Synopses & Reviews
Stealing the Show is a study of African American actors in Hollywood during the 1930s, a decade that saw the consolidation of stardom as a potent cultural and industrial force. Petty focuses on five performers whose Hollywood film careers flourished during this periodandmdash;Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Lincoln andldquo;Stepin Fetchitandrdquo; Perry, Bill andldquo;Bojanglesandrdquo; Robinson, and Hattie McDanielandmdash;to reveal the andldquo;problematic stardomandrdquo; and the enduring, interdependent patterns of performance and spectatorship for performers and audiences of color. She maps howand#160;these actorsandmdash;though regularly cast in stereotyped and marginalized rolesandmdash;employed various strategies of cinematic and extracinematic performance to negotiate their complex positions in Hollywood and to ultimately andldquo;steal the show.andrdquo; Drawing on a variety of source materials, Petty explores these starsandrsquo; reception among Black audiences and theorizes African American viewership in the early twentieth century. Her book is an important and welcome contribution to literature on the movies.
About the Author
Miriam J. Petty is Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Radio, and Television at Northwestern University.