BAD BLACK MEN AND COMICAL CHINESE


production is considered, the picture is different. A simple list of the output
is impressive: before 1959 Cubans produced at least three full length novels,
two magazines, dozens of short stories, one silent feature film, a silent film
series, one short and two feature length 'talkies', and a popular radio detective
series featuring one of the most celebrated radio detective heroes in the
history of Latin American broadcasting. Rather than being a 'sporadic' output
it is possible to perceive a varied yet continuous flow of narratives. Also, in
terms of their 'national' characteristics, although the characters were by no
means all Cuban or the narratives always set in Cuba, nonetheless far more
could be described as Cuban than Simpson, Nogueras, Alvarez and Crist6bal
Perez suggest. Even where foreign influences were most dominant, readings
of the genre can still inform an understanding of Cuban society as it developed
through the first part of the twentieth century especially since the issue of
race is a central concern.
 As far I have been able to ascertain the first detective narrative created in
Cuba was the film La hija del policia o en poder de los iidiigos. Produced in
1917, it dealt explicitly with the issue of race and, more particularly, the
activities of the secret Afro-Cuban cult of AbakuA. This silent epic, some 72
minutes in length, was the work of Enrique Diaz Quesada who is credited
with having written, directed and edited it with the financial help of the Cuban
circus entrepreneurs Santos y Artigas whose circus was featured in the final
scenes.2 The Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) Cinemateca Archive in Havana,
sadly does not have a copy of the film since it is believed to have been
destroyed in a fire along with Diaz Quesada's ten episode detective serial El
genio del mal, first shown in 1920, reportedly the first film serial made in
Cuba. No records survive about the serial but a synopsis of La hija delpolicia
o en poder de los nfifigos in the journal Cuba Cinematogrdfica reveals that
the main concern of the film-makers was to deliver a parable attacking the
'plaga social' of the Abakua cult (1917:18).
 The plot involves a detective, Pepe Ramirez, who succeeds in penetrating
a group of the cult and arrests most of it members. Those who escape vow
to avenge themselves and hatch a plot to kidnap his daughter. The ensuing
adventure follows the detective's investigation and ultimate rescue of his
child. Towards the end of the film, Ramirez is helped by two journalists, one
of whom, Federico Gibert, according to the synopsis 'posee la sagacidad de
Scherlock [sic] Holmes' (1917:18), a reference which indicates the extent to
which Anglo-American detective heroes had penetrated the Cuban market
by this time. However, the most salient aspect is the film's fascination with
and condemnation of the Abakua cult.
 The film includes scenes of an Abakua ceremony which, according to the
synopsis:

2 This is evident from a reading of the plot summary in Cuba Cinematogrdfica 1917.
Photocopy of article in author's possession.