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=== Race === Part of the reason why ''South Pacific'' is considered a classic is its confrontation of racism. According to professor [[Philip Beidler]], "Rodgers and Hammerstein's attempt to use the Broadway theater to make a courageous statement against racial bigotry in general and [[institutional racism]] in the postwar United States in particular" forms part of ''South Pacific''<nowiki/>'s legend.<ref>Beidler, p. 213</ref> Although ''Tales of the South Pacific'' treats the question of racism, it does not give it the central place that it takes in the musical. Andrea Most, writing on the "politics of race" in ''South Pacific'', suggests that in the late 1940s, American liberals, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, turned to the fight for racial equality as a practical means of advancing their progressive views without risking being deemed communists.<ref>Most, pp. 308β309</ref> [[Trevor Nunn]], director of the 2001 West End production, notes the importance of the fact that Nellie, a southerner, ends the play about to be the mother in an interracial family: "It's being performed in America in 1949. That's the resonance."<ref name = "b8" /> From the early drafts, Hammerstein and Logan made the issue of racial prejudice central to the story. Hammerstein repeatedly rewrote the Act II backstage scene where Emile, Nellie and Cable confront the question of the Americans' racism.<ref name = "racial" /> As critic Robert Butler pointed out in his educational companion to the 2001 London production, "if one young person has a prejudice, it might be a character flaw; if two young people share a prejudice, it tells us something about the society in which they grew up".<ref name = "b3" /> In one draft, Emile advises that the Americans are no better than the Axis Powers, in their prejudice, and suggests they go home to sing songs about how all are created free and equal. Lovensheimer states that a postwar American audience would have found such onstage sentiments to be offensive. In the staged version, Emile's expressions are limited to two lines arguing that prejudice is not inborn.<ref name = "racial">Lovensheimer, pp. 97β98</ref> [[File:Happy Talk.jpg|thumb|alt=A crouching man in military uniform watches a young woman and a middle-aged one make hand gestures to him|right|"[[Happy Talk (song)|Happy Talk]]": Cable ([[William Tabbert]]) watches Liat ([[Betta St. John]]) and Bloody Mary ([[Juanita Hall|Hall]]).]] At the heart of this scene is Cable's song "[[You've Got to Be Carefully Taught]]", in which Cable realizes the sources of his own racism. Its frank lyrics made it perhaps the most controversial element of the show.<ref>Most, p. 307</ref> Michener recalled in his memoirs that a delegation of New Englanders had approached him after a New Haven tryout and urged him to recommend the song's removal to Rodgers and Hammerstein. When Michener told Hammerstein, he laughed and replied, "That's what the show is about!"<ref>Michener 1992, pp. 294β295</ref> Boston drama critic Elliot Norton, after seeing the show in tryouts, strongly recommended its removal, or at least that Cable sing it less "briskly", as there was much bigotry in Boston; Logan replied that this was all the more reason for leaving it unaltered.<ref name="M162">Maslon, p. 162</ref> Several New York reviewers expressed discomfort with the song; [[Wolcott Gibbs]] wrote of "something called 'You've Got to Be Taught', a poem in praise of tolerance that somehow I found a little embarrassing" while [[John Mason Brown]] opined that he was "somewhat distressed by the dragged-in didacticism of such a plea for tolerance as 'You've Got to Be Taught'".<ref>Lovensheimer, pp. 85β86</ref> After the Broadway opening, Hammerstein received a large number of letters concerning "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught". Judging by the letters that remain among his papers in the [[Library of Congress]], the reaction was mixed. One correspondent wrote "What can I say to a man who writes, 'You've got to be taught to hate and fear?' ... Now that I know you, I feel that my informants didn't praise you enough."<ref name="L104">Lovensheimer, p. 104</ref> Nevertheless, another wrote, "I feel the inclusion of the song particularly in the album and to some extent in the show itself is not helpful to the cause of brotherhood, your intent to the contrary notwithstanding".<ref name = "L104" /> When the tour of the show reached a racially segregated theatre in [[Wilmington, Delaware]], Rodgers and Hammerstein threatened to cancel the performances there unless seating was integrated, which it was.<ref name = "M163" /> In 1953, with the tour in Atlanta, there was controversy over "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught". Two Georgia state legislators, Senator John D. Shepard and Representative David C. Jones, objected to the song, stating that though ''South Pacific'' was a fine piece of entertainment, that song "contained an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow", and explained, "Intermarriage produces half-breeds. And half-breeds are not conducive to the higher type of society. ... In the South, we have pure blood lines and we intend to keep it that way." They stated that they planned to introduce legislation to outlaw such communist-inspired works. The Northern press had a field day; Hammerstein, when asked for comment, responded that he did not think the legislators were representing their constituents very well, and that he was surprised at the suggestion that anything kind and decent must necessarily originate in Moscow.<ref name ="M163">Maslon, p. 163</ref><ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/03/01/93397165.pdf Georgia legislators score ''South Pacific''; see Red philosophy in song against bias]", ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 1, 1953, accessed March 12, 2013 (subscription required)</ref> In part because of the song, touring companies of ''South Pacific'' had difficulty getting bookings in the [[Deep South]].<ref>Hischak, p. 324</ref> [[File:Pinza with kids.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Pinza, in a white suit, walks along holding a mixed-race boy, about 7 or 8 years old, while listening to a slightly older girl who walks next to him.|upright|Emile (Pinza) with his children.]] In the final scene of Act I, Nellie rejects Emile because of his part-Polynesian children. In so doing, Nellie fails to live up to the American ideal that "all men are created equal", which Emile had earlier affirmed.<ref name = "b8">Butler, p. 8</ref> This scene was also toned down by Hammerstein; in early drafts, Nellie, initially unable to force out a word to describe Emile's first wife, after he supplies the word "Polynesian", responds with "colored". This pronouncement, which makes Nellie less sympathetic as a character, was restored for the 2008 Lincoln Center production. As [[Frank Rich]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' commented, "it's upsetting because Nellie isn't some cracker stereotype β she's lovable ... But how can we love a racist?"<ref>Rich, Frank. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/opinion/25rich.html "Memorial Day at ''South Pacific''"], ''The New York Times'', May 25, 2008, accessed August 23, 2020</ref><ref name = "love">Lovensheimer, pp. 90β92</ref> Most argues that even Emile is tainted by racism, as his lifestyle is dependent on the maintenance of a system whereby he benefits from underpaid native labor β Bloody Mary is able to attract workers to make grass skirts for sale to GIs because, as she puts it, "French planters stingy bastards!"<ref>Most, pp. 330β331</ref>
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