The new documentary “The Sit-In” on Peacock tells of the time Harry Belafonte replaced Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” for five remarkable nights in 1968. https://t.co/5EGaIVlUKO
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) September 8, 2020
“Hiding in plain sight”:
… While the Vietnam War was raging and civil unrest was convulsing American cities, TV talk show host Johnny Carson did something special: He stepped away from “The Tonight Show” perch for a week.
Then something even more special happened: Belafonte took over.
For five nights, the Black singer, actor and activist entertained white middle America with his cool wit and an astonishing array of guests — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Sidney Poitier, Robert F. Kennedy, Paul Newman, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Petula Clark, Bill Cosby, Diahann Carroll and Lena Horne, among others.
That fascinating week of late night is the subject of the new Peacock documentary “The Sit-In,” which airs Thursday and celebrates Belafonte’s strategic and profound mix of art and politics…
In addition to his high-powered guests, Belafonte showed home movies of his family water-skiing and boating — conscious efforts to connect with his white audience.
“He was showing us his life,” says Walsh. “It went a long way to kind of normalize Black middle class and Black upper middle class life.”
The impact of Belafonte’s cheekily so-called “sit-in” is hard to measure but many believe it had profound effect. “That was probably the most revolutionary move that mainstream television could have done at the time,” Questlove says in the documentary.
One person watching was a young Henry Louis Gates Jr. The literary scholar would later write in the New Yorker: “Night after night, my father and I stayed up late to watch a black man host the highest-rated show in its time slot — history in the making.”…
I’ve done my best to stay away from streaming services — hardly even watch Netflix, where we’re still happily paying for the DVD shipped to us — but I’ll admit this is really tempting me. The Washington Post TV critic liked it:
… Belafonte — a superstar singer, actor and civil rights activist — took the opportunity to bring on an extraordinary range of Black artists and newsmakers and their White allies, from Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The guest list for that week, from Feb. 5 to 9, goes on: Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, Indigenous folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, ventriloquist Aaron Williams and singer Freda Payne, among others.
Richen’s film is executive produced by MSNBC anchor Joy Reid and co-produced by Nation journalist Joan Walsh, who wrote a 2017 story for the Nation about the shows. The documentary interviews Belafonte, now 93, and several of the entertainers who appeared on the “Tonight Show” with him that week (Warwick confesses that she can’t remember what happened to her yesterday, much less in 1968, but seems delighted to hear she was a part of it), as well as present-day celebrities and culture writers about the impact Belafonte’s week had on American TV…
Fifteen of that week’s 25 guests were Black, according to Walsh’s story. Besides Kennedy, other White guests included Paul Newman, Petula Clark and the Smothers Brothers.
Belafonte was given a lot of freedom in booking guests, but when he got King (who so rarely was given access to network TV shows), NBC executives nervously asked if the show would get too serious. Belafonte largely ignored their worries. “It was a silly question,” he recalls. “We’ve got [King] here, what do you want him to do, sing a song?”…
There’s an… illuminating anecdote with this YouTube clip:
Laura Too
Wow! Thanks for this. So many thoughts going through my head right now, but mostly that I get so caught up in the fire hose of now that I forget about our history. The things we’ve overcome and the work still left to do. And the beauty amid the ugliness.
Laura Too
I haven’t been around much, has anyone posted about the Princess Bride reunion tomorrow night that is a fundraiser for Wisconsin democrats? Also filed under something good.
raven
I paid for the damn Peacock thing only to learn they are in a fight with Roku and I can’t get it. (No I don’t want to stream if from my iPad.)
TaMara (HFG)
@Laura Too: I just did.
TaMara (HFG)
@raven: I’ve been refusing to even stream the free content until they work this crap out with ROKU (same with HBO Max). The online streaming is terrible – it stops and starts for no reason (I 1g, so streaming is NEVER an issue.)
For this though, I’ll see what I can do to watch because it sounds amazing.
Laura Too
@TaMara (HFG): Thanks! I have been so excited for this. It’s been on the calendar since it was announced and we will have a small party with my niece and her husband who live upstairs. Trying to come up with a menu in case anyone has ideas to contribute. MLT?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@TaMara (HFG):
Huh, I thought that was just my internet connection. Peacock does that to me too on my Amazon Fire TV
Salty Sam
@Laura Too:
“…with the mutton nice and lean…”
Mike G
cain
If there was one white actor to bring on that show during that week it would be Paul Newman. The man was a treasure. A true liberal.
