A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along ... Read allA struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
- Baby Jessie Pullman
- (as Baby Jane)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- French Maid
- (uncredited)
- Englishman at Party
- (uncredited)
- Peola at 10
- (uncredited)
- Black Secretary
- (uncredited)
- Tipsy Man at Party
- (uncredited)
- Black Waitress
- (uncredited)
- Black Chauffeur
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFredi Washington (Peola at 19) was a light-skinned African-American. After playing this role, she was criticized by some in the Black community who labored under the misconception that the actress herself practiced self-hatred and would rather 'pass' herself off as white. In fact, Ms. Washington was an avid civil-rights activist.
- GoofsWhen baby Jessie falls into the bathtub going after her rubber ducky, there is an obvious edit between her falling in and the splash of water coming out of the tub as evidenced by the shifting of the towel and the shadows from the light coming in through the window on the tile wall behind the tub.
- Quotes
Delilah Johnson: What's my baby want?
Peola Johnson, Age 19: I want to be white, like I look.
Delilah Johnson: Peola!
Peola Johnson, Age 19: [gesturing to mirror] Look at me. Am I not white? Isn't that a white girl?
- Crazy creditsEnd credits titled at the top "A great cast is worth repeating".
- Alternate versionsThe original theatrical release print of Imitation of Life featured different title cards, including a title card containing a brief prologue, which read: "Atlantic City, in 1919, was not just a boardwalk, rolling-chairs and expensive hotels where bridal couples spent their honeymoons. A few blocks from the gaiety of the famous boardwalk, permanent citizens of the town lived and worked and reared families just like people in less glamorous cities." When the film was reissued by Universal in 1938, the title cards were changed, and the prologue card was removed. All current prints of the film, including those used for the VHS and DVD releases, are struck from the 1938 re-release version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Universal Story (1996)
- SoundtracksNobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen
(uncredited)
Traditional Negro Spiritual
Lyrics by Henry Thacker Burleigh
Played and sung by an offscreen chorus during the opening credits
Played as background music often
One day before World War I, Louise Beavers comes looking for domestic work and gets the wrong address and comes knocking on Claudette Colbert's door. Colbert is a recent widow with a child and Louise has a child the same age. Colbert can't afford any salary, but Louise is willing to work cheap, just for room and board for herself and her child.
This starts an unusual partnership both personal and business because Claudette's late husband was a seller of a cooking syrup and Louise makes a melt in your mouth type of pancake. When passing stranger Ned Sparks tells her one day to package the flour, this makes both Colbert and Beavers millionaires overnight. Beavers can't see it however and passes up her own household to stay with Claudette.
A lot of people today look at Beavers's character and say this is a racial stereotype that Hurst was perpetrating. Taking the racial component out of it, I've seen several people who are just like Beavers in their own way. Clark Gable had a father who could have lived quite well off his son, but couldn't deal with the Hollywood lifestyle and actually told his son they ought to resume their previous occupations as oil roughnecks. Stan Musial when he was making big money as a baseball star had a mother who took in washing back in the little steel mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania where he came from and not because he wasn't willing to provide.
And I had an uncle who worked hard at Kodak and also built up a milk delivery business of his own and at an age where he could have just relaxed and taken it easy, he was out working at close to 80 at a tool and die plant. There are folks out there who shy away from the outward trappings of success like Beavers. And there are those stubbornly over-committed to a work ethic when they don't have to be.
Both Colbert and Beavers are just moms with problem daughters on their hands. Daughter Rochelle Hudson is crushing out on Warren William who has his eyes on Colbert. But Beavers has bigger problems.
Remember these girls were literally raised together with their mothers in business. Fredi Washington sees the white world, she's light skinned enough to pass, she wants what's over in that world. But her denial of heritage hurts Beavers more than my words can describe. But Hurst's words in the novel and the screenplay betray a rare understanding of racism during her time.
Imitation of Life got three Oscar nominations including Best Picture. It's a dated film, but that fact alone makes it worth watching as a glimpse of the racial picture in America in the Thirties.
- bkoganbing
- Nov 2, 2008
- How long is Imitation of Life?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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