October 31, 1896– Ethel Waters:
“Only those who are being burned know what fire is like.”
When doing research for the #BornThisDay column, I have been struck by the cruelty, contempt & challenges that were/are foisted on minority artists & performers in the past century. That their work should be adored & rewarded, but the artist would still need to enter a theatre or hotel by the backdoor makes their stories especially painful. That these amazing performers persevered & gave us so much is a testament to the power of their art.
Ethel Waters rose to stardom from an obscure beginning, an alley in Philadelphia where she lived in poverty with her mother & grandmother. She faced unspeakable racism during her rise to fame. She was born on this very day as a result of her mother’s rape at 13 years old. Waters was raised in a violent, poor environment. She never lived in the same place for more than a year. Waters:
“I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family.”
Despite this unpromising start, Waters demonstrated a love of language that so distinguishes her work. Waters’ birth in the North part of the USA, plus her vagabond life, exposed her to many cultures. Her childhood gave her an interpretation of the Southern Blues that brought a unique sensibility that pulled together eclectic influences from all sorts of musical genres.
Waters was a singer, dancer, actor, & evangelist. She was never confined to a single identity. As a singer, she played with styles, doing what was called “race music” & doing white standards & show tunes.
Waters married when she was 13 years old, but she soon left her abusive husband & became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel working for $5 a week. On her birthday, Halloween night 1913, she went to a party in costume at a nightclub in Philadelphia. She was persuaded to sing a couple of songs, & the audience was so impressed that a booking agent was able to get her a professional gig at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore. She earned $10 a week, but the agent cheated her out of the tips her admirers tossed on the stage.
Waters was a street kid with the high aspiration to be a lady’s maid. Instead, she found herself working in black vaudeville. She was billed as “Sweet Mama Stringbean” because of her tall, lean stature. Her signature tune was St. Louis Blues. Waters performed the popular tune in a softer, subtler style than her rivals, Ma Rainey & Bessie Smith.
In the 1920s, Waters was booked in the better paying white vaudeville theatres, & she became one of the most celebrated & best paid entertainers. At Harlem’s Cotton Club, she introduced Harold Arlen’s Stormy Weather, composed just for her. Waters:
“I was singing the story of my misery & confusion, the story of the wrongs & outrages done to me by people I had loved & trusted”.
Irving Berlin wrote Supper Time (a song about a lynching) for Waters. She later became the first African-American star of a national radio show.
She had a huge hit on Broadway in the all-black musical Cabin In The Sky (1940) American musical with songs by Vernon Duke & John La Touche. It had a smart, witty script, which showed its black characters with rare dignity. It was made into a film in 1943, produced by Arthur Freed & directed by Vincente Minnelli, with Waters repeating her Broadway role, joined by Lena Horne & Louis Armstrong. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe, composed by Arlen, with lyrics by Yip Harburg & sung by Waters.
As an actor in projects like the stage & screen versions of The Member Of The Wedding (1950), adapted from the novel by gay writer Carson McCullers herself, Waters gave those traditional “mammy” roles real edge & depth.
The Member Of The Wedding had a cast that included Julie Harris & Brandon deWilde, a 7 year old second grader at the time. It was made into a film in 1952 with the 3 principals repeating their Broadway roles. The film was directed by Fred Zinnemann. Harris was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, but Waters was ignored.
Waters’ life was as diverse as her talents. She was a Catholic who would swear like a sailor. She was a lesbian whose loud fights with her lovers made the more proper lesbians, like singer Alberta Hunter, label her a disgrace to their tribe. She was a gentle soul with a terrible temper.
In the 1960s, Waters joined The Reverend Billy Graham on his tours of the USA. Her signature song had been Stormy Weather, but once she joined the Graham Crusade, she never sang it again. Waters:
“My life ain’t stormy no more.”
This change was probably good for Waters, but bad for her fans. Her best known recording became her version of the traditional spiritual His Eye Is On The Sparrow.
Among the songs that Waters was first to sing: Dinah, Takin’ A Chance On Love, Heat Wave, Am I Blue? & Cabin In The Sky.
Waters was the just the second African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award, for the film Pinky (1949), directed of Elia Kazan, & the first black female actor to have a lead role in a TV series, Beulah (1950), playing another “mammy” role. She was the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award (in 1962!) for a guest part on the popular Route 66.
Waters took her final curtain call in 1977, taken by cancer.
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Adam Ant
