The Quiet American - a profile of George Gillett at Liverpool [Archive]

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SweetOwnGoal

26 Dec 2007, 09:06 AM

Sorry if a DP, but I didn't see this elsewhere. A worthwhile read from Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe and Mail:

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071221.wspt-gilette-feature-21/GSStory/GlobeSportsSoccer/home

lfcfan858

26 Dec 2007, 09:45 AM

This is an interesting read. The article seemed to frame everything in uncertainty (e.g., references to our loss to United, the mixed reception of the owners at Anfield, and the specific criticism of fans), which perhaps isn't too far off the mark as our club settles into all the changes.

That said, did anybody else think this was incredibly tacky?

"Jamie," Gillett asks, "can you show them how you speak Scouse?"

I hope that's some inside joke the two have between each other.

Jimmyb79

26 Dec 2007, 07:36 PM

http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20071221/wspt-gilette-feature-21/gillett_inside188.jpg

Get me the laxitives QUICK!

liverbird

27 Dec 2007, 07:29 AM

This is an interesting read. The article seemed to frame everything in uncertainty (e.g., references to our loss to United, the mixed reception of the owners at Anfield, and the specific criticism of fans), which perhaps isn't too far off the mark as our club settles into all the changes.

That said, did anybody else think this was incredibly tacky?

I hope that's some inside joke the two have between each other.

Come over here boy and dance for the man.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/47/Stepin_fetchit.jpg

That really pissed me off. We can laugh at how Jamie's accent can be a bit inpenetrable, but damn that seems really condescending.

usscouse

27 Dec 2007, 12:37 PM

Come over here boy and dance for the man.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/47/Stepin_fetchit.jpg
That really pissed me off. We can laugh at how Jamie's accent can be a bit inpenetrable, but damn that seems really condescending.Nice photo of Jamie.
Still don't know why ya'll have trouble with Jamie's accent when the presidents wife sounds like Ma Clampett.
http://www.moviemarket.co.uk/thumbnails/150thumbs/221002.jpg

liverbird

27 Dec 2007, 12:48 PM

Nice photo of Jamie.
Still don't know why ya'll have trouble with Jamie's accent when the presidents wife sounds like Ma Clampett.
http://www.moviemarket.co.uk/thumbnails/150thumbs/221002.jpg

Even you didn't recognize a great American actor -- Step and Fechit.

usscouse

27 Dec 2007, 12:58 PM

Even you didn't recognize a great American actor -- Step and Fechit.I recognise the name from the line from a Gordon Lightfoot song though. "Minstrel of the Dawn" I think!
After all these years I now know what it means........Oh, what a relief it is.

liverbird

27 Dec 2007, 01:04 PM

I recognise the name from the line from a Gordon Lightfoot song though. "Minstrel of the Dawn" I think!
After all these years I now know what it means........Oh, what a relief it is.

Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902–November 19, 1985). His typical film persona and stage name have long been synonymous with the stereotype of the servile, shiftless, simple-minded black man in early 20th Century American film. There has been a more recent revisionist view that sees his film persona as ultimately subversive of the status quo. [1] Perry parlayed the Fetchit persona into a successful film career.

Born in Key West, Florida, to West Indian immigrants, Perry began entertaining in his teens as a comic character actor. His stage name was a contraction of "step and fetch it," suggesting a servile character. He played comic relief roles in a number of films, all based on his character known as "The Laziest Man in the World." Despite this, Perry was an actor in the truest sense of the word; "Stepin Fetchit," no matter what the names of the roles he played on screen, was himself a Perry character. In fact, Perry was highly literate and had a concurrent career writing for the Chicago Defender, one of the nation's best-respected black newspapers.

If the Fetchit persona derives, too, from a common manipulation technique used by blacks to mitigate their status by pretending to be unintelligent and fulfilling the low expectations of whites, Perry himself was not afraid to use it offscreen. Auditioning for a role in a remake of In Old Kentucky, Perry stayed in character before and after the audition, often feigning low intelligence or skipping or mumbling lines he did not like.

Perry starred in Hearts in Dixie (1929), one of the first all-talkie, big-studio production to boast a predominately African-American cast. For his role as Joe in the 1929 part-talkie film version of Show Boat, Perry's singing voice was supplied by Jules Bledsoe, who had originated the role in the stage musical. Curiously enough, however, Fetchit did not "sing" Ol' Man River, but instead a new song used in the film, The Lonesome Road. Bledsoe was actually seen singing Ol' Man River in the sound prologue shown preceding the film.

