In the 1930s, the increased demand for all-black musicals created parts for African Americans. Ethel Waters took advantage of this opportunity and eventually became a serious actress. With limited parts available for a big black woman, Waters most often impersonated the mammy character, but she was able to alter the mammy's traditional interpretation.
Waters Becomes a Serious Actress
In the late 1920s and the 1930s, Ethel Waters was cast in a number of shows, but it was not until her part in Mamba's Daughters that she became a dramatic actress. Through her part, she challenged attitudes that African American women could perform only in dancing and singing roles. In the play she was cast as Hagar, a mother who is unaware of who was the father of her daughter. The play opened January 3, 1939 at the Empire Theatre in New York, and Waters received seventeen curtain calls. The audiences reacted favorable to the show, and almost all reviews raved at Waters' performance. The critic Arthur Pollock wrote that Waters was one of the finest actresses, white or black.Despite the limited roles available, Waters never interpreted a role as written. The 1940 Broadway play Cabin in the Sky was not an exception. In her role as Petunia, she created another dimension to her character by making changes to the part. For instance, in one scene, she kicks up her heels to do the jitterbug and performs it in a sexy way, showing that a large black woman was not de-sexed. Waters' performance refuted stereotypes and emphasized that a large black woman could be sexy.
Waters’ Volatile Temper Affects Her Career
After 1942, Waters did not receive any work on stage or screen until 1949. Although she was considered one of the finest actresses, she had a temper and it had become well known. Waters temper often emerged when she was jealous. Alberta Hunter, a friend and rival recalled how Waters treated her badly when they worked together in Mamba’s Daughters. According to Hunter, “I would sing that song at the end ‘Time’s Drawing Nigh,’ and people would come backstage asking for me, not for Ethel. She called me every name in the book and wanted to hit me."(1) The outburst that was most well known was her explosion on the set of Cabin in the Sky. When co-star Lena Horne twisted her ankle, Waters became enraged and ranted and raved at the attention given to Horne. This became the main incident that contributed her being blackballed.
Waters Returns to Acting
After years of struggling financially, in 1949 she returned to acting in the movie Pinky. She was cast as Granny, a domestic. Her character was strong, concerned about humanity, devoted to truth and loyalty, and displayed anger. Unlike other mammy characters, she was not emotionally one-sided. According to Donald Bogle, her performance was most notable because she was able to lift "her character from the pages of the script and transformed Granny into a heroic figure...she made the archetypal strong black woman a figure that transcended the stereotype of her role....Her performance spelled the death of the one-sided mammy figure."(2) Her hard work finally paid off in 1949 when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Pinky. It was the first nomination of a black actress since Hattie McDaniel won the 1939 Best Supporting Oscar for Gone with the Wind.Waters also transcended the old-type mammy character in The Member of the Wedding. She was cast as Berenice Sadie Brown, the black cook, housekeeper, and the nurturer of two young white children. The play opened at the Empire Theatre on January 5, 1950, and she received great reviews. In the film version of The Member of the Wedding, her performance was also notable because she affected her audience emotionally. Waters broke barriers that limited African American actors. At the time, old black actors were not monolithic figures and did not affect their viewers' lives dramatically. However, Ethel Waters affected the imagination of the mass audience by bringing a new style and substance to the mammy character. Her performance earned her the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best actress and an Academy Award nomination.
Waters Transforms the Mammy Character
Waters' ability to transform roles into characters with humanity, warmth and conviction contributed to the extinction of the old-style mammy character. She discredited old characterizations and created complex African American women. However, the Civil Rights movement swept through the country in the 1950s and 1960s, and Waters' mammy roles were not viewed as a reflection of emerging black pride. Protest movements liberated black women from white kitchens and they were able to gain access to other jobs that had not been available to them. In 1968, the television series Julia presented a new image of black women. The character Julia was a registered nurse in a white pediatrician's office, and although she nurtured white children, her children came first. Julia represented the move away from white kitchens.As society began to change, Waters' roles were frequently perceived as one-dimensional mammies. However, at the time there were not many other characters for larger African American actresses. With limited opportunities, Ethel Waters did what she could to challenge the mammy stereotype. Unfortunately, Waters is often overlooked and underrated as an actress even though she brought real human perceptions to her characters.
(1) Frank Taylor, Alberta Hunter. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987.
(2) Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks. New York: Continum Publishing Company, 1973, p. 154.
