For June I chose to focus on two Black actors that the
Golden Age featured in stereotypical roles but both made the best of their
opportunities. The first was Mantan Mooreland who joined a carnival at age 14
and then a medicine show the very next year but juvenile authorities intervened
and put a stop to his adventures. Mantan began his show biz career in what was
called the “Chitlin Circuit” which was the black performers version of
vaudeville and after a decade he teamed with a comic Benny Carter and their
routine became known as “indefinite talk” whereby each would start a sentence
only to be interrupted by the other. (Say, have you seen…?” “I saw him
yesterday. He was at…” “I thought they closed that place down!”) In one of the
Chan films Benny and Mantan performed their skit. There timing was perfect and
chemistry was obvious onscreen but at the time it mattered little.
By 1936 Mantan was performing in films usually as a porter,
waiter or a bootblack but he was too funny to be shunted aside by the other
white actors in the B films and his roles began to expand while he was at the
low rent Monogram studio. During this time uncharacteristically Mantan struck
up a screen friendship with white actor Frankie Darro unusual as most black
actors were relegated to solo comic relief. Moreland’s elevated status got him
prominence in the Charlie Chan series as the detective’s constant frightened
chauffeur and with each passing film the hilarity escalated and by 1949 his
Birmingham Brown character was referred to as Chan’s assistant. Mantan reprised
his role 15 times and lasted through 2 non-Asian Chan actors.
He was also featured in the all black MGM film Cabin in the
Sky and a lesser-known King of the Zombies wherein he steals the film from the
lesser known white stars. When the scene shifts to the jungle and Mantan and
his costars hear drums they ask “what’s that?” he says: “I don’t know but it
ain’t Gene Krupa.” I laughed loudly. When the Civil Rights movement took root Mantan roles
dried up but later he reemerged with roles in Spider Baby in ’64 and cameos in
Enter Laughing in ’68 and The Comic in ’69. He was back in demand and appeared on Love American Style in
1970, and that same year in Watermelon Man. On The Bill Cosby Show he revived
his “indefinite talk” routine and introduced it to a whole new generation.
Mantan Moreland was often reviled later during the more politically correct
period but watch him he was just flat out very funny. Revisionist history
fanatics might disagree. Mantan was a groundbreaker and is not given the credit
for opening doors for black actors that followed. He died at age 71 from a brain hemorrhage.
Next up is
Eddie “Rochester” Anderson who also moved the needle for black actors. He was
born into a show business family, which gave him a leg up on Mantan. His father was a minstrel performer and
his mother of all things a tightrope walker in the circus. Eddie entered show
business with his brother Cornelius as a song-and-dance team. He began his film
career in 1932 at age 27 in a film called What Price Hollywood? He too appeared
in a stereotypical role as a valet. Five years later though in 1937 his
fortunes change literally forever when the part he was designated for was a
one-shot appearance as a railway porter nicknamed “Rochester” on the radio’s
hit series The Jack Benny Program. His raspy voice and overwhelming audience
response were dramatic and it led to his teaming with Benny until Jack’s death
in 1974. In fact he costarred with him in films: Man About Town ’39, Buck Benny
Rides Again ’40, Love Thy Neighbor ’41 and The Meanest Man in the World in ’42.
His role continued on Jack’s television series until 1965. His partnership as
Jack’s know-it-all butler was a big hit with audiences, which served to elevate
how black actors were perceived at the time. Eddie Anderson is also not given
the credit he well deserves for this turning point in film and television
history. In fact he achieved an equal footing with his white costars. In the
late 60’s in a Jack Benny special he was invited to reprise his servant role
once more to which Eddie quipped: “But boss we don’t do that any more!”
In a movie role that I particularly love Eddie plays
opposite Roland Young in the final installment of the Topper trilogy in 1941
costarring Joan Blondell. Again Anderson plays a chauffer but kills it with his
reactions to the “ghost” played by Joan. Eddie got top billing in ’43’s Cabin
in the Sky (Mantan also appeared) and did a few more movies in the 40’s until
his television career began to bloom. In his personal life Eddie was a shrewd businessman parlaying
his radio and film earnings into profitable real estate investments and was one
of the wealthiest black entertainers at the time. He died at age 71 of heart
disease. Mantan Moreland and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson were two black American
actors that helped remove the demeaning roles such as Stepin Fetchit* (Lincoln
Perry) played before them.
*Lincoln Perry aka Stepin Fetchit who I thought was annoying
more than funny especially in movies like Charlie Chan in Egypt actually
parlayed his shtick into millions even though his lavish lifestyle later had
him bankrupt. Next up I think I will feature Anna May Wong.
Eddie
Mantan
Eddie Mantan 
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