The Framing of The Shrew (1929)

From The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931
By Edwin M. Bradley
"Another series based on magazine stories about African-Americans - and a pre-cursor to the Buck and Bubbles series - was based on the "Darktown Birmingham" tales penned by the popular white writer Octavus Roy Cohen for The Saturday Evening Post for more than a decade. These two-reelers, with all-black casts, were produced for Para-mount by Al Christie. Christie cast his all-black shorts with members of the esteemed. Lafayette Players Stock Company of Har-lem, who were on an extended run in Los Angeles during late 1928 and early 1929. One of the players was Evelyn Preer, who understudied a white actress, Lenore Ulric, in the Broadway show Lulu Belle. Christie also hired such acts as Curtis Mosby's Dixie-land Blue Blowers and the Dixie Jubilee Singers for musical support. The white film-makers had as much confidence in their black players as could be had, if a Photoplay interview with Christie associate Al Cohn is to be believed.
Perhaps the most interesting experiment, in our studio at least, has been the making of the first two Octavus Roy Cohen “Bummin'ham" stories, with all-negro casts.
Christie and Paramount issued four of the black shorts, comedies with musical ele-ments, during the first half of '29, then fol-lowed them up later in the year with The Lady Fare, an "all-colored" musical revue written by Cohen, and Brown Gravey, adapted from a Cohen story about a scheme by a fake fortune teller.
The first of the shorts to be produced was The Melan-choly Dame (February 2, 1929). Directed by Gillstrom, the film is the best of the four. Nightclub owner Permanent Williams (Ed-ward Thompson) hires a song-and-dance duo that happens to include his ex-wife, Sapho Dill (Roberta Hyson)- without the knowledge of the entrepreneur's possessive current spouse, Jonquil (Freer), or Sapho's beefy piano-playing beau, Webster (Spencer Williams).
The other three extant Christie all-black shorn are Music Hath Harms (March 16, 1929), Oft in the Silly Night ( June 8,1929) and the worst of the group, The Framing of the Shrew (April 27, 1929). A short like The Melancholy Dame might work for a modern viewer because the characters are no more buffoonish than whites might be in a typi-cal low-comedy film, but Framing of the Shrew plays more overtly to the white vision of the shiftless black male."
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[@Themaddprof]

Oh yes. I used to have a VHS of this called "Birmingham Black Bottom." Spencer Williams (later "Andy" of Amos & Andy who appears at the 6:36 mark) was a co producer of these comedies. The actors here were from the Lafayette Players of Harlem.

[@RedRum312]

No they were not in Black Face they were light skin and was put on darker makeup to not be mistaken as white !both were married she died at 36 6 months after having a baby girl in 1932 she died very young at the heart of her career!

[@CrawDaddyJohnny]

' Don't Leave me ' love that line

[@brynwhitehead1731]

How strange... I was just reminded to address that scapegoat thing with film theory last year after reading an article on the Susperia update. Dope movie.

[@j.w.2391]

Ive heard so much about the legendary Evelyn Preer...but I feel kinda sorry that she left this "sapphire" role as her Legacy. But I appreciate viewing it none the less !

[@dante6924pop]

Does the actor in the lead role have on black face?

[@tailor-mademedia1406]

She sends *Privacy* to sort the laundry. Come to find out, he got the "step-ins" going to the *wrong* address. 😁

[@rosalindhampton24]

🐓"HEN PECKED"🐔

[@brynwhitehead1731]

Not by this though. Just funny. The constant.

[@sazonsongs]

Hahaha. Women who cook for you. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@twyncolen4124]

Really they new how to demean us........smh.

[@williedynamyte]

While I appreciate the historic value of this film. The stereotypes portrayed in this film are appalling. I almost understand why young peopled don't want to watch some of these older black films.Does the lead actor have on blackface?

[@RohgishSun]

How much of the stereotype of the nagging, demasculating black wife IS a stereotype if it goes back THIS far?...that whole 70% single phenomenon done got some mo validity in my opinion. Great shot and dialogue in the street walk scene...It'd be nice to see it redone in a Spike Lee-eske Convo frame roll.

[@kafenwar]

The stereotype goes back at least 150 years, if not more.