ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

distinction as a mandate. That mandate holds that blackface minstrel grotesques must
only play the fool. Such a choice would support John Bell’s dismissive reading of their
purpose:
While perhaps not as blatant as nineteenth-century minstrel stereotypes, which
had become dated with the demise of actual minstrel shows, these three
marionettes indicate that issues of race and identity still could not be seriously
addressed in the realm of popular entertainment. That left the art-theaters, with
productions of such fare as O’Neill’s expressionistic Emperor Jones, to try to
focus on race in a meaningful and thought-provoking way. 234
Bell indicates the divided attitude toward the appropriate depiction of race in
professional/amateur circles. Yet, since he is motivated by conventional notions of
“blackface,” Bell’s reading of nightclub representations requires expansion here. It is
limited to only the most egregious racist stereotyping. While he may be correct in his
assessment of the Lauer Sisters, he neglects the efforts of Frank Paris and other “popular
entertainers” in driving the aggregate of African American puppet representations toward
more realistic representation.
The Lauer Sisters may well have used the categorical division to produce a more
immediate aesthetic shift. The change between masked/unmasked portrait puppets would
provide a semiotic announcement of changes between portions of the performance that
hinged on aesthetic innovation, such as dance and acrobatic displays, and portions that
hinged on buffoonery. If that was the case, the Lauer Sisters used the very categories
common in American puppetry to frame their production, by designing “mammy” masks
whose presence and/or concealment would alert the audience to shifts from lowbrow to
highbrow material.
234
John Bell, Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History (Detroit: The Detroit Institute
of the Arts, 2000), 86.
183