In the late 1920s and '30s Lincoln Perry, aka Stepin Fetchit, was both renowned and reviled for his surrealistic portrayals of the era’s most popular comic stereotype–the lazy, shiftless Negro. Perry was hailed by critic Robert Benchley as “the best actor that the talking movies have produced,” and Mel Watkins’s meticulously researched and sensitive biography reveals the paradoxes of this pioneering actor’s life, from Perry’s tremendous popularity to his money troubles and rowdy offscreen antics. As later generations come to recognize Perry’s prodigious talent and achievements, in Stepin Fetchit, Mel Watkins brilliantly and definitively illuminates the life and times of a legendary figure in American entertainment.

"Stepin Fetchit" ...two words that have entered our language, signifying the ultimate in negative racial stereotype. Between 1927 and 1975, Stepin Fetchit, born Lincoln Perry in 1902, appeared in over 40 films. He was the first Black actor to receive featured credit in a motion picture. He was the first Black actor to sign a long-term contract with a Hollywood studio. He was the first Black actor to drive through the front gates of a Hollywood studio...with a chauffer at the wheel. He was, in Fetchit's own words, "The first Black actor universally acclaimed a star by the public." This at a time when, "No White man had the idea of making a Negro a star." Stepin Fetchit was indeed the first African-American movie star. How, then, did Stepin Fetchit come to represent all that is bad about race in America? And who was the man behind this mask of a name? Here, author Champ Clark reveals the true facts of Fetchit/Perry's controversial life and career. Going beyond archival material, Clark draws from his conversations with the actor's own family, friends and co-stars. In addition, a newly discovered eight-hour interview allows the real Lincoln Perry to finally speak for himself. Shuffling to Ignominy: The Tragedy of Stepin Fetchit is a troubling tale that reflects D.E.B. DuBois' assertion that, "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line." -Sidney Poitier says, "Stepin Fetchit paved the way."-

Satisfying complexity, and the play's crash of symbols has lingering resonance - Time Out Review

The Real Stepin Fetchit. 'Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry' (May 30, 1902 ndash; November 19, 1985), stronger recognized by the stage designation 'Stepin Fetchit', was an American comic and feature performer. This book is your ultimate resource for Stepin Fetchit. Here you will find the most up-to-date 80 Success Facts, Information, and much more. In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about Stepin Fetchit's Early life, Career and Personal life right away. A quick look inside: Bacall to Arms - Analysis, Stepin Fetchit, Charlie Chan in Egypt - Cast, The Apollo Theater - Creation and rise, Clay Smothers - National, Carolina (1934 film), Stand Up and Cheer! - Trivia, Willie Best, Gloria Parker, Hearts in Dixie (movie), The Sun Shines Bright - Cast, Nat Shilkret - Compositions, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame - 1974, Charlie Ruggles - Partial filmography, Judge Priest - Hattie McDaniel, Spencer Williams (actor) - Career re-evaluation, The Autograph Hound - Plot, Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston - The phantom/anchor punch, Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles - Notable burials, Steamboat Round the Bend - Cast, The World Moves On - Cast, Dumbo - Controversy, A Tough Winter - Synopsis, Dimples (film) - Cast, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood - Plot, Mouse Cleaning - Voice cast, Feet First - Period characteristics, Al Michaels - In popular culture, Salute (1929 film) - Cast, Big Time (1929 film) - Cast, Uncle Tom's Cabin (film adaptations) - Later films and other cinematic mentions, On the Avenue - Cast, Sing a Song of Sixpence - Onscreen, The Ghost Talks (1929 film) - Cast, In This Our Life - Production, List of topics related to the African diaspora - Other related terms, Judge Priest - Stepin Fetchit, Dunbar Hotel - Hub of the Central Avenue scene, Theater Owners Bookers Association - History, and much more...

Stealing the Show is a study of African American actors in Hollywood during the 1930s, a decade that saw the consolidation of stardom as a potent cultural and industrial force. Petty focuses on five performers whose Hollywood film careers flourished during this period—Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Lincoln “Stepin Fetchit” Perry, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and Hattie McDaniel—to reveal the “problematic stardom” and the enduring, interdependent patterns of performance and spectatorship for performers and audiences of color. She maps how these actors—though regularly cast in stereotyped and marginalized roles—employed various strategies of cinematic and extracinematic performance to negotiate their complex positions in Hollywood and to ultimately “steal the show.” Drawing on a variety of source materials, Petty explores these stars’ reception among Black audiences and theorizes African American viewership in the early twentieth century. Her book is an important and welcome contribution to the literature on the movies.

This comprehensive history of black humor sets it in the context of American popular culture. Blackface minstrelsy, Stepin Fetchit, and the Amos 'n' Andy show presented a distorted picture of African Americans; this book contrasts this image with the authentic underground humor of African Americans found in folktales, race records, and all-black shows and films. After generations of stereotypes, the underground humor finally emerged before the American public with Richard Pryor in the 1970s. But Pryor was not the first popular comic to present authentically black humor. Watkins offers surprising reassessments of such seminal figures as Fetchit, Bert Williams, Moms Mabley, and Redd Foxx, looking at how they paved the way for contemporary comics such as Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, and Bill Cosby.