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Popular Culture Review
a mask of whiteness.” However, as Regester’s analysis shows, Washington
asserted her blackness through activism, particularly in the years following the
filming of Imitation o f Life.
A central theme of the study is that while these African American actresses
of the pre-civil rights era were often (or, perhaps invariably) cast as the Other,
they were able, through their talent and tenacity, to transcend the subservient
film roles they were given. That is particularly true in the case of Oscar-winner
Hattie McDaniel, whose career Regester considers in a chapter entitled,
“Centering the Margin.” In examining Hattie McDaniel’s powerful performance
in Gone with the Wind {\92>9), Regester discusses the ironic reception of the film
and its black stars, McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, within the black
community and black press. While the African American community praised
McDaniel for her performance and deserved accolades, it condemned her (and
the film) for the image her character projected. Yet, as Regester notes,
McDaniel’s performance as Mammy elevated the role beyond stereotype and
caricature. In fact, she stole scenes from the white stars of the film; however, for
this and other such roles she played throughout her career, McDaniel endured
criticism and ostracism, ironically, by those who acknowledged the historical
significance of her accomplishments. The study’s appraisal of the legendary
Lena Home examines her as a “new representative type of black actress,”
compared to the physiological type to which actresses such as Hattie McDaniel
and Louise Beavers belonged. However, Hollywood was no less racist or sexist
toward Home; rather, the film industry objectified and attempted to neutralize
Home. However, as Regester details. Home resisted objectification and became
an outspoken activist. Regester’s study of the entertainer and actress Hazel Scott
centers on the ways in which Scott “resisted Othering” and was therefore
marginalized by the entertainment industry. Regester discusses Scott’s
appearances in a number of films, pointing out her militant refusal to be
portrayed in a derogatory light, such as wearing an apron or a handkerchief
around her head. In the chapter devoted to the actress Ethel Waters, Regester
focuses on Waters’s role as Berenice, the black domestic and matriarchal figure
in the film. The Member o f the Wedding (1952). Regester analyzes how
Waters’s performance in this role parallels the actress’s off-screen life, during
which Waters personified the racial “Other.” In examining Waters’s lengthy
career, Regester illustrates how Waters capitulated to Hollywood’s demands,
playing the stereotypical “mammy,” even in a role such as that of Dicey {Pinky,
1949), for which she received an Oscar nomination. Regester’s discussion of the
life and career of Dorothy Dandridge positions the actress as a transitional figure
in the history of American cinema, observing that her rise occurred at the
beginning of the civil rights and women’s movements. Looking at Dandridge’s
performances in such films as Bright Road, Carmen Jones, and Porgy and Bess,
Regester critiques Hollywood’s commodification of her as an object of the male
gaze, particularly the white male. Regester argues that Dandridge, who became