[Dixielandjazz] YouTube - Hoagy Carmichael and Jack Teagarden

[Don Mopsick]

Steve writes:

 

Listmate John McClernan sent this to me. Great site.

 

Cheers,

Steve Barbone

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsp9N30D2YA

 

This is a really great film in great condition. How many film images of
Hoagy and Teagarden exist, do you think? I would venture to say this is the
only one. And it is crystal-clear on YouTube. And they perform songs Small
Fry, Lazy Bones, Washboard Blues, Star Dust. And Hoagy and Jack seem so
relaxed and natural on film. 

 

BUT IT IS TERRIBLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT.

 

We who are involved in presenting classic jazz face an ongoing dilemma. Yes,
we want to preserve what is classic and noble about our culture. But we
don't want to perpetuate the abject racism that was endemic in American
Society during the period that also produced our greatest music. This is not
something that we can hide from or sweep under the rug, it's IMHO much
better to address it head-on. It is precisely this issue that accounts for
much of the resistance we in the classic jazz community face from the
academic world. 

 

It has been correctly pointed out to me long ago that I would not want to
present, for example,  ANY depiction of Jews in Germany in 1939, the year of
this film, for any reason. Yes, I remember that a few years back I ran in
Jazz Me News the outrageous Nazi poster Entartete Kunst "Degenerate Art"
because it was so outrageous and over the top, I thought it was obvious that
I would not offend anyone but the most thin-skinned. I received no
complaints from anyone, in fact many thanked me for running it. I'm glad I
have a copy of it on my hard drive. Here it is in case you missed it:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Entartete_musik_poster.jpg




Similarly, I was really glad that I saw this film, because for the first
time, I saw (rather than just understood intellectually from hearing the
lyrics) on a gut level just what it was Hoagy had in mind when he composed
Lazy Bones, Washboard Blues and Small Fry. These are all songs that we have
recorded on CD and on Riverwalk. If you just listen to the songs, you
realize that they are great works of art by one of the great American song
composers. So some can make the case that White America was a racist
society, and Hoagy was part of it, and so quit cryin' about it already. In
fact, it is very difficult indeed to find ANY films from the interwar period
that depict blacks in anything other than patronizing, inferior roles. We
read that America was just not ready for a Malcolm or a MLK in 1939, despite
the fact that there were many of both races who saw beyond the times. Of
course there are notable exceptions: Paul Robeson and Duke Ellington are
often cited as artists that managed to keep their dignity intact during this
period. 

 

Again, the film really brought home to me the point that racism is woven
into the very concept of these songs. There's just no getting around it. No,
Hoagy is not advocating a bloody genocide, but the attitude is different
from the Third Reich ONLY IN DEGREE. "There are a group of people in this
country who are inherently inferior to "normal" American people because they
are lazy, etc. but I choose to write these songs about them because I find
them endearing." 

 

So the patronizing endearment that Hoagy put into his songs is in stark
contrast to the raw hatred that Goebbels, Hitler, et. al. felt toward Jews.
But does it all end up in the same bucket? Maybe. So what do we do about it?
To me, "nothing" is not an option. Is mere acknowledgement enough? Do we
perform these songs without lyrics, cutting our knowledge off about how and
why they were created? Do we hold Hoagy responsible for racism the same as
Police Chief Bull Connor in Alabama? We don't perform "All Coons Look Alike
to Me" today, but what about these songs?

 

mopo

 

Don Mopsick, Riverwalk Webmaster