[Dixielandjazz] YouTube - Hoagy Carmichael and Jack Teagarden

[Gluetje1 at aol.com]

Hi Don,
I really appreciated your confronting the racism of the movie clips.   As I 
was watching last night, my mind was stunned because I was also "seeing"  
instead of simply reading about embedded racial stereotyping, etc.   But I am 
puzzled by some of your conclusions below and wondering if you  have information 
about Carmichael that I don't.  How do we know what he had  in mind in composing 
these tunes?  Is there some information "out there"  that Hoagy had artistic 
control and wanted the stereotypic film images  interspersed with the film of 
the music-making?  I ask this in all  sincerity and ignorance as the brief bio 
on the Hoagy site or another statement  on the photos page about his lifelong 
friendship with Louis Armstrong doesn't  seem to support that.  Here is the 
link to the bio on the official site. _http://hoagy.com/bio_short.htm_ 
(http://hoagy.com/bio_short.htm) 
 
Ginny
 
In a message dated 1/29/2007 3:39:03 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
mophandl at landing.com writes:

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