Hattie McDaniel, Denver 1910, age 15.
What is the thing that Hollywood demands most? Sincerity. No place in the world will pay such a high price for this admirable trait. We all respect sincerity in our friends and acquaintances, but Hollywood is willing to pay for it.
I was little more than a kid but I was old in show business. I won a medal in dramatic art when I was 15. One year later my oldest brother, Otis, wrote his own show and songs and persuaded my mother to let me go on the road with his company. I loved every minute of it, the tent shows, the kerosene lights, the contagious enthusiasm of the small-town crowds.
I had headlined in the Pantages and Orpheum circuits but Vaudeville was as dead as last month’s hit song. Milwaukee was really my springboard to Hollywood. I landed there broke. Somebody told me of a place as a maid in the ladies’ room at Sam Pick’s Suburban Inn. I rushed out there and took the job. One night after midnight, when all the entertainers had left, the manager called for volunteer talent from among the help. I asked the boys in the orchestra to strike up “St Louis Blues.” I started to sing, “I hate to see the sun go down…” I never had to go back to the maid’s job.
Hattie McDaniel with Fay Bainter who, as recipient of Best Supporting Actress in 1938, presented the award in 1939.
