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Watermelon Man (film)
Encyclopedia
Watermelon Man is a 1970 American comedy-drama
film
directed by Melvin Van Peebles
and based on the book The Night the Sun Came Out on Happy Hollow Lane by Herman Raucher
. Written by Herman Raucher and distributed by Columbia Pictures
, it tells the story of an extremely bigoted (his bigotry stems from ignorance and goofiness) 1960's white insurance salesman named Jeff Gerber who wakes up one morning to find that he has become black.
Jeff Gerber (Godfrey Cambridge
) lives in an average suburban neighborhood with his seemingly liberal housewife Althea (Estelle Parsons
), who tolerates her husband's character flaws out of love, and two children, Burton (Scott Garrett) and Janice (Erin Moran
). Every morning when Jeff wakes up, he spends some time under a tanning machine, bats around a boxing ball, drinks a health drink, and races the bus to work on foot.
Jeff presents himself as happy-go-lucky and quite a joker, but others tend to see him as obnoxious and boorish. Althea, who watches the race riots every night on TV with great interest, chastises Jeff for not having sympathy for the problems of black Americans.
One morning, Jeff wakes up to find that his pigment has changed. He tries to fall back asleep, thinking that it is a dream, but to no avail. He tries taking a shower to wash the "black" off him, but finds it doesn't work, when Althea walks into the bathroom, and screams. He explains to her that the "Negro in the bathroom" is him.
At first, Jeff believes this to be the result of spending too much time under the tanning machine. He spends almost the entire day at home, afraid to go out of the house, only going out once to venture into the "colored part of town" in order to find a pharmacy to buy "the stuff they use in order to make themselves look white." His attempts to change his skin color fail.
The next day, he is persuaded to get up and go to work. Things start out well at first, until Jeff is accused of "stealing something" while trying to eat at a restaurant for whites only. The policeman assumes that, since he is a black man, he must have stolen something. During his lunch break, he makes an appointment with his doctor who cannot explain Jeff's "condition" either. After several calls, the doctor suggests that Jeff might be more comfortable with a black doctor.
Returning home, he finds Althea afraid to answer the phone. He doesn't understand why until he receives a call from a man telling him to "move out, nigger." At work the next day, a secretary (who had previously ignored him) makes several advances toward him, finding him more attractive as a black man. Jeff's boss suggests that they could drum up extra business with a "Negro" salesman.
At home one evening, he finds the people who had made the threatening phone calls, who offer him $50,000 for his home. Jeff manages to raise the price to $100,000. Althea sends the children to a relative and later leaves her husband. Finally accepting the fact that he is black, Jeff quits his regular job, buys an apartment building, and starts his own insurance company.
Godfrey Cambridge
plays the role of Jeff Gerber in whiteface
(white makeup, cf. blackface
) for the first few minutes of the film, and then goes without the makeup when his character changes into a black man. Before director Melvin Van Peebles had come into the project, the studio had told him that they were planning to cast a white actor like Alan Arkin
or Jack Lemmon
to play the part, but that it didn't seem to work quite right. When Van Peebles read the screenplay, he had thought that the studio had sent him the wrong script. When he was told that they had planned to cast a white actor and have him play the part in black makeup
for part of the film, Van Peebles suggested that they cast a black actor instead.
A popular rumor suggests that Van Peebles was contractually obliged to deliver an alternative ending to the film, but that Van Peebles incurred the studio's wrath by agreeing to film the original ending, and then not delivering the ending as he had promised. On the film's DVD
release, Van Peebles explains that he had hated the ending, and convinced studio executives that it had to be changed, but they said he had to film both versions of the ending - he says he only filmed the one, "by accident". The alternative ending was to be that Gerber wakes up as a white man and learns his time as a black man was only a nightmare, but that he realizes he ought to be more sensitive towards others.
Columbia was happy with the finished product, and the film was a financial success, leading the studio to offer Van Peebles a three-picture contract. Instead of taking their offer, Van Peebles made the independent film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
, which later turned out to not only be the highest grossing independent film of 1971, but also the highest grossing independent film up to that point. Following that film's success, Columbia tore up Van Peebles' contract.
. The title itself is a reference to the song "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock
.
Track listing
SIDE ONE:
SIDE TWO:
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
and based on the book The Night the Sun Came Out on Happy Hollow Lane by Herman Raucher
Herman Raucher
Herman Raucher is an American author who has written several screenplays, among them the popular Summer of '42 and The Great Santini and several novels and plays...
. Written by Herman Raucher and distributed by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, it tells the story of an extremely bigoted (his bigotry stems from ignorance and goofiness) 1960's white insurance salesman named Jeff Gerber who wakes up one morning to find that he has become black.
