""(Boggle, 4) .
Although having no positive effect on the status of Black people in America socially, the tom character opened the door for Black actors in cinema. Sam Lucas became the first black man to be cast in a leading role as a tom, and in 1927, Universal Pictures signed James B. Lowe, a handsome black actor, for the lead role in the Universal Pictures production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Lowe was chosen to play the part because film director Harry Pollard, a former blackface actor, believed he "fit in with the realistic demands of the times-(Bogle, 6) .
Tom was to be followed by the coon, although he remained the cinematic Negro character favorite. Where tom was an endearing character, the coon provided audiences an object of amusement. Two variants of the coon soon emerged: the pickaninny and the uncle ramus. (Bogle, 7) The Pickanny was the first coon type to appear in cinemas. .
"Generally, he was a harmless, little screwball creation whose eyes popped, whose hair stood on end with the least excitement, and whose antics were pleasant and diverting.""(Bogle, 7) .
The Pickaninny provided audiences with an amusing diversion, and soon found his way into the hearts of the mass audience. Next to debut was the pure coon, a no-account nigger', whose unreliable, crazy, lazy nature was good for nothing but eating and causing trouble. This character found its pinnacle of success in Rastus, a good-for-nothing Negro featured in a series of films released between 1910 and 1911. The final coon brother would emerge as the eager to please metaphoric cousin to the tom. Quaint, and nave, the Uncle Ramus character distinguished himself through his comic philosophizing. (Bogle" .
In general, the cinematic coon was used to indicate the Black man's contentment with his submissive position in society. Also emerging around this time period is the tragic mulatto: a negro light enough to pass for white, who must fight against the negro taint to either rise above his color, or fall victim to it.
