black man shining shoes

It didn't bother me at all. Many other movies from 1960 feature much more appalling instances of black people performing menial tasks and often behaving in cartoonish or stereotypical fashions. The scene lasted about 10 seconds and the man was shown doing his job and nothing more. When watching older movies it's a sad fact that you'll often see minorities being treated in ways that we find offensive today; this was fairly mild in that regard, I think.

Billy Wilder said that this was the most difficult scene in the film to shoot.

Not because of a black man shining boots.

Because Fred MacMurray was required to toss him a coin. Very tongue-in-cheek Wilder said that notorious tightwad MacMurray just couldn't bring himself to do it.



"Mice work in mysterious ways."
"No, dear. That's God."

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Proud the boy had gone out to earn his watermelon money instead of just expecting massa to hand it to him. Go negro!

This the kind of answer the OP was looking for?



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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I feel like that is how it was. Would you like a scene in Gone With The Wind where the field workers are given paychecks

Today you can go to many cities and see the same thing. What is wrong with it? It is a job and with tips and all, probably not a bad paying job for menial labor.

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett

You are twelve, aren't you?