Talk:Lena Horne

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Contents 1 Gay Icon Project 2 Ebony Magazine Lena on Cover 3 Major roles 4 biracial? 5 biracial 6 Chart Success?

[edit] Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:52, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ebony Magazine Lena on Cover

Hi, Im looking for a 1946/47 copy of Ebony magazine that features Lena on the cover. If you have a copy to sell or know where I can find one, please contact me at tlb@tmail.com thanks!

[edit] Major roles

-She appeared in a number of MGM musicals, most notably Cabin in the Sky (also 1943), but was never featured in a leading role due to her race and the fact that films featuring her had to be reedited for showing in southern states where theatres could not show films with African American performers. As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were standalone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline; a notable exception was the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky, though even then one of her numbers had to be cut because it was considered too suggestive by the censors -

.....I would debate the preceeding exerpt on account of the fact that Stormy Weather (1943) is also an all-black musical in which Horne clearly has the lead female role.

Stormy Weather wasn't an MGM musical. Nor was The Duke is Tops in which she was also in a major role. I was just referring to MGM films. And the source for the information is Horne herself in That's Entertainment III but I believe that's cited elsewhere. 23skidoo 17:47, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] biracial?

she really does not look as if she could have all black. does anyone know anything about her ancestry?

Horne's parents were both black. - LBM 22:32, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Many African Americans look as if they could be part white. The reason for this is that many slave owners had sexual relations with their slaves. I have read things saying that for the most part, the majority of African Americans who are descended from slaves are at least 25% white.

Wait-there is a problem here...On the multiracial people list, she is cited as being African American, and Native American. I can't find anything on this...Someone else might want to try to look into it.

I suppose this was the result of supposition...

You are INCORRECT in your reference that most or "many" Americans of African ancestry are "fair" because of your implied rape scenario. Yes it did happen. However, contrary to what many American Whites would like to believe, there are millions of biracial Americans because of simply mixed couples. And If you consider yourself to be "White" and your history goes back more than 3 generations...you might be surprised at what your DNA holds. ==Too bad, even after 300 years Americans are STILL obsessed with color!

[edit] biracial

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Both sides of her family claimed a mixture of African-Amerian and cherokee ancestry.

Lena is a decendant of John C. Calhoun. He was a very staunch slavery supporter before the American Civil War in South Carolina. She still has relatives in south carolina,with the last name of calhoun who live in the areas around which john c. calhoun lived.

[edit] Chart Success?

Did Lena Horne ever have chart success as a singer during the 1940s and 50s? I made the assumption that her song "Stormy Weather" was a hit, so I said so in her biography. Will someone with information about this please reply back to me at my talk page or this discussion page. LovePatsyCline 16:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

While SW was certainly her "breakthrough" song, perhaps even her "signature" song, before videotape in the 1970s the odds of seeing Stormy Weather were very slim. Instead, as Youtube will now show, Lena Horne was a great television presence for four decades. Youtube makes those great television performances available for the first time. Ms. Horne will have a new career there, and it becomes possible to teach her work to a class. Certainly one of the most beautiful women of the 20th century -- and neither Garbo nor Bergman could sing!-- Horne's beauty lasted far into her seventies. And she was famous for it. Why are people bashful to mention that in this article? It isn't sexist. It's historical. Failing to mention Ms. Horne's beauty is a bit like celebrating Garbo's acting without mentioning her most famous attribute. I'll wait to hear objections, but I think the article should recognize that. Profhum 02:02, 19 August 2007 (UTC)profhum