Imitation of Life

[cyberswede]

I've only ever seen the 1959 version with Lana Turner, but tonight TCM showed the original with Claudette Colbert. Great movie! I found the treatment of the racial issues very interesting - esp. For the time.

A couple interesting tidbits (from IMDB)

Re: Louise Beavers -

It wasn't until Louise's triumphant role in Fannie Hurst's classic soaper Imitation of Life (1934) that a film of major significance offered a black role of meaning, substance and humanity. Despite the fact that Louise was playing yet another of her endless servile roles as housekeeper Delilah who works for single white mother Claudette Colbert, this time around her character was three-dimensional and not merely a source of servitude and/or or comic relief. She had her own dramatic story and brilliantly handled the heartbreaking co-plot of an appeasing single parent whose light-skinned daughter (played by Fredi Washington) went to cruel and desperate lengths to pass for white.

Re: Fredi Washington -

Fredi Washington, a mixed race, self identified African American actress with fair skin and green eyes. Her extraordinary acting skills were often overlooked because of people's obsession with her race and color. ... In Hollywood she was urged to "pass" for fully White by studio heads, who said they would make her a bigger star than Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Constance Bennett and Greta Garbo. Fredi refused. Her best-known role was as Peola in the film Imitation of Life (1934)...

She was involved also in the Black community as the head of the Negro Actors Guild, helping Blacks to get a fair chance in the entertainment industry, since she had to endure discrimination all her life.