THE COLOR BLACK
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If Keyes wishes to attack bigotry in Hollywood, she should choose a better example than “Pinky.”
She wrote: “Why, they wouldn’t even let a black girl play the role of a black girl in the film ‘Pinky,’ which was a story about . . . well, a black girl. They cast white Jeanne Crain instead--when Lena was right there, ready, willing and certainly able.”
“Pinky” is the story of a black girl who is able to pass for white. Lena Horne could never pass for white, not to mention the fact that she was under contract to another studio.
Crain’s co-stars were the very black Ethel Waters and the very white Ethel Barrymore. The 1949 film, as I recall, was a serious attempt to improve race relations, although it wasn’t a very good movie. Crain and both Ethels, however, got rave reviews and were all nominated for Oscars.
Honoring a great black artist such as Waters doesn’t fall in the category of Hollywood’s most embarrassing moments, to my mind.
LARRY T. WRIGHT
San Gabriel
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