We were watching a DVD of the British comedy series The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer (1993) last night... husband's favourite comedians, and the Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye sketches came on. I had not remembered that the duo were doing their hilarious sketch in blackface. The two, who have Geordie accents, are in the dock of the bay watching "the ships coming in... and going out again". Now retired, they live in a TV which is inside a wardrobe.
I just read that 'cos Reeves and Mortimer painted their faces black they received complaints of racism. This meant that in the second series they kept their faces white. But looking at the original sketches I did not find the blackface offensive at all. I thought about this and decidedd it was because they ensured that the funny/odd characteristics of these two was not that they had brown faces but that they were puppets, with tiny, spindly legs, and North East accents. Also the brown makeup was applied very carefully so that it did not look comical or haphazard but rather, realistic. It was no travesty to my eye. See this link for the whiteface version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi60CCM9jZU
Oh, and of course they did Barry White in blackface too...
Victory Gardens
-
Saatchi & Saatchi Blue Team Tour of Rooftop Farms
Image source: http://www.saatchitrueblue.com/blog/2009/10/gardens-on-top-of-the-steel-world/
Tough times...
1 day ago







