#edit: checked imdb and it says her name is ann

[dawntainbobbynash]

Emotional trauma aside it is so weird and so nice to finally have names and faces and personalities for Bobby’s family

[asfaltics]

A brown moth fluttered.

  The curtain was down, and the carpenters were rearranging the “No, no, no! I can’t breathe       1       volatile I can’t breathe.” And such a fit of suffocating       2   “I can’t breathe,” she would sometimes say       3 and the minisnever! I can’t breathe it in fast enough, nor hard enough, nor long enough.”       4   and started up up. to return to the tent, only to check him No, I can’t breathe the same air self in the act as often as he started, with ye to-night, but ye’ll go into the he lost consciousness in uneasy dreams       5 meet me at the station. I can’t breathe in this wretched       6   “sickening down there — I can’t breathe!  I can’t stand it, Drewe! It’s killing me!” — Tears       7 struggling to altitudes that I can’t breathe in.  I could help him when he was in despair, but he is the sort who       8   sometimes I find I can’t breathe in it.  Perhaps some folks will say “so much the worse for you”       9 it seems if I can’t breathe in the house. not dared hope       10   “Well, I won’t wear ’em. I can’t breathe” “Sure! Blame ’em!” “I can’t breathe a square breath.” Oh       11 things I regret I can’t breathe.       12   bramble bush. I can’t breathe. I can’t eat. I can’t do anything much. It’s clear to my knees.       13 I can't breathe, I can't talk,       14   lying on its “I can’t stay here I can’t breathe” side, the cork half-loosened. A brown moth fluttered.       15 “I can’t breathe beside you.”       16   the needs of any reasonable young lady. “I can't breathe there,       17 I can’t breathe — I really need the rush of this wintry air to restore me!”       18   I can’t breathe no more in that coop upstairs . tablet ; two he said is what you need.” of flame shoots through a stream of oil       19 no friction. It’s friction—rub- / asthmatically.] “I can’t breathe deep — I can light and of reason. But I’ve a notion       20   out of it. I can’t breathe in the dark. I can’t. I / She withdrew       21 “I can’t breathe or feel in”       22   Up a flight of stairs, and there was the girl, sitting on the edge of an untidy bed. The yellow sweater was on the floor. She had on an underskirt and a pink satin camisole. “I can't breathe !” she gasped.       23 I can’t breathe in the dark! I can’t! I can’t! I can’t live in the dark with my eyes open!       24   One never gets it back! How could one! And I can’t breathe just now, on account of       25 that old stuff, I could shriek. I can’t breathe in the same room with you. The very sound of       26   don’t! I can’t — breathe.... I’m all — and bitter howling.       27  

sources (pre-1923; approximately 90 in all, from which these 27 passages, all by women)

