I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) (TV)
Paul Benjamin
Diahann Carroll
Ruby Dee
Roger E. Mosley
Esther Rolle
Madge Sinclair
Constance Good
John Driver
Sonny Jim Gaines
Art Evans
Freeman
Vivian
Grandmother Baxter
Bailey Sr.
Momma
Miss Flowers
Maya
Bailey Jr.
Uncle Willie
Principal
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079321/
Critical Response to the TV-Movie
Angelou has said that she wanted to film I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings in order to "get some things on
television that reflect more of the marrow of the black
American life than the shallow fingernail clippings we
now have." The two-hour television version, filmed in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, stars Esther Rolle as Momma
Henderson, Diahann Carroll and Roger Mosley as
Vivian and Bailey Johnson, Ruby Dee as Grandmother
Baxter, Sonny Gaines as Uncle Willie, Paul Benjamin
as Mr. Freeman, John M. Driver II as Bailey junior,
and Constance Good as Maya. The production, touted
in the national press as a major effort, appeared on
CBS-TV as a Saturday Night Movie on April 28, 1979. According to a sprinkling of critics, the
screen version, co-authored by Maya Angelou and Leonora Thuna and directed by Fielder Cook,
lacked the intense yearning and lyrical introspection of the book. Stultified by television's alltoo-predictable rhythms, the movie lacked the fire and spirit, warmth and sensibility that
permeated her memoir and suffered from a trite ending.
The majority of critical voices, however, used words like seamless, stirring, humane,
unflinchingly truthful, and intimate. In one notable review, New Yorker reviewer Michael J.
Arlen lauded the production for its honesty, which details "the pain of the character and the
pathos of the situation." Dick Sheppard, writing for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, summed
up the overall effect of seeing young Maya challenge overwhelming odds as a "crescendo of
power," moving viewers to a tearful consideration of the plight of a young, innocent black girl
coping nobly with fearful, chaotic events.
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-24,pageNum-8.html
Chapter Summaries—I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
1-5
Marguerite and Bailey are shipped by train from California to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their
grandmother (Momma) and Uncle Willie because their parents are divorcing. She is four and he
is five. The children grow up working with Momma and Uncle Willie in Momma’s general store.
Willie must be hidden from white men who are out looking to lynch a black man. Momma is
mocked by some white girls from the neighborhood and Marguerite is upset that she allows them
to treat her badly.
6-10
Marguerite’s attitudes toward religion and church are shown. Momma’s background is described.
Because they are black, Momma’s family is considered lower class in Stamps than the white
families who are poorer. Marguerite and Bailey receive Christmas gifts from their parents but
wonder why they should care. Their father, Bailey Sr., arrives and takes them to St. Louis to live
with their mother, Vivian. They discover that Vivian’s mother, Grandmother Baxter, is a very
powerful woman in the city.
11-15 Vivian’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, starts to make advances toward Marguerite although she is too
young to understand what he is doing. Later he rapes her and threatens to kill Bailey if she tells
on him. Bailey convinces her to tell what happened and Freeman is arrested. After the trial, he is
found kicked to death. Marguerite refuses to speak, and because no one understands what she is
going through, she and Bailey are sent back to Stamps. Marguerite meets Mrs. Flowers, who
inspires her to read.
16-20 Marguerite is sent to a white woman’s house to learn manners, but she ends up being more or less
a servant. Bailey is late coming home from the movies, scaring the family. A religious revival
comes to town and energizes the farmers. The black people of Stamps listen as Joe Louis wins
the world championship belt. Marguerite makes friends with a girl at school, and a boy sends her
a valentine.
21-25 Bailey has a relationship with an older girl that gets physical, which upsets Marguerite after her
experience in St. Louis. Marguerite graduates from the eighth grade and is the commencement
speaker. Marguerite gets a toothache and Momma takes her to a white dentist who owes her
money. The dentist gives her the money back because he refuses to work on a black person’s
teeth, so Marguerite has to be taken to a black dentist 25 miles away. Bailey sees a dead man
who has been pulled from a pond. He was lynched. Plans are made to send Marguerite and
Bailey to California to live with their mother in San Francisco.
26-30 Vivian throws a party in the middle of the night for Marguerite and Bailey. She marries Daddy
Clidell, a successful man. During WWII, Marguerite sees racism toward another group, the
Japanese Americans. She is sent to a fine arts school. Marguerite meets Daddy Clidell’s friends,
many of whom are hustlers and con men. She goes to Southern California to visit her dad and
meets his new girlfriend, Delores. Marguerite and her father take a memorable drive to Mexico.
31-36 The Mexican trip does not sit well with Delores, who attacks Marguerite. Marguerite runs away
and lives in a junkyard with other runaways for a month. Finally she contacts her mother, who
sends her money to return home. Bailey and Vivian’s conflicts grow more and more intense, and
he moves out. Marguerite decides that she wants to become a streetcar conductor. During this
time, she has an identity crisis and wonders if she is a lesbian. As an experiment, she sleeps with
a boy and soon discovers that she is pregnant.