ACTS OF LOVE

The story of a 19th-century film displaying Black affection, and its impact on cinema.

Any discovery pertaining to 19th-century cinema is bound to cause excitement among cinema scholars, but the news about a hitherto little-known short from 1898 was especially noteworthy. In 2017, Dino Everett, an archivist at the University of Southern California, sent an email to Field, associate professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago. Everett had found a 50-foot nitrate print of a Black couple kissing. Their affection was genuinely tender, “incongruous with the stereotypes, racist tropes, and comedic ridicule that tend to characterize early cinema’s portrayal of Black people.” The short film, made in Chicago and starring vaudeville performers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown, was Something Good—Negro Kiss. The “electrifying response” to its discovery among Black celebrities underscored the tragedy of its century-long suppression. In this singular achievement, Field describes the history of this work, her investigations into its date and production, and the legacy of Black representation on screen. She describes Suttle and Brown’s involvement in a group known as the Rag-Time Four, the central pillar of their act being the cakewalk, a dance that “served as a form of covert mockery of unsuspecting whites and their aspirational airs.” The author also documents their respective fortunes after splitting up, with Suttle finding that entertainment work “was too erratic for comfort,” while Brown found steady employment, including with the Pekin Stock Company, the first all-Black theatrical troupe in the U.S. Field presents this material in all its ugliness, from the complicated history of minstrelsy to the painful roles Black performers sometimes had to accept to sustain their careers. Much of this makes for uncomfortable reading. As distressing as the story may be, it’s ultimately a vital contribution to the literature on Black cinema and an important work for anyone with an interest in movie history.

A significant volume on a jewel of Black cinema.