Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry

by Mel Watkins

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.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, African American, History

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Demetria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most biographies, this one dragged in places (hence 4 stars instead of 5 stars), but what a great read! I had no idea how handsome and intelligent Lincoln Perry (Stepin' Fethit) was. Look at the picture on the cover. That is a million dollar smile. Perry also wrote articlec for the Chicago Defender and at times was downright eloquent. I love old movies and I also love to read about the actors in those old movies. I sit around looking at movies on TCM with my laptop, so I can Google the actors. There's always something interesting to learn and this bio of Lincoln Perry is no exception. If you are a movie buff or you just like interesting bios, this is a good book to read.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific read

Lincoln Perry was apparently an excellent actor. I've never seen any of his movies, but Lionel Barrymore and Will Rogers both called him a gifted actor. He played a part that went out of favor rapidly and he didn't want to update it.

The result is that he was forever identified with the character he played. He was difficult to get along with, profligate, perhaps manic depressive. Anyway, a well written book of a man who led an interesting life.

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent depiction of an age when America was a racially divided nation.I did not realise the effect that Perry had on Afro Americans in the thirties and beyond.An absorbing book.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

One can't help but be more sympathetic towards Lincoln Perry after reading this book. Perhaps born in another time he would have been lauded and celebrated. But time moved on and he unfortunately did not. Once thought of by both Black and White as the nations best comic actor, his name became synonymous with docile, backwards, Black servitude. But that was Lincoln Perry's character. As the story of his life unfolds in these pages the man was far from that. He was at times militant even radical in his dealings with a racist Hollywood power structure. He was flamboyant in the Jack Johnson mold (one of his best friends) and wealthy beyond most Black peoples dreams at the turn of the century.
I have a very hazy recollection of Stepin Fetchit movies. I would really like to see one or two to see if he is unfairly maligned and a comic genius as the author posits or is his character truly offensive as most came to believe. But I don't think any reader will come away without a new understanding of the man and not just what his name has come to represent.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm trying to get through this one, but the writing style is pretty dry.

The subject matter, however is great. Stepin Fetchit was a bold African American movie star at the dawn of Hollywood. An over the top character, he made a lot of enemies and entertained a lot of people. I'm going to finish this because I want to know his whole story, but I feel like there is a lot of padding in there, like this was originally a 50 page book.

[Jon]

Some errors here--the Marx Brothers were never "Fox stars" (they worked for Paramount, MGM, RKO, and UA) and Louis Armstrong could not have visited an ailing Perry in 1976 (Armstrong died in 1971)--but never mind that, this well-written, insightful biography of Stepin Fetchit a/k/a Lincoln Perry is definitive and makes for compulsive reading. The title of the Bill Cosby-narrated, Andy-Rooney(!!)-written TV feature that Perry blamed for destroying his hopes for a comeback, "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed?" is ironically appropriate for this biography--Fetchit's story was indeed "lost" before Watkins recovered it. Well...Perry got some posthumous revenge on Cosby, at least....

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful and eye-opening biography of THE pioneer for today's black stars of screen and TV. Stepin Fetchit was a mercurial and intense talent that cleared the way for many other performers all the way to Will Smith. There was so much that has been swept away, ignored, and minimized about this man, and Mel Watkins brings out the truths and tragedies of the man.
I learned so much about a man whose name I had heard of when I was much younger.
My only criticism is the obvious stumble in the final chapter of the editor who allowed in a number of typos, and the minimal pictures.

[Brad Mariano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched and convincing argument for the artistry and autonomy of probably the most maligned figure in film history