Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Stealing the Show is a study of African American actors in Hollywood during the 1930s, a decade that saw the consolidation of stardom as a potent cultural and industrial force. Petty focuses on five performers whose Hollywood film careers flourished during this period-Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Lincoln "Stepin Fetchit" Perry, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Hattie McDaniel-to reveal the "problematic stardom" and the enduring, interdependent patterns of performance and spectatorship for performers and audiences of color. She maps how these actors-though regularly cast in stereotyped and marginalized roles-employed various strategies of cinematic and extracinematic performance to negotiate their complex positions in Hollywood and to ultimately "steal the show." Drawing on a variety of source materials, Petty explores these stars' reception among Black audiences and theorizes African American viewership in the early twentieth century. Her book is an important and welcome contribution to the literature on the movies.

African Americans in motion pictures. --- African American motion picture actors and actresses --- Afro-Americans in motion pictures --- Negroes in moving-pictures --- Motion pictures --- Race films --- Afro-American motion picture actors and actresses --- Motion picture actors and actresses, African American --- Negro moving-picture actors and actresses --- Motion picture actors and actresses --- History --- 1930s hollywood. --- african american actors. --- african american studies. --- bill bojangles robinson. --- bill robinson. --- black actors steal the show. --- black actors. --- black studies. --- bojangles. --- cinematic performance for black actors. --- early hollywood. --- film studies. --- fredi washington. --- hattie mcdaniel. --- history of film. --- history of hollywood. --- lincoln perry. --- lincoln stepin fetchit perry. --- louise beavers. --- problematic stardom for black actors. --- race in early hollywood. --- stepin fetchit. --- stereotypical hollywood.