1936 - directors call for Indian actors... "He couldn't understand that Indians of various tribes may be as different as Spaniards and Swedes."
1936, Oct 12 - Wilkes Barre Times Leader - the Evening News:
Synthetic Indians Have Poor Lo Moaning Low
Hollywood - If you even have happened to wonder how Lo, Indian, is doing in talkietown, the answer is that Lo is feeling very low indeed, and poor.
Even with the boom in horse opera and cliff-hanger drama, with tom-toms tomming and scalps being garnered as they haven't been in years, these are lean times for honest-to-goodness Injuns. Trouble is that palefaces Filipinos, and even Orientals are impersonating redmen on the screen.
There are about 250 Indians in Hollywood who are dependent on extra work and bit roles to keep the wolf away from their pink-stuccoed tepees. Some of the young bucks armed with photographs and press clippings, already are on the warpath. Impassioned speeches are heard around the council fires.
Scouts report that movie producers are recruiting Japanese gardeners, southern European laborers and Filipino houseboys, to appear in the roles of the original or aboriginal Americans.
Heap Big Complaint
Big Jim Thorpe, the celebrated Indian athlete and grant sachem of his people here, even arranged a pow-wow with the United States attorney. But the local representative of the Great White Father admitted he couldn't do anything. Drawing his pleated-back polo coat around hi with stately dignity, the great Thorpe spoke:
"Ugh! -- I mean, doggone it!! -- this sort of thing is grossly unfair to our people. If such discrimination continues, it will mean that most of us simply cannot make a living."
He doesn't have to worry about himself, because he is in frequent demand for character roles. But he believes the federal government should do something to protect less-talented redskins. If these people were less conscientious they would strike at their competitors by impersonating Filipino houseboys, Japanese gardeners, and Mediterranean fruit-vendors.
Red Kibitzers
But they won't stoop to retaliation. Furthermore, such is their artistic integrity that they argue with directors about how Indian sequences should be directed.
That's bad. Directors don't relish being told that their work is technically faulty. Which is why they hire palefaces, who don't argue.
Listen to Nipo Strongheart. Mr Strongheart is perhaps the most interested of all campaigners for authenticity and real Indians on the screen. A Yakima himself, he operates a casting bureau for Indian actors, rent Indian props to studios, and serves as technical adviser when anybody wants to hire one. Before coming to Hollywood in 1921, he helped campaign for enfranchisement of American Indians, and also taught Indian crafts in various schools.
Screen Anachronisms
He said, "There is a lot of misrepresentation. I have seen Indians on the screen wearing machine-made army blankets and flannel leggings. I've seen Indians dancing around totem poles in a region where totem poles never were heard of. I've seen Indians attacking stockades made of railroad ties. And using guns before the coming of white men.
"Just the other day a director called me for some Indian extras. 'What kind of Indians do you want"' I asked. 'Just Indians!' the director hollered. 'What difference does it make?' He couldn't understand that Indians of various tribes may be as different as Spaniards and Swedes."
Strongheart says that white extras who impersonate Indians receive $7.50 a day and the studio provide costumes. Real Indians get the same wage, but furnish their own costumes.
This is not so much discrimination as it is a matter of pride. Lo and his pals are afraid they might be put into war bonnets topped by ostrich plumes.
Synthetic Indians Have Poor Lo Moaning Low
Hollywood - If you even have happened to wonder how Lo, Indian, is doing in talkietown, the answer is that Lo is feeling very low indeed, and poor.
Even with the boom in horse opera and cliff-hanger drama, with tom-toms tomming and scalps being garnered as they haven't been in years, these are lean times for honest-to-goodness Injuns. Trouble is that palefaces Filipinos, and even Orientals are impersonating redmen on the screen.
There are about 250 Indians in Hollywood who are dependent on extra work and bit roles to keep the wolf away from their pink-stuccoed tepees. Some of the young bucks armed with photographs and press clippings, already are on the warpath. Impassioned speeches are heard around the council fires.
Scouts report that movie producers are recruiting Japanese gardeners, southern European laborers and Filipino houseboys, to appear in the roles of the original or aboriginal Americans.
Heap Big Complaint
Big Jim Thorpe, the celebrated Indian athlete and grant sachem of his people here, even arranged a pow-wow with the United States attorney. But the local representative of the Great White Father admitted he couldn't do anything. Drawing his pleated-back polo coat around hi with stately dignity, the great Thorpe spoke:
"Ugh! -- I mean, doggone it!! -- this sort of thing is grossly unfair to our people. If such discrimination continues, it will mean that most of us simply cannot make a living."
He doesn't have to worry about himself, because he is in frequent demand for character roles. But he believes the federal government should do something to protect less-talented redskins. If these people were less conscientious they would strike at their competitors by impersonating Filipino houseboys, Japanese gardeners, and Mediterranean fruit-vendors.
Red Kibitzers
But they won't stoop to retaliation. Furthermore, such is their artistic integrity that they argue with directors about how Indian sequences should be directed.
That's bad. Directors don't relish being told that their work is technically faulty. Which is why they hire palefaces, who don't argue.
Listen to Nipo Strongheart. Mr Strongheart is perhaps the most interested of all campaigners for authenticity and real Indians on the screen. A Yakima himself, he operates a casting bureau for Indian actors, rent Indian props to studios, and serves as technical adviser when anybody wants to hire one. Before coming to Hollywood in 1921, he helped campaign for enfranchisement of American Indians, and also taught Indian crafts in various schools.
Screen Anachronisms
He said, "There is a lot of misrepresentation. I have seen Indians on the screen wearing machine-made army blankets and flannel leggings. I've seen Indians dancing around totem poles in a region where totem poles never were heard of. I've seen Indians attacking stockades made of railroad ties. And using guns before the coming of white men.
"Just the other day a director called me for some Indian extras. 'What kind of Indians do you want"' I asked. 'Just Indians!' the director hollered. 'What difference does it make?' He couldn't understand that Indians of various tribes may be as different as Spaniards and Swedes."
Strongheart says that white extras who impersonate Indians receive $7.50 a day and the studio provide costumes. Real Indians get the same wage, but furnish their own costumes.
This is not so much discrimination as it is a matter of pride. Lo and his pals are afraid they might be put into war bonnets topped by ostrich plumes.
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| 1936, Oct 12 Wilkes Barre Times Leader the Evening News |
