[FreeManWhoCan]

..please go ahead and commnet. I will be in the bathroom ralfing my breakfast.

[Dog Gone]

I'm a white guy who wants to play Malcolm X in a play. Would anyone in America have a problem with that?

[Azzurri]

Frisby's father, Washington attorney Russell Frisby, said he was appalled by the decision.

"The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

What a moron. I suspect we will see a lawsuit from this clown shortly.

[Dog Gone]

Heck, I want to play Rosa Parks. Who could possibly object to that?

[freebilly]

"The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

Idiot. Yeah, we are past the days of 'whites only' but Huck Finn is not set in 21st century America....

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I guess they want to do away with copyrights and they are so better at writing then MARK TWAIN.

[Congressman Billybob]

Yeah, and I want to play Jennifer Lopez. The mere fact that I am an elderly, white male who's carrying too many pounds should not present any problems, now should it? (Actually, the very idea of me dancing in a skin-tight outfit in front of thousands of people who paid cash money to see that, frightens even me.)

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Las Vegas: The All-American City"

[Psycho_Bunny]

Posted with a different title.

[Young Werther]

So in Charlie's Angels Bosley is Black. In the new TV series Kojac the title character, A "polack" if you will, is black.

In today's Parade magazine a new Sinatra book is being published. Denzel Washington would be the perfect title role character with his sidekick Dean Martin played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

Fair is fair. So why wasn't Tom Cruise tapped for the title role in Ray?

[DuncanWaring]

How the heck long does it take for a copyright to expire?

[AgThorn]

Fascinating ... this is taking 'race' too far, when we must be able to substitute in all roles. Soon, we will have General Lee as a Black man. Wonder if I cast 'whitey' as Martin Luther King, what kind of reaction that would bring?

Sheesh ... another good example of political correctness going too far. Is there a museum somewhere for this sort of thing? there should be.

You can be assured that this 'role reversal' might play at some PC high school or for just it's novelty appeal, but would never play to the masses or to anyone literate about Mark Twain, his writings or any history of the south at all.

[orionblamblam]

Twain has been dead nearly a century. Shouldn't all his work be in the public domain? How can there be copyright?

[L.N. Smithee]

Frisby's father, Washington attorney Russell Frisby, said he was appalled by the decision.

"The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

Someone's been flinging Frisby's brains around on the beach for too long.

[GOP_Proud]

< "The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said. >

Well, yes, and it is just as easily said that a white guy can't play Jim either. (Well...there is blackface, but...ummm ask Ted Danson.

[P-Marlowe]

Actually it would be interesting if Huck Finn were a free black and Jim was a white slave. I trust that there probably were some white children born to slaves in the south. I also suspect that despite their pale skin color they were still registered as slaves.

I think it would make for a very interesting premise.

[Conservatrix]

You cannot change the characters in a play based on skin color and ethnicity and expect it to make any sense. Twain's story is extremely specific to black slave and white boy who befriends black slave (or other way around). I agree that it is absurd to portray it oppositely.

An aside: this is a much smaller issue, but PC was even alive 35+ years ago when I was a kid in the last 60's. We had a production of Cinderella and straws were drawn for parts. A huge ugly girl got the part of Cinderella and I, very petite and pretty, got the role of the prince. I think even my mother complained about it. The girl was about a foot taller than I was and I had long hair and she had short hair. It would have been logical to simply switch roles, but NO! So I had to show up with my hair in a bun and pretend to be this prince to his gargantuan of an ugly ducking girl....
ABSURDITY!

[kennedy]

I have no problem with a white actor playing Jim and a black actor playing Huck.

Of course, since the character Jim is black and the character Huck is white, the white actor would need to wear black face makeup and the black actor would need to wear white face makeup. That would cause the heads of many of the PC crowd to literally explode, which I also have no problem with.

[solitas]

Frisby's father, Washington attorney Russell Frisby, said he was appalled by the decision. … "The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

Tough [stuff] there, Fris… While R&H maintains the copyright they may do as they please - white, black, yellow, brown, red, green, whatever. Put your traumatized kid in counseling and: Just. Go. Away.

[thompsonsjkc]

"The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

So we can cast a white guy to play Malcolm X? Rosa Parks can be played by Teresa "Ketchup" Kerry?

You can't change the characters and remain true to the novel.