BELAFONTE + DANDRIDGE in CARMEN JONES

Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge ignite the motion picture screen in the 1954 blockbuster hit, CARMEN JONES. Yes, they did make a movie about the fiery romance of a Black couple, in the 1950s. And what’s even more surprising, the two show no subservience, whatsoever, to white characters, as was customary back in the day.?

How was that possible? By setting the movie in a totally Black world, completely devoid of whites. However, whenever the actors break into song, they don’t sing the Blues or belt out Jazz tunes. They break into operatic song.?

CARMEN JONES is based on George Bizet’s 1875 opera, CARMEN, about a tragic love affair between a gypsy and a soldier. CARMEN JONES, in turn, is set on an army base and a defense plant, in the Deep South, as it recounts the Ill-fated romance of a soldier and a vamp.?

The idea, of a film without whites, was also the premise 12 years before that in STORMY WEATHER and CABIN IN THE SKY. Both released in 1943 and both starring Lena Horne, the iconic Black actress of the '40s. When she initially came on the scene, she was advised to say that she was Spanish, so as to broaden the scope of her roles, but she refused to.?

There was a 30 year gap in her career between STORMY WEATHER, in 1943, and her next role, as the Good Witch of the West, in the 1974 musical, THE WIZ, starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. What exactly was it that caused Lena Horne’s sudden, dramatic fall from grace??

Lena Horne was scheduled to headline a benefit for US servicemen, at the height of the Second World War. However, when she came out on stage, she was shocked to see German POWs sitting up front with the white GIs, while the Black GIs were forced to sit in the back. She let everybody know, right then and there, what she thought about the whole thing. And for 30 years after that, she was persona non grata in the halls of Hollywood.?

As for Dorothy Dandridge, in CARMEN JONES, that starring role earned her the first Academy Award Nomination for BEST ACTRESS for an African American. It was a big hit in the US and in Europe, where it ran in exclusive movie venues non-stop for more than a year.?

In 1992, CARMEN JONES was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Dandridge had been a child performer, half of the Dandridge Sisters vaudeville act, which eventually morphed into Dorothy Dandridge, solo singer and nightclub circuit star. Meanwhile, she was steadily working her way up the food chain in Hollywood, playing ever bigger, bit parts. Finally, her first starring role came in 1954 in an uplifting, all Black story in which she and Belafonte were school teachers in a black rural community. That same year came her breakout role in CARMEN JONES.?

Her next film, the third with Belafonte, came out in 1957, ISLAND IN THE SUN. Here, Dandridge and Belafonte are each involved in an interracial affair. But neither was permitted to kiss their white lovers. The closest to anything like that was a steamy hug between Dandridge and her British officer paramour.?

The following year Dandridge starred in TAMANGO, as the mistress of a slave ship captain, the only female aboard, when the captives revolt. In 1959, she starred in THE DECKS RAN RED, sort of a replay of TAMANGO, this time set in contemporary times. Her she is, again the only female aboard, the wife of the Black cook, when a mutiny breaks out.?

However, these were all minor productions. Her final film, also in 1959, was a major Hollywood effort, PORGY AND BESS, playing opposite Sidney Poitier, as two lovers in a run down fishing community, in Charleston, South Carolina. Though the picture did well, the critics did not like it, nor did the Black community.?

Belafonte, after CARMEN JONES, would go on to enjoy a fairly successful Hollywood career. His films included the afrorementioned ISLAND IN THE SUN in 1957 and THE WORLD THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL in 1959. Here he plays, what he believes to be the last man on earth after a nuclear war, until he stumbles upon a white woman in the otherwise empty, desolate caverns of Manhattan. Soon after, a lone surviving white man turns up. And guess what? They eventually go gunning for each other all over abandoned midtown.?

Belafonte would go on to star in a Western and a string of comedies with Sidney Poitier in the 60s + 70s. But where he really would make his mark, was in the recording industry. His 1957 release, CALYPSO, was the first million selling album in the world. And Belafonte is the only performer to ever achieve EGOT status, that is, win the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

Belafonte was a confidant of Dr. King during the Civil Rights movement and remained a champion of humanitarian efforts for the remainder of his 96 years. His final film was his absolute tour de force in BLACKKKLANSMAN.

Sidney Poitier's star, in Hollywood, meanwhile, would go on to reach the very heights. As the Civil Rights movement rose to crescendo, Hollywood turned to Poitier, not Belafonte, I would guess it's because, if they were going to break from stereotype, they wanted to make it more than obvious . . .

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