MovieChat Forums > Hell's House (1932) Discussion > Junior Says 'The 'N' Word!'

Junior Says 'The 'N' Word!'


Did anyone notice this...
Toward the beginning of the film, Junior Durkin's character goes to the city to look for his aunt and uncle. He finds their apartment building, but is not sure in which apartment they live. He is standing between two doors (with his back to the camera, so difficult to hear him), and he starts, "Eeney, meeney, miney, mo, catch a *beep* by the toe."
At first listening, I thought, "He didn't just say that." So I went back and re watched, and that is exactly what he says.
Once I got over the surprise, I started trying to think of any other film from the 1930's that uses that word. Does anyone know?

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He says that and not "tiger"? It's been a few years since I've seen this film, and my memory's a bit sketchy, but I think the N-word was commonly used in that phrase by many people in that era.

I'm sure there are other films from the '30s that use the word, but I'm at a loss to name any now. Maybe someone else can?

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Junior does indeed say "that" word. Although his back is to the camera and he is speaking to himself, I re ran that scene at least three times to make sure I was hearing correctly.
I know I have heard the word "nigra" used in movies from this era, but really can't remember ever hearing the N word used.
Still curious if anyone knows?

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Check out another excellent movie from the early 30s, Kongo.


"You know, my name..."

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he sure does! I was shocked.

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It was him. It just came out of left field. It was indeed shocking to be used in such a common way. Never seen anything like it. Maybe because it was a pre-code movie, I don't know.

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Useless trivia or useful trivia, in this case: the version that the character was doing in this, and only in the US, dates back to 1888. And most commonly used by North Easterners not Southerners, though the "N--" word was common in the South since the 17th-18th Century, and used since the 16th Century as an epithet for black people in general, mainly in the Americas. It's even in an early 20th Century song by a singer named Bert Fitzgibbon implying black people are lazy. Rudyard Kipling introduced the rhyme scheme with the "N--" word in it in the mid 1930s to the British. Wasn't that nice of him? [sarcasm]. The song itself has many versions that predate the use of the "N--" word added to it. 1888, probably started in New York. Very popular version up to the early to mid 1940s. Died off after that. But everyone mostly knew it was an epithet for black people.

-Nam

I am on the road less traveled...

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