symbolizes the end of the black musical tradition that flourished in the early part of this century. The play showed the height of white appropriation of what had previously been a black cultural form. All the creative talent backstage was white. This development had been occurring slowly, throughout the 1920's, but black artists had often worked in a variety of creative capacities. "Porgy and Bess" became a "black musical" in its most minimal sense, only as a definition of the color of the cast members. Neither the plot nor the music wa ....