Stepin Fetchit
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Image:Stepin fetchit.jpg Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902–November 19, 1985). Though his typical film persona and stage name have long been synonymous with the discredited stereotype of the servile, shiftless, low-intelligence black man in early 20th Century American film, Fetchit parlayed it into a successful film career that actually opened doors for black actors, even if it was the polar opposite of his actual self.
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Biography
Born in Key West, Florida, to West Indian immigrants, Perry began entertaining in his teens as a comic character actor. His stage name was a contraction of "step and fetch it," suggesting a servile character. He played comic relief roles in a number of films, all based on his character known as "The Laziest Man in the World." Despite this, Perry was an actor in the truest sense of the word; "Stepin Fetchit," no matter what the names of the roles he played on screen, was himself a Perry character. In fact, Perry was highly literate and had a concurrent career writing for the Chicago Defender, one of the nation's best-respected black newspapers.
If the Fetchit persona derives, too, from a common manipulation technique used by blacks to mitigate their status by pretending to be unintelligent and fulfilling the low expectations of whites, Perry himself was not afraid to use it offscreen. Auditioning for a role in a remake of In Old Kentucky, Perry stayed in character before and after the audition, often feigning low intelligence or skipping or mumbling lines he did not like.
Perry did not invent the stereotype to which his stage name became synonymous, but Stepin Fetchit's image was used to popularise it. Many black characters in the movies were based on Stepin Fetchit, including Stymie in the classic Our Gang comedies, though like Fetchit (a facet often forgotten about him), Stymie had his ways of outwitting his assumed superiors. (As it happens, Fetchit repaid the reference: he guest starred in an Our Gang short, "A Tough Winter", intended as the pilot film for a Fetchit short subject series producer Hal Roach planned but never materialised.)
In due course, the Fetchit image came to be seen as degrading enough that Perry's films rarely get a screening now. Nor have they seen widespread video release. On the rare occasions the films are shown, most of his segments are deleted. But film historians across racial lines have come to see that Perry was in fact a gifted comic. He was also the first black actor to become a millionaire. Unfortunately, Perry was a far better actor than he was a manager of his own money, and he was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1947.
Perry converted to Islam in the 1960s and became a friend of heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, with both men claiming Perry taught Ali a particular punch. But Perry also found himself in conflict during his career with civil rights leaders who criticized him personally for the film roles he portrayed. However, Perry had something of the last laugh: in 1976, the Hollywood chapter of the NAACP awarded him a Special Image Award, acknowledging that, whatever the stereotype his famous alter ego had inspired, his had been a trailblazing career without which many black film careers might have been more difficult to make. Two years after that, Perry was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
See also
Filmography
- The Mysterious Stranger (1925)
- In Old Kentucky (1927)
- The Devil's Skipper (1928)
- Nameless Men (1928)
- The Tragedy of Youth (1928)
- Kid's Clever (1929)
- The Ghost Talks (1929)
- Hearts in Dixie (1929)
- Thru Different Eyes (1929)
- Show Boat (1929)
- Innocents of Paris (1929)
- Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (1929)
- Salute (1929)
- Big Time (1929)
- Cameo Kirby (1930)
- The Big Fight (1930)
- Swing High (1930)
- A Tough Winter (1930, with Our Gang)
- La Fuerza del Querer (1930)
- The Prodigal (1931)
- Wild Horse (1931)
- The Galloping Ghost (1931)
- Neck and Neck (1931)
- Carolina (1934)
- David Harum (1934)
- Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
- The World Moves On (1934)
- Judge Priest (1934)
- Marie Galante (1934)
- Bachelor of Arts (1934)
- Helldorado (1935)
- The County Chairman (1935)
- One More Spring (1935)
- Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
- Steamboat 'Round the Bend (1935)
- The Virginia Judge (1935)
- Dimples (1936)
- 36 Hours to Kill (1936)
- On the Avenue (1937)
- Love Is News (1937)
- Fifty Races to Town (1937)
- His Exciting Night (1938)
- Zenobia (1939)
- Big Timers (1945)
- Miracle in Harlem (1948)
- Bend of the River (1952)
- The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
- Cutter (1972) (TV movie)
- Amazing Grace (1974)
- Muhammad Ali, the Greatest (1974)
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
Sources
- Talk of the Nation interview with Mel Watkins; November 9, 2005.
- Watkins, Mel. Stepin Fetchit : The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry, Pantheon Books, 2005. ISBN 0375423826