Sometimes, with the passing of the years, things you once believed change. Maturity and social mores influence us, or maybe we just get wiser. I recently watched Imitation of Life, both versions. The first, a 1934 release, starred Claudette Colbert, while the 1959 remake starred Lana Turner and was directed by Douglas Sirk (his last Hollywood film). Both are based on the Fannie Hurst novel.
When I was younger, I remember watching the 1959 version on TV (The Late Show or some such) and really enjoying it. This time around, I couldn’t help but notice some flaws. The typically lush Ross Hunter production has Turner as Lora Meredith, an aspiring albeit older actress trying to break through on Broadway. She’s also a widow with a young daughter named Susie. During a day with Susie at the beach, Lora meets two people who will change her life. One is Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a black woman with a young child of her own, Sarah Jane. The other is handsome would-be photographer Steve Archer (John Gavin). Seeing that Annie and her daughter have no place to live, Lora invites them to stay with her temporarily. Annie exudes goodness and is a hard worker, cooking and cleaning and watching Lora’s daughter while she pounds the pavement for modeling or acting work, and the arrangement becomes permanent.
Lora hoodwinks a receptionist (Sandra Gould) at agent Allen Loomis’ (Robert Alda) office and gets in to see him. He makes a pass at her, and she is outraged and storms out. Meanwhile, Steve stops by, and their romance is off and running. Annie, though, is having problems with young Sarah Jane. She doesn’t want the black doll Susie gives her, and when Annie goes to her school to bring her galoshes during a severe rainstorm, the teacher is surprised that Annie is her mother. Sarah Jane, being light skinned, has been passing for white. Even at her young age, she sees how the world treats black people and wants a better life with better choices. Annie tries to reason with her, to no avail.
When Loomis calls Lora with a chance to audition for a new play by hot playwright David Edwards (Dan O’Herlihy) she jumps at the chance. The audition does not go well at first, but Lora lands a part. She ditches Steve and his offer of marriage. The play and she are successful, and Lora is off and running. She becomes the playwright’s muse and paramour with more successful plays following.
Time goes by and Lora is now an established star of Broadway and living quite comfortably. The girls are older, with Susie are played by Sandra Dee (in full Kewpie doll mode) and Sara Jane by Susan Kohner (who is of Mexican and Austrian descent). Sarah Jane is still passing for white outside their house. She even has a white boyfriend (Troy Donahue). But when he learns the truth, he leaves her beaten and bloodied in an alley. Steve comes to see Lora in her latest play, and they tentatively rekindle their romance. It is disrupted once again when Lora gets an offer to make a movie in Italy.
Sarah Jane gets a job at a nightclub but tells her mother she works at a library. When Annie finds her there, Sarah Jane pleads with her to leave her alone. She wants to live as a white woman and when Annie shows up, her ruse is always revealed. She tells Annie she wants no contact with her. This devastates Annie. While Lora is off in Italy making a movie, Steve has been keeping Susie company and Susie is falling in love with him. Lora returns to find Annie rundown and learns from her that Susie has eyes for Steve. As a distraught Lora confronts her daughter and tells Susie she always loved her, Susie replies “Yes, by telephone, by postcard, by magazine interviews…you’ve given me everything but yourself!”
Meanwhile, Sarah Jane takes off again and Annie tracks her down in Las Vegas, where she’s a showgirl. “Please go,” Sarah Jane pleads. “And if by accident we should ever pass on the street, don’t recognize me.” Heartbroken, Annie tells her daughter she just wants one last hug from her, and she’ll never bother her again. Annie returns home and her health continues to deteriorate. This leads to Annie’s death and the extravagant funeral she wanted, with a white horse-drawn carriage, and people lining the streets. Even Mahalia Jackson appears to sing at her church service. A tearful Sarah Jane shows up and finally acknowledges her mother, though it is too late.
So, here’s what my older eyes see in the film now. Although Turner is very entertaining in the role (and dressed to the nines), Lora Meredith is not such a nice person. Whether it’s ignoring her daughter or continuously disappointing Steve, the self-involved Lora always chooses herself. Everyone is on stand-by in her world until needed. When she and Steve argue earlier in the film, she turns on him immediately. She belittles his achievement of getting a photo published, when minutes earlier she was praising him (and yes, I know the chauvinistic Steve should not have tried to forbid her to go to an audition). She treats her supposed best friend Annie as hired help and, upon learning that she has a circle of friends, exclaims “It never occurred to me that you had many friends.” Annie’s response is “You never asked.” And maybe never cared.
In the 1934 version, Claudette Colbert doesn’t come off as bad, but she has her moments. She’s a businesswoman named Bea Pullman. And when she tastes her friend/maid Delilah’s (Louise Beavers) delicious pancakes she gets an idea. Bea opens a pancake shop using Delilah’s family recipe–and her likeness to advertise it–and later expands into selling the pancake mix (any resemblance to a certain retired spokesperson is, I’m sure, purely coincidental). She “generously” offers Delilah 20 percent of the business. Some friend. In both these films the black “maids” or “friends” solely exist to serve and encourage the white leads.
1934’s Imitation was considered groundbreaking at the time for dealing with racism. Later the film was derided by some for its “Mammy” approach to the Delilah character. Fredi Washington as Peola, Delilah’s light-skinned daughter, gives a less histrionic portrayal than Kohner’s in the later version. She’s one of the best things in the film. And the dependably deadpan Ned Sparks, as Bea’s financial advisor, steals every scene he’s in.
Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscars but lost to Shelley Winters in The Diary of Anne Frank. That’s life…or, at least, an imitation of it.