One of the most important
novels of 1944, Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit" recreated a pivotal time
in America's race relations - the era immediately following World War I.
The heroine of her story is Nonnie Anderson, a light-skinned Negro woman
educated beyond her station whose lifelong love for Tracy Deen is pure and
complete. But Tracy is the white son of the town's doctor, and his middle
class family
represents the pretentious attitudes widely prevalent in the South at
that time.
Tracy is just back from the war, at odds with his ambitious family but
full of dreams and restless energy. He willingly succumbs to his long
dormant feelings
for Nonnie, but his immediate guilt is only compounded when she tells
him she's pregnant. Nonnie secretly hopes Tracy will share her joy, but
when he tries to marry her off to his boyhood friend - a simpleminded
black man - her family's fury is ignited into the ultimate tragedy -
Tracy's lynching by her older brother.
Although the story was never explicit, the interracial love affair was
considered volatile in 1944 and was banned in several states, including
Massachusetts. Still, the novel was an undeniable success - both critically
and financially - and prompted
Lillian Smith to rewrite it as a drama, which was published early in the
following year. The play was picked up at once by
actor-director José Ferrer, and it became a very special project for him.
In 1945 Melchor Ferrer was in Hollywood working unhappily as a dialogue coach at Columbia
Films when he decided to become a part of this prestigious project -
one that would end up taking over a year of his life. An activist himself, he was eager and excited when his friend José Ferrer approached him to star
as Tracy Deen in the controversially famous love story.
The two Ferrers had originally met while Mel was on Broadway in "Kind Lady"
and José was across the street in "Charley's Aunt." A few years later, while Mel was a producer-director at NBC
Radio in New York
City he'd used José's services as an actor, but this time their roles would be
reversed.
While director Ferrer was sure about whom he wanted for the
male lead, he had absolutely no idea who to use for the pivotal role of Nonnie
Anderson. A huge search went out to cast the part and eventually an unknown
named Jane White was announced for the role. The daughter of Walter White, Secretary of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Miss White was
a recent college graduate and already successful as a writer and lecturer on civil
rights, but she had never acted
before.
Nevertheless, she was suggested separately for the role by three luminaries
close to the project: Paul Robeson,
Mrs. John H. Hammond, Jr. and Lillian Smith herself. Ferrer heard her
read and hired her straight out. She was even given top billing. The rest of
the large
cast was composed of mostly unknowns and included early appearances for Earl Jones (father of
James Earl Jones) and Ralph Meeker.
The play made an extensive and well publicized tour across the United
States before it opened on Broadway at The Royale Theater on November
29, 1945. Along with its New York premiere, the work was featured in Life Magazine and had a
bravura write-up by then first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in her daily
column, "My Day." Nevertheless, it closed fairly soon afterwards - on January 19,
1946.
The play's ultimate failure can be considered
honorable. Although the nation was intellectually ready for the
interracial love story, it wasn't quite prepared to watch it unfold on
stage. Furthermore, while Lillian Smith's efforts were highly regarded, she
was more of an advocate than playwright, and many of her
characters were overwrought caricatures. Smith is
important as one of the first Southern authors to actively
protest racial prejudice, and even more as the first to openly oppose
segregation. The importance of her work can hardly be overstated, but it was
not particularly well suited to dramatization.
The play made an immediate personality of Jane White, but
although the rest the cast was greatly admired, "Strange Fruit" would become just a highly commendable
credit in their respective résumés. Later in 1946, José and Mel would again
swap hats as Mel would direct José to his Tony Award winning performance in
"Cyrano de Bergerac." Soon after that - based on both these
theatrical efforts - Melchor Ferrer would sign a contract with David Selznick and return
permanently to
Hollywood to pursue a career in films.
