Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by his stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black actor to have a successful film career. His highest profile was during the 1930s in films and on stage, when his persona of Stepin Fetchit was billed as the "Laziest Man in the World".

Perry parlayed the Fetchit persona into a successful film career, becoming the first black actor to earn $1 million. He was also the first black actor to receive featured screen credit in a film.

Perry's film career slowed after 1939 and nearly stopped altogether after 1953. Around that time, Black Americans began to see his Stepin Fetchit persona as an embarrassing and harmful anachronism, echoing negative stereotypes. Writer Mel Watkins has since argued the Stepin Fetchit character is better described as a prankster rather than simply lazy.

Early life

Little is known about Perry's background other than that he was born in Key West, Florida, to West Indian immigrants. and Dora Monroe, a seamstress from Nassau. Both of his parents came to the United States in the 1890s, where they married. By 1910, the family had moved north to Tampa, Florida. Another source says he was adopted when he was 11 years old and taken to live in Montgomery, Alabama.

Film career

thumb|Perry and [[Chubby Johnson in Bend of the River (1952)]]

Perry played comic-relief roles in a number of films, all based on his character known as the "Laziest Man in the World". In his personal life, he was highly literate and had a concurrent career writing for The Chicago Defender. He signed a five-year studio contract following his performance in the film, In Old Kentucky (1927). The film's plot included a romantic connection between Perry and actress Carolynne Snowden, a subplot that was a rarity for black actors appearing in a white film during this era. Perry also starred in Hearts in Dixie (1929), one of the first studio productions to boast a predominantly black cast.

Jules Bledsoe provided Perry's singing voice for his role as Joe in the 1929 version of Show Boat. Perry did not sing "Ol' Man River", but he did sing "The Lonesome Road" in the film. In 1930, Hal Roach signed him to a film contract to appear in nine Our Gang episodes in 1930 and 1931. However, his only appearance in the series was in A Tough Winter. Perry's contract was canceled for unknown reasons after its release.

Perry was good friends with fellow comic actor Will Rogers. He became a friend of heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in the 1960s, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic institution in Los Angeles.

After 1953, Perry appeared in cameos in the made-for-television movie Cutter (1972) and the feature films Amazing Grace (1974) and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976). He found himself in conflict during his career with civil rights leaders who criticized him personally for the film roles that he portrayed. In 1968, CBS aired the hour-long documentary Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, written by Andy Rooney (for which Rooney received an Emmy Award) and narrated by Bill Cosby, which criticized the depiction of black people in American film, and especially singled out Stepin Fetchit for criticism. After the show aired, Perry unsuccessfully sued CBS and the documentary's producers for defamation of character.

Death

Perry suffered a stroke in 1976, He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles following a Catholic funeral Mass.

Legacy

Perry spawned imitators, such as Willie Best ("Sleep 'n Eat") and Mantan Moreland, the scared, wide-eyed manservant of Charlie Chan. Perry had actually played a manservant in the Charlie Chan series before Moreland in 1935's Charlie Chan in Egypt.

Perry appeared in one 1930 Our Gang short subject, A Tough Winter, at the end of the 1929–30 season. Perry signed a contract to star with the gang in nine films for the 1930–31 season and be part of the Our Gang series, but for some unknown reason, the contract fell through, and the gang continued without Perry. Previous to Perry entering films, the Our Gang shorts had employed several black child actors, including Allen Hoskins, Jannie Hoskins, Ernest Morrison, and Eugene Jackson. In the sound Our Gang era, black actors Matthew Beard and Billie Thomas were featured. The black performers' personas in Our Gang shorts were the polar opposites of Perry's persona.<!-- |access-date=2016-07-21 | -->

In the 2005 book Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry, African-American critic Mel Watkins argued that the character of Stepin Fetchit was not truly lazy or simple-minded, but instead a prankster who deliberately tricked his white employers so that they would do the work instead of him. This technique, which developed during American slavery, was referred to as "putting on old massa", and it was a kind of con art with which black audiences of the time would have been familiar.

Awards and honors

Perry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1976, despite popular aversion to his character, the Hollywood chapter of the NAACP awarded Perry a special NAACP Image Award. Two years later, he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Personal life

In 1929, Perry married Dorothy Stevenson. She gave birth to their son, Jemajo, on September 12, 1930. A few weeks after their divorce was granted, Dorothy told a reporter she hoped someone would "just beat the devil out of him," as he had done to her. On May 21, 1938, Winifred gave birth to a son, Donald Martin Perry. Their relationship ended soon after Donald's birth. According to Winifred's brother, Stretch Johnson, their father intervened after Perry knocked Winifred down the stairs and broke her nose. The 1969 Pennsylvania Turnpike shootings were officially ruled a murder-suicide, but the account of the circumstances upon which the ruling was based was questioned by Lambright's daughter and discussed at length in her 2005 self-published book about Stepin Fetchit. In a Los Angeles Times interview, Lincoln Perry stated his belief that his son was set up. Lambright's involvement with the Black Power movement at the peak of the COINTELPRO program was believed to be related to his death. Perry never provided child support for Lambright, and they only met two years before his son's violent death.

Perry married Bernice Sims on October 15, 1951. Although they separated by the mid-1950s, they remained married for the rest of their lives. Bernice died on January 9, 1985. Other sources say he was a lifelong Catholic. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic institution in Los Angeles. – Jeff Poindexter

  • Marie Galante (1934) – 'Pacific Gardens' Waiter (uncredited)
  • Bachelor of Arts (1934) – Bulga
  • The Littlest Rebel (1935)
  • Helldorado (1935) – Ulysses
  • The County Chairman (1935) – Sass
  • One More Spring (1935) – Zoo Attendant
  • Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935) – Snowshoes
  • Hot Tip (1935) – Cook
  • Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) – Jonah
  • The Virginia Judge (1935) – Spasm Johnson
  • 36 Hours to Kill (1936) – Flash
  • Dimples (1936) – Cicero
  • On the Avenue (1937) – Herman
  • Love Is News (1937) – Penrod
  • Fifty Roads to Town (1937) – Percy
  • Super-Sleuth (1937) – (uncredited)
  • His Exciting Night (1938) – Casper, the Baker Butler
  • Zenobia (1939) – Zero
  • Open the Door Richard (1945)
  • Big Timers (1945, Short) – Porter / Specialty Act
  • Swingtime Jamboree (1946)
  • I Ain't Gonna Open That Door (1947, Short) – Richard
  • Miracle in Harlem (1948) – 'Swifty', the Handyman
  • Harlem Follies of 1949 (1950)
  • Bend of the River (1952) – Adam
  • The Sun Shines Bright (1953) – Jeff Poindexter
  • Inquiring Nuns (1968, interviewee)
  • Cutter (1972, TV movie) – Shoeshine Man
  • Muhammad Ali, the Greatest (1974)
  • Amazing Grace (1974, cameo appearance) – Cousin Lincoln
  • Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975, archival footage)
  • Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976, cameo appearance) – Dancing Butler (final film role)

See also

  • Amos 'n' Andy
  • Jar Jar Binks
  • Blackface
  • Buckwheat, a character played by Billie Thomas in the 1930s U.S. short film series Our Gang
  • Dudley Dickerson
  • Billy Kersands
  • "Old Aunt Jemima"
  • Pickaninny
  • Fred Toones
  • Uncle Tom

Notes

References

Sources

  • Stepin Fetchit at TCM Movie Database
  • Stepin Fetchit at Virtual History