Re: RARA-AVIS: The Op and San Francisco

From: BaxDeal@aol.com
Date: 29 Oct 2001


In a message dated 10/28/01 11:35:26 PM, srcrout@ntlworld.com writes:

<< >I know "shine" is an old disparaging
>term for blacks, but I just can't figure out what it means here.

I believe light-skinned African Americans were sometimes used by Hollywood to make up the numbers in Westerns when they couldn't find enough Navajo. That could be what he's talking about. >>

I'll take a stab at this. Could be that the term refers to the practice of vaudeville performers using shoe shine as Blackface make up. Just idle speculation...

John Lau

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