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 Still, 1930s Hollywood was, for better or worse, the golden age of the black servant. No other period in motionpicture history would see as many black actors cooking, cleaning, carrying, kowtowing, and cutting up -or getting steady work. There was little long-term success to be had playing a role beyond the stock servant. Nina Mae McKinney and Fredi Washington were proof of that. McKinney, hailed by MGM as the screen's "first Black Love Goddess" for her starring role in the all-black Hallelujah in 1929, saw her promising career languish as producers balked at the idea of a black glamour queen. And Washington won acclaim in 1934 for her role as Peola, the tragic mulatto daughter in the first version of Imitation of Life, but was afterward deemed too light-skinned for the standard maid roles. Unable to get work, she left Hollywood altogether for a career in journalism. McDaniel had no such problems, but in early 1939 she landed a part in a film that would bring her both worldwide acclaim and lingering criticism from some within the black community. From the very start, black
America had taken an interest in Gone With the Wind. Even before the movie went
into production, Selznick International was deluged with letters from black
organizations calling Margaret Mitchell's Novel "anti-Negro." A
number of black leaders opposed making a film version outright. Others felt it
offered an opportunity for black actors and actresses to participate in one of
the most important productions of the time. As the controversy raged, the
film's producer, David O.Selznick, auditioned more than a hundred black
performers for the five major servant roles. Among the several actresses
trying out for the role of Mammy, Louise Beavers was the front-runner, with
Hattie McDaniel, who was favored by Clark Gable, a close second. Beavers, who
had given a moving performance as the long-suffering Aunt Delilah in Imitation
of Life, was the best-known black actress of the day, and industry insiders
were certain she'd win the role of Mammy. She showed up for her audition decked
out in her finest furs, but the flashy display put Selznick off. McDaniel, on
the other hand,arrived in period costume, looking every inch the antebellum
Southern mammy. After hearing her read a few lines in the thick Georgia accent
she had acquired for the audition, Selznick canceled the rest of the tryouts
and signed McDaniel to a $450-a-week contract. Selznick wanted to remain as
faithful to Mitchell's book as possible, but he had to deal with the author's
liberal use of the words nigger and darky, which had also been written into
Sidney Howard's original script. The NAACP,an unofficial "adviser" on
the film, and the principal black actors -Oscar Polk, Butterfly McQueen, and
McDaniel -pressured Selznick to remove the language. He compromised by deleting
nigger but leaving in darkies and inferior. Gone With the Wind was a
box-office sensation. The critics praised not only Clark Gable and Vivien
Leigh, but also Hattie McDaniel for her stellar performance as the feisty,
loyal Mammy. As Oscar time approached, Selznick became sure she would receive
an Academy Award nomination. Even though most black newspapers had panned the
film for its suggestion that blacks had actually enjoyed slavery, and some had
even called for a boycott, the Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier ,and
Baltimore Afro-American all ran stories promoting McDaniel's Oscar nomination.
The Academy's voting members obviously agreed and made her a candidate for Best
Supporting Actress. On the big night, McDaniel,escorted by her friend the
actor Wonderful Smith, strolled into the Coconut Grove ballroom at Hollywood's
Ambassador Hotel draped in an ermine cape over an aqua-blue gown; her corsage
matched the gardenias in her hair. Guests rose and applauded as she was shown
to her table at the rear of the ballroom. This was not only the first time a
black performer had ever attended the awards ceremony, it was the first time a
black person who wasn't a cook or a waiter had ever been inside the Coconut
Grove. When the actress Fay Bainter and the director Frank Capra took the stage
and announced Hattie McDaniel as the winner for Best Supporting Actress, one
observer noted, "En masse, the entire audience, stars in every place,
stood and cheered their beloved Hattie McDaniel." With a shout of
"Hallelujah!," a triumphant McDaniel swept up to the stage and in a
studio-written acceptance speech thanked the Academy and her fellow actors for
her award. "I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may do in
the future," she said tearfully, and "I sincerely hope I shall always
be a credit to my race and to the motion-picture industry." O the way back
to her seat, she received exuberant congratulations from Selznick and her
costars Gable and Vivien Leigh (the actress had won earlier for her performance
as Scarlett O 'Hara). Olivia de Havilland, nominated in the same category, was
so overcome by her loss to McDaniel that she bolted from her table in tears and
ran to the hotel's kitchen.
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