1 ex “Her Last Appearance,” in Peters’ Musical Monthly, And United States Musical Review 3:2 (New-York, February 1869), “from Belgravia” : 49-52 (51) “Her Last Appearance” appeared later, “by the author of Lady Audley’s Secret” (M.E. Braddon, 1835-1915 *), in Belgravia Annual (vol. 31; Christmas 1876) : 61-73 2 snippet view ex The Lady’s Friend (1873) : 15 evidently Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924 *) her Vagabondia : A Love Story (New York, 1891) : 286 (Boston, 1884) : 286 (hathitrust) 3 ex “The Story of Valentine; and his Brother.” Part VI. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine vol. 115 (June 1874) : 713-735 (715) authored by Mrs. [Margaret] Oliphant (1828-97 *), see her The Story of Valentine (1875; Stereotype edition, Edinburgh and London, 1876) : 144 4 OCR confusions at Olive A. Wadsworth, “Little Pilkins,” in Sunday Afternoon : A Monthly Magazine for the Household vol. 2 (July-December 1878) : 73-81 (74) OAW “Only A Woman” was a pseudonym of Katharine Floyd Dana (1835-1886), see spoonercentral. Katharine Floyd Dana also authored Our Phil and Other Stories (Boston and New York, 1889) : here, about which, a passage from a bookseller's description — Posthumously published fictional sketches of “negro character,” first published in the Atlantic Monthly under the pseudonym Olive A. Wadsworth. The title story paints a picture of plantation life Dana experienced growing up on her family’s estate in Mastic, Long Island. Although a work of fiction set in Maryland, the character of Phil may of been named for a slave once jointly owned by the Floyds and a neighboring family. source see also the William Buck and Katherine Floyd Dana collection, 1666-1912, 1843-1910, New York State Historical Documents (researchworks). 5 OCR cross-column misread, at M(ary). H(artwell). Catherwood (1847-1902 *), “The Primitive Couple,” in Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science 36 (August 1885) : 138-146 (145) author of historical romances, short stories and poetry, and dubbed the “Parkman of the West,” her papers are at the Newberry Library (Chicago) 6 ex Marie Corelli (Mary Mackay; 1855-1924 *), Thelma, A Norwegian Princess: A Novel, Book II. The Land of Mockery. Chapter 12 (New Edition, London, 1888) : 432 7 preview snippet (only), at Ada Cambridge (1844-1926 *), Fidelis, a Novel ( “Cheap Edition for the Colonies and India,” 1895) : 289 full scan, (New York, 1895) : 261 born and raised in England, spent much of her life in Australia (died in Melbourne); see biography (and 119 of her poems) at the Australia Poetry Library in particular, the striking poems from Unspoken Thoughts (1887) here (Thomas Hardy comes to mind) 8 snippet view (only) at F(rances). F(rederica), Montrésor (1862-1934), At the Cross-Roads (London, 1897) : 297 but same page (and scan of entirety) at hathitrust see her entry At the Circulating Library (Database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901) an interesting family. Montrésor’s The Alien: A Story of Middle Age (1901) is dedicated to her sister, C(harlotte). A(nnetta). Phelips (1858-1925), who was devoted to work for the blind. See entry in The Beacon, A Monthly magazine devoted to the interests of the blind (May 1925) a great-granddaughter of John Montresor (1737-99), a British military engineer and cartographer, whose colorful (and unconventional) life is sketched at wikipedia. 9 Alice H. Putnam, “An Open Letter,” in Kindergarten Review 9:5 (Springfield, Massachusetts; January 1899) : 325-326 Alice Putnam (1841-1919) opened the first private kindergarten in Chicago; Froebel principles... (wikipedia); see also “In Memory of Alice H. Putnam” in The Kindergarten-primary Magazine 31:7 (March 1919) : 187 (hathitrust) 10 OCR cross-column misread, at Mabel Nelson Thurston (1869?-1965?), “The Palmer Name,” in The Congregationalist and Christian World 86:30 (27 July 1901) : 134-135 author of religiously inflected books (seven titles at LC); first female admitted for entry at George Washington University (in 1888). GWU archives 11 OCR cross-column misread, at Margaret Grant, “The Romance of Kit Dunlop,” Beauty and Health : Woman’s Physical Development 7:6 (March 1904): 494-501 (499 and 500) the episodic story starts at 6:8 (November 1903) : 342 12 ex Marie van Vorst (1867-1936), “Amanda of the Mill,” The Bookman : An illustrated magazine of literature and life 21 (April 1905) : 190-209 (191) “writer, researcher, painter, and volunteer nurse during World War I.” wikipedia 13 ex Maude Morrison Huey, “A Change of Heart,” in The Interior (The sword of the spirit which is the Word of God) 36 (Chicago, April 20, 1905) : 482-484 (483) little information on Huey, who is however mentioned in Paula Bernat Bennett, her Poets in the Public Sphere : The Emancipatory Project of American Women's Poetry, 1800-1900 (2003) : 190 14 ex Leila Burton Wells, “The Lesser Stain,” The Smart Set, A Magazine of Cleverness 19:3 (July 1906) : 145-154 (150) aside — set in the Philippines, where “The natives were silent, stolid, and uncompromising.” little information on Wells, some of whose stories found their way to the movie screen (see IMDB) The Smart Set ran from March 1900-June 1930; interesting story (and decline): wikipedia 15 OCR cross-column misread, at Josephine Daskam Bacon (1876-1961 *), “The Hut in the Wood: A Tale of the Bee Woman and the Artist,” in Collier’s, The National Weekly 41:12 (Saturday, June 13, 1908) : 12-14 16 ex E. H. Young, A Corn of Wheat (1910) : 90 Emily Hilda Daniell (1880-1949), novelist, children’s writer, mountaineer, suffragist... wrote under the pseudonym E. H. Young. (wikipedia) 17 ex Mary Heaton Vorse (1874-1966), “The Engagements of Jane,” in Woman’s Home Companion (May 1912) : 17-18, 92-93 Illustrated by Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940, artist and book illustrator who became a New Thought spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer in her middle years. (wikipedia)) Mary Heaton Vorse — journalist, labor activist, social critic, and novelist. “She was outspoken and active in peace and social justice causes, such as women's suffrage, civil rights, pacifism (such as opposition to World War I), socialism, child labor, infant mortality, labor disputes, and affordable housing.” (wikipedia). 18 ex snippet view, at “Voices,” by Runa, translated for the Companion by W. W. K., in Lutheran Companion 20:3 (Rock Island, Illinois; Saturday, January 20, 1912) : 8 full view at hathitrust same passage in separate publication as Voices, By Runa (pseud. of E. M. Beskow), from the Swedish by A. W. Kjellstrand (Rock Island, Illinois, 1912) : 292 E(lsa). M(aartman). Beskow (1874-1953), Swedish author and illustrator of children’s books (Voices seems rather for older children); see wikipedia 19 ex Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “The Good Provider,” in The Saturday Evening Post 187:1 (August 15, 1914) : 12-16, 34-35 20 OCR cross-column misread, at Anne O’Hagan, “Gospels of Hope for Women: A few new creeds, all of them modish—but expensive” in Vanity Fair (February 1915) : 32 Anne O’Hagan Shinn (1869-1933) — feminist, suffragist, journalist, and writer of short stories... “known for her writings detailing the exploitation of young women working as shop clerks in early 20th Century America... O’Hagan participated in several collaborative fiction projects...” (wikipedia) a mention of St. Anselm, whose “sittings” are free, vis-à-vis “Swami Bunkohkahnanda”... “Universal Harmonic Vibrations”... 21 OCR cross-column misread (three columns), at Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “White Goods” (Illustrations by May Wilson Preston) in Metropolitan Magazine 42:3 (July 1915) : 19-22, 53 repeated, different source and without OCR misread, at 24 below 22 ex Mary Patricia Willcocks, The Sleeping Partner (London, 1919) : 47 (snippet only) full at hathitrust see onlinebooks for this and other of her titles. something on Mary Patricia Willcocks (1869-1952) at ivybridge-heritage. in its tone and syntax, her prose brings Iris Murdoch to mind. 23 Katharine Wendell Pedersen, “Clingstones, A week in a California cannery.” in New Outlook vol. 124 (February 4, 1920) : 193-194 no information about the author. the journal began life as The Christian Union (1870-1893) and continued under the new title into 1928; it ceased publication in 1935; it was devoted to social and political issues, and was against Bolshevism (wikipedia) 24 ex Fannie Hurst (1885-1968 *), “White Goods,” in her Humoresque : A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind it (1919, 1920) : 126-169 (155) 25 ex snippet view, at Letters and poems of Queen Elisabeth (Carmen Sylva), with an introduction and notes by Henry Howard Harper. Volume 2 (of 2; Boston, Printed for members only, The Bibliophile society, 1920) : 51 (hathitrust) Carmen Sylva was “the pen name of Elisabeth, queen consort of Charles I, king of Rumania” (1843-1916 *) 26 OCR cross-column misread, at Ruth Comfort Mitchell, “Corduroy” (Part Three; Illustrated by Frederick Anderson), in Woman’s Home Companion 49:8 (August 1922) : 21-23, 96-97 (hathitrust) Ruth Comfort Mitchell Young (1882-1954), poet, dramatist, etc., and owner of a remarkable house (in a “Chinese” style) in Los Gatos, California (wikipedia) 27 Helen Otis, “The Christmas Waits,” in Woman’s Home Companion 49:12 (Christmas 1922) : 36 probably Helen Otis Lamont (1897-1993), about whom little is found, save this “Alumna Interview: Helen Otis Lamont, Class of 1916” (Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, 1988) at archive.org (Brooklyn Historical Society)

