Booker T & Them: A Blues

19. Of D. W. Griffith

( 170 ) Of D. W. Griffith 19 1915. 50th year after the War’s end. Floods, sad soil, & boll weevils further deplete the South of its crops & D. W. (David Llewelyn Wark) Griffith. (1875–1948.) Director. Producer. Screen writer. Actor. Son of heroic Confederate army Colonel. Master shot reveals the very model of the modern movie maker: wide-brimmed Stetson, shirt of gabardine, jodhpurs, boots, & for good measure the appropriate prop, a riding crop. Dolly in slowly to reveal close up: features obscured by darkness. Hooded gaze focused. Sharp. Hooked beak he hates but uses to underpin impression of Imperial demeanor. But until the deed is done his days will be a shadow. 01 Harris text.indd 170 12/13/11 11:26 AM ( 171 ) Light will be darkness, & darkness light. Flashback: is little David who in morning light sees the shimmering face of Jesus. & face to face says, “My name is David, and you know what that means & always has.” Is David Llewelyn who says in his heart & unto himself, Yes. & hides his face of fear & shyness. Hides his face of unease with women & with men. Hides his face of shame for not having. Hides the face of his salacious savors for hordes of “light women” & nervous little sister-like pet nymphets ripe as Eden’s forbidden fruit. & hides the face of the bitter testament of his humbled braggadocio daddy, Thunder Jake. Hides them behind the mask of Actor. Hides them behind the mask of Screen Writer. Hides them behind the masks of film Director & Producer & Son of Rebel Army Colonel who never escaped the war, who remains distant, who squanders what remains, before leaving wife & 7 beloved children behind. Yes. A shadow, wider & deeper-dark than that beneath the brim of that hat, is the thrall cast by the pall of his K.K.K.affiliated Daddy. Jake. Who bears proudly ’till death did them part, Kentucky Colonel-hood & the red badge won during his gallant defense of his by-God Given Right to own slaves. Dies, his big daddy does, in little David Llewelyn’s 10th year. The boy blames blacks, he does. Is niggers he figures. The Cause is ’cause of the cussed coloreds, & of course when Thunder Jake rides war-ward, Uncle Henry, his faithful black lackey, is in tow. Jake swears by Henry. Sets store by him. While the shy boy is left behind with Mother, dour, stern as stone, & a nest of doting, sprite-like sisters. Oh, the niggers, is the damnable niggers, their black fault, 01 Harris text.indd 171 12/13/11 11:26 AM ( 172 ) laments the bereaved Griffiths upon their scion’s demise. If the niggers, the damnable niggers only labored like they should, the family Griffith would not have been cast down into privation. Oh, the niggers, is the damnable niggers causes contempt to be rained down on Dixie’s noble offspring ; shame to be brought on the face of the South & all mighty men & angelic maidens who love her. & the Klan is the answer, the path back to dignity & resurrection of the Southern White men to their place of Natural Mastery. Is David Llewellyn who, in his heart, vows, someday he’ll tell the world of the true tale of the South’s reasons. & until that deed is devised & done his days will be a shadow, light would be darkness, & darkness light. Yes. 01 Harris text.indd 172 12/13/11 11:26 AM ( 173 ) Which Treats, circa 1911, of Trust & Fulfillment, & the First Sally That Booker T. Takes to View the Ingenious Work of D.W. 20 TRUST noun 1. Assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person; confidence; reliance. 2. Credit given; especially, delivery of property or merchandise in reliance upon future payment; exchange without immediate receipt of an equivalent; as, to sell or buy goods on trust. FULFILLED adj : completed to perfection. Early riser. BT with time on his hands before the appointment to sell his story, put on his show for the gentleman of affairs. 01 Harris text.indd 173 12/13/11 11:26 AM ( 174 ) Sunshine plastered on shiny windows, & weathered walls with shouts of billboards & loud-lettered handbills competing for notice amid auto horns, hooves’clacks , & trolley-clangs. His apologies as he zigzags, hat-doffed against the bustle: hard-eyed, cleanshaven , & mustached in derbies & boaters, & knickered delivery boys, & big-apple-capped shoeshiners, & newsies hawking the morning’s most...