On Friday, November 6, 2026, Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) will be hosting its signature Behind the Camera event.  Dubbed, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and featuring noted storyteller and Cleveland native, Scott Eyman, attendees will hear about that era of Tinseltown, with a focus on some famous Ohioans, many of which will certainly be recognized.  That so-called Golden Age generally spans from the late 1920’s through the early 1960’s, and like most everything else during that time frame in this country, skewed predominantly white.  

Even though most of the fare did not showcase people who looked like me, I am still a huge fan of some of the classics from that era. Two of my favorites I never get tired of watching are Casablanca featuring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, and North by Northwest with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.  What’s not to like?  Great stories, intrigue, superb acting, and beautiful women!  

However, there were indeed a number of folks who looked like me, making their marks against all odds during that time.  I refer to it here as the Black Golden Age of Hollywood.   William Clark Gable, born in Cadiz, Ohio, he of Rhett Butler fame, was often referred to as the “King of Hollywood.”  But did you know that Hattie McDaniel, who was also featured in Gone With the Wind, was the first African American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress), and appeared in over 300 films?  Butterfly McQueen played the unforgettable character, Prissy in that film as well.  

On a personal note, while I generally enjoyed Gone with the Wind, first time I saw it.   As I got older, and more attuned to racial injustice, I was admittedly appalled by the negative stereotypes the film portrayed, and the “soft soaping” of the indignities that enslaved people had to endure.  And the dialogue!  I was floored when my wiser-self heard Rhett say to Scarlett, "Do you think you can parade right through the Yankee army with a sick woman, a baby, and a simple-minded darkie?"  

But back in those days, playing butlers, maids and other menial roles, was all Black performers could do in order to break through.  The Little Colonel is best known for featuring a famous staircase tap dance between Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.  This sequence marked the first interracial dance pairing in Hollywood history. The moment was considered so controversial at the time that the scene was cut from prints shown in parts of the Southern United States.  However, Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, known professionally as Stepin Fetchit, had the last laugh though, as the first Black actor to become a millionaire, appearing in over 40 films.

Dorothy Dandridge, who hailed from Cleveland, was the first Black film star to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Camen Jones.  Her co-star Harry Belafonte became a Hollywood legend.  Or who can forget the one and only Lena Horne singing the title song from the musical, Stormy Weather?  

Perhaps the greatest actor of the so-called Golden Age was arguably Sidney Poitier, who was the first Black thespian to win the Best Actor Oscar for Lillies of the Field.  He also was the first Black actor to kiss a white woman on the lips in an American feature film, when he laid one on actress Elizabeth Hartman in the 1965 movie A Patch of Blue.

In closing, one defining aspect of the Golden Age of Hollywood you may want to dive into was the so-called “studio system.”  Lew Wasserman, an American businessman and talent agent born in Cleveland, is widely known as “the last of the legendary movie moguls.” In any event, you don’t want to miss all of this and more at Behind the Camera: The Golden Age of Hollywood.

Cheers,

LP