The Spurious Plum

Damn Old Movie Night - Swing Time + Rant

OK. I'm gonna say right up front that I'm not exactly a fan of old movies where people burst into spontaneous song and dance. The modern day version of this, with Usher and 15 of his closest friends doing exactly the move, is amusing to me, but that's it. You may even consider yourself a fan of Musical Damn Old Movies, but the millisecond anyone puts on blackface, I'm justifiably uncomfortable. Hopefully everyone else is, too.

A Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers musical/dancing vehicle, Swing Time was the 1st and only time Fred Astaire ever used blackface in his film career. It's pointless and demeaning. Even more disturbing to me, is a phenomenally insulting portrayal of a black male valet, unfortunately played by Floyd Shackelford.



I tried desparately to find a normal picture of Mr. Shackelford, but of course, couldn't.

I'm not a fan of censoring, but I'll make a deal with our friendly, neighborhood Book-Burning Fucksquads. Instead of worrying about Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, the Harry Potter Series and the Chocolate War (which tops the ALA's most requested book for removal), go focus on getting rid of anything with blackface. I know the Fucksquad majority mostly wants to get rid of books containing gay people, cussing and situations where children challenge authority (can't have that!), but just try it for a week.

After a week, all you Fucksquad members can return to expecting teachers and librarians to watch what little Jimmy Fucksquad reads, since Mr. and Mrs. Fucksquad are too busy calling for the rolling of literary heads to actually pay attention to what Jimmy's reading and discuss it intelligently.

Angry tonight. Let's address some fruit.
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Random Fruit Fact: The Naval Orange

Cause Mateo chopped one up for me at lunch the other day. Mmm.

"In 1873, taking advantage of the North American diplomatic services established in Brazil, technicians specialized in citrus production in Riverside, California, received three seedlings of Bahia orange, from which came the seedlings that would later be spread all over the United States and other parts of the world with the name of Washington Navel. Therefore, the citrus exchange between the two countries is over a century old, and the Bahia orange was a fundamental base for that exchange."

Learn more about naval oranges here.

Posted by Spurious Nurse at 2/15/2005 09:30:00 PM