Rush, thanks for the nice comments. I also salute YOUR perspective; it was well written and I agree with everything you stated. I was familiar with much of what you wrote about Fetchit. I personally don't mind his character all that much; I was stating that it's easy to see why people today COULD be uncomfortable with his character. What I DON'T understand is why ANYBODY would be uncomfortable with Chan's character. Aside from the fact that his role was played by non-Asians, his persona offered nothing but a positive role model.

I wrote a review a few years ago on Amazon.com about the movie 'Holiday Inn' which features a performance with Bing Crosby and others in 'blackface.' Many are quick to hyper-criticize this and deem it reflective of a 'more racist' period of time. Ironically, the entire song is a positive song towards Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation of blacks during the Civil War. It makes fun of nobody and is uplifing. Ironically, I look at the entertainment of today (rap music, gansta rap, MTV, etc.) and which can one honestly say is more demeaning? From my perspective, it's certainly not Bing Crosby...

Rush,
Your post reminded me of a story I read about Butterfly McQueen complaining to Hattie McDaniel about the way McQueen's character (Prissy) was portrayed in the movie, Gone with the Wind.

McDaniel told her to knock it off.

She, McDaniel, had had to clean houses herself when she was getting started as an actress and it a perfectly respecable way of making a living.

Sure beat the way some women had to resort to to survive.

Virginina

I don't have a problem with Stepin Fetchit in CC in Egypt. I find him funny and likeable, even endearing. Frankly, his function in that movie was "comic relief" and he did very well in that function. Other actors of various races had the same function in different CC movies, with varying degrees of success. An example I don't like so well is John Henry Allen as Streamline in CC at the Race Track. He doesn't seem funny to me (though that was his function in the movie).

It's too bad that today's society can be a bit too politically correct.

It's that type of "concern" that kept many an "Our Gang/Little Rascals" short from being re-released or broadcast/seen since their original debut in the 1930's, including one Our Gang short from 1930 featuring Stepin Fetchit himself (Fetchit being the "responsible adult" in that one short? Now that's FUNNY! Not racism or stereotyping. :D).

Thankfully, in the last decade, all of those shorts have since been released by Cabin Fever/Hallmark and now Chan's films will, God willing be released in their entirety (8 and counting for Fox, 6 so far for MGM).

I, too, enjoy the Stepin Fetchit character. He is supposed to look "foolish" and cowardly but he was the only one who was really making any sense. He kept warning Tom and Charlie about the dangers in the tomb and look what happens--Tom gets shot 3 times (or was it 4?). So much for bravery.

Only the foolhearted would not pay heed to the Egpytian 'ghosts' that pervaded that scary archeological dig. Remember the Egyptian who drops dead in the beginning by merely gazing into the tomb.
No wonder Stepin was nervous and acared--anybody with any sense would be too.

I agree with your take on Streamline--that was a much more degrading role perpetuating a negative sterotype.