizen to all the black people then, and his death caused a great sadness in the hearts of all, especially people of his color. Do not, I repeat, do not hate Bert Williams.
I could be wrong but ill bet that many of these people would soon suffer during depression everywhere people dieing starvation rich also. If you lived where I'm at you'd probably be homeless by now. Cheap though
Thanks for the vid for historical purposes. Its always good to see the extent at which racists felt the need to entertain themselves and demean others at anyone's expense. Glad that today's society is more civilized in such a way this would not only see the light of day, but would actually be looked down upon.
There actually wasn't a single racist joke or song in the whole routine. I'm sure you'll say "yeah but that doesn't matter because he was in blackface." I know in 2021, it's seems just as simple as that but in the same way a mime or harlequin performer wears white face, some wore blackface. Mimes painting the face white originated from stage shows dating back as far as 467 BC. I certainly don't think anyone is accusing them of being racist. The point is that it's complicated and nuanced. More so than anyone cares to think about nowadays. Did some performers set out to make fun of Black people? Yes. But blackface alone isn't that.
@@sfmc98 There are subtle racist jokes made if you catch it. But the fact you really are trying to frame blackface as not a racist form of entertainment shows your lack of education on the subject. Everyone from an academic, historical and thankfully now even cultural agrees blackface was bad. This isnt the 30's. You cant spin it anymore to sound like regular entertainment. its entertainment for racists and those who enjoy demeaning african americans. I'll leave a link by the history channel so you can actually educate yourself on the subject. As one historian put it, “It’s an assertion of power and control,” says David Leonard , a professor of comparative ethnic studies and American studies at Washington State University." Until you understand that, you're a part of the problem. www.history.com/news/blackface-history-racism-origins
I don't think Eddie Cantor himself was racist. He was jewish, proud of it, and yet he made a joke making fun of how jews practice usery and got more money for a used car than Henry Ford got for a new one. That would be considered anti-semetic but he did it against his own race. It was a different time back then, and making fun of races was seen as fair game for comedy. The idea of political correct language, or that we cannot "culturally appropriate" are very new concepts. Race based comedy was always a thing and if you look at comedy in 2000s, you'll find a lot of "Arab bomber" jokes for example. Looking back at the attitudes of people at the time is always cringe-worthy but it doesn't mean that you should judge them based on the current existing culture.
Well I know you were raised in a time with a lot of division, however there is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist. This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists. Don't let ignorance win.
Did you not see my comments accompanying this posting? He has just come from doing a show on stage, with no time to change, or wash off. Cantor even mentions that. This is a deliberate viewpoint on the film maker's part.
@@vitajazz Well your comments don't appear here. I was born in 1956 and my generation never heard of Cantor. My mom told me about how big he was way back when so it's interesting to see what passed for entertainment in different eras. Cantor seems to have a reedy voice, his dance steps are the same throughout, and his songs could best be described as novelty comedic songs. It appears he is channeling what people thought of a stereotyped Jews, thin, weak, cowardly and getting out of situations with his charm. In Boardwalk Empire one of the gangsters seeing Cantor says, "He must be the luckiest Yid on earth".
Please refresh your browser and expand comments, I described this short ten years ago, starting with "this set mimics the new Amsterdam theater" generally I have not deleted any comments here, except a couple that were super-ridiculous.
Uh, I'm not "enjoying" it for the racism...I've seen the popeye cartoons, gone with the wind and many other flicks which are uncomfortable in that regard.
There is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist. This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists.
The majority of folks back then liked it. That’s what really matters. Everyone from then is dead. Who gives a shit that YOU don’t like it or are offended? You’re obviously ignorant of Cantor’s history or the context of the film clip.
Eddie was such a wonderful and talented entertainer. I wish that he had done the same routine without the black face. It was unnecessary and distracting Although I know the history of black face, it still doesn't make it any less racist and demeaning.
Its because of Minstrel Shows, where comedians would dress in blackface and pretend to be stereotypes. People ate that shit up and loved making fun of black people. Soooo like they say, if it aint broke don't fix it. People were still as racist as ever and wearing Blackface made all the white people laugh and smile. It still seems weird to me that he is wearing Blackface for seemingly no reason at all. But this is my theory.
@@MrBillgonzo look, read the earlier comments if you want to find out why Cantor is wearing blackface in this film, or used black face in the first place. If you don't know why something is happening, go look it up?
You say that solely because you dont like trump. However you have no cause that he is racist. You regurgitate NBC political talking points because you want to slander him. You are either too stupid to recognize you have been played or you are disingenuous. Either reason you are incompetent to form that opinion.
Me neither, it seems like a question of maturity whether or not these things bother someone. It's funny how most people offended by this aren't even black either, they just see something they're told is offensive and work themselves up over nothing.
