Scene 1: A Southern plantation in the 1840s. A group of black slaves (then known as darkies) sits around a ramshackle log cabin. One strums a banjoa cigar box and a stick strung with horsehairas they sing:
Git out the way, ole Dan Tucker,
Too late to get your supper . . .
Combed his haid with a wagonwheel,
Died with a toothache in his heel.
Scene 2: Hollywood, 1935. A sleek phaeton town car whooshes onto the 20th Century-Fox lot. Emblazoned in neon lights along each side is the name "Stepin Fetchit." Under the klieg lights, Fetchit is anything but a phaeton owner....