Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - Gabriella Varró: The Theme of Comic Love in Blackface Minstrelsy: The Anatomy of the Grotesque

The song popularized several grotesque scenarios, jealousy, love triangle, fights between suitors, etc., which later were widely imitated by songsmiths when the popularity of the theme among minstrel audiences became evident. Jealousy as a central comic love theme was certainly not a new topic in drama, but blackface minstrelsy added to the comedy by putting the unlucky comic black suitor in the role of the jealous lover. The song did not only fix the stereotype of the Jealous Black Lover, but also provided a standard script for songs of this kind. The outline of the plot was quite simple, and thus became easily familiar to blackface audiences, predictability and familiarity with the script even adding to the attraction and entertainment value of the act. The recipe for the unmatchable success of this song and of many inheriting its script was this. Take a charming, but somewhat mischievous black female, add the desperate and jealous black lover who comes courting right to her door. Let the woman tease her suitor for some time before allowing him inside. Have another black male hiding somewhere in the house, and once these three meet, the suitors go for each other's throat until one of them gets the better of the other. The comic love triangle portrayed in the song served, besides sheer situation comedy, to put blacks into the awkward position of the irresponsible lover, who did not regard honesty and faithfulness in marriage or in courtship as important or necessary. The song once again emphasized that blacks were "incapable of adopting white cultural values" (Dennison 38) regarding even the most basic social interactions. Although minstrel make-believe stages could engage audiences in good laughs at the expense of the cheated black lover, the reality of slavery was quite another thing. Marriage, or even a love relationship for the slave was a rather uncertain business, since the selling and trading of slaves, property rights and changing business interests of the owners made the lot of those slaves united in "marriage" completely unpredictable for the future. The Negro was considered a tradable property, and only very rarely a human being with feelings and true attachments to other humans. The simple fact was that slave marriages had no legal standing. 104