Let me tell y'all something about Eddie Cantor. I know his daughter Janet, the last surviving child of Eddie's... And she told me some wonderful stories about him. She told me that he had such respect for African-Americans... That he would never hire them as servants in his home... He would only hire black people to work in his office. The blackface was not considered an insult it was considered a compliment at the time.... Although Eddie stopped the practice altogether in the late 1930s. Janet told me that she used to have her father come into her room and kill spiders for her because she was terrified of spiders. She said it was a wonderful father... And he is a wonderful human being. People look at the blackface and think... Oh how horrible... But most did it is a *homage to Black entertainers. I'm not defending black face in any way shape or form it was a horrible practice with misguided human beings that were products of their time. But I can personally vouch for Eddie Cantor... For not having a racist bone in his body. He told all of his children to respect every person equally depending on the content of their character and not their skin color. Eddie Cantor was a wonderful, brilliant intelligent performer and a wonderful man by all accounts. BTW .. I'm a black woman and I became acquainted with Eddie's daughter, Janet, when I wrote on Facebook that I could see a *humanity* in Eddie Cantor... That I couldn't see in any other blackface performer. Eddie Cantor was a wonderful performer... And a wonderful human being who stood up against racism his entire life. He was a man AHEAD of his time... But also... a man OF his time....
f his time.
Eddie is one of my favorites. Thanks for posting!
On a somber note, one of my great uncles was killed on the set of one of Eddie's movies while testing out a special effect (flying carpet).
One of the greatest show business talents of the 20th century. Cantor was every bit as great as Al Jolson.
Interesting. He introduces Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw, who, may have been filming, "Coconuts" with the Marx Brothers in that very same building at the same time.
That's true, the Astoria Studios, Paramount's major location on the East Coast at that time. Animal crackers was also filmed there. , although this is a Paramount short... But I have to agree with the poster that it really looks like Cantor is at ziegfeld's midnight frolic. If it could be wired to shoot a film there, why not? I doubt they would build such a lavish set for a simple short subject. It looks like the Roof Garden Oh, and it probably is.
Cantor could have been shot in his medium shot where he delivers the song at the end, with a close-up lens from the back of the audience. He could have also have a remote mic or a boom to use that we can't see.
The reference to Henry Ford is interesting. He had recently apologised for publishing anti-Semitic articles in a newspaper he owned. Cantor pokes fun at Ford cars, refers to Ford's apology and his own Jewishness, then makes a stereotypical joke about Jewish business acumen, and all the time in blackface!
+postscript67 it's classic, scathing, new york sarcasm (imho) and it's freakin' hysterical! unfortunately, lots of folks don't get it. i grew up with it so...
Seems like Hypocrisy to me. Neither Jews, Blacks, Italians, Irish were accepted back when, and he, being Jewish, would lamb-baste people in similar straits as his own? #Rhetorical #SayItAintSo
jgraif people do not know “Funny” anymore. And can’t even poke fun at themselves and their own stereotypes. I’m Hispanic and there’s a lot to have fun with.....and before anyone jumps on me for that, checkout Cheech and Chong. Lighten up America, you’re hysterical!,
Wayne Jones I don’t get your point, the op said he made jokes about his own people. Who knows what all of that blackface was actually about. So far as I’m watching it, there’s not much about black people in it. I’ll keep your words in mind, though.
That joke about the second hand fords was funny!
Firstly, in the books that he has written, he has made no secret of the facts that Bert Williams taught him comedy, that he was, in fact, a mentor to Mr. Cantor. That is why Eddie Cantor had a new character. He was playing, for the time, an intellectual Black character, complete with white horn-rim glasses, . & just back from college---complete with uke!
And as we all should know, Williams used blackface.
Yes, that's how they matched up in a famous comedy scene from the Ziegfeld Follies. Cantor played the young intellectual in black face and white glasses so they would show up, and Bert Williams played his disgruntled father. I've seen photos taken of this scene and I wish I could show them to you now, they're quite hilarious.
@@rufust.firefly2474 i wish there were videos of it. we have so few footage of Bert Williams :(
The set mimics the famous New Amsterdam Roof Garden theatre. Noting the ceiling height and long shot detail I wonder if it was actually filmed IN the theatre! The reason Eddie is in blackface is due to the conceit that he has just come from a full Follies show downstairs.
Jews stars at that time were very good to the black actor. And they all knew that blackface was just blackface. They all respected one another. If you disagree with this, DO YOUR HOMEWORK and stop looking for trouble where there is none!
This is so awesome. I love Eddie Cantor.
Eddie Cantor is G.O.A.T. and literal legend. Bless him.
That must have been a fascinating time in entertainment history that will never come back. But worth getting dressed up to go out , wow ❤
I believe that the "Paramount Long Island Studios" is now the "Kaufman Astoria Studios. It was the home to much of early sound movies before everyone moved west to Hollywood.
+Cats01 Yes, that is correct. Some segments for the Max Fleischer Screen Songs were filmed there. Others were filmed and recorded at The Paramount News Lab as well.
Oh my Goodness I've been living right next to it!! I hope I can visit and see some historical remnants:)
What a talented man with such confidence and great story telling 😁😉👍💯❣
Thank you for posting this video.
Wow! This clip is almost 100 years old! Love it.
Thanks. A fascinating peek at a different time.
A happier time.
I like Cantor a lot. I loved him in "40 little mothers," where he showed the greatest tenderness toward children.
He even gives a pre-Elvis hip-gyration at the end of the "Automobile" song. Daring! And also pre-Hayes Office censorship.
Verboten stuff. I don't condone blackface but some stuff you gotta see and there it is. My Pop sang Horsey with a ukulele to me. This video means a lot to me.
"As far as I can ascertain, this was mastered as NTSC 24fps, then sped up to 25FPS PAL, then converted back to NTSC 29.97 via standard video conversion rather than slowing down. That's why there's jerkiness when I tried to IVTC for UA-cam's 24fps standard. I did the best I could."
