charcoal ??

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I had heard that Canada Lee was allowed to write and speak his own dialogue - which was a major concession to the actor considering how controlling Hitchcock was over his films and their content. This was filmed in 1943 but I never felt that Joe was treated in a condescending manner in the film. Steinbeck was a well-known liberal and Im not sure he even gave the character the nickname of Charcoal there were other writers involved.

Over the years --I have seen this movie multiple times. However -- today I heard that "charcoal" description for the FIRST TIME. I was FLOORED. Tallulah's character asked another if he saw something that looked like charcoal in the water!!!!! I came to this site to see if anyone else noticed that racist remark.

Aside from the "Charcoal" nickname, the character's name was actually Joe, not George. Rittenhouse constantly called him George, because that's what many white people called black men, usually servants or train porters. This practice was widespread at the time, and was similar to calling black men "Boy". Steinbeck brought it up again at the end, when Joe is showing Ritt the photo of his family, and mentioned that his son's actual name was George. The point that it was Joe's choice to hame his son, not society's went way over Ritt's head because he was a lost cause. He looked down at everyone; those who didn't match his wealth and social status, and Joe, because of his race.

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There sure have been some tender toes replying to this honest question. Angry wet hens, running around flapping their offended wings about.

Calling a Black person is, and always has been, 100% offensive. The story's author, John Steinbeck, himself went on record condemning the racial stereotyping in Hitchcock's version. Even the U.S. Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures recommended that Lifeboat not be distributed overseas, because of the film's stereotyping. I strongly suspect that Joe's better attributes came from Steinbeck, who said he had written Joe as a "Negro of dignity, purpose and personality" compared to what Hitchcock depicted.

As for the steward's name... it was "Joe". When Rittenhouse calls him "George", he says, "Call me Joe". Ritt asks him, "Your name Joe?" Joe replies, "Yes sir." Rittenhouse called him "George" because privileged White people had adopted the habit of calling Black Pullman Car porters "George", after the name of the company's owner, George Pullman. It was lazy and disrespectful, because they didn't care to bother to learn each porter's name, or differentiate between them. It was a "They all look alike to me" practice. The porters would eventually win the right to have name tags, and have passengers call them by their names.

Appropriately, the character's name in the credits is listed as "Joe Spencer".