Book on CD performed by Lynnette R Freeman
3.5***

Subtitle: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel

Of course, I knew Hattie McDaniel as the actor who portrayed “Mammy” in the movie of Gone With the Wind. Tate’s novel begins with the Oscar ceremony when McDaniel won for best supporting actress, beating her co-star and fellow nominee, Olivia de Haviland (who played Melanie Hamilton Wilkes). But Hattie McDaniel was so much more than just her portrayal of Mammy, and Tate gives us all of her.

The reader learns about the struggles specific to Black actors to be seen and to avoid stereotypes. The subtle ways McDaniel and other Black actors tried to provide the characters they portrayed with more complexity and dignity, despite the restrictions imposed by general prejudice and Jim Crow laws, as well as the studio contracts typical of the era. They were vilified by the more strident leaders of the NAACP as being traitors to their race. But what were they to do? Refuse to work?

McDaniel wasn’t having it. She worked hard and smart to keep her star shining bright in the Hollywood firmament. And she refused to apologize for the roles she took. She had friendships with Bette Davis and Clark Gable. She was an accomplished singer and radio personality. And she had a strong bond with her best friends and fellow performers: Ruby Berkley Goodwin, Lillian Randolph, and Louise Beavers.

She successfully fought the restrictive real estate covenants, allowing many other minority families to purchase homes in more desirable neighborhoods. She threw lavish parties. And she did what she could to help new rising stars such as Dorothy Dandridge and Lena Horne. Still, she had to take what she could get in terms of roles, and frequently saw her best scenes edited out and thrown on the cutting room floor.

Having read this book, I have a new appreciation for the trailblazing McDaniel and other Black actors of her generation did.

Lynnette R Freeman does a fine job of performing the audiobook. She is not a mimic, however, so the voices she used for some of the more famous personalities really missed the mark. ( )

I received this kindle book from NetGalley and immediately wanted to read about Hattie McDaniel, the first member of her race to be so honored with an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her superb performance as Mammy in ‘Gone With the Wind’

Hollywood clubs, sights, restaurants and digs. Learning how Hattie McDaniel made a name for herself in music, in vaudeville, and onstage in several cities. Her fortune of finding an agent when most white agents didn’t take Negro clients. Hatties’ role as Mammy often got more attention than some of the other players who were considered the stars, so she learned how to embrace it.

Hoping that she capitalized on her Oscar win, Hattie believed that her Oscar win was about to open a number of doors, and she didn’t want to block her blessings. Hattie was truly tired of the press linking everything she said or did to Mammy. She had enough and wanted to let these people know that she was Hattie McDaniel, not Mammy, and filmmakers remain dependent on typecasting colored performers. Fair-skinned black woman working in Hollywood, had the luxury of turning down roles, but the roles were of loose women, while the darker complexed black women were given servants, and mammy roles.

Hattie moved to the suburb of West Adams District that until a few years ago didn’t allow any colored folks to live there. To her it was a sign of success. Some of the most respected elite had settled in Sugar Hill. She had to fight restrictive covenants, and complaints about property values going down. Hattie McDaniel was in a high-profile case and gave a major shot at striking a blow against housing discrimination.

Parties gave Hattie joy. She had parties with Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby. Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier, Wonderful Smith, white actors, directors, reporter and Hollywood movers and shakers. Several of the black local actors served as a floating hotel for entertainers who came through town.

Hattie was tired of being assailed, and criticized for her portrayals and fought back. no matter how talented black actors were their options were few. No Negro woman had ever headlined her own radio show, but McDaniel was the first. Proctor & Gamble got the bright idea to get a Negro woman to play a Negro woman instead of a white man. Hattie began making demands. A return to what she loved was exactly what she needed. Procter & Gamble agreed to all of Hattie’s demands, but they’d also given her the final say over scripts and allowed her to hire her own staff, and was making the steadiest salary she had ever earned.

But such was the tragic life of Hattie McDaniel where breast cancer took up residence in her body. She’d been in more than seventy films and was destitute. The first Negro woman, to win an Academy Award, to stay at the Motion Picture Country Home Hospital, but denied burial at the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery.

The writing was well done and the fictional accounts felt very possible, however I am more intrigued to do further reading about the life of Hattie McDaniel. This novel is packed with historical facts, people, places and things. I would have read the book faster, but I constantly stopped to look up the actors, actresses, places, etc to give me a more visual reference. This is an extraordinary read and I hope to read more historical fiction from ReShonda Tate in the future.

#TheQueenofSugarHill. #NetGalley #Onnaday ( )

Before this book, I knew about Hattie McDaniel only from her Acadamy Award winning performance, so it was interesting to see how varied and extensive her career was (She sang; she had a popular radio show!). Most interesting to me were her efforts to advance the film industry for those who followed in her footsteps. It was sad, though, to see the opposition she faced both from some blacks (who claimed she was keeping them stuck in the same type roles) and the whites who felt she'd already pushed the boundaries too far. It was heartening to see that she was a fighter to the end.

Thank you to BookClubGirls and NetGalley for the early read. ( )