24 • October 28, 2021 - November 3, 2021
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
IN
THE
CLASSROOM
Leigh Whipper, an early star of stage and screen
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
substantial role in “Of Mice and Men,” which brought him considerable notice and praise. But it was as crab man in “Porgy,” in which he was a vocal vendor selling all sorts of fish that was a highlight of the production, so much so that later it was included in the film version. In 1943, he was in the cast of “The Oxbow Incident,” acting alongside Henry Fonda and
committee of the Negro Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee. His film career flourished in the 1940s before and after the war in such popular motion pictures as “Lost Boundaries” in 1949, where he portrayed a janitor; “The Shrike” in 1955, “The Young Don’t Cry” in 1957, and Lodi in the Peter Gunn feature, “Streetcar Jones.” Another Jones, the artist
Whether credited or uncredited, African Americans have consistently popped up in films, and Leigh Whipper was among the pacesetters in these cameo appearances. You probably saw him in countless productions without knowing who he was or the challenges he faced making it as a Black actor in Hollywood. Whipper was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1875 or 1876, depending on the source. His father was William James Whipper, a noted abolitionist, trial lawyer, and municipal judge. Frances Rollin Whipper, his mother, was a writer. He attended public school in the nation’s capital and later earned a law degree from Howard University Law School in 1895. Rather than pursue what appeared to be a promLeigh Whipper (Fair Use Image) 20th Century Fox. 1943 ising career in the legal arena, he chose to follow his dream in theater. later in “Mission to Moscow” Lois Mailou Jones, painted an Interestingly, Whipper never that year receiving accolades oil on canvas portrait of him really studied acting and was not for his portrayal of Emper- that’s at the Brooklyn Museum, a drama student, but by watch- or Haile Selassie. His scene in and entitled “Dans un Café a ing others perform, he picked which he delivered a speech Paris.” According to a review up style and technique from the before the League of Nations on the museum’s webpage, leading actors of the day. This has often been cited as hall- “The artist’s portrayal of a penkeen observation was wedded mark in his remarkable career. sive Whipper answered Alain with his voracious reading and By this time, he was a prom- Locke’s call for Black artists to interpretation of the great writ- inent member of the Actors’ create ennobling representaers, including the famous poet Equity Association, and its first tions of African Americans.” Paul Laurence Dunbar. He made Black member in 1913. Along He was an inspiration for a his acting debut in stock theater with his activism in in Equity, number of aspiring actors and in Philadelphia in 1899 with a role he was a member of the Amer- artists and was even among in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” based on ican Federation of Radio Art- the notables who spirited JuHarriet Beecher Stowe’s novel. It ists (1937) and the Screen lieanna Richardson’s dream to was as a member of the Georgia Actors’ Guild. Of even great- create the now highly successMinstrels that he made his first er significance, he was a found- ful website, HistoryMakers. Broadway appearance. In 1920, ing member of the Negro Actors It was an early interview with he had his first film role as an Guild of America in 1937. Ac- him while she was a student at Indian fakir in Oscar Micheaux’s companying him in this accom- Brandeis in which his narrative silent film “The Symbol of the plishment was actress Fredi was so compelling and set her a Unconquered.” Washington, who was his lead- lifelong pursuit. He appeared in a number of ing lady in the Broadway proWriter Michael Sragow in his productions with small parts duction of “Lysistrata.” review of “The Oxbow Incident” before landing a more Whipper, during World War II, for the Library of was a member of the steering
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America recounts this powerful scene from the film and Whipper’s emotional performance. “Whipper, who created the crabbed stable-hand Crooks in John Steinbeck’s stage version of ‘Of Mice and Men’ (1937) and perfected the part in Lewis Milestone’s transcendent movie (1939), conjures an oasis of moral sanity with the tall, thin, wraith-like Sparks, the town’s handyman and unofficial preacher. (Trotti and Wellman wisely remove Clark’s mealymouthed white minister.) “As Sparks recalls his brother’s lynching,” Sragow continues, “Whipper’s haunted delivery cuts to the bone. After this latest lynching is done, Whipper drops to his knees. As the men scatter and leave him alone in the suddenly silent clearing, Sparks sings with personal urgency to each of the hanged men: ‘You got to go through Lonesome Valley/ You got to go there by yourself.’ The words hover over the men who ride off. There’s no better evidence of the value an alert director like Wellman and an instinctive talent like Whipper can add to an archetypal situation. They elevate the scene to a poetic lamentation.” Lessons from Dunbar’s poems and theater performances that nourished his dream may have been in play during this memorable scene. Whipper had many stage appearances after his Hollywood days were over in the early 1970s. When Richardson found him, he was living in Harlem where he died in 1975, just shy of his 99th birthday. His daughter, Leighla Frances Whipper, was a calypso songwriter and music publisher.
ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE Both the BlackPast.org and the Library of America offer profiles that chronicle Whipper’s acting on stage and screen. DISCUSSION It must have been quite a leap on stage without any training and it probably was, and it may surface in the responses from our readers. PLACE IN CONTEXT Whipper was born in the late 1870s and lived until the 1970s, so he was a full sweep of the 20th century.
THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY Oct. 29, 1969: The Supreme Court ordered an end to all school segregation, immediately. Oct. 30, 1945: Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, officially breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Oct. 30, 1979: Richard Arrington was elected the first Black mayor of Birmingham, Alabama.