—

prompted by : recent thoughts about respiration (marshes, etc.); Pfizer round-one recovery focus on the shape of one breath, then another; inhalation, exhalation and the pleasure of breathing; and for whom last breaths are no pleasure (far from it); last breaths (Robert Seelthaler The Field (2021) in the background).

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all tagged breath all tagged cento  

[dweemeister]

The Scar of Shame (1927)

From cinema’s earliest days, depictions of black people on film seldom delve into the beauty and complexities of their lives. More than a century after the artform’s emergence in France and the United States, it remains a problem in Western cinema. Two men who recognized this problem at the height of the silent era were Austrian-born movie theater owner David Starkman and African-American vaudeville comedian Sherman H. Dudley. Starkman’s theater in Philadelphia was situated in a neighborhood that was becoming increasingly populated by blacks, and he wanted to promote local interest in his theater by finding films starring black characters. With nothing being churned out of Hollywood to assist Starkman, he allied himself with Dudley to finance films featuring all-black casts. Their company, The Colored Players Film Corporation, made four films before financial difficulties stemming from unwise budgetary decisions on their last production saw the company bought out. Half of the Colored Players Film Corporation’s works are lost films (check your attics, basements, and fallout shelters). Their final film is The Scar of Shame, directed by Italian-American Frank Perugini, and is one of the best examples of “race film” still accessible.

While Hollywood neglected black actors and actresses and often put them in stereotypical, oftentimes subservient roles, independent studios from the silent era to the 1950s pooled their resources to provide these black actors and filmmakers work. The films often played to cinemas primarily serving a black community, especially in the American South where cinemas there were segregated (in the North and West, Jim Crow laws were not as extensive, but there may have been de facto segregation). Race films, when presented to modern audiences, trod upon unfamiliar thematic ground, covering issues that audiences of all races might never have seen in any film – even in contemporary black cinema made apart from the major Hollywood studios. The Scar of Shame examines class differences among African-Americans with delicacy, employing some of the best filmmaking seen in a silent-era race film.

