Stepin Fetchit

Entertainer

• Born: May 30, 1902
• Birthplace: Key West, Florida
• Died: November 19, 1985
• Place of death: Woodland Hills, California

Fetchit became the first African American star of stage and screen by popularizing a character he described as “the world’s laziest man.” Despite his success and wealth, he was heavily criticized for perpetuating a stereotype of African Americans that was considered degrading.

Early Life

Stepin Fetchit was born Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry to immigrant parents from the Caribbean at the beginning of the twentieth century. Fetchit’s mother, Dora Monroe Perry, was a deeply religious woman who worked as a seamstress and was devoted to her family. His father, Joseph Perry, was a cigar wrapper by trade but often was absent as he pursued a career on the black minstrel circuit. Fetchit’s mother died in 1914 when he was twelve years old.

Adopted by a middle-class family, Fetchit received a brief education. However, the bright teenager displayed less interest in studying than he did in misbehaving. At the age of fourteen, he left school and found work in traveling medicine shows. These “tent shows” moved from town to town selling “tonics” and featured a variety of entertainers to attract crowds. Fetchit’s roles included roustabout, singer, and dancer.

By the mid-1920’s, Fetchit was performing on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a series of venues that catered to black audiences at a time when much of society was segregated. He performed a song-and-dance act with Johnny Lee called “Step and Fetch It: Two Dancing Fools from Dixie.” When the act dissolved in 1927, Fetchit took the name of the act as his own and became “Stepin Fetchit.” In addition to managing a stage career, Fetchit worked as a columnist for The Chicago Defender, a leading African American newspaper, until 1929. His column, “Lincoln Perry’s Letter,” showcased the activities of black entertainers and also enabled him to promote his own career.

Life’s Work

When Fetchit arrived in California in 1927 as a performer on the African American vaudeville circuit, few black actors had achieved success in the largely white-owned film industry. Because white filmgoers were reluctant to purchase tickets for films that featured black actors, African Americans typically were cast in minor, subservient roles such as maids, butlers, chauffeurs, and farm laborers. Even the most talented of these actors was poorly paid and had no power to negotiate for better roles or pay.

As a performer and entertainment reporter, Fetchit was keenly interested in the film industry. He auditioned for the role of Highpockets, a stable boy, in In Old Kentucky (1927), a silent film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Fetchit’s portrayal was a variation on a perennial character featured in minstrel shows: a dim-witted, shiftless country rube. Fetchit refined this type and made it his signature when he landed the role of Gummy in Hearts of Dixie (1929), a musical with an all-black cast produced by Fox. Fetchit’s character was tall, lanky, and bald; wore oversized clothes; spoke unintelligibly; and moved like molasses. White audiences found humor in Fetchit’s rendition of this negative black stereotype. However, some African American viewers also recognized it as a challenge to white authority. Fetchit portrayed a trickster—a subversive folk character who avoided yielding to white characters’ demands by hoodwinking them into thinking he was an idiot.

Fetchit himself could hardly have been more different from his characters. He was self-confident, clever, ambitious, and unrelenting when negotiating with film studios. His demands for more meaningful roles and for pay that equaled that of his white counterparts earned him a reputation for being difficult. As a result, Fetchit’s relationships with studio executives were often contentious and he repeatedly found himself suspended, if not fired, from films. Despite these difficulties, Fetchit appeared in more than fifty films during his career, including two dozen pictures for Fox. Among his more noteworthy films were The Ghost Talks (1929), his first talking picture, and Show Boat (1929), in which he played Joe, the character later made famous by Paul Robeson. He also appeared in Carolina (1934) with Lionel Barrymore and Miracle in Harlem (1948), which featured an all-black cast. Also of significance were a series of films directed by John Ford and starring Will Rogers: Judge Priest (1934), David Harum (1934), and Steamboat Round the Bend (1935). The last film in which he performed was Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976); he had a cameo appearance as a dancing butler.

Fetchit’s personal life was as difficult as his relationship with the studios. Although he was one of the best-paid African American entertainers in the country at the height of his career, he led an extravagant lifestyle and was often in debt, declaring bankruptcy twice. His erratic employment in Hollywood forced him to return to the stage to sustain his career. While he appeared in respected establishments throughout the country during the 1930’s, as time passed and his popularity waned, the venues became seedier and the audiences sparser. Later in his career, an impoverished Fetchit was supported by compassionate friends. He also was involved in many public altercations and feuds with fellow actors. He had frequent run-ins with the law, often related to his penchant for brawling and reckless driving. Even most of his serious relationships were thorny. His first marriage, to Dorothy Stevenson, ended in separation after she accused him of spousal abuse. After her death from an illness, he was unable to care for their son, Joseph Jemajo, who was raised by relatives and later severed his relationship with his father. Fetchit’s second “marriage,” to Winnifred Johnson, also ended in discord, only later to be exposed as a hoax when Johnson sued him for child support. In 1951, Fetchit married Bernice Sims; they stayed together until her death in 1985.

Destitute at the end of his life, Fetchit resided in the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital. He died there in 1985 of complications from heart disease and pneumonia.

Significance

Fetchit was one of the most talented and notorious African American stars of his day. During a time in which white-owned film studios were reluctant to hire black actors, he broke the color barrier and became the first African American movie star. The popularity of his slow-moving and slow-witted character inspired a host of imitators and generated considerable condemnation from civil rights organizations. Despite this, Fetchit received a Special Image Award from the Hollywood chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1976 and was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1978.

Bibliography

Bogle, Donald. Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005. Examines the professional and personal lives of Hollywood’s black entertainment community from the silent film era through the 1950’s.

Clark, Champ. Shuffling to Ignominy: The Tragedy of Stepin Fetchit. Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, 2005. Explores Fetchit’s rise to fame, appeal to audiences, clashes with the white-dominated entertainment industry, flamboyant lifestyle, and personal challenges. Based on interviews with Fetchit’s friends, family, and coworkers.

Watkins, Mel. Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry. New York: Pantheon Books, 2005. Chronicles Fetchit’s struggle to achieve fame and equality in the Jim Crow era. Offers a thoughtful analysis of charges that he perpetuated harmful stereotypes of African Americans.