Nevertheless it provided quite nice source material for the 16mm print I had made. I thank you.
Thanks for posting this. It's interesting to see the varied comments about the subject. You did a nice job. I've been in TV for 40 years.
Hey Folks.. A clarification. The Blackface is an indicator of a comic.At the time it was a sign that the guy on-stage was a comic, not a romantic singer, a dancer,etc. A sign, like baggy pants. As you can see, he is not speaking as a cartoon version of a black guy. He does a 1929 comic monologue. He sings, in a normal voice, vaudeville novelty songs. Please folks, you must remember it was 1929. Consider how bizarre 2015 culture will seem to people a century from now.
Thank you for explaining. Never heard this.
The question here is why was blackface used to indicate a comic?
in the silent era, black people were always the butt of the joke and were always played by white people in blackface. And that carried on where comedy acts were typically black face dudes acting like stereotypes of black people. Why couldn't Eddie Cantor just make these jokes without the blackface? You can't tell me that Blackface was supposed to only be a way for people to recognize that the performer was a comic. If that was true, then why didn't each type of performer (dancer/singer/etc)have a different color makeup on their face to distinguish them from other types of performers? It because Blackface was a racist joke. People liked to laugh at the dimwitted/silly/big lipped black man.
That being said, this is a great piece of history and I'm really glad it has been preserved. We all just need to come to terms with the fact that America was super fucking racist back in the day. They still did Blackface in films up into the 1950's. We have grown a lot and should be proud to recognize that we have moved so far away from the old days. We don't need to make up excuses for how racist people were. We need to recognize our history in that regard and to continue grow.
@@HappyHimitsu It's because its not really true.
@Emil Jansson I was talking about the origins of Black face and how people liked to laugh at the racist stereotypes. Black face is supposed to look like a racist stereotype of a Black person, plain and simple. If you do t see that, you're in denial. You can look past it as see Eddie Cantor's performance, but the makeup is the traditional and racist stereotype of a "big lipped, wide eyed" black man. This was well be for the civil rights movement
Loved it! Thanks for posting! Canotr was tops
I'll be honest.. I find Eddie Cantor in blackface kinda hot.
And that’s enough UA-cam for today😭😭
@@utube9416 Ayo don't kinkshame me it's just the truth
he looks like an indian guy
lol alright then… i ain’t gonna judge but good for you lol
This short was originally part of the UM&M/NTA TV package, before it got banned in the 1960's due to racial stereotypes.
Great Eddie Cantor video! I wish more young people like me would appreciate Eddie!
What is the real reason that you like Eddie Cantor, you young people as you say
@@alexandermarquis6197 I'm 24 and I like Eddie for the same reason why I like all the other old time entertainers that I enjoy. they sing and dance to catchy happy songs with an unique arrangement that you won't find in any time period before or after. they perform with so much emotion that you end up wanting to sing and dance too
ohhh. I think its goo people have moved on from these types of entertainers and that time.. I`m happy for each young person who invests their time into the future and not into old racists this Eddie Cantor
@@jasongreen3905 yes, it's good that society have evolved away from normalizing racism but enjoying old music has nothing to do with that. ironically, enjoying old media has been my biggest gateway into getting more conscious about the US racist history
@@jasongreen3905 Learn about the life of Eddie Cantor and he was anything but racist.
Eddie Cantor was awesome.
Years ago I tried to find out where in the world this blackface thing came from. In the 1970s black & white minstrel shows, still played on UK, Australian & New Zealand TV. From memory back further past the minstrel shows it was apparently a device often used in theatres as a visual indicator to that part of the audience at the back who could not hear the performance well. Notice it was not just blackface it was blackface with white highlights (eyes mouth) and white gloves. This meant that a performers movement could be seen from a distance. Later some performers dropped the white features, and it slowly morphed into something that had no real practical use and for obvious reasons unsavoury. The mistral shows however kept the white features. "The Eddie Cantor Story" in at least one scene erroneously shows Canter without the white makeup.
I should say I'm talking about the "legitimite" use of blackface that even some black performers utilised and people like Cantor and Jolson who commonly mixed with black performers. There WERE others that used blackface to make fun of black people who were not in a position to complain. This added other things such as braided hair.
Wow I never heard that about making it easier to see features--that's the first thing I've seen that makes sense. I don't understand it otherwise... Totally distracting. And he's not using it for character here or as a prop in a joke...
@@davidz9741 Wowsers! Perhaps because I am 81 and grew up in Boston I seem to know the old vaudeville stuff. And everything is just common sense for the times. There was no electricity, so no lights and no mics. The performer would lean into the kerosene lamp to get the light and have to shout to be heard. Blackface evolved to highlight stage movements. Even a well-known black performer, "Pigmeat" Markham used blackface, and he said it was not to denigrate anybody, it was simply to be seen. So when movies came along, people wanted to see the old vaudeville acts that they had never seen. Al Jolson, singing "Mammy" was something that people wanted to see. The Marx brothers first movie was just their stage act. Much, much later some people took this the wrong way, and there were bad performances. But it did not start out that way. It was just a way to be seen.
