WEBVTT FILE

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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[Man] Yes.

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Rolling sound.

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Quiet.

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(Audience applauding)

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(Brassy music)

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[Announcer] From New
York, "The Tonight Show,"

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starring Johnny Carson.

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And now, here's

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the fabulous Harry Belafonte.

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Here he comes!

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(Audience applauding)

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(Brassy music)

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♪ The strong gets more

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♪ While the weak ones fade

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♪ Empty pockets don't
ever make the grade ♪

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I found out about that
week from Harry Belafonte.

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I went over to his home

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and all of a sudden,
effortlessly,

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he started talking about
this week of television

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and "The Tonight Show."

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And I'm thinking, wait a
minute,

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Harry Belafonte hosted a
week of "The Tonight Show?"

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What?

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What, how did I not know this?

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- That was probably the
most revolutionary move

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that mainstream television
could have done at the time.

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♪ That's right the woman is
smarter ♪

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♪ That's right ♪

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- I write about TV, I
write about politics.

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I should have known about it.

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Why is this history lost to
us?

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♪ That's right ♪

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Harry Belafonte takes an
existing white institution

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in American culture
and he turns it into

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something that
represents his
world,

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that it should be
multicultural,

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that it should be
politically engaged.

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What Harry Belafonte did,

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he combined politics
and entertainment.

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Like a forerunner
to "The Daily Show"

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and the Stephen Colbert show.

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Is that a fancy way
of saying I told you so?

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(Audience laughs)

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(Calypso music)

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I mean, this is early 1968.

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The nation was really
in crazy upheaval.

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There was increasing and
very appropriate Black anger.

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And Harry exposed
you as a white person,

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speaking as a white person,

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to this vibrant world
where Black people

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and white people
met as equals.

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This was a talented,
intelligent, sophisticated,

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passionate social
activist of a Black man

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in that chair that has,
through the years,

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been the seat of white males.

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My parents allowed me
to stay up late.

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They said,
you need to see this.

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I guarantee you, my
grandmother had her three kids

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sitting in the
living room watching,

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even though they
should have been in bed.

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It was something that
was really inspiring,

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especially to a lot of Black
people who were watching,

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who had not seen themselves
necessarily represented

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in that way,
in that American institution

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that is "The Tonight Show".

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Harry Belafonte at
11 o'clock late night

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was saying, we're here,
we're Americans.

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We're part of this,
we're not going anywhere.

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Y'all brought us,
now we're here.

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So, get in your bed.

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Let me be the last thing you
see before you go to sleep.

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Mr. Belafonte,
would you like to look at

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your guest list
from that week?

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I'd love to see it.

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Oh, my God.

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I had all these people?

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(Bright music)

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When I was there I was a bit
overawed by the whole thing.

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(Bright music)

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It was so seldom in the
'60s that people of color

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were invited into
the homes of, you know,

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television viewers everywhere.

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(Bright music)

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First time on "The
Tonight Show," I'm scared.

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I'm sitting between Harry
Belafonte and Paul Newman.

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That was a special night.

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I knew I was with
the biggies that night.

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Me, too. (Laughs)

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As they say, stepping
in high cotton. (Laughs)

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(Bright music)

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You see how pivotal
this week was

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because you're watching
this man bring together

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all of his brothers and
sisters in the movement

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and say we deserve a space
and we deserve to be here

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and we deserve to
talk about these things.

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(Drum rolling)

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(Brassy music)

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[Announcer] From New
York, "The Tonight Show,"

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starring Johnny Carson.

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(Audience applauding)

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"The Tonight Show" was
one of the most powerful

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platforms of communication
in the world.

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If there's anything you
don't see, just ask for it.

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(Bright music)

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Okay, we have, fine,
a gentleman.

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Johnny Carson was the
rage of the evening.

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Thank you, love you all.

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If anybody was up
after 10 o'clock,

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they were watching
"The Tonight Show."

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One, two.

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(Bright jazz)

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Jump in anyway.

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Yah!

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(Audience laughing)

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Mr. Woody Allen.

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(Bright jazz)

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Carson would often
mention this on the air.

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"Hey, I know you're in bed
when you're watching me."

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And it's the most unique of
frames to watch television

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was between your feet.

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You're taking them
not just in your home,

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but actually
into your bedroom.

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The birth rate
in this country has

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dropped appreciably
and I'd like to feel

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that my show
is partly responsible.

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Carson was this
Midwestern very,

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sort of easy to
take kind of host.

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Hi, folks.

