Bessie Smith was known as The Empress of Blues. Without a doubt she was one of the most popular singers of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1923 she was the highest pad Black entertainer in The United States. In 2015 HBO released a film simply titled Bessie. The marketing called this a film "22 years in the making," but it was the truth. Hortone Foote, of To Kill a Mockingbird fame, actually wrote this story and original screenplay in the early 90s, but died in 2009 before the film could be made. This left his daughter to sell the film to HBO, leading to a revisions by Dee Rees before finally making it to all of us.
We open up with a look at young Bessy in Tennessee, already a talented and charismatic singer. Bessie and her siblings are being raised by their violent and abusive older sister Viola after the death of her parents. Bessy and her brother Clarence earn money working on the production of vaudeville shows. Bessie often dreams of being a star herself, but she can't pass a paper bag test meaning she's too dark to perform on the shows she's working for. Bessie sneaks into the train car of legendary blues singer Ma Rainey and convinces her to take Bessie and Clarence on tour with her. Things are going well until Bessie begins to outshine Ma Rainey and is kicked of the traveling group; leaving Clarence and Bessie to run their own shows.
Bessie takes a few different lovers, most notably the shifty security guard Jack Gee and the lovely Lucille who don't care for each other. Eventually, Bessie marries Jack, and he secures her a record deal at Columbia records. Bessie fends off a stabbing, the KKK, racist assaults and doesn't falter. Instead, she makes amends with her sister Viola and brings her entire family to live with her. This causes Jack to take up a mistress and Lucille is no longer comfortable being Bessie's secret lover. Meanwhile Bessie has adopted a young boy and named him Jack Jr and takes up a new lover, a bootlegger named Richard Morgan. Bessie and Jack fight when their affairs come to light and Jack kidnaps their son before running off. The great Depression begins to eat away at Bessie's wealth as she spirals into depression and alcoholism.
As far as biopics go, Bessie is probably one of the better films. It doesn't shy away from the harsh truths of what Bessie Smith and other Black entertainers went through at the time period. Bessie was one of the highest paid Black entertainers and she was still repeatedly treated with racial violence. It helps that the film is shot beautify and the cast is amazing. Queen Latifah portrays Bessie, Monique as Ma Rainey, Michael K. Williams as Jack, Mike Epps as Richard, and the list goes on. It's a film full of Black star power.
The film doesn't shy away from Bessie Smith being bisexual. In real life Bessie Smith was known to have all women sex parties. A lot is done to make sure we understand that Bessie is bisexual not just fooling around. Bisexuality is often seen as a phase or just something to do for attention by not just straight but people within the LGBTQ+ as well. There's a reason phrases like "two beer queer," exists. In 2015 Penn State conducted a survey concluding that 70% of gay men and 69% of lesbian women had come out. Compared to only 40% of bisexuals. In that same survey 39% of gay men and 31% of lesbian women felt accepted and felt progress was being made by the LGBTQ+ community, again Bisexuals ranked just 20%.
The fact is the "B," in LGBT gets left out, a lot. There's thing called bi-errasure. For example if a bisexual man is in a relationship with a woman, he's a straight man. If he's dating a man, he's a gay man. Suddenly, there's no space for him to be bisexual, he has to pick a box to fit into. Bisexuals get a health dose of hate from both homophobic people, and the LGBTQ community because for some reason, it makes people on both sides uncomfortable because they can't be put in a box. There are LGBT folks who are distrusting because bisexuals can blend into straight community, and straight people who believe bisexuals are deceptive. Bessie is one of the few films, especially at the time, that didn't picture being bisexual as some passing moment.
Perhaps that's why Bessie is such an enthralling film. Nothing is fleeting about the events in this film. Traumas inflicted during childhood, carry over. Events don't stop having consequences just because we've change scenes. It mimics real life in the sense that nothing is really over. Even when the film ends, there's still more of Bessie Smith's story to be told.
You can check out some of my short stories at 12 AM Fiction or if you like vampires follow my web serial Exsanguinate and of course hear me on the Powerbomb Jutsu podcast if you enjoy pro wrestling.
Follow @OriginalKingD