@@williamheyman5439 it was a way to be seen, performed in the character that everyone was already familiar with... Like going to see a movie with your favorite star actor or actress. Performers in Minstrel C could walk in and the audience could immediately visually identify the character regardless of who was playing it. The reason why Cantor is in blackface, as was noted in earlier reply to a comment, what's that he had just finished a performance downstairs in the Ziegfeld theater and head Zoom dried up to appear before another audience. Otherwise I don't think he would have been in blackface for this performance, it certainly wasn't necessary. When Eddie appeared in a stage show with a plot and appeared in blackface, it was always for a reason. He might be part of a performance that was Nostalgia Cleary creating a Minstrel show, or he might have put on the black face to hide from the villains and was forced to pretend he was someone else.
@@williamheyman5439 You're trying to minimize and negate the real origin of blackface. It predates vaudeville and it's whole point was to mock black people. That it evolved later on to be adopted by black actors and changed in it's use after minstrelsy doesn't negate that it's origin or that it was a bad product of it's time.
@@cjaquilino It is a bad product of this time, but was not originally made to mock black people, but turned into that. This is the problem with history. People look at one aspect and say, "that's it!" when the actual history is more convoluted. I am now 84 years old, and convinced that any recent revelation of history, especially on TV, and especially PBS, has a "corrective" factor to applaud some, and denigrate others, when it suits their purpose, discounting any aspect which does not support their view. Anyway, it may be only seen, in its entirety, over time. Probably not our time. So I grew up with black people, the senior class president in high school was black, and I served in the army for 26 years, from private to colonel, working for black NCOs, then officers, and had the same later work for me, so I know. And it's complicated, and there are still non-understanding people out there, but we have to soldier on and I have not lost hope that eventually every person will be seen for what they are, themselves, and not some bad imagination. So take care!
Love Eddie he was so funny
Great film! Thanks for this!
this was excellent.
Wonderful performance. For fear of upsetting all the die hard Cantor fans out there, there are moments during his performance that are pure Jolson.
mica steph see what you mean. Who emulated who is the question. Jolson was good, but he was only offered the jazz singer after Jessel and Cantor passed on it. In the end they were both great. Personally Cantor's personality was preferable.
As I understand it Jessel was originally offered the role because he had the starring role in the stage production of The Jazz Singer and Warner Bros considered Cantor ahead of Jolson purely as a cost issue. When it comes to who had the best personality even though I am a die hard Jolie fan my late Father on the other hand, like yourself, also preferred Cantor. If only we were able to see them both live and put them to the ultimate test!
mica steph it's good to be able to discuss EC and AJ with someone else who is interested and has an awareness of who they were etc.
@@TheStoneageRomeo I know a little of the etcetera even when it's in abbreviation. I believe that the deal came through for Jolson because he accepted stock in Warner Brothers as opposed to a straight amount of cash to do the movie. The author of the play had, indeed, been inspired to write it by the true story of jolson's youth.
@@rufust.firefly2474 Thank you. Really interesting and love your name. Thanks again.
. . . referring to the night club atop the New Amsterdam Theatre . . . amazing!
Given Eddie Cantor's known track record of friendship at considerable risk with black artists as Bert Williams, Sammy Davis Jr, and the Nicholas Bros as well as his support of the civil rights movement late in life, I cannot get as mad seeing Eddie do this as I would from other artists.
Help me out, then, please, because after Decades of knowing of Eddie Cantor and loving his antics, I Now find out he at least came off as a bigger Rat than Al Jolson in the blackface portrayals. Yet both these guys, from what I read, came vehemetly alongside other Black performers and individuals, so .....IDK how to keep enjoying the guy who was ribbed for wanting that son after five daughters, the Warner Bros. cartoon references......oh, and I used to sing with a Barbershop Chorus where Cantor and Jolson lyrics and schtick abounded!!
How do I go on appreciating either of them? Particularly Eddie? :'(
I'd break bread with Cantor before most of the actors of the time who would never dream of touching black face. The musical number for keep young and beautiful. The non segregated children eating icecream at the end of kid millions when his ship comes in. Tap dancing with the kids, giving the middle finger to the studio by inviting sammy davis jr back on and wiping sweat from his head. He was pretty progressive. So he stuck with an antiquated minstrel tradition I don't see a lot of him belittling us for being black. It doesn't bother me.
@@keithbrings9053 that black face is a tradition is the key word here. Our friend who commented does not considered deeply how different the background of that time was. Cantor and Jolson and the black face that we see in early sound films from the late twenties and very early 30s represent the very last gasp of minstrelsy. All Minstrel performances at that time were presented as being set in a distant and almost legendary past. When julson appears in blackface in The Jazz Singer it is because he is portraying a dramatic character who emphasizes his emotions on stage by applying makeup that emphasizes his facial features and invokes a commonality to the audience that is born from tradition The technical aspect for the success of blackface is the same reason that they used masks in the plays of ancient Greece. When all entertainment came to us from a distance on the stage, a lifted eyebrow could be invisible to a person in the back row. A wide-eyed look of astonishment might appear to be as if the actor had gone up in his lines. The blackface helped exaggerate expression for Comic effect from Center Stage all the way to the back row in the upper balcony of the theater. It had been going on for nearly a hundred years by that time. It was America's only true original form of entertainment. But you'll find it used for the purpose of portraying real black people as opposed to a musical or comic performance extremely rare. Black face was Unreal, even at that time. If you see Eddie Cantor in blackface it's because he's either performing a Minstrel show Recreation of minstrelsy, as in kid Millions, or because he's hiding from jealous Rivals by disguising himself, as in"Whoopee". " The Jazz Singer" stages one of the most compelling scenes in a dressing room where Al Jolson is applying his makeup before a performance. First time you see Jolson in blackface in that film is in the scene following where we watch him apply the makeup.
