Last year I reviewed the 2009 documentary, THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA, which focused on Jesco White and the out of control White family from Boone County, West Virginia. Today, I’m going back to the original 1991 documentary, DANCING OUTLAW that first introduced us to Jesco and his family. Directed by Jacob Young and premiering as part of the PBS “Different Drummer” documentary series, this program would go on to win a 1992 Emmy Award, as well as a 1993 American Film Institute Award for “Best Documentary.” It would also turn Jesco into a celebrity and pop culture figure in West Virginia. This amazing documentary is currently available on YOUTUBE, and I highly recommend it to any person who’s interested in seeing what poverty and unchecked drug and alcohol abuse will do to the human brain.
DANCING OUTLAW is where we first meet Jesco White, an amazingly talented mountain tap dancer, who has multiple personalities and a never ending love and respect for his dad, who gave him his talent and his dancing shoes, if not necessarily an outspoken love. The documentary is smart enough to show us Jesco performing on multiple occasions, thus establishing that Jesco is a truly talented and unique dancer. The multiple personalities seem to come from years of huffing gasoline and lighter fluid that has destroyed his brain. Despite his talent, we are able to observe that Jesco is completely lost as a human being, based on his own words that he willingly shares with us, as well as what we learn from others.
We meet Jesco’s mom Bertie Mae White, the miracle woman, for the first time in DANCING OUTLAW. One of the more emotional parts of THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA was the fact that Bertie Mae passed away during the year the film was made. Here, however, we meet Bertie Mae almost 20 years earlier and get a better feel for what she was like as a younger, healthier woman. We find out how proud she is of her husband Donald “D.” Ray White. We also see that she’s fiercely protective of her kids, and that they love her, even if she can’t control them. I’ve said before that I can see some of my own Grandma Crain in Bertie Mae.
We also meet Jesco’s wife, Norma Jean White. This is not a match made in heaven, as they fight non-stop, with Jesco usually threatening to kill her at some point. Bertie Mae makes it clear that nobody in their family wanted them to get married, yet here they are anyway… married, divorced, married again. Norma Jean tells us some interesting stuff about Jesco, mainly filling us in on his three distinct personalities:
- Jessie – She says Jessie is the most beautiful, perfect man you could ever ask for.
- Jesco – She says Jesco is the devil himself.
- Elvis – She says she has to be silent and just enjoy Elvis. Jesco comments that the Elvis side of his personality is what calms him down and keeps him from wanting to kill everyone else in the world.
I think there’s something to West Virginians and multiple personalities. My wife is from West Virginia, has the last name of White, and often references her different personalities. Luckily, the ones I’ve met so far are pretty nice! On a side note, I’m not sure what became of Norma Jean because she’s never referenced in THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA. Based on all of their arguing, I’m hoping they just got divorced, and I pray that she’s not buried somewhere out there in a holler! (Author update – Jesco was married to Norma Jean up until her death in 2009).
One of the more interesting parts of the documentary is when Jesco, Norma Jean, and Jesco’s brother Dorsey tell us about the night their dad, D. Ray White, was killed. Prior to telling us the events that led to his death, we’re treated to some video footage of D. Ray singing and performing his 52 mountain tap dancing steps. He was a truly amazing performer, and you can’t help but think that Jesco will never be quite as good as his dad. However, the events that led to his death can easily be summed up as follows: all kinds of people were partying together, which means abusing alcohol and drugs, when a fight started, and a person out of their right mind blew him away. It’s a sad waste, but it’s also a natural result of a family and community that’s deep into poverty, drugs and alcohol. Not only do we see how profoundly this affects Bertie Mae, Jesco and the rest of the family in this documentary, but we can also see the aftermath of his death, and the unbroken circles of drug use and violence again in THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA. It’s ultimately both sad and pathetic.
In DANCING OUTLAW, we first meet Jesco’s sister Mamie, as well as his brothers Poney and Dorsey. The only thing I want to say about these three is that we’re updated on each of them in THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA. The passage of time hasn’t been real kind to Mamie, as she’s gone from a pretty, wild, fun-loving woman to a scary, unstable woman who will do anything, including illegal things, to make money. Dorsey is dead from an accidental shooting, and Poney has proven to be the smartest of the bunch by taking his kids and moving to Minnesota for a fresh start. At least there’s one success story since he was able to get away.
At the end of the day, the documentary just kind of ends where it began, with Jesco and Norma Jean sitting at their trailer and arguing. There really is no “happy” way to end a movie about people like Jesco White and his family. I follow a lot of Jesco’s family members on social media, and I think the notoriety they have received from these documentaries has done nothing but make things worse for them. They are almost all struggling with the effects of poverty and drug abuse to this day. In some ways, these people don’t seem real, but the truth is that they are real, and that we know people like them in our own lives. Heck, we may be people like them. Our issues may not be the same, but our lives often contain unbroken cycles of making the same mistakes over and over again and then wondering why we can’t be happy. If nothing else, watching the slow-motion train wreck of another person’s life can hopefully inspire us to get our own shit together!
I’ve included the YouTube link to the DANCING OUTLAW below if you want to see for yourself!
Through the Shattered Lens 