Why include a blackface minstrel number in a movie about the military?

I just watched it. I didn't see anything about it that portrayed blacks as stupid or evil, for example. Are you saying whites in blackface are inherently racist? It's politically incorrect, not racist, unless there's something portrayed that denigrates blacks.

You have to think about American society at the time. How it was in 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. At that time there was no problem with entertaining the public in vaudeville and blackface minstrel shows. It was normal and they were not being ridiculized nor putting any person down. They were having fun at what it was perceived others behaved. That is why you also see the numbers of male soldiers dressing as female dancers in Back Stage Canteen and Mandy.

As such, this program states that the soldiers came from that society, they were being reminded of all they were missing when they lost their civilian life, and what they may see when they stop being soldiers. In short, for what they were fighting for at the time. A piece of the America of the time.

I was just watching it and I was sort of enjoying it. The black face routine just came on and it totally ruined it for me.

My dad was a WW II veteran. I learned from him that such entertainment isn't. Keeping a full record of the movie should and must be done. That the scene is there does have socially historical significance. But, it would be nice to have a copy without that scene.

I am not a professional historian; it is a hobby of mine. I have not researched this particular issue, but I will speculate with my two cents.

Irving Berlin wrote the book and most of the music for the stage play on which this movie is based. He was in the army when he produced the original play, "Yip Yip Yaphank," that served as the basis for the movie. He was also deep into the production of this movie. I think Mr. Berlin's experience goes back to vaudeville and vaudeville owes part of its origins to the minstrel show that dates back to before WW II.

In the black face number it is obvious that the soldiers are wearing black face. It is intended to be obvious. After all, there are numbers later in the show/movie that are performed by actual Black (African American) entertainers. The black face is intended to amuse the audience by being quaint and making a call back to the earlier time when Blacks would not be allowed on stage in front of a white audience. They follow it with a performance by actual African Americans as a kind of "see how we've grown" statement. And we had grown, though not enough.

We are still growing and evolving as a society, not always in what we think as the right direction. That is the way it has been and will continue to be. Sometimes we have had to make corrections on our evolution. Sometimes what we were afraid was the wrong direction turned out to be pretty good. I hope it keeps going that way.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

Because of the times. Such numbers were popular. Astaire does one in Swing Time, and another (brown face) in Easter Parade.