@wholly33 that's up to the individual. I was merely explaining things to you so that you could use and enlightened view when passing a judgement as opposed to an ignorant one.
@wholly33 if I give you a fact that does not necessarily mean that I think the action represented by the fact I've just giving you is right or wrong. It means that I've given you a fact. Judge attacks you would but you can't change the fact that it's a fact! I'm trying to Enlighten you, explaining the reasons why people did things they did in another time. To know why someone did something is not necessarily approving of it.
I am not giving an excuse, nor am I attempting to justify any transgression in the past committed by America or any of its citizens. I'm merely giving you the facts and telling you that if you wish to understand them you must consider them in the context of the time. In which they occurred.
Eddie Cantor is a legend.
Thats an interesting video to watch, thanks! Ziegfeld lost it all in the great crash and had to sell the movie rights to Hollywood quickly, even though Whoopee was playing to packed houses on Broadway in 1929. Interesting also to see Eddy talking about Ford and his antisemitism views of the Jews.
Part of this was originally in 3-D.(Probably the shot where the chorus girls are sticking their legs toward the camera).
They had 3d in 1928?
@@aarongranda7825 Somebody later told me this film didn't have any 3D, but there were some experiments in the 20s.
@@antoniod doing 3D is easier than color as any historian of Motion Picture processes can tell you. But I've never heard of any 3D used in this early sound era. Where did you get this reference?
thank you, vitajazz, for posting.
Excellent performance...
1929 - I'd like to know if this show was done before or after the crash in 29?
Before. This would be filmed in 1928 or early 29 during the run of Ziegfeld's "Whoopee!" A story of interracial love between an American native brave and a white lady! Taboo in its day. Eddie Cantor had just finished starring in Ziegfeld's Follies of 1927 at that same location. That show featured Ruth Etting and the all girl band, the "Ingenues" performing "Shaking the Blues Away", written for the show by Irving Berlin. Cantor also would take the elevator to the "Roof". and entertain after the show, as he does here during the Whoopee! run. Look how natural Eddie is in front of those first Talkie cameras! What a pro he was!
Eddie made a 78 record of his comic song he sings here, "If I Give Up the Saxophone" on Victor records. I found me one! 😋
The more I live in this era the more I yearn not having been born much earlier. A simpler time a more innocent and yeah tougher time but from all accounts my grandparents and parents happily made it through. Watching these old films only makes me resent the fact I gave to live in the 2020s I HATE it.
And Mary Eaton is in the crowd!
Allison A. SHE DIDN'T PAY.
Who?
Yes! She was thinking, "oh, how can I ever get this right? 'Down... Among the mangoes we're the monkeys Tango you can see them do... A little monkey doodle doo...'?"
Excellent with very good interesting video
Must admit to focus mainly on the material. More interested in the jokes and songs. That's what makes it enjoyable. The blackface thing was of the time. Thanks to hindsight we know of the implications and consequences, but we have that luxury.
Given the luxury, what was appealing about it at the time?
"...will not spend! They chased him out of Scotland!"
Mary Eaton and Oscar Shaw, who starred in the Marx Brothers stage and film production, "The Coconuts," also in 1929!
A great clip of entertainment history form the 1920's! People who blindly criticize such things should attempt to put this in historical context & STOP being so reactionary. This was NEVER intended as "racist" at the time but merely a display of what had already pretty much disappeared from the stages of the time, the traditional minstrel show. Remember, in Vaudeville, Burlesque & even on Broadway, EVERYONE & EVERY ethnic group was fair game to have fun poked at them. Not malicious racist bigotry & obscene commentary like we have TODAY but just picking out certain well known & established characteristics & exaggerating them comedically. Maybe if people would return to learning how to laugh at THEMSELVES & dispose of all the "P.C." crap, the world would once again be enjoyable. Case in point, Redd Foxx used to make fun out of EVERYONE & not leave ANYONE out of his jabs.
+Todd Baxter Cantor, when singing, "Josephin-a Please No Lean-a On the Bell," would don a "babushka," to appear more like a old Italian woman. And that broken English now would be considered racist if held to the same standards as the imitation of blacks, no?
Yes, unfortunately. So-called "political correctness" is actually strangling free expression/speech although ironically, not when it comes to expressing anti-American hatreds. The double standard ALWAYS employed by socialists.
Thank you, "1960's"
+Todd Baxter I admit that political correctness can be taken to extreme my wife was told off by an optician for saying that she was having difficulty seeing the blackboard in class and that she should use the term chalkboard. I know for a fact that Cantor was not racist. Neither was Jolson in his case it was possibly the only redeeming feature of his character.
However from decades later it has to be said that entertainers in blackface looking like a grotesque parody of what a black man looks like is totally offensive. As a comparison what would think about a black singer made up with a fake hook nose and sidelocks pretending to be Jewish?
Here in Britain we are proud our freedom of speech but we also understand that certain ideas are unacceptable. You can do nothing to change what people think but you can and should moderate what is public.
As to socialism do you actually know what it is? And why do American right wingers always believe that any
opinion at variance with their own is anti American?
