Another thing about THE HELP, just so you know,

[raccoon]

Not many white Southerners of the time lived in humongous mortuaries, I mean mansions,
had full-time black housekeepers/maids, and belonged to the Junior League and the local
country club.

IME, white Southerners hiring black women/men to help with housecleaning/yard work was an occasional thing. Though I'm sure there were some full-time maids, yard workers, farm hands.

Some of you may be thinking, this poster is stating the obvious. Well, I am, but I think movies/TV influence us more than we realize.

[RebelOne]

1. Yes, I lived in Miami during the early '50s.

We lived in a fairly upper-class neighborhood in the suburbs of Miami, and my mother would hire the occasional black maid to clean the house. But she told me that when she lived in Pennsylvania as a child, her mother had two full-time black maids.

[MorningGlow]

2. I don't think the movie (and the book) implied

that all Southern white families were rich and had maids. When I read the book (haven't seen the movie yet), I just assumed I was reading about a specific social stratum that was the '50s/'60s equivalent of the upper-level McMansion set today.

[raccoon]

3. I don't think the movie necessarily implied that either, but I do think that

movies and TV influence us a lot more than we realize.

I had a relative who thought THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) was a true story.