This week we look at a 1978 made for television film
of Cinderella entitled Cindy that features an entirely African-American cast.
It was directed by William A. Graham, and is an urbanised retelling of Cinderella set in
Harlem after World war II.
It boasts an exceptional cast with Nell Carter (known
for the sitcom Gimme a Break and so much more) and Alaina Reed Hall (who played
Gordon’s younger sister Olivia on Sesame Street for many years) as the spoiled
stepsisters. The title character of Cindy played by Charlayne Woodard was a marvellous
wide-eyed character full of childlike joy and wonder. I kept thinking she looked
familiar. She was Tituba in that fairly dreadful adaptation of The Crucible
with Daniel Day Lewis and Winona Ryder, but she was terrific in both the film Unbreakable
and Glass as the mother of Elijah.
Interestingly, both Charlayne Woodard and Nell Carter
were in the musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ on Broadway. Both were nominated for a
Tony as Best featured Actress in a musical, but the award went to Nell Carter.
I watched this film today (hence why this post is so
late going out) and I really enjoyed it. The musical numbers were good albeit a
bit strange. There is this New Orleans style jazz band that just pops up
everywhere like through their apartment window or out of a cubicle in the hotel
men’s room. But if you suspend your disbelief and just go with it, it is a very
enjoyable ride. I also laughed out loud with a snort several times.
There was no handy summary of the film to fall back on
so I have taken notes throughout the film.
After the war Cindy has moved from the south to live in Harlem with
her newly blended family. Her father has married a woman with two
grown daughters and has neglected to tell her that not only was he married before,
but he also has a grown daughter whom he would like to live with them. He also
makes the mistake of saying, “She makes your two daughters look like dog meat” which
clearly doesn’t help his case.
The stepmother
is not pleased and says if she’d have known she wouldn’t have married him, and
he replies that is precisely why he didn’t tell her. She says that even though he has a good job as
a hotel doorman at the Plaza, it is not enough to feed another mouth. I liked
this because often we see a father allowing his daughter to be neglected and
abused and you don’t know why. Here you see how henpecked he is with his hat in
hand shuffling nervously. There is a very good reason for him to be nervous which
we will discuss in a bit.
Cindy is seen jumping rope with some neighbourhood
children on the street in a white pinafore dress and shabby worn out white Keds
shoes. She has a childlike exuberance that makes her seem like a good person. We
see them in various day to day scenes where the stepmother and sisters are
abusive, and the father won’t stand up to his domineering wife.
There is a hilarious scene in church. The father warns
her they are not in the south anymore. This is no Baptist church but an
Episcopal one. He tells her that she can’t look like she enjoys it so much and should
only amen if they ask you to. But as the hymn is sung slow and dreary, she gets
the Holy Spirit and can’t hold it in any longer. She sings and dances up and
down the aisle and gets the church to join in with some soul but it puts her in
the doghouse with her stepmother.
There is a dance called the Sugarhill Ball coming up
and she really wants to go. She is out on the fire escape singing and cleaning
the ironwork when she meets Michael who is sleeping on the fire escape of the
next building(it’s wartime and there is a housing shortage). He is a draft
dodger who works as a chauffeur to the biggest blackmarketeer in Harlem. He
explains that he is happy being a coward because cowards don’t fight or start
wars.
The stepmother has made new dresses for her spoiled
daughters (who are seen to repeatedly play tricks on the stepfather) but she refuses to
make a dress for Cindy. Her father vows to go out and make enough money to
buy her a dress for the ball that night. She thinks he can do it as he is the
doorman of the Plaza hotel. But in reality, he is the men’s room attendant who
dreams of a better career and a fancy red jacket with gold braid on it. He
works hard all day with no break trying to get lots of quarter tips to have
enough money to buy his daughter a dress.
Back at the house the stepmother and sisters are
getting ready for the dance. Cindy wasn’t able to “pad both their brassieres”
because they only had one box of Kleenex and she casually remarks she can’t wait to
be fat enough to wear a girdle which makes them mad. She asks about what the
Sugarhill Ball will be like and they break into song with the jazz band coming
in through the window from the fire escape. This is an amazing number full of
scat and fast wordplay.
The father returns home dejected because he didn’t
earn enough money to buy her a dress. Cindy bears it bravely while her sisters
laugh. The father refuses to go to the ball without Cindy and decides to stay home
and get drunk.
Michael (acting as magical helper here)shows up in his chauffeur's uniform which looks
like a military uniform and invites her to the ball. He presents her with a
beautiful dress. She says her mama always told her to never accept expensive
gifts from men, but he replies that he stole it. She is outraged shouting, “What’s
wrong wichoo?” But he explains it belongs to his boss’s wife and he just
borrowed it for a few hours. His boss and his wife will be home at 12:30 so they
have to get the dress back by midnight. She changes clothes in the back of his
car and he acts like a gentleman by handing his hat on the rear view mirror so
he won’t see her undressed.
The party is a hopping one and there are some funny
antics with one of the stepsisters Kleenex coming out of her bra and her
pretending to dab sweat off her brow to cover up her stuffing coming out.
Decorated war vet marine captain Joe Prince takes the
stage as Cindy arrives. We see her lift her dress to climb the stairs and we realise
she still has her white bobby socks and raggedy Keds sneakers underneath. Joe
Prince makes his way around the room dancing with all the ladies, but really
takes a shine to Cindy. He takes his distinguished service cross and tries to
give it to her, but she refuses. At midnight she runs away leaving her dirty sneaker
behind. Michael is afraid they won’t make it back in time and he will get fired,
but they make it back safely.
Joe Prince employs a Private Investigator to find out
who the sneaker belongs to. He visits every woman in Harlem to have every woman
try it on which leads to a hilarious montage of trying on the sneaker. One of the
stepsisters tries to use Vaseline to slide her foot in and the other rolls off the
chair trying to jam her foot into it. Outside their house the PI runs into
Michael who recognises the sneaker but is reluctant to give away Cindy’s
details. The PI says that Joe Price is a fine upstanding soldier that“The Japanese
think it is an honour to be killed by him,” but Michael feels he is equally
worthy for her despite being poorer and a draft dodger.
We then see the stepmother take a taxi to the Plaza Hotel
where she is shocked to find out that her husband has lied about his job. She
storms into the men’s room to give him what for and he responds by standing up
for himself in a jazzy song about he may only be a men’s room attendant, but he
is the best one out there. Then the jazz band saunters out of a bathroom stall
while white men pop up and sing over their cubicle doors.
They go home and find out that the rich Joe Prince
wants to marry Cindy and then sugar wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Cindy goes
out on the fire escape and finds out that Michael was fired for borrowing the
dress and he is now enlisting. Joe Prince joins them on the fire escape and
remarks “Why what a beautiful view. You can see all the way to the end of the
alley.” Then he says something so bizarre—“I don’t really have a way with words
as I am just a common leatherneck. But there is no one I would be prouder to
have as my widow than you.” She asks to think it over and he says that there is
no time for deliberation as he has a photographer waiting. He starts singing at
her about how she shouldn’t say no (with the jazz band shown on the fire escape
above), but she climbs down the fire escape and tracks down Michael who is at
the recruitment office.
She finds him there and professes her love saying, “I’d
rather starve with you than live in a palace with that captain.” The military
man turns on a portable fan so the flag will wave while the jazz band just
casually walks in on the swearing in ceremony and nobody seems to notice.
Michael is sworn into the military and they vow to write six letters a day and
they leave—him to go to basic training and her skipping away with him to see
him off at the train station and then presumably to go home and have to face
her family. I worried greatly at this point that her greedy, selfish family
(which includes her father) would be horrible to her for turning down a rich
offer for a true love match, but a Military Policeman comes out of the building
and assures me that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE he barks) lived happily ever after.
It ends with an epilogue where you see what happened to
everyone:
Cindy’s father finally gets promoted to doorman and
gets to wear a red coat with shiny gold trim.
The stepsisters became famous as tag-team women’s
wrestlers.
The detective ended up opening a shoe store and got to
put shoes on pretty women’s feet forever.
Joe Prince spent the years after the war posing for
recruiting statues.
The stepmother became a happy step-grandmother when
Michael and Cindy had a baby girl.
Michael was the happiest of all—he got the girl.
It ends with Cindy singing about how she got
everything she wanted—to be loved.
This film is well worth watching. You can watch it here:
Stay tuned for the last two weeks of Fairy Tale Friday
Cinderella as we look the Disney versions.