Cantor was a life long Democrat.
Well spoken.
Regarding the depiction of Jews, how many Shylocks have you seen with large, putty noses? Plenty, I would guess.
Playing to a stereotype was, for 100's of years, (maybe 1,000's) not only acceptable it was required. In the early days of vaudeville we found the extreme portrayals of Jews, Irish, Germans, and Italians, also Asians. It was a different world and different set of standards. No one, in 1961, took offense to Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a Holly Golightly's Japanese neighbor. It was funny. Now, it couldn't even be done by a Japanese actor. It's to the point where no one can be portrayed in any comical light that might be seen as derision with the exception of the straight white male.
No it's David Huddleston reading Mel Brooks script.
Loved Eddie Cantor! Don't even START the race BULLSHIT on this! You know not what you speak!
Lmao whatever white woman
Great!
eddie was the reason many black performers got their big break...The Nicholas Brothers for one example
Don't forget Al Jolson. I know Bert Williams taught comedy to Eddie, but I don't know how if Eddie was for civil rights or not. He probably was. A lot of Jewish actors and comedians of the era were.
The Nicholas Brothers are wonderful.
@@Hotshotter3000 When Eddie talked about his early years with Bert Williams in his autobiography, he expressed how much he disapproved of the racism at the time. Finally knowing what he honestly thought about it, and knowing he was against it, was a huge relief for me
Cantor was one of the biggest stars of Early tv. He featured Sammy Davis with his father and uncle. When they were finished , Sam was sweating and Eddy put his arm around him , wiping his face with his own handkerchief. Sammy Davis says that Eddy knew exactly what he was doing, highlighting a young performer. There was a huge outcry from the south and threats to drop the show. Eddy’s response to the network was to book Sammy again. He was no kind of racist and took personal risks to make his shows more inclusive. When Sammy had the auto accident that cost him an eye, Eddy rushed to the hospital . He held Sammy’s hand as he was being wheeled to the operating room and pressed a Star Of David medal into his hand. Sammy gripped it so hard that the Star of David was cut into his hand. This was his first step toward Judaism.
Re Cantor and Blackface- Neal Gabler , in An Empire Of Their Own, suggests that Jewish stars adapted, or were steered toward blackface , because as Jews they were not welcome as leads, while in Black face they were comic figures, off to the side. It dispensed with both Jews and Blacks. I am sure it’s more complicated , but I think he has hit on something.
Hi vitajazz and Thank You for your reply. I know what you mean re the ceiling height and long shot detail and I would like to think it was shot there. There is a good deal of inconsistent info here (NYC) re that club (it eventually became a theatrical rehearsal hall after the configuration was considerably altered). Then it became a TV studio and I would like to know if any of it still exists. I distinctly remember problems in obtaining building permits during the primary renovation.
Very interesting, I'd love to know if you find out if it's still exist
@@rufust.firefly2474 Hi! . . . Disney turned the entire floor where the Roof Garden and Midnight Frolic once existed into offices and preserved the prosenium arch and much of the other historic details (haha: like Ziegfeld's glass bridge). With what they could preserve they did a beautiful job
@@Montavanni1 if it weren't for the far left and their positions of social correctness I would suggest they show this film on a monitor 24 7 they're so that people could see what a show there look like
"The minute that I buy some stocks, they fall down and go boom!" Obviously this was filmed after stocks had already begun to crash. Interesting!
Stock manipulation was rampant in the 1920s. Buying certain stocks was like riding a roller coaster, even before the crash.
Yay awesome
Amazing footage. Unfortunate blackface.
Cantor was the second greatest blackface performer (behind Al Jolson) in the entire world.
This says 1929, is this before the crash or after. I’m betting before?
This was originally released in May 1929- a few weeks before "The Cocoanuts" had its world premiere in New York, so Mary and Oscar WERE featured in it at the same time this was filmed, at the same facilities {now known as the Kaufman Astoria Studios}.
@@fromthesidelines but what's this really filmed there? And it's good to know that both this film & the Coconuts were filmed right before the stock market crash came in October. It provides an absolutely necessary historical perspective. Thanks!
Mel Brooks mentions Richard Dix in blazing saddles.
#SayItAintSo!! I deplored till now Al jolson for blackface, as well as his overall Narcissism. Now some simple, random reading on my greater fave, Eddie Cantor, brings up THIS?
Now seems I'm going to get that nauseous SMH feeling with Cantor as well.
BLACKFACE LIVES MATTER.
Oh, keep your shirt on. Cantor used black face as a theatrical tool and dropped it as soon as he was able to escape the Antiquated cliches of his forebears and he was directly in the process of molding it to his use before dropping it. And if Cantor is your favorite, how is it you didn't know he did blackface when he was known for using it in Vaudeville and occasionally in films as well? Is information on Canter and his films that hard to come by? I believe an excellent new biography of Eddie Cantor came out a few years ago.
You know, Jolson was one of the very last performers to ever use black face and he certainly didn't do it all the time. It's silly to try to blame Al Jolson for the show business tradition of blackface merely because his image from The Jazz Singer is one of the very few from that time that are well-known today. He didn't invent it and his Fame certainly didn't rely upon it. Get the facts right before you make a judgment
@@rufust.firefly2474 For starters, I never SAID he started it. So Who is passing judgement, or jumping to conclusions? READ a reply in full next time, ASK...if something is unclear!