Wow to see King and a host of black luminaries – what an incredible week it must have been.
cain
@Mike G:
That’s just amazing – what a great story.
Laura Too
@Salty Sam: Exactly!
Laura Too
@Mike G: Thanks for the info. I wondered if that raised some eyebrows.
cain
I’m sticking to only two streaming services – Amazon Prime Now and Netflix.
Besides, I dont even turn my TV on for weeks at a time. Every time I pull up thinking I want to something I kinda shrug and think I rather watch a book. The wierd part is the kind of anxiety in thinking about watching it. Meh.
Starfish
With the recent racial awareness and uprising, all the streaming services that were trending towards more Black content ran out to get some.
We recently watched the Self-made, the mini-series about Madame C. J. Walker. The first episode was a little strange, but everything fell into place after that.
We are also watching Lovecraft Country which takes H. P. Lovecraft’s work and throws it into a segregated US where we are cheering for everyone who is Black, and white people get killed left and right by Lovecraftian horrors.
raven
This is on MSNBC in 30 minutes.
TaMara (HFG)
@Laura Too: Penzy Spices sent an email with recipes. If you email me, I’ll forward the email to you.
AdamK
I had forgotten what a lovely singer Petula Clark was.
Laura Too
@TaMara (HFG): I don’t have your email and can’t find it on the site. Mine is laurabbey @ gmail if you could send that it would be so cool. I will have my work cut out for me tomorrow.
TheOBP
@cain:
Paul Newman was a great man. One of those people who took being talented and gorgeous and didn’t rest on that, but spent his whole life being good.
geg6
@TheOBP:
Everything about him was sexy and just good in every way. The most beautiful man ever, IMHO. Inside and out. And those eyes, OMG! And what an amazing damn actor. Just the best. My mother was mad for him. And, weirdly enough, Joe Biden.
Wyatt Salamanca
Many thanks for this post!
In the same vein, check out this video from 1968 of Marlon Brando on the Tonight Show discussing Martin Luther King’s assassination with Johnny Carson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNWxtr3is6k
TaMara (HFG)
@raven: Thanks, recording now
oatler.
At least Meet the Press is showing signs of resistance to- oh nevermind it’s all GOP tomorrow morning.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I hit enter too soon. I meant to insert Marlon Brando discussing his response and financial contribution following Martin Luther King’s assassination.
Nicole
What a cool piece of television history! I had no idea. Harry Belafonte was my very first crush, when I was five. My parents had his first Live at Carnegie Hall album, and I would look at the photos of him on the inside the cover all the time. It’s a really, really good album, and spoiled me for other live recordings; I don’t know what magic the engineers did, but the balance between him and the orchestra and the audience is perfection.
Very sad to hear little exists from his week hosting the Tonight Show. At least the Smothers Brothers saved the performance that CBS cut from the airing when he was on their show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE4N57ibUQ&t=16s
J R in WV
@TheOBP:
Same for Harry Belafonte. Still a great man. I once worked with one of his daughters, she was sweet, skilled and hard working. Harry is 93 now!! Hope he’s still got his wits together, was a great performer and activist!
Steeplejack
The Sit-In is on MSNBC right now! Just noticed. It started at 10:00 EDT and goes to midnight.
ETA: What raven said.
Steeplejack
Wow, Leon Bibb doing Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” On The Tonight Show. In 1968. ?
WaterGirl
@Laura Too: Click on Contact Us in the white bar that’s always at the top of the page. It shows the syntax for contacting any front pager.
nym at balloon-juice.com
taumaturgo
Do yourself a favor and watch the Social Dilemma on Netflix. Is a provocative and disturbing view presented by ex developers from Google, Twitter, Facebook, What’s app, Instagram, and others of the commercialization and detailed psychological manipulation built into these services. As I watched the show, in dawn on me why the Karens and MAGA types are so resilient in their beliefs. The answer is the constant affirmation they receive from these services -as well as Fox News – of their most like sites, without ever having access to counterbalance to their views. This inevitably leads to tribalism and it renders the tribes unable and unwilling to even agree on what the problem is. It is unhealthy not to mention unethical on a personal level to be manipulated without our explicit consent or remuneration and a real threat to democracy as we know it.