[Ads-l] big apple (UNCLASSIFIED)

Andy Bach afbach at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 6 23:01:32 UTC 2020


>> a mixed-race Jamaican who was said to identify as black
>That's a real thigh-slapper! He didn't "identify as black." _Identify as_
makes it seem as though he had a choice! He was either "colored" or a
"Negro," as long as he resided in the United States.

The page
https://reelrundown.com/tv/Perry-Mason-The-Case-of-the-Silent-Black-Judge-and-More

has his situation as:
Frank Silvera had a leading role in "The Case of the Fancy Figures," which
aired on December 13, 1958. He played Jonathan Hyett, the father of a
daughter described as a very fair "strawberry blonde." All the characters
in the episode, including Silvera's, are presented as being white.

But in real life Silvera was not white. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica of
a father who was Spanish, and a mother who was a native Jamaican of mixed
race. Although Silvera was very light-skinned, he identified himself as
black. The U. S. government agreed. When Silvera enlisted in the U. S. Navy
during WW2, he was assigned to Camp Robert Smalls, a training facility for
African Americans.

But because his appearance was not obviously black, the parts he played in
a multitude of movies and television shows were almost always whites of
various nationalities. In fact, it was difficult for him to get roles as a
black man. Once he auditioned to play a black elevator operator and was
rejected as being "too light" for the part.


https://jamaicans.com/jamaican-history-hollywood-actor-frank-silvera/

has him telling the last story - "He once said he attempted to get a part
in a TV drama as a black elevator operator. The producer rejected him as
being too light-skinned. He left the producer’s office, then returned. “Am
I light enough to play one of the white parts?” He got the job."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Silvera

Yikes! Died by electrocution, trying to repair a garbage disposal at age 55.

On Thu, Feb 6, 2020 at 4:09 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ivan Dixon starred in the movie, A Man Ain't Nothin' But a Man. I also saw
> him in person, back in the '60's, at some now-forgotten all-originals scene
> held at the L.A. County Museum, where, as MC, he spoke the slogan of Ron
> Karenga's black-militant organization, U[nited]S[laves]*: "Wherever *US* -
> pronounced "us" - is, *we* are!" IMO, a hip use of the possibilities of BE
> syntax.
>
> > a mixed-race Jamaican who was said to identify as black
>
> That's a real thigh-slapper! He didn't "identify as black." _Identify as_
> makes it seem as though he had a choice! He was either "colored" or a
> "Negro," as long as he resided in the United States. Indeed, when used in
> American English, _mixed-race_ is ill-defined. That is, how "mixed" and
> with what "races" must a person be "mixed," in order to be defined as
> "mixed-race"? E.g. Keanu Reeves is of European and Asian ancestry. Is he
> considered "mixed-race" or is he simply "white"? Kenneth Chung of the New
> England Patriots is a Jamaican of Asian and African ancestry. Is he
> considered "mixed-race" or is he simply "black"? In an interview published
> in The Boston Globe, Jennifer Beals was asked what race she was. She
> answered to the effect that, if you asked her father that, then she was
> "black." But, if you asked her mother that, then she was "mixed."
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> On Thu, Feb 6, 2020 at 3:32 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC
> AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----
> > >
> > > > I have watched about 45 of them
> > > > now and have yet to see a black actor, not one.
> > >
> > > To quote my favorite line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "What country
> > do you
> > > think this is?!"
> > >
> > > There was Eddie "Rochester" Anderson on The Jack Benny Show, Willie
> Best,
> > > the poor man's Stepin Fetchit, on Father Knows Best, and the black
> > players of
> > > MLB and of the NFL (one of whom, ironically, was Rochester's son) and
> the
> > > CFL. (It may startle some of the younger folk to read this, but
> Canadian
> > > football was once a staple of American TV. Any sports-fan of the day
> > could
> > > tell you who Sam Etcheverry [star, record-setting Basque-American QB of
> > the
> > > Montreal Alouettes who ended his career with the former St. Louis
> > Football
> > > Cardinals] was.) Louis Armstrong guest-starred on the Texaco Star
> > Theater,
> > > Your Show of Shows, Ed Sullivan, etc.  Oh, and there was Mantan
> Moreland,
> > > of "Feets, don't fail me, now!" fame, who played "Alabama,"
> > > Charlie Chan's chauffeur, as seen in TV re-runs of the Chan series.
> > >
> >
> > Perry Mason had a few black actors.
> >
> > Vince Townsend played a judge, with no speaking lines (thus doesn't
> appear
> > in the credits or in IMDB) in "The Case of the Skeleton's Closet."  He
> was
> > a LA County Municipal Judge in real life.
> >
> > Ivan Dixon (better known for "Hogan's Heroes" was in two episodes.
> >
> > Frank Silvera, a mixed-race Jamaican who was said to identify as black,
> > and who was in segregated black units in WW2, was in an episode but
> played
> > a white character.
> >
> > Alvin Childress played a janitor in one episode.
> >
> > Bill Walker plays a night watchman in one episode.
> >
> > Amanda Randolph played a maid in one episode.
> >
> > Bobby Johnson was a redcap in an episode.
> >
> >
> > CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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