This is how these other ignorant arguments I've read on Y/T vids start, and I don't have the time.
@@waynejones205 look-a-here Andy, you-all just wait 'til de Kingfish done come back'n 'splains it!
What did they use for the black color?
burn cork typically
loved it.. Maybe not politically correct in today but lighten up, we have grown.......
Boardwalk empire.
What year?
1929
I absolutely love the song about the saxophone.i agree with other comments he is hot and so cute ❤❤
Now I know who taught speech to the Kennedy's
Great short, even if the blackface is hard to swallow (can't really blame Eddie for this, as it was the times).
That was the strangest black man I've ever seen
Imagine the hoo haa if someone did a black-face routine like Eddie did, regardless he was a consummate professional. 👍
the hoo haa? Care to elaborate? Ad of 2021 are you over the age of 67?
That "hoo has" is the correct modern sensibility that blackface is bad and ridiculous.
Eddie Cantor. Simply the best showman EVER. The new hollyweirdos who cant even read should be ashamed.
Okay, hold up, man! It's disappointing that people back then did this blackface thing, it really is; as W.E.B. DuBois famously said, "the problem with the 20th century is the color line." Sadly, many of these films made for entertainment reek of racism, don't blame me for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
So it wasn't just Al Jolson who did this type of act.
No. It was the style common in vaudeville. Burnt cork makeup was used by both white and Black entertainers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
There is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist.
This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists.
We’ve done some progress since those racist, demeaning times, but there is still so much to be done.
Dear Mr. Scottttt Smith I think you are right about a lot of things, but I think you are wrong about a few things and I am glad I don't live next door to you, MATE!!!
Ok but this guy needs to get the right color shoe polish
Was he actually playing (parodying) a black charecter in this act? I'm a little confused...
For a few yrs this was just something alot of acts did taken from Menstrual shows.. They did it to immitate and make fun of blacks in a time when they were considered entertainment and funny. It's called blackface.
+Jim Stark Too funny!
He's just playing himself(the usual stage version of himself)in blackface, because it was considered a venerable theatrical tradition then.
That's what I was wondering Steve--is it like wearing a tux or is it supposed to be funny? He makes absolutely no reference to it... I just can't get a handle on it. The act is great, the blackface is just a distraction to me.
MINSTREL. For them to be "Menstrual" shows would be quite disgusting. ;)
thank U unknown cameraman!!
Please, please, especially if you're black oh, don't hate Bert Williams. No Bert Williams. Listen to Bert Williams, he made thousands of Records. Watch Williams do pantomime in his few remaining films of the silent era, it's obvious that he was a master. But please please don't hate Bert Williams just because he wore blackface. He was a great hero and a respected citizen to all the black people then, and his death caused a great sadness in the hearts of all, especially people of his color. Do not, I repeat, do not hate Bert Williams.
Mankind.
I love Bert Williams
Oh man I'm so glad I can enjoy this, here in the year 2020 where no one would have a problem with this .. say what??!?!????
wow! They're very musical aren't they?
Yeah- but can they read?
@@BuckyBrown-lt4ry Lol if anything people read books way more back then by a long shot compared to now.
This did not age well. It’s crazy how back then this was okay.
INTERESTING............WOULD LOVE TO SEA MURE IF YOU COULD FIND ANY......!!THAT IS OF MIDNIGHT FROLICS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
a lesson for U; don't take "no" for an answer!
I could be wrong but ill bet that many of these people would soon suffer during depression everywhere people dieing starvation rich also. If you lived where I'm at you'd probably be homeless by now. Cheap though
I think he was sweet even though his act to me (don't know about any one else) reminds me of Al jolson🎭🎭🎭🎭📻📻🎙️🎙️🎙️
Is he related to Justin Trudeau? 😋
BLACKFACE LIVES MATTER
The "swells" knew how to have a good time!!
Thanks for the vid for historical purposes. Its always good to see the extent at which racists felt the need to entertain themselves and demean others at anyone's expense. Glad that today's society is more civilized in such a way this would not only see the light of day, but would actually be looked down upon.
There actually wasn't a single racist joke or song in the whole routine. I'm sure you'll say "yeah but that doesn't matter because he was in blackface." I know in 2021, it's seems just as simple as that but in the same way a mime or harlequin performer wears white face, some wore blackface. Mimes painting the face white originated from stage shows dating back as far as 467 BC. I certainly don't think anyone is accusing them of being racist.
The point is that it's complicated and nuanced. More so than anyone cares to think about nowadays. Did some performers set out to make fun of Black people? Yes. But blackface alone isn't that.
@@sfmc98 There are subtle racist jokes made if you catch it. But the fact you really are trying to frame blackface as not a racist form of entertainment shows your lack of education on the subject. Everyone from an academic, historical and thankfully now even cultural agrees blackface was bad. This isnt the 30's. You cant spin it anymore to sound like regular entertainment. its entertainment for racists and those who enjoy demeaning african americans. I'll leave a link by the history channel so you can actually educate yourself on the subject.
As one historian put it, “It’s an assertion of power and control,” says David Leonard , a professor of comparative ethnic studies and American studies at Washington State University."
