Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in February 2022.
It is an episode of the long-running program American Masters.
In this film, we follow the life and career of the famous African American opera singer Marian Anderson (1897-1993).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Rita Coburn
** Writers: Rita Coburn and Philip Gittelman
** Editor: K. A. Mille
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 113 minutes
More than 20 persons are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
** Naomi André - author
** Martina Arroyo – Metropolitan Opera debut 1965
** Raymond Arsenault – author: The Sound of Freedom (2009)
** J’Nai Bridges – Metropolitan Opera debut 2019
** Christopher A. Brooks - author
** Angela Brown – Metropolitan Opera debut 2004
** Lonnie G. Bunch III – 14th secretary, the Smithsonian Institution
** Blanche Wiesen Cook - historian
** Ossie Davis – actor, director
** Ginette DePreist – widow of James DePreist (1936-2013) (conductor) (Marian Anderson’s nephew)
** Denyce Graves – Metropolitan Opera debut 1995
** Sandra Grymes – Marian Anderson’s niece
** Samuel Hyman – former president, NAACP Danbury chapter
** April James – author, librarian
** Alisha Lola Jones - author
** Jillian Patricia Pirtle – National Marian Anderson Museum
** Harlow Robinson - author
** George I. Shirley – Metropolitan Opera debut 1961
** Robert Sims - Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
** Damien Sneed – artist, composer
** Kira Thurman – author
** Jukka Valtasaari – Finnish ambassador in the US 1988-1996 and 2001-2005
[An on-screen message in the film identifies Jukka as a former US ambassador in Finland. This is obviously a mistake. Apparently, the editor was confused when he wrote the on-screen message.]
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements of the talking heads.
Archive footage includes many old clips which show Marian Anderson performing in different locations.
In this film, Marian Anderson talks about significant moments in her life. The voice of Marian Anderson comes from 34 cassette tapes of interviews which were recorded in the 1950s, when she was preparing her memoir (which was published in 1956).
This film covers the life and career of Marian Anderson in great detail from the beginning in 1897 until the end in 1993.
She began her career as a professional singer in the US in 1919. Between WW1 and WW2, she studied and performed in Europe for an extended period of time.
While she was in Europe, she faced no discrimination. She could stay in any hotel, if she could pay for her room. She could have her dinner in the hotel restaurant, if she wanted. She was allowed to enter the hotel through the front door. She did not have to enter the building through the back door or the kitchen entrance.
In Europe, she was a star, because she was a talented singer. While she was a foreigner, she was welcomed in many countries.
But when she returned to her own country (the US), she was still a second-class citizen who faced discrimination and prejudice because the was not white.
Racial segregation was a common policy all over the US, not only in the South but also in the North.
Even the capital Washington, DC, was a place where discrimination was a common policy.
Some locations were segregated, while other locations
(such as restaurants, hotels and concert halls) only allowed white people to
enter and perform.
This film mentions several episodes during which she faced discrimination and prejudice, just because she was not white.
Marian was a singer and a civil rights activist. Because she had talent, because she was famous and popular, she was able to break down several walls which had restricted African Americans. She inspired others. She was a trailblazer:
** In 1924, she was the first African American to sign a record deal with RCA Records
** In 1925, she was the first African American to sing solo with the New York Philharmonic
** In 1955, she was the first African American to perform on the main stage of the Metropolitan Opera
The participants who are interviewed in the film praise Marian for her talent as an artist and for her personality.
It is obvious that the film-makers agree with these positive statements. While the film-makers are impressed by her accomplishments, they do not go overboard.
They are honest. They do not try to hide the fact that there was a moment when Marian was criticized by her own people: the NAACP and the African American community, which had for many years regarded her as a hero.
When was this?
What was the reason?
This happened in the 1950s when the old generation of the civil rights movement was being replaced by a new generation.
Many members of the old generation had advocated patience. They had recommended a moderate policy, hoping that white people were going to end racial discrimination, if the African Americans were patient and if they acted in a polite way.
Many members of the new generation had no patience. They claimed patience and moderation had failed to achieve any significant results. The new generation advocated more militant methods and demanded immediate results.
What was the issue? The issue was segregation. When Marian gave a concert, the organisers often insisted on racial segregation of the audience. Marian often performed two concerts at the same venue: one for white people and a second one for colored people.
She did not like this arrangement, but on the other hand she did not oppose it. As a compromise, she suggested that the auditorium could be divided into two separate zones: one for white people and a second one for colored people. In this way, white people and colored people could attend and enjoy the same concert.
In the 1950s, NAACP decided that segregation had to go. They asked Marian and other artists to stop performing in front of a segregated audience.
At first, Marian refused to do this. She believed such a policy was too radical. When she refused to do this, the NAACP demonstrated against her outside the venue where she was going to perform.
After a while, she changed her mind and agreed to follow the new line. And it worked. Many organisers were prepared to accept an integrated audience when she insisted on this point. If the organisers were not prepared to comply, there would be no concert.
[In 1964, when the Beatles toured the US, they realized that a venue in Florida expected them to perform in front of a segregated audience.
The four members of the band had never experienced something like this in the UK or any other country in Europe. When they refused to do what was expected of them, the organisers backed down and accepted an integrated audience.]
As stated above, this film premiered on US television (PBS) in February 2022.
One year before, in February 2021, another film about Marian Anderson premiered on US television:
This film is an episode of the long-running program American Experience.
It is obvious to compare the two films, because they have the same topic. How is the new film from 2022 compared with the old film from 2021?
Obviously, many facts are identical, because both films want to cover the life and career of the famous opera singer. But the new film from 2022 cannot be described as a lame copy of the old film from 2021.
There are significant differences between the two films. The participants chosen is one example:
The new film has 23 participants. Only three of them appear in the old film from 2021. The other 20 do not appear in the old film.
The three persons who appear in both films are Alisha Lola Jones, Jillian Pirtle, and Kira Thurman.
The new film has many details which are not mentioned in the old film from 2021.
What about ratings?
What does IMDb say about them?
** The old film from 2021 = 79 percent
** The new film from 2022 = 80 percent
As you can see, both films have a good rating.
In my opinion, the good ratings are fully justified.
I cannot say that one film is better than the other.
My review of the old film from 2021 offers a rating of five stars (100 percent).
My review of the new film from 2022 offers the same rating: five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
Marian Anderson: A Portrait
By Kosti Vehanen
First published in 1941
Reprinted in 2017
Kosti Vehanen (1887-1957) was a Finnish musician who was Marian’s piano player for many years in Europe and in the US.
Marian Anderson: A Singer’s Journey
By Allan Keiler
Hardcover 2000
Paperback 2002
Allan Keiler is Professor Emeritus of Music, Brandeis University
The Voice of Freedom
By Raymond Arsenault
Hardcover 2009
Raymond Arsenault (born 1948) is an American historian who is the author of several books about the civil rights movement in the US. He appears in this film.
*****
My Lord! What a Morning
An Autobiography
by Marian Anderson
(First published 1956)
(Reprinted in 2002 and in 2015)
*****
The famous opera singer
Marian Anderson
(1897-1993)
This picture was taken in 1940
*****
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