By: Scott Andrew Hutchins

Scott Andrew Hutchins — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 08:05:10 +0000

Golden Dawn is the first film I saw this new year. It’s disappointing to learn that Shep is a caricature of Marcus Garvey. I eas thinking about whether it could be staged today with black actors in the appropriate parts. I saw it as looking critically at the rigid racial distinctions of the time, which, like Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Cymbeline, carry quite a bit of irony with a white cast in makeup, which at least doesn’t look like a minstrel show. Disappointingly, “A Tiger” is not mentioned in NYPL’s catalog record of the score, which it states to have only seven selections. The show is listed on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s website, but I didn’t dig deeply enough to see if they license that one, although with a 1927 copyright, it must have just entered the public domain even if the film is still under copyright. Luckily, the Warner Archive DVD looks quite a bit better than the YouTube video.

Comments on: Musical Of The Month At NY’s Public Library: “Golden Dawn”

By: Scott Andrew Hutchins