ABSTRACT

Evelyn Preer was an African American stage and film performer who achieved popularity in late 1920s. Before her untimely death in 1932, at the age of 36, Preer starred in 16 films, most of which were directed and produced by a prolific Black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Although a potent symbol in Black domain, her status as a screen star remained largely unexamined by contemporary white critics. Instead, the popular press concentrated on stage performances, such as Preer’s titular role in Broadway adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé. This article examines the debates that surrounded Black female entertainers—especially Preer, but also Florence Mills—by drawing on Chicago Defender, New York Age and other African American newspapers of the era. It uses Preer as a primary case study to characterise the ways in which Black stardom was discursively similar to, but also necessarily different, from the constructions of dominant, Hollywood stardom. It situates African American within the gendered rhetoric of respectability, the New Negro discourse, and patriarchal ideas of the acting profession. Preer’s visibility in the white domain constituted an act of resistance, and a reminder of the Black struggle for equality.

摘要

伊夫林·普雷尔（Evelyn Preer）是一位非裔美国舞台和电影演员，在 1920 年代后期声名鹊起。在她于 1932 年英年早逝之前，年仅 36 岁的普雷尔出演了 16 部电影，其中大部分由多产的黑人电影制片人奥斯卡·米肖执导和制作。尽管在黑人领域是一个强有力的象征，但她作为银幕明星的地位在很大程度上仍未受到当代白人评论家的检验。相反，大众媒体专注于舞台表演，例如普雷尔在百老汇改编奥斯卡王尔德的莎乐美中的名义角色。本文通过借鉴《纽约时代》的芝加哥后卫，探讨围绕黑人女性艺人——尤其是普雷尔，还有弗洛伦斯·米尔斯——的辩论和那个时代的其他非裔美国人报纸。它使用 Preer 作为主要案例研究来描述黑人明星在话语上与主导好莱坞明星的结构相似但又必然不同的方式。它将非洲裔美国人置于体面的性别修辞、新黑人话语和表演职业的父权观念中。普雷尔在白人领域的知名度构成了一种抵抗行为，并提醒了黑人争取平等的斗争。