Casting Blackface in Canada: Unmasking the History of ‘White and Black’ Minstrel Shows

IF 0.2 3区 艺术学 0 THEATER CANADIAN THEATRE REVIEW Pub Date : 2023-02-01 DOI:10.3138/ctr.193.004
C. Thompson
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Abstract

Abstract:Blackface minstrelsy was the dominant form of mass entertainment for over a century, from the 1840s through the 1940s. In Canada, there has been little scholarly research into the topic but for the work of Stephen Johnson and, in recent years, the works I have published on the subject. One of the reasons blackface has been understudied is the dearth of attention paid to histories of slavery. By exploring the history of casting blackface productions, both ‘white’ minstrelsy (white performers blackening up to imitate the song and dance of African-Americans) and ‘Black’ minstrelsy (Black performers in and out of blackface performing caricatures of themselves in front of majority-white audiences), we gain an understanding of how these shows were produced, and what audiences found appealing about them. Canada has produced its own blackface stars, like Colin ‘Cool’ Burgess (1840–1905) and Calixa Lavallée (1842–1891), both of whom toured the United States and Canada in the late nineteenth century and who not only performed in blackface but also produced songs, some of which are still known today, like “O Canada,” the Canadian national anthem, composed by Lavallée in 1880. Additionally, what the history of casting blackface in Canada shows is a long-standing desire among white audiences for depictions of the American Plantation South that often included the participation of local actors like playwright and writer Charles Wesley Handscomb (1867–1906), who moved to Winnipeg in 1879, who were often cast in touring minstrel productions to sing in blackface.
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在加拿大铸造黑脸:揭开“白人和黑人”明斯特秀的历史
摘要:从19世纪40年代到20世纪40年代,黑脸吟游诗人在一个多世纪的时间里一直是大众娱乐的主导形式。在加拿大,除了斯蒂芬·约翰逊(Stephen Johnson)的工作以及近年来我发表的有关该主题的作品外,对该主题的学术研究很少。人们对黑人面孔研究不足的原因之一是对奴隶制历史缺乏关注。通过探索黑脸演出的历史,无论是“白人”吟游诗人(白人表演者把自己打扮成黑人模仿非裔美国人的歌舞)还是“黑人”吟游诗人(黑人表演者在大多数白人观众面前用黑脸或非黑脸表演自己的漫画),我们了解了这些节目是如何制作的,以及观众对它们的吸引力是什么。加拿大产生了自己的扮演黑人明星,像科林“酷”伯吉斯(1840 - 1905)和Calixa Lavallee(1842 - 1891),两人参观了美国和加拿大在19世纪晚期,不仅表现在扮演黑人也产生的歌曲,其中一些仍然是已知的今天,像“加拿大阿,”加拿大国歌,由Lavallee在1880年。此外,加拿大黑人扮相的历史表明,白人观众长期以来一直渴望描绘美国南方种植园,这通常包括当地演员的参与,比如剧作家和作家查尔斯·韦斯利·汉斯科姆(Charles Wesley Handscomb, 1867-1906),他于1879年搬到温尼伯,他们经常在巡回吟游诗人作品中扮演黑人。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
33.30%
发文量
54
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