Popular Culture Review Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2003 | Page 89

Miss Em’s Voyeuristic Gaze of P in k y

85

34.

Cindy Patton, “White Racism/Black Signs: Censorship and Images of Race Relations,”

35.
36.
37.
38.

of Communication 45.2 (Spring 1995): 75.
“Cinema: The New Pictures,” Time 54.15 (10 October 1949): 96.
Trinh Minh Ha, When the Moon Waxes RediNcv/ York, Routledge, 1991), 74.
Gerald WeaIes,“Pro-Negro Films in Atlanta,” Phylon (1952): 300.
Ibid. Weales reports that in Atlanta "Pinky was a box-office success - so much so that one booker

39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

44.
45.
46.
47.

called it a ‘classic,' a term with which the trade describes a long-term box office draw. On its first
run at the Roxy, not only the gallery, but the balcony (ordinarily white) was reserved for Negroes.
It played three weeks and drew large crowds in both white and Negro second-run hou.ses.” The
Roxy Theater hired additional security for the film's debut but the Atlanta premiere occurred
without incident. In other Southern cities such as Memphis, Tennessee, Weales reveals that the
film was “an instant hit, and long lines o f anxious persons white and colored formed long before
opening time;" in New Orleans the film met with “record shattering grosses” CP ink}'Takes Dixie,”
Pittsburgh Courier, 10 December 1949, p. 18); and in Gadsden, Alabama, the film was banned
because o f its perceived racially tolerant theme CPifiky Banned In Ala. Where Illiteracy Rules,”
Chicago Defender, 22 July 1950, p. 30). According to Cindy Patton, in Marshall, Texas the film
was censored because it was considered as “prejudicial to the best interest o f the people” since it
presented “colored and whites acting together on equal plane;" a decision that was overturned by
a Supreme Court ruling (See “White Racism/Black Signs: Censorship and Images of Race
Rc\a{\ox\s," Journal of Communication 45.2, Spring 1995).
A1 Andersen, “Hollywo(xl's Conscience Shown in 1949: Three Films Reflect Anti-Di.scrimination,”
Afro-American, Baltimore, 31 December 1949, 9.
Lillian Scott, “Broadway Sees, Likes Newest Problem Sock," Chicaf^o Defender, 8 October 1949,
16.
Rob Roy, "Pinky Turns Other Cheek In Parade o f Problem Films: This Time The Girl Is the NonGrey Eyes,” Chiccif*o Defender, 26 November 149, 27.
Robert Hatch, New Republic 121 (3 October 1949): 23.
"Pinky: Story on Girl Who Passes Will Be Most Debated Film of Year,” Ebony 4. W (September
1949): 23. According to Ebony magazine, Walter White, secretary o f the NAACP-National
Association for the Advancement o f Colored People, consulted with Darryl Zanuck regarding the
film's rac