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(Audience laughs)

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He was as average
of an American

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as you could possibly get.

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[Announcer]
We'll be right back.

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[Harry]
It was part of his appeal.

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He was just the kid next door.

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Never seen a human cell.

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Johnny Carson helped define
what late night would be.

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Early on the 1950s,
'60s, as we really started

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to see these interview
programs with Jack Paar

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and all these
sorts of people...

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See, they don't
understand what, uh,

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how we do the show.

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We just keep talking

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with no script.
I know.

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It's agony.

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(Audience laughs)

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You would get
to see celebrities

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as you've never
seen them before.

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You get to see
them uncensored.

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So that started making
late night really special

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and hallowed ground.

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Why did you go into politics?

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I think that as
an interested citizen

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in the United States,

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I cannot think
of a greater privilege

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than serving in
the House or the Senate.

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[Announcer] Tonight!

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[Ron Simon] When "The
Tonight Show" first began,

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it was a comedy show and Steve
Allen became the first host.

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This is uh,
kind of a mild little show.

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I don't expect you to say,
"Boy, what a program!"

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Carson takes over
in October of 1962

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and it really is a whole

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different approach
to the show.

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[Bill] He managed to weave
in more contemporary news

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than anybody had tried before.

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Senator, Mrs. Kennedy are
expecting their tenth child.

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I understand
Ethel Kennedy is demanding

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a civilian review board.

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(Audience laughs)

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All of that would first be
the subject of a monologue.

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And then often guests
would talk about it.

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Our bloodshed will be
in our racial situation,

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not with Russia or Khrushchev
or any other country.

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But you probably, as most
people do in the world today,

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have some feelings on
the Vietnam situation.

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[Bill] And the
interesting thing about

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"The Tonight Show"

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was that the guests
stayed on the couch.

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They didn't just make
their appearance and leave.

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So they sat together.

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I wish now I'd
have been honest.

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(All laughing)

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So, "The Tonight Show"
now becomes

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kind of a national
gathering place at night.

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And whatever's going
on in pop culture,

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whatever's going
on in politics,

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obviously what's
going on in the news,

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it was a place for all
those things to come together

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in an entertaining way.

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11:30 at night, Eastern,
was the most segregated hour

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in America because white
people were watching

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white Johnny Carson
in their white homes.

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Black people were
doing it separately.

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Little Mister 1968.

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Let's welcome him.

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(Audience applauding)

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Tell me, 1968, what
can we expect from you?

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Well, there's riots,
brutality, poverty, sit-ins,

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overpopulation, famine.

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Hmm, I see.

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You want to hear the
bad news now? (All laugh)

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Hi, this is Johnny Carson.

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As you know this is
the usual starting time

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for "The Tonight Show,"

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but because of the critical
war situation in Vietnam,

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NBC for the next 15 minutes
is going to bring you

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a special news
program via satellite.

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[Newsreader] On the
morning of January 31st,

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both sides claimed victor
in the Tet Offensive,

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but 1100 American
soldiers lie dead.

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(Protesters shouting)

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Seven young and
earnest protestors

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burned draft cards
on the steps of...

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[King] In 1968,
there were many Americas.

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There was Black America
and White America.

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(Funky music)

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[Announcer]
For his running mate,

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Nixon chose Henry Cabot Lodge.

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There was
establishment America,

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anti-establishment America.

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And the culture was chaotic.

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The culture was complicated.

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The culture was divisive.

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(Funky music)

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The tension in the air of
1968 couldn't be ignored,

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no matter how many
blinders that you chose to

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put in front of your eyes.

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All kinds of changes
were pushed through.

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It's the time when women said,

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listen, we're not just this.

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We want to run
these companies.

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We're not playing
with you anymore.

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It's the year of the afro.

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Boom!

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Natural hair.

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Change.

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Things were no longer
going to be the status quo.

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(Upbeat music)

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♪ I never seen no road other
than the one from here ♪

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♪ Well we do it to others

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♪ Before them others
do it to us ♪

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It was that time of protests.

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The Black community had risen
up with righteous indignation.

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We could no longer tolerate
the racial indiscretions

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that were being
heaped upon us.

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As performers, we felt a need

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to begin to do more
than just sing.

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We had to have a point of
view and we had to speak out.

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♪ Highway men don't
have to fight ♪

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♪ For the thing they
called a human right ♪

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When you look
at the late '60s,

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the exposure that
white Americans

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were getting on the news

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was the covering of the
civil rights marches

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and the civil rights
movement that was happening.

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♪ Oh time

259
00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.383
But we