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ERASED

An Actor of Color's Journey Through the Heyday of Hollywood

ebook
98 of 98 copies available
98 of 98 copies available
Maximus Wyld had his heyday in 1940s-50s Hollywood. Of mixed race Black, Chinese and Native American descent, he was "the actor with a thousand faces", essentially interpreting ethnic roles: Indian chief, Mexican revolutionary, oriental dandy... A veritable reinterpretation of the myth of American cinema through the prism of minorities, Erased reveals the political and social dimension of Hollywood productions. Maximus Ohanzee Wildhorse, renamed "Maximus Wyld" by Hollywood, was a talented, prized, admired comedian. His filmography is an anthology of cinema: Vertigo, the Maltese Falcon, Sunset Boulevard, the Prisoner of the Desert, Rebecca... Copper faced and with unprecedented beauty and animal presence, he paved the way for colored stars in a segregationist climate. After him, Sydney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Yul Brynner, were able to reach the rank of stars. His charisma ignited white cinema and shamelessly swayed its racial hegemony. Maximus Wyld was a pioneer. However, no credits mention his name. On celluloid there is no imprint of his face. Maximus the precursor rests in the graveyard of Hollywood amnesia. What event pushed him into limbo? What occult and superior force has stored his career in a cinematic Bermuda Triangle?
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 15, 2024
      Phang (The Smell of Starving Boys) and artist Micol spin a glittering tale of Old Hollywood centered on fictional “phantom actor” Maximus Wyld. Born in 1921, the handsome and outspoken Wyld finds that his “chaotic genealogy” (Indigenous, Black, and Chinese) enables him to play all the “exotic stereotypes” of American movies, including a Tibetan monk in Lost Horizon, an enslaved man in Gone with the Wind, and Native Americans in a panoply of westerns. Among other exploits, Wyld discusses civil rights with Hattie McDaniel and Paul Robeson, beds Ava Garner and Rita Hayworth, and hangs out at the pool with Cary Grant. But despite his personal magnetism, his roles wind up uncredited or on the cutting-room floor. Micol’s loose-lined, graceful art evokes both the glamor and bigotry of the film industry, and impressionistic sequences of Wyld’s inner conflicts dazzle. The creators take pains to document the historical background and political context of Wyld’s adventures, and though some readers may question the focus on a Zelig-like composite character rather than a real figure, it serves as a metatextual commentary on erasure. Readers interested in entertainment history and the long arc of social justice will be drawn to this glimpse of Hollywood as it almost was.

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