Plot
Godfrey Cambridge
-External links:*...
) lives in an average suburban neighborhood with his seemingly liberal housewife Althea (Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...
), who tolerates her husband's character flaws out of love, and two children, Burton (Scott Garrett) and Janice (Erin Moran
Erin Moran
Erin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...
). Every morning when Jeff wakes up, he spends some time under a tanning machine, bats around a boxing ball, drinks a health drink, and races the bus to work on foot.
Jeff presents himself as happy-go-lucky and quite a joker, but others tend to see him as obnoxious and boorish. Althea, who watches the race riots every night on TV with great interest, chastises Jeff for not having sympathy for the problems of black Americans.
One morning, Jeff wakes up to find that his pigment has changed. He tries to fall back asleep, thinking that it is a dream, but to no avail. He tries taking a shower to wash the "black" off him, but finds it doesn't work, when Althea walks into the bathroom, and screams. He explains to her that the "Negro in the bathroom" is him.
At first, Jeff believes this to be the result of spending too much time under the tanning machine. He spends almost the entire day at home, afraid to go out of the house, only going out once to venture into the "colored part of town" in order to find a pharmacy to buy "the stuff they use in order to make themselves look white." His attempts to change his skin color fail.
The next day, he is persuaded to get up and go to work. Things start out well at first, until Jeff is accused of "stealing something" while trying to eat at a restaurant for whites only. The policeman assumes that, since he is a black man, he must have stolen something. During his lunch break, he makes an appointment with his doctor who cannot explain Jeff's "condition" either. After several calls, the doctor suggests that Jeff might be more comfortable with a black doctor.
Returning home, he finds Althea afraid to answer the phone. He doesn't understand why until he receives a call from a man telling him to "move out, nigger." At work the next day, a secretary (who had previously ignored him) makes several advances toward him, finding him more attractive as a black man. Jeff's boss suggests that they could drum up extra business with a "Negro" salesman.
At home one evening, he finds the people who had made the threatening phone calls, who offer him $50,000 for his home. Jeff manages to raise the price to $100,000. Althea sends the children to a relative and later leaves her husband. Finally accepting the fact that he is black, Jeff quits his regular job, buys an apartment building, and starts his own insurance company.
Production
Godfrey Cambridge
-External links:*...
plays the role of Jeff Gerber in whiteface
Whiteface (performance)
Whiteface is a form of performance in which a non-white person wears makeup in order to make themselves look like a white person, usually for comic purposes. The term is a reversal of the more common form of performance known as blackface, in which performers use makeup to mimic or parody black...
(white makeup, cf. blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
) for the first few minutes of the film, and then goes without the makeup when his character changes into a black man. Before director Melvin Van Peebles had come into the project, the studio had told him that they were planning to cast a white actor like Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
or Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
to play the part, but that it didn't seem to work quite right. When Van Peebles read the screenplay, he had thought that the studio had sent him the wrong script. When he was told that they had planned to cast a white actor and have him play the part in black makeup
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
for part of the film, Van Peebles suggested that they cast a black actor instead.
A popular rumor suggests that Van Peebles was contractually obliged to deliver an alternative ending to the film, but that Van Peebles incurred the studio's wrath by agreeing to film the original ending, and then not delivering the ending as he had promised. On the film's DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release, Van Peebles explains that he had hated the ending, and convinced studio executives that it had to be changed, but they said he had to film both versions of the ending - he says he only filmed the one, "by accident". The alternative ending was to be that Gerber wakes up as a white man and learns his time as a black man was only a nightmare, but that he realizes he ought to be more sensitive towards others.
Columbia was happy with the finished product, and the film was a financial success, leading the studio to offer Van Peebles a three-picture contract. Instead of taking their offer, Van Peebles made the independent film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent drama film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, father of actor Mario Van Peebles . It tells the picaresque story of a poor African American man on his flight from the white authority...
, which later turned out to not only be the highest grossing independent film of 1971, but also the highest grossing independent film up to that point. Following that film's success, Columbia tore up Van Peebles' contract.
Music
As with much of Melvin Van Peebles' filmography, the film's score was composed by the director himself. A soundtrack album was released in 1970. It has yet to appear on compact discCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
. The title itself is a reference to the song "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
.
Track listing
SIDE ONE:
- Love, that's AmericaLove, that's AmericaLove, That's America is a song written by Melvin Van Peebles in 1970 for his film Watermelon Man. He rerecorded it for his 1971 album As Serious as a Heart-Attack...
- Great Guy
- Eviction Scene
- Soul'd on You
SIDE TWO:
- Where are the Children
- Erica's Theme
- Fugue 1
- Fugue 2
- Fugue 3