Trivia / Imitation of Life (1934)

• Dawson Casting: Fredi Washington was thirty playing Peola at nineteen. Rochelle Hudson meanwhile was the same age as Jessie.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The script faced constant meddling from the Hays Office because it dealt with miscegenation. It wasn't actually approved until the film was two weeks into principal photography.
  • The censors also objected to a scene where a black boy is nearly lynched for flirting with a white woman.
• I Am Not Spock: Fredi Washington was frequently typecast as "tragic mulattos" and got annoyed with people assuming that she was trying to pass for white like her character.
  "I have never tried to pass for white and never had any desire, I am proud of my race. In 'Imitation of Life', I was showing how a girl might feel under the circumstances but I am not showing how I felt."
• Irony as She Is Cast: Peola is a biracial girl who tries to pass for white. Fredi Washington was an avid civil rights activist.
• Playing with Character Type: Louise Beavers played many Mammy roles based around helping a white character mature. Here although she does help Beatrice, she's shown to have her own struggles and is a co-lead in the story.
• Those Two Actors: Claudette Colbert and Warren William starred in Cleopatra (no not that one ) the same year.
• Uncredited Role: Preston Sturges did uncredited work on the script.
• What Could Have Been: Paul Lukas was the first choice to play Steve, who was eventually played by Warren William.
• Word of Saint Paul: Fredi Washington said that in her view, Peola didn't want to be white just for the sake of it, but only because she felt it would get her equal opportunities in life.