Until you understand that, you're a part of the problem.
www.history.com/news/blackface-history-racism-origins
I don't think Eddie Cantor himself was racist. He was jewish, proud of it, and yet he made a joke making fun of how jews practice usery and got more money for a used car than Henry Ford got for a new one. That would be considered anti-semetic but he did it against his own race. It was a different time back then, and making fun of races was seen as fair game for comedy. The idea of political correct language, or that we cannot "culturally appropriate" are very new concepts. Race based comedy was always a thing and if you look at comedy in 2000s, you'll find a lot of "Arab bomber" jokes for example. Looking back at the attitudes of people at the time is always cringe-worthy but it doesn't mean that you should judge them based on the current existing culture.
@@sfmc98 Lol, nice try🤡
Well I know you were raised in a time with a lot of division, however there is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist.
This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists.
Don't let ignorance win.
This must have been before Glorifying the American girls and after the coconuts.
YES.
Well, coconuts in this film could have been done at the same time
He does the whole show in blackface and no one mentions anything. He doesn't affect a black dialect. I don't see the point.
Did you not see my comments accompanying this posting? He has just come from doing a show on stage, with no time to change, or wash off. Cantor even mentions that. This is a deliberate viewpoint on the film maker's part.
@@vitajazz Well your comments don't appear here. I was born in 1956 and my generation never heard of Cantor. My mom told me about how big he was way back when so it's interesting to see what passed for entertainment in different eras. Cantor seems to have a reedy voice, his dance steps are the same throughout, and his songs could best be described as novelty comedic songs. It appears he is channeling what people thought of a stereotyped Jews, thin, weak, cowardly and getting out of situations with his charm. In Boardwalk Empire one of the gangsters seeing Cantor says, "He must be the luckiest Yid on earth".
Please refresh your browser and expand comments, I described this short ten years ago, starting with "this set mimics the new Amsterdam theater" generally I have not deleted any comments here, except a couple that were super-ridiculous.
@@vitajazz Well it ain't there and you dated it Sept 24, 2011. Are any of my comments relevant ?
I dont think the black face is racists, its just plain funny like clown make up, grow up get off your poor me I'm a minority whinning
kj9
Jimmy !u due rebate Jimmy d77uurdante,5re coast j
im sorry wat
Bruh if you don’t think its racist, what do you consider racist??
Cancelled
Uh, I'm not "enjoying" it for the racism...I've seen the popeye cartoons, gone with the wind and many other flicks which are uncomfortable in that regard.
Popeye cartoons? The only racist Popeye cartoons are the ones with the Japanese in World War II as caricatures
Black guys used to look weird
Ikr, how we've evolved.. Those lips would have been a large inconvenience.
And the World wonders why racial disharmony is still rife in the USA.
And the world wonders why ignorant people like you post on vintage videos made long before you were born.
There is no use of any racism in this video. If you would like to know why he is wearing something that looks similar to blackface, it is what blackface spawned from. These paintings were used on many actors at the time because the white highlights in contrast to the black face allow for people further back in the audience to see their face. It had a practical use that wasn't at all in any way racist.
This video here is almost a century old, 96 years I think, before it was used that way you are thinking. The man you're accusing of being racist is also one of the main driving forces behind many black artists catching a break in the 1920s and 30s. He helped foster many black artists.
Christ this is so cringy and creepy. I can’t imagine how the people of colour would have felt at this time.
@nasachusetts That's the problem - What CAN we call them? It changes every 20 years.
@@BuckyBrown-lt4ry people
Those who are of a Dusky shade?
The majority of folks back then liked it. That’s what really matters. Everyone from then is dead. Who gives a shit that YOU don’t like it or are offended? You’re obviously ignorant of Cantor’s history or the context of the film clip.
He looks just like the Canadian Prime Minister.
Eddie was such a wonderful and talented entertainer. I wish that he had done the same routine without the black face. It was unnecessary and distracting Although I know the history of black face, it still doesn't make it any less racist and demeaning.
I just can't understand why blackface was appealing. How does it add to humor? Just distracting to me.
Its because of Minstrel Shows, where comedians would dress in blackface and pretend to be stereotypes. People ate that shit up and loved making fun of black people. Soooo like they say, if it aint broke don't fix it. People were still as racist as ever and wearing Blackface made all the white people laugh and smile. It still seems weird to me that he is wearing Blackface for seemingly no reason at all. But this is my theory.
@Emil Jansson yeah, the did it to artistically look like a black stereotype. I came from Minstrel shows. Look it up
Read over the previous comments
@@MrBillgonzo look, read the earlier comments if you want to find out why Cantor is wearing blackface in this film, or used black face in the first place. If you don't know why something is happening, go look it up?
This is the America Trump wants.
@The Real Capo I wish. Unfortunately you’re wrong.
You say that solely because you dont like trump. However you have no cause that he is racist. You regurgitate NBC political talking points because you want to slander him. You are either too stupid to recognize you have been played or you are disingenuous. Either reason you are incompetent to form that opinion.
Jesus Christ.
Oh wonderful days of entertainment long before the world changed and blacks were shoved down our throats
So it was "wonderful" that fake blacks would be "shoved down our throats." Just not real ones? Is that your point?
@@lcar4000 The good old days when everyone knew their place.
Blackface never bothered me. 😕
Me neither, it seems like a question of maturity whether or not these things bother someone. It's funny how most people offended by this aren't even black either, they just see something they're told is offensive and work themselves up over nothing.