Alvin Hillyard (Harry Henderson) is a composer-pianist living in the city, trying to make a name for himself. One day, he sees a young woman named Louise Howard (Lucia Lynn Moses) being physically abused her alcoholic stepfather “Spike” (William E. Pettus). Alvin stops the altercation, knocks the daylights out of Spike, and brings Louise to the boarding house where he is staying. As Alvin’s landlady, Lucretia Green (Ann Kennedy), agrees to let Louise stay if she helps with house chores, Spike considers a deal by his friend, Eddie Blake (Norman Johnstone), that would see Louise hired as an entertainer. Eddie is Spike’s liquor supplier, but the latter has reservations in following his friend’s scheme. Later, Alvin proposes to Louise and she accepts. Their rapid marriage is complicated when Alvin refuses to introduce Louise to his mother, saying: “You don’t understand – Caste is one of the things mother is very determined about – and you – don’t belong to our set!”

Also starring in this film are Alvin’s student Alice Hathaway (Pearl McCormack) and her father, Ralph (Lawrence Chenault). The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, are uncredited as tap dancers at the Lido Club, at the very beginning of their careers in dance.

David Starkman is credited as the screenwriter for The Scar of Shame, but the presence of class divides in this film may have been a compilation of suggestions made by the many African-Americans who informally advised him and director Frank Peregini on this film. The Scar of Shame indirectly touches upon race relations, preferring instead to show how two protagonists attempt to distance themselves from poverty (which, arguably, is portrayed as something “inherent” to being black in the United States). The opening intertitle frames the film as such: the culture and environment where one was raised in determines the conditions of an individual life. There is nothing groundbreaking in that observation, but Peregini’s work treats this as a determiner in life and death. Alvin may be African-American, but much of his behavior is coded as white. From the music he composes, his attire, and the way he speaks through intertitles, the film suggests that – in order to make a living as a composer – he has been forced to adapt to white norms to distinguish himself from his colleagues. His paternalistic behavior towards Lucretia positions him as the embodiment of the opening title card.

Lucretia, who attempts to adopt Alvin’s bootstrap-pulling ways (but “remains” black where Alvin is not, despite the fact both actors have paler skin than the rest of the cast), is occasionally condescended towards because of her class and gender. As a woman, The Scar of Shame believes, she is not as wise or aware of life’s struggles and paradoxes. But her conduct, portrayed beautifully by Lucia Lynn Moses in the film’s best performance, seems incongruent in times of contentment and desperation. Lucretia’s inconsistent characterization muddies the intentions of the storytelling – The Scar of Shame wants to pry into the imperfections of even it seemingly virtuous characters, but stumbles because of its internal contradictions (almost entirely placed on Lucretia). Despite all these writing flaws, The Scar of Shame’s final scenes feel earned, encapsulating the film’s message in respect to the stations in life that Alvin and Lucretia were born into and grew to subvert.

The most famous (and prolific) producer/director of race films is Oscar Micheaux. Micheaux, who worked in the silent era and in talkies, had spartan production values to his films, which – when adding in the rough editing often found in Micheaux’s movies – can make his work difficult to watch. No such concerns exist for The Scar of Shame, which, over a variable runtime which is generally just a few minutes over an hour (it depends on the speed of one’s print), is patiently shot by cinematographer Al Liguori and edited brilliantly (uncredited editor). The Scar of Shame is sophisticated in its use of framing and editing devices, most notably a very early use of flashback – a device used in film as early as 1901, but almost never utilized in silent films.

For the Colored Players Film Corporation, they decided to open their checkbooks for The Scar of Shame to pay for higher-quality actors and production design. Starkman and Dudley believed this investment would fend off competitors, and attract a surge of ticket sales for their latest film. A sales surge did transpire, but it was not enough to cover the new expenses both men agreed upon. With the rise of synchronized sound in motion pictures, this spelled the financial doom for the Colored Players Film Corporation – The Scar of Shame would become the company’s fourth and final film.

Thus ended a noble joint attempt between white and black filmmakers to provide black audiences movies that cast them in different lights than most of Hollywood at that time. Even without the Colored Players Film Corporation, the race film industry remained competitive if only because studios specializing in race film were prone to financial trouble. Recently restored by the Library of Congress (albeit not an inductee to its National Film Registry), The Scar of Shame will continue to be an outlier in its depiction of class tensions among African-Americans. It may be an imperfect attempt to do so, but one can scarcely list off modern titles than intently do the same. Hopefully with a greater groundswell in scholarship regarding race films will audiences be more conscious of this parallel industry to a Golden Age of Hollywood barely noticing what is transpiring beyond its studio lots.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.