Whiteface (performance)

Whiteface is a type of performance in which a person wears theatrical makeup in order to make themselves look like a white person, usually for comical purposes.[1] The term is a reversal of the more outdated form of performance known as blackface, in which performers use makeup in order to make themselves look like a black person. Whiteface performances originated in the 19th century and today still occasionally appear in films. Modern usages of whiteface can be contrasted with blackface in contemporary art.

This article is about the race-related whiteface performance. For the whiteface clown, see Clown.

History

Overview

Whiteface rose to prominence with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This allowed the expression of whiteface performance to seep into popular culture. By the late twentieth century, black actors performing whiteface in plays and films was not unusual as a humorous device. The satire grew in popularity as time went on. By the 2000s, however, some experts began to condemn the art form as racist and therefore socially unacceptable. A timeline of key events detailing this summary is available below.

Timeline
  • The earliest use of the term noted by the Oxford English Dictionary is from the New York Dramatic News in 1895, and refers to the American vaudeville actor Lew Dockstader (who was white) "in his new white-face act". Dockstader was already well-known as a blackface minstrel show performer.[2]
  • By 1908, actor Dooley Wilson had earned his nickname for his whiteface impersonation of an Irishman singing a song called "Mr. Dooley".[3]
  • The OED also lists a 1947 reference to the black actor Canada Lee performing the role of Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi in whiteface.[2]
  • The 1970 film Watermelon Man begins with Godfrey Cambridge playing a whiteface character, who then wakes up one morning to find himself to be black.[4]
  • Eddie Murphy performed in whiteface on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, and appeared in whiteface for minor characters in the films Coming to America and The Nutty Professor.[5]
  • The 2006 FX reality television show Black. White. had two families realistically portrayed via makeup as another race: One as blackface, the other whiteface.[6]

References
  1. Hilary Miller (24 March 2014). "Nick Cannon Wears Whiteface, Sparks Internet Debate". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  2. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989), "whiteface", sense 3.
  3. Harmetz, Aljean (November 26, 1992). Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca—Bogart, Bergman, and World War II. New York: Hyperion. p. 143. ISBN 978-1562829414.
  4. "Race Representations in Watermelon Man". Washington University. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  5. Davies, Helen; Ilott, Sarah, eds. (27 July 2018). Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak. p. 87. ISBN 9783319905068. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. McFarland, Melanie (6 March 2006). "On TV: 'Black. White.' is uncomfortable, revealing reality TV". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 6 July 2015.

Further reading
  • Marvin McAllister, Whiting Up: Whiteface Minstrels and Stage Europeans in African American Performance, Univ of North Carolina Press, 2011, ISBN 0807869066


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