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Born in Chester Pennsylvania in 1896, the child of a 13 year old rape victim, Ethel Waters rose to stardom on her own talent,intelligence and effort. She left her job as a aid in Philadelphia to work in vaudeville, at the Lincoln Theater in Baltimore at the age of 17 after being heard singing at a Halloween party. After Baltimore Waters sang in honkey tonks, traveled with a carnival to Chicago, and worked in a club, opening for Bessie Smith. By 1919 Waters was living in New York where she was part of the Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of music, art and literature among the African American population of New York - really all over the country - which lasted through the 1930s. Waters sang and recorded with band leader Fletcher Henderson in the 1920s.

Waters appeared n Broadway and in films during the 1930s in addition to nightclub appearances. “Stormy Weather” was one of her signature songs, although she was passed over for the film role in favor of the younger Lena Horne when the song was used as the basis of a film in 1943.

This is a clip from a 1934 short film “Bubbling Over” in which Ethel Waters starred. The song expresses a fatalistic, yet hopeful attitude toward life as an early twentieth century African American. Faith in a better life to come (in heaven) is the focus of the song, which descries the hard and thankless never ending toil that is her fate. The song also uses the Stephen Foster-esque term “darkies,” so be prepared. This song presents, with a smile and a sigh, the meaning behind the, rather more forceful, remarks of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which are causing such a stir this week.

Bubbling over is a comedy, set in a Harlem apartment, using every stereotype available to a 1930s filmmaker. In order to watch one has to remember that this was a far distant time. I was able to find a digitization of the entire film at Veoh.com. You are cautioned that you may find it offensive.

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