Videos posted on YouTube by Patrick Reed. Please read notes.
All notes below are posted by Patrick Reed:
WARNING: This video compilation contains offensive racial stereotypes.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin devolved over the century following its publication in 1852, from a powerful anti-slavery appeal, to melodrama, and finally to farce. As it moved from the pages of a novel to stage, movie screen, and children's cartoons, the characters became stereotypes, the story's Blacks insultingly so. In a scene from early in the novel, slave Eliza escapes with her small child and is chased by slave catchers and a pack of bloodhounds, eluding her pursuers by swimming across a river to reach the free North. In silent film versions, the river crossing takes place in mid-winter, with Eliza hopping from ice floe to floe, rescued by a Quaker savior from certain death just before plunging over the falls. The device was adopted for stage versions, many featuring packs of dogs and even horses. Beyond the stage- and screen-craft, however, most notable is the increasingly racist imagery, the Black characters associated with watermelons, loaded dice etc. Audiences for these productions were exclusively White and sadly, in Jim Crow America, few in the seats found such scenes objectionable.
Additional filmed scenes from these and other productions, demonstrating how these performances evolved from drama to melodrama to outright farce, can be found by following these links:
"Uncle Tom" Today: https://youtu.be/PL9orBIfBJ8
Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Stage: https://youtu.be/eNgwwxpPRpo
Selected Scenes from Showtime’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1987): https://youtu.be/yX18-IDJtKc
The Birth and Many Melodramatic Deaths of Uncle Tom's "Little Eva": https://youtu.be/xiPXYhgLcN8
Uncle Tom’s “Topsy”: https://youtu.be/Aq895m5mwG4
Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s “Uncle Tom”: https://youtu.be/gKrQQD7BK6A
Sources: "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" (1937); "Mickey's Mellerdrammer" (1933); Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927); Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926); "Eliza on the Ice" (1944).
WARNING: This video compilation contains offensive racial stereotypes.
The popularity of Harriett Beecher Stowe's novel immediately inspired melodramatic stage and even musical productions. These performances demonstrate the ubiquity of the story and the stereotyping of its Black characters. The exclusively White audiences for which these productions were created did not want to be threatened, but rather reassured that former slaves and their descendants were content with the second class citizenship to which they had been consigned. These "Tom Shows" typically depicted the title character as degradingly deferential to his white owners and their families, and these are the portrayals that have inspired the contemporary image of an "Uncle Tom".
Recognize that the two African American characters introduced in the musical production number that concludes this compilation are portrayed by White actors in blackface, which was all too commonly the case through the mid-20th century. The evolution of these characters reflects shifting social attitudes and can convey important aspects of American culture over most of two centuries.
Additional filmed scenes from these and other productions, demonstrating how these performances evolved from drama to melodrama to outright farce, can be found by following these links:
"Uncle Tom" Today: https://youtu.be/PL9orBIfBJ8
Selected Scenes from Showtime’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1987): https://youtu.be/yX18-IDJtKc
Uncle Tom's "Eliza" Crossing the Ice: https://youtu.be/GXab-qwEpxw
The Birth and Many Melodramatic Deaths of Uncle Tom's "Little Eva": https://youtu.be/xiPXYhgLcN8
Uncle Tom's "Topsy": https://youtu.be/Aq895m5mwG4
Uncle Tom's Cabin's "Uncle Tom": https://youtu.be/gKrQQD7BK6A
Sources: Dimples (1936); Gangs of New York ( (2002); Look for the Silver Lining (1949); The Naughty Nineties (1945); The Girl in the Show (1929); Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926); Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933); Bugs Bunny in "Uncle Tom's Cabinet"; P. T. Barnum (1999); The Great White Hope (1970); The King and I (1956); Al Jolson in "Jazz Heaven" (1929?); An Uncle Tom's Cabin Musical Production Number from the 1930s, aired as a Turner Classic Movies short in 2013.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin devolved over the century following its publication in 1852, from a powerful anti-slavery appeal, to melodrama, and finally to farce. As it moved from the pages of a novel to stage, movie screen, and children's cartoons, the characters became stereotypes, the story's Blacks insultingly so. In a scene from early in the novel, slave Eliza escapes with her small child and is chased by slave catchers and a pack of bloodhounds, eluding her pursuers by swimming across a river to reach the free North. In silent film versions, the river crossing takes place in mid-winter, with Eliza hopping from ice floe to floe, rescued by a Quaker savior from certain death just before plunging over the falls. The device was adopted for stage versions, many featuring packs of dogs and even horses. Beyond the stage- and screen-craft, however, most notable is the increasingly racist imagery, the Black characters associated with watermelons, loaded dice etc. Audiences for these productions were exclusively White and sadly, in Jim Crow America, few in the seats found such scenes objectionable.
Additional filmed scenes from these and other productions, demonstrating how these performances evolved from drama to melodrama to outright farce, can be found by following these links:
"Uncle Tom" Today: https://youtu.be/PL9orBIfBJ8
Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Stage: https://youtu.be/eNgwwxpPRpo
Selected Scenes from Showtime’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1987): https://youtu.be/yX18-IDJtKc
The Birth and Many Melodramatic Deaths of Uncle Tom's "Little Eva": https://youtu.be/xiPXYhgLcN8
Uncle Tom’s “Topsy”: https://youtu.be/Aq895m5mwG4
Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s “Uncle Tom”: https://youtu.be/gKrQQD7BK6A
Sources: "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" (1937); "Mickey's Mellerdrammer" (1933); Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927); Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926); "Eliza on the Ice" (1944).
WARNING: This video compilation contains offensive racial stereotypes.
The popularity of Harriett Beecher Stowe's novel immediately inspired melodramatic stage and even musical productions. These performances demonstrate the ubiquity of the story and the stereotyping of its Black characters. The exclusively White audiences for which these productions were created did not want to be threatened, but rather reassured that former slaves and their descendants were content with the second class citizenship to which they had been consigned. These "Tom Shows" typically depicted the title character as degradingly deferential to his white owners and their families, and these are the portrayals that have inspired the contemporary image of an "Uncle Tom".
Recognize that the two African American characters introduced in the musical production number that concludes this compilation are portrayed by White actors in blackface, which was all too commonly the case through the mid-20th century. The evolution of these characters reflects shifting social attitudes and can convey important aspects of American culture over most of two centuries.
Additional filmed scenes from these and other productions, demonstrating how these performances evolved from drama to melodrama to outright farce, can be found by following these links:
"Uncle Tom" Today: https://youtu.be/PL9orBIfBJ8
Selected Scenes from Showtime’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1987): https://youtu.be/yX18-IDJtKc
Uncle Tom's "Eliza" Crossing the Ice: https://youtu.be/GXab-qwEpxw
The Birth and Many Melodramatic Deaths of Uncle Tom's "Little Eva": https://youtu.be/xiPXYhgLcN8
Uncle Tom's "Topsy": https://youtu.be/Aq895m5mwG4
Uncle Tom's Cabin's "Uncle Tom": https://youtu.be/gKrQQD7BK6A
Sources: Dimples (1936); Gangs of New York ( (2002); Look for the Silver Lining (1949); The Naughty Nineties (1945); The Girl in the Show (1929); Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926); Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933); Bugs Bunny in "Uncle Tom's Cabinet"; P. T. Barnum (1999); The Great White Hope (1970); The King and I (1956); Al Jolson in "Jazz Heaven" (1929?); An Uncle Tom's Cabin Musical Production Number from the 1930s, aired as a Turner Classic Movies short in 2013.
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