MovieChat Forums > Witness to Murder (1954) Discussion > In the role of 'Negress'!!?

In the role of 'Negress'!!?

posted 16 years ago by nayo92112
21 replies | jump to latest

Interesting movie, reminded me of 'Rear Window'. But one scene which was extremely interesting to me was the one where Stanwyck's character, Cheryl was put in a mental ward. In a bed right next to her was a Black woman, surprisingly not playing a subservient role. Interesting. I recognized her as the actress Juanita Moore, who played the mother in Imitation Of Life.
Juanita Moore's character had cut her wrists and was singing this song over and over, so much so, that another white female patient began screaming at her to shut up. She then jumps on Juanita and they start fighting. Veeery interestin

I wait for the credits roll to make certain that it is Juanita Moore:

Cheryl...............Barbara Stanwyc

then,

Negress..................Juanita Moore.

NEGRESS? It's also listed here on Imdb as negress. Why not cell mate as her name? I mean this was 1954, not 1924, for heavens sake. I've watched all the movies made in the 30s, 40's and 50's and not one of the Black characters were listed in the credits as Negress or Negroid to knowledge. Maybe I missed them.

I guess I should be gratefu they didn't call her N**ga, but this was still a shock.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] canon-stufff 15 years ago

nope, but you stole my chunky bar.....blimp!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] canon-stufff 15 years ago

fat AND a bad speller. pretty sad. lol

[–] toshguy 15 years ago

She was listed that way to be identified more easily, since there's only one black woman in the movie. Back then they didn't have such strong guilt complebxes about racism like nowadays. What's such a big deal about calling a black person a negro instead of the tedious and forced sounding african-american?

I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die

[–] darmandom 13 years ago

Couldnt agree more . Very well put !

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

Well, I would've loved to have seen Ms. Moore's reaction the first time she saw this film. Look, you KNOW the character wasn't identified as "Negress" in the script. So maybe sometime in '55, Ms. Moore is meeting with a producer and he asks "What have you done lately?" "I played 'Negress' in that Stanwyck movie last year."

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] shadycady 13 years ago

It is definitely not the classiest name for a part. I guess it was the sign of the times.

The Divine Genealogy Goddess

[–] melinda2001 9 years ago

Forced or tedious, we have to use whatever term they currently want us to use. That goes for *all* identity groups. Only members that self-identify get to say. It would be no more wrong to call the other cellmate "cracker". I'm guessing that Negress was considered either the correct term at the time or they were trying to be generous with what might have been considered a sophisticated term.

By the way, when they broke up the fight, did you notice who was given a sedative? Neither one; they gave it to Stanwyck!

[–] caulkins69 7 years ago

Forced or tedious, we have to use whatever term they currently want us to use. That goes for *all* identity groups. Only members that self-identify get to say.

Yeah, sure. All that policy does is give ammo to the grievance industry. Groups can keep arbitrarily changing their desired term and then take offense at anyone who doesn't keep up. And what about when members of the group themselves do not agree on a term? Some people who could be called "Latino" prefer "Hispanic." Some who could be called "Hispanic" prefer "Latino." I once had a co-worker refer to herself as "Oriental," only to be chided by a White co-worker who insisted, "You're Asian." It just gets ridiculous.

[–] melinda2001 7 years ago

It stops being ridiculous when it starts being about you. Maybe today you want to be called a Republican and a month from you'll prefer Conservative. If I forget which term you last told me, you'll forgive me because I try to get it right. That's all anyone should expect, but they should expect no less. You can do as you like but if you think about it, I think you'll find that this is the only rule that makes sense.

[–] gribfritz2 11 years ago

On behalf of Claire Carlton and Adeline De Walt Reynolds, I'd also like to complain. They were credited as "The Blonde" and "The Old Lady" respectively. I feel identifying The Negress by color is completely unfair. Likewise, identifying Claire Carlton by her hair color is also a slight. There is a prejudice against blondes and stereotypes of stupidity. Further, calling Adeline De Walt Reynolds an old lady is age discrimination. I'm glad we've come so far since the '50s. Here is the new cast list:

Claire Carleton ... Patient #1
Juanita Moore ... Patient #2
Adeline De Walt Reynolds ... Patient #3

Just like the world of 2012. Bland, boring, and lifeless. Not able to offend anyone and not able to inform anyone either.

Seriously though, negress was an acceptable term then and would be akin to crediting her with "the black patient." In a film with one black character, that's probably the best crediting she could receive. I'm sure she was thrilled when she was cast in her next film because they needed someone black for a particular role and saw she was credited as "negress" and looked her up.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] MyMovieTVRomance 11 years ago

I agree with you, gribfritz2. It would be objectionable, only if the term were used or meant in a derogatory way. But, as you point out, it was acceptable back then and not meant as anything bad. I mean, if it were an all-black film and she was white, she'd have probably been listed as the "white woman" or something about color, just to identify her as the one that stood out, because she did. No biggie.

I wish people would stop looking at this older stuff with so much of a 21st Century view that it causes them to take offense when none was intended---THAT's what's not fair!

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] IFeedPigeons 11 years ago

They could have and should have credited her as "Singing patient." Now that wasn't very hard, was it?

[–] FlushingCaps 10 years ago

I know you wrote over a year ago "pigeons" but I just came to this site after seeing this movie tonight.

My question: Why "should" they have credited her as "singing patient?"

If I had been in the cast, in a small unnamed role, of an Amos and Andy show, along with my wife, in the 1950s, and we were the only whites in the cast, it would have made perfect sense to list us as "white man" and "white woman."

There were three patients in that one scene, all of them unnamed. "Old woman," and "Blonde" were the simplest, shortest ways to identify them. "Negress" was obviously meant to do the same thing.

Between your post here and mine, I would guess we have spent 20 times more seconds of our lives thinking about that one word in the credits than ALL of the people who were involved in the movie did.

[–] Ironman54 8 years ago

You mean like in "The Defiant Ones" where Sidney Poitier was credited as the 'The Singing Negro" ?

What was it with all these aggravating singing 'black' people always causing fights ?

Yes, yes, yes - of course, I am only JOKIN' !! The subject and similarities just struck me as funny, no insult intended !! Mr. Poitier IS one of my all time favorite actors ...

[–] jmichael3387 8 years ago

In Mexico they're not so hung-up about it. In nice upscale departments stores, I've seen masks of a black person labeled as "negrito". I was surprised to see this. But apparently in Mexico it's okay.