Perry did not invent the stereotype to which his stage name became synonymous, but Stepin Fetchit's image was used to popularize it. Many black characters in the movies were based on Stepin Fetchit, including Stymie in the classic Our Gang comedies, though like Perry (a fact often forgotten about him), Stymie had his ways of outwitting his assumed superiors. (As it happens, Perry repaid the reference: he guest-starred in an Our Gang short, A Tough Winter, intended as the pilot film for a Fetchit short subject series producer Hal Roach had planned but which never materialized.)

In due course, the Stepin Fetchit image came to be seen as degrading enough that Perry's films rarely get a screening now. Nor have they seen widespread video release. On the rare occasions the films are shown, most of his segments are deleted. But film historians across racial lines have come to see that Perry was in fact a gifted comic. He was also the first black actor to become a millionaire. Unfortunately, Perry was a far better actor than he was a manager of his own money, and he was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1947.

Perry converted to Islam in the 1960s and became a friend of heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, with both men claiming Perry taught Ali a particular punch. But Perry also found himself in conflict during his career with civil rights leaders who criticized him personally for the film roles he portrayed. However, Perry had something of the last laugh: in 1976, the Hollywood chapter of the NAACP awarded him a Special Image Award, acknowledging that, whatever the stereotype his famous alter ego had inspired, his had been a trailblazing career without which many black film careers might have been more difficult to make.

usscouse

27 Dec 2007, 01:16 PM

Interesting man. Funny how some of his peers call him "uncle Tom" yet he still gains recognition for 'working' his craft.
Could there be a Denzel Washington without a Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry?

liverbird

27 Dec 2007, 01:25 PM

Boundzy

27 Dec 2007, 02:52 PM

Thanks for the brief <Jack Perkins>Biography of Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry</Jack Perkins>.

Nice to get a little unexpected knowledge in the middle of the day!

CCSC_STRIKER20

27 Dec 2007, 05:11 PM

liverbird

27 Dec 2007, 05:44 PM

I thought it was kinda weird that Gillett would say that to Carra. If Gillett wasn't the boss-lord I am sure Carra would have had some "kind" banter/words for him. That's like when people try to make fun of accents around the USA (granted they aren't as heavy as the scouse accent).

Like when I went to college down at Creighton University in Omaha, some people actually thought I would talk with the accent of the actors of the movie "Fargo".

Just cause I am from Noooarth Dakooota doosn't men I taaalk like eeeveryone up in der cooooldest state of the fooourty ate.

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9702/11/oscar.nominations/frances.lg.jpg

"So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don't you know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it."

CCSC_STRIKER20

28 Dec 2007, 01:34 AM

liverbird

28 Dec 2007, 07:36 AM

The worst part is the movie is filmed almost entirely in Brainerd, yet it is called Fargo. FFS, if your gonna put a ND name to something (we don't get any publicity, good or bad) at least have the common decency to actually include us.

It is a great movie -- I was born in New Jersey and left 40 years ago but I can assure you all of New Jersey is not Clerks or the Sopranos. Good entertainment but exagerations of reality for entertainment effect.

Want to see a funny Upper MidWest movie? Rent Drop Dead Gorgeous.

LFCFan8585

06 Jan 2008, 01:58 AM

I HATE THIS NEW CHAIRMAN.

I REGRET BEING EXCITED.

Rafa hasnt been given the funds they promised.

And they are now actively searching a replacement for him.

We wont come close to winning the title for another dozen + years.

lfcfan858

06 Jan 2008, 02:45 AM

If this is some kind of joke, I just want clarify that this poster is not me. If this is legitimate, then welcome to the boards, LFCfan8585.

I HATE THIS NEW CHAIRMAN.

I REGRET BEING EXCITED.

Rafa hasnt been given the funds they promised.

And they are now actively searching a replacement for him.

We wont come close to winning the title for another dozen + years.

LFCFan8585

08 Jan 2008, 03:53 AM

If this is some kind of joke, I just want clarify that this poster is not me. If this is legitimate, then welcome to the boards, LFCfan8585.

lol,

we share the same id :p

i was born in 1985, so i wanted lfcfan85 but it was taken so i chose 8585... no intention to copy your id..

thanks mate, board looks good...

i have nothing to add except negative comments for now.

lfcfan858

08 Jan 2008, 09:36 AM

lol,

we share the same id :p

i was born in 1985, so i wanted lfcfan85 but it was taken so i chose 8585... no intention to copy your id..

thanks mate, board looks good...

i have nothing to add except negative comments for now. No problem. Hopefully the loads of different perspectives and comments on the boards will give you some food for thought and for more optimistic feelings. Happy posting.