Until my present study, African American entertainer Lorenzo Tucker ha

Until my present study, African American
entertainer Lorenzo Tucker had not been extensively
discussed in histories of United States theater and film.
Yet during a span of 60 years, from 1926 to 1986,
(5) he acted in 20 films and performed hundreds of times
on stage as a dancer, vaudeville straight man, singer,
actor, and master of ceremonies. Behind the scenes he
worked as a producer, company manager, publicity
person, lighting designer, photographer, and actors’
(10) union administrator. In addition, Tucker was a
firsthand witness to the history of African American
theater and film from the late 1920s until his death in
1986. During his later years, he amassed a large
collection of African American theater and film
(15) memorabilia,and these artifacts, along with his
personal memories, help shed new light on a part
of U.S. entertainment history about which, so far,
there has been insufficient scholarship.

I gathered much of the background material
(20) for my study of Tucker’s life through research in
special collections of the New York and Los Angeles
public libraries, including microfilmed correspondence,
photographs, programs, and newspapers. Also
examined—as primary source material for an analysis
(25) of Tucker’s acting technique—were the ten still
available films in which Tucker appeared. Additional
information was acquired through interviews with
some of Tucker’s contemporaries and fellow
performers. The primary source of information for
(30) this study, however, was a group of personal, in-depth
interviews I conducted with Tucker himself in 1985
and 1986.

There are both advantages and disadvantages in
undertaking a biographical study of a living person.
(35) The greatest advantage is that the contemporary
biographer has access to that person’s oral testimony.
Yet this testimony must be approached with caution,
since each person recounting his or her version of
events for the historical record has a vested interest in
(40) the project, and no matter how fair-minded and
objective one intends to be, the fact is that people
often remember the events they want to remember in
the version they prefer. It is the duty of the
biographer, therefore, to verify as much of the oral
(45) narrative as possible.

Information from Tucker has undergone careful
scrutiny and has been placed up against the known
facts for verification, and for the most part, information
that could not be verified was not included in this
(50) study. But Tucker’s recollections of his personal life
could not always be independently verified, of course,
since most of the daily events in the life of any
individual go unrecorded. So only those elements of
Tucker’s personal life that had a bearing on his career
(55) have been recorded here. At the same time, however,
it is important to note that the majority of these
recollections tend to corroborate, while illuminating
and providing a valuable perspective on, other relevant
historical evidence that is available. This study,
(60) therefore, will weave together oral and other evidence
to create the career biography of Lorenzo Tucker.

1. Which one of the following most accurately summarizes the passage?

(A) The career biography of Tucker constitutes an important addition to the history of U.S. theater and film mainly because of the innovative methods used in researching this subject, which correct previous misinterpretations of an aspect of U.S. film and theater history.
(B) Evidence from a variety of sources, including information from Tucker’s own oral accounts, has been scrutinized and combined to create a career biography of Tucker that fills certain gaps in the historical record of U.S. theater and film.
(C) Tucker’s interest in preserving a record of the development of African American film and theater and his initiative in making that record public have led to the filling of a gap in the published histories of performing arts.
(D) The research methods used in creating the biography of Tucker exemplify some of the problems inherent in the quest for objectivity in recording the history of recent or contemporary events and persons.
(E) Previous theater and film historians have been mistaken in paying too little attention to the extensive nonperforming contributions that Tucker made to the development of African American film and theater.


2. The author’s main purpose in mentioning Tucker’s collection of memorabilia (lines 13—14) is to

(A) indicate a source from which the author drew information about Tucker’s life and times
(B) provide a counterexample to a general claim about typical scholarly approaches to gathering historical data
(C) justify reliance on Tucker’s personal memories
(D) give evidence of the range and diversity of Tucker’s nonprofessional interests and accomplishments
(E) indicate the nature of the data that are typically available to scholars who chronicle the lives of entertainers


3. Suppose that a well-known nuclear physicist has written and published a book consisting of that physicist’s own recollections of the events surrounding some important scientific discoveries. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to view the physicist’s book as

(A) being at considerable risk of misrepresenting some historical facts
(B) a source of information that merely duplicates what is available in the public record
(C) a type of source that is rarely used for scholarly history writing
(D) a type of source that is appropriate for biographies of entertainers but generally not for histories of scientific discovery
(E) an authoritative account that does not require objective verification


4. The passage most strongly supports the inference that the author would agree with which one of the following statements about the text that this passage introduces?

(A) Its subject matter and methodology make it appropriate for publication by a publisher of popular books but not for publication by an academic press.
(B) It should be valuable to scholars not only because of the research-based information it contains, but also because of the innovative research methods developed and implemented by the author.
(C) It should be interesting not only because of its account of Tucker’s career, but also because of the significant information it provides regarding U.S. entertainment history.
(D) It should not be taken mainly as an attempt to report an objectively accurate historical record of events in Tucker’s career.
(E) It should be accepted as a useful and reliable methodological guide for use in verifying the authenticity of U.S. entertainment memorabilia.


5. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) criticizing and correcting certain political and intellectual traditions with regard to history
(B) proposing an alternative method of historical investigation
(C) summarizing the main points, and assessing the value, of the historical study that will follow this introduction to a text
(D) reexamining a previously held historical point of view, identifying its weaknesses, and outlining the correction that will follow this introduction to a text
(E) explaining the author’s choice of subject matter and methods used in researching a particular subject


6. Which one of the following does the author mention as a source that was used in gathering information for the text that this passage introduces?

(A) critics’ reviews of productions in which Tucker performed
(B) memorabilia concerning Tucker collected by some of his fellow performers
(C) scripts of some of the plays and films that Tucker produced
(D) interviews with people who performed with Tucker
(E) union records of Tucker’s activities as a performers’ advocate


7. Information in the passage most strongly supports which one of the following inferences regarding the text that this passage introduces?

(A) It assesses well-known African American films in ways that have little in common with the assessments of previous critics and historians.
(B) It was written by a person who participated with Tucker in at least some of the theatrical ventures that Tucker undertook.
(C) It was written by a person who does not expect to be recognized as a mainstream participant in scholarship concerning U.S. film and theater history.
(D) Its analysis of Tucker’s acting technique is not based on a close examination of a preponderance of the films in which Tucker performed.
(E) Its rhetorical structure is not closely analogous to the structures of a majority of previous scholarly biographies of African American performers.