Atlas of Hispanic-American History

WORLD WAR I

AND ITS AFTERMATH

While the Mexican Revolution helped

“push” Mexicans to the United States,

World War I helped “pull” them.

Beginning with U.S. entry into the war in

1917, the great conflagration put 4.7 mil-

lion Americans in uniform, leaving jobs

empty on the home front just as the econ-

omy pumped up for war production.

Mexican immigrants, still fleeing the

upheaval of the Revolution, were eager to

take those jobs. The period saw not only

immigration from Mexico but internal

migration within the United States, as

Mexican Americans moved from the

Southwest to the industrial Midwest and

elsewhere. Many Mexican Americans

served in the armed forces as well, defy-

ing negative stereotypes to distinguish

themselves in combat.

After the war’s end, as the U.S. econ-

omy continued to thrive, Mexicans kept

immigrating to the United States. They

took advantage of the relative lack of

restrictions on immigration from Mexico

compared with new restrictions placed on

immigration from Europe and Asia in

the 1920s. Yet some limits on Mexican

immigration existed. Beginning in 1924,

they were enforced by the U.S. Border

Patrol, beginning a long-standing

140 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY

The history of Hispanic actors in early American film is rife with

stereotypes, locked into place by racism and the economic pres-

sures to produce a steady stream of films quickly and cheaply.

Prior to 1903, when Edwin S. Porter’s 12-minute The Great Train

Robberywas released, films had virtually no plots whatsoever.

Rather, the main draw for the public was the novelty of the mov-

ing picture itself — a horse galloping full speed toward the cam-

era, for example. Filmmakers quickly realized that the emotional

audience response generated through special effects could be

harnessed to the development of more complex plots. In 1915,

D.W. Griffith released his three-hour epic The Birth of A Nation,

the profoundly racist tale of the Ku Klux Klan rising up against

venal northern whites and animalistic southern blacks to restore

the glory of the humiliated South.

While Griffith held racist personal views, he was not alone in

using racial minorities as the film’s antagonists. Even prior to The

Birth of A Nation,filmmakers appealed to the middle class

majority with “moral lessons” in which the good triumphed over

evil. Westerns were especially popular for these messages, and

perfectly in keeping with belief in white America’s manifest des-

tiny to conquer the West. Invariably, when mixed-blooded Indian

and Mexican outsiders threatened the safety of the pure, inno-

cent heroine, the Anglo male hero would save the day, embody-

ing just enough superior moral and physical strength and bravery

to beat back the more primitive enemies.

Economics played a role in enforcing these stereotypes. By the

1920s and 1930s, Hollywood’s studio system demanded a steady

stream of product in the marketplace. Quantity took prece-

dence over quality, and a set formula of plot and character con-

ventions came to the fore. With these constraints in place,

Hispanic actors faced a choice. They could maintain their Hispanic

identity and accept stereotyped roles, or they could mask their

heritage. For example, after appearing in such fare as The Three

Mesquiteers,the part-Spanish American actress Rita Cansino

adopted the stage name Rita Hayworth in 1937, and went on to

become the redheaded pin-up girl of Hollywood legend.

For many Hispanic actors, the choice was even more limited —

accept stereotyped roles or do not work at all. These stereotyped

roles included the bandito, the buffoon, the dark lady, and in time

the caballero. Born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Lupe Velez starred

in a series of films as the “Mexican Spitfire”— a hot-blooded, hot-

tempered, and passionate woman with a thick Spanish accent,

who always lost out in love to her Anglo competition. The bandi-

to appeared at the height of the Mexican Revolution. While

Pancho Villa evaded real life capture by the U.S. Army, silent cow-

boy movie star Tom Mix never failed to best the Mexican bandit.

Whether the character was a dark lady, bandito or buffoon, he or

she could expect to be killed, mocked, punished, or occasional-

ly reformed by the Anglos.

One exception to this trend was the “gay caballero.” This

character was most famously personified by the swash-buckling

Zorro and the Cisco Kid. A charming lothario, the caballero was

an outsider who rode into town, saved the day, and broke a few

women’s hearts before leaving town again.

That Zorro and Cisco ultimately always left town and never did

more than flirt with his female admirers is important. If they were

allowed to settle down and marry the Anglo heroine, this might

have offended the sensibilities of white audiences. (Of course, if

these figures ever did settle down and marry, the movie franchis-

es would end.)

The gay caballero, like other Hispanic film stereotypes, would last

for decades. As late as 1952, in the film California Conquest,the

noble Don Arturo Bodega (played by a Hungarian-borne actor

Cornel Wilde rather than a Latino), helps the forces of John C.

Frémont take California from its Mexican settlers. After doing so, he

proposes to his Anglo co-star, who says, “You would give up a lot to

be an American, wouldn’t you?” Even at that late date, the Latino

lead was expected to deny his identity in order to be accepted.

HISPANICS IN HOLLYWOOD:

DARK LADIES, BANDITOS, AND BUFFOONS

“As soon as I saw it, I knew

it would arouse the country

more than any other event.”

—Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge
(R-Mass.) on the Zimmermann
Note