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Transcription: [00:00:02]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
For principle players
[00:00:04]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
For principle players, to make that distinction crystal clear as to who was playing what role.
[00:00:10]

{SILENCE}
[00:00:12]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
Mm-hmm
[00:00:13]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
So it may have been necessary on one level, on the other level, um,
[00:00:18]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
one wonders if when you watch "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" and you see, um, the women characters wearing what obviously looks like a white powder.
[00:00:34]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
Mm-hmm [[agreement]]
[00:00:36]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
So their neck is a different color and their arms and so on.
[00:00:38]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
And there's no, there's nothing in the plot line to suggest that they are, uh, that they're white. I mean all the characters are supposedly black.
[00:00:49]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
One wonders why—
[00:00:52]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
What is that.

[[cross talk]]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
that is so, or, or what's happening here. Is that the director's decision?

[[Cross Talk]]

{SPEAKER name="Louis Massiah"}
Or the actresses?
[00:00:58]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Or the actor or actresses' decision?
[00:01:01]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
Certainly—
[00:01:01]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
To make themselves up to be—
[00:01:03]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
Yeah, it's certainly not, I think several things, there are many things to look at,
[00:01:07]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
but one item that makes it not so peculiar is that, that standard is characteristic of every cinema I know.
[00:01:24]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
I mean in terms of beauty, the women is pale, rice powder, and the guy is ruddy and outdoor and therefore, darker.
[00:01:32]

{SILENCE}
[00:01:36]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
But I, I thought it might have something to do with the identification of the actors, but I don't know.
[00:01:45]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
But at any rate, um, which raises the whole question of the use of, the identification of, our actors in black films,
[00:01:58]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
in industry films, with or without makeup.
[00:02:03]

{SPEAKER name="Toni Cade Bambara"}
For example, what was the situation with Noble Johnson?
[00:02:09]

{SPEAKER name="Pearl Bowser"}
Well, Noble Johnson was a very light-skinned actor who played any number of roles, uh, every--
[00:02:20]

Transcription Notes:
Note that I am still somewhat unsure of which speaker is Toni Cade Bambara and which is Pearl Bowser. Pearl Bowser is the one giving the interview.