MovieChat Forums > High Society (1956) Discussion > Please forgive me if I sound racist, but...

Please forgive me if I sound racist, but.....

posted 18 years ago by JayWalking
25 replies | jump to latest

Is it just me or does Louis Armstrong look like a total ape during that number with Bing Crosby? I thought I was looking at an orangutang or chimp or something or the other, until I squinted my eyes and realized it was Mr. Armstrong. Now I know what you guys are thinking, and no, I'm not white, I'm African-American. But it just seems like everytime I see that clip and remember it was filmed in the fifties when racism was open and unabashed, that the director purposefully had Louis dance and jive around like a little spooky monkey! Any thoughts?

[–] jumpinggirl 18 years ago

I dont think he looks like an ape at all. Have you ever seen an ape play the trumpet like that?

[–] zxcv-9 18 years ago

He did seem to ham it up a bit. I don't know if that was the way he naturally was, or whether he was directed that way. Perhaps he thought people expected it of him. These were still the days when the entertainment industry was one of the few areas in which African-Americans could prosper - but on the terms of white audiences.

[–] bradford-1 17 years ago

Armstrong was often criticized for his "hamming," shall we say, in many of his film appearances. If you have a chance to see SATCHMO THE GREAT, a documentary that follows his band on a world tour, Armstrong is often all business on stage, with little or no jiving. Someone like Miles Davis, was the "anti-Satchmo" who rarely spoke or smiled on stage and often walked away while other band members soloed. It should also be remembered that Armstrong considered himself an entertainer, not a rarefied "artiste." He was of an earlier generation than Davis or Coltrane and matured in a world of minstrel shows, spook dances, mob-run nightclubs and "all-colored" revues. His frame of reference was much different than those who were 15-20 years younger. I may not like his jiving, but I'll be damned if I refer to him as ape-like. The connotation is rancid...

[–] bannercaptain_2000 16 years ago

Here Here,I raise a toast to yoi sir you do know what you are talking about.
I salute you.
Cheers

[–] emeraldstar85 11 years ago

"Here Here,I raise a toast to yoi sir you do know what you are talking about."

And you don't. It's "hear, hear".

[–] moss_ryder-1 16 years ago

amen to knowledge

[–] Spycat 16 years ago

Is it just me or does Jay Walking sound like a total troll during that post?

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] flavia18 15 years ago

It could be because you are African American that you are sensitive to the ways directors used to make Black stars behave in order to get them onscreen. I didn't see his behavior as that egregious, but I will defer to your sensibilities. However, this movie - and your remarks on it - remind me of story from "The Five Pennies". Louis Armstrong was in that, too, and, I believe, playing himself. Danny Kaye, being a decent human being, kept referring to him as "Mr. Armstrong." So, Armstrong took him aside & said "Look, do you want this movie to sell in the South? If so, you'd better call me 'Louis'." But in "High Society", there is a scene where Crosby "introduces" every single member of the band - and he calls them ALL "Mr." So, if there were any demeaning shenanigans ordered by the director, I guarantee you, Armstrong was content to go along in exchange for that civility. A sad commentary on our times, but another tribute to Mr. Armstrong's strength of character.

Those who study history are doomed to watch others repeat it.

[–] Child_OfThe_Moon 15 years ago

I'm not African American but I noticed the same thing as the OP.

[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

On a somewhat related note, I had an MST3K moment when I saw Louis and the band playing the jaunty calypso title song on the bus. I immediately thought, "Hey, you know, you guys can sit in the front now!"

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

[–] bradford-1 14 years ago

It's been a while since I've seen HS, but if I remember correctly, Armstrong pretty much functions as a Greek chorus, commenting musically on the goings-on and is even the first and last person on screen. Unlike some earlier black performers, he appears in scenes with white actors and he and his group aren't isolated in vignettes that can be edited out without damaging the film.

[–] unapologetic_mocker 14 years ago

...the director purposefully had Louis dance and jive around like a little spooky monkey!
by - JayWalking on Sat Oct 7 2006 15:25:55

You could have phrase that better.

Any thoughts? by - JayWalking on Sat Oct 7 2006 15:25:55

It's not something I observed; I'm not trying to take some moral high ground here, I genuinely did not pick up on what you're saying. But I will say that you could have said it better.

Initially I thought you were referring to Armstrong's physical appearance(which is an awful thing to say about a person; of course my mother always says she thinks Brad Pitt looks like a monkey, so I think how a statement should be construed does partly depend on how you say you mean it rather than how it comes across...) but by the end I realised that you meant his actual acting and what he was doing, which you attributed to director's directing.

I think you should have emphasised and expressed that more clearly, because in that respect your observation and point is worthy of discussion. But I still didn't see what you're talking about.

[–] JayWalking 14 years ago

You know you're absolutely right. Hard to believe I wrote that four years ago...I've grown quite a bit since then.

[–] nycruise-1 12 years ago

Well, back then, African-Americans probably couldn't be included in a "white" film without some degree of racism apparent. I thought the opening scene was somewhat racist, with the black musicians making all sorts of comments about how they couldn't conceive of the mansion as a house.

Meanwhile, many years earlier, in the early 1930s, Satchmo allowed him and his band to be caricatured as nose-ringed, monkey-like natives in the Betty Boop cartoon "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead." Thankfully, times have changed, but there's no denying that these depictions were once deemed totally acceptable by both whites and blacks alike.

On the other hand, we should also remember that jazz musicians in general have often been portrayed as "primitive." The best example is Louis Prima's voicing of the orangutang king in Disney's "Jungle Book": Prima is Italian, so obviously no racism or black caricatures.

But he's every bit an "ape" as he jives away, as Satchmo may seem here in HS.

(And yet - jazz is an American art form with black roots...so maybe ANY portrayal of jazz musicians - be they white or black or whatever - as monkeys is racist???)

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] mforum-1 12 years ago

I thought Armstrong's appearances were the only good thing about High Society. He was the most charismatic performers of the jazz era and he wasn't hamming it up... he was just being himself. Satchmo had class and nothing about his performance in High Society was degrading to his race or his music. He was the first black musician to build a large crossover audience among whites and he didn't do so by acting like a buffoon.

Despite all of the bad attitudes toward black Americans that he endured during his long career, Armstrong conducted himself with grace, a sense of humor and an eternally optimistic attitude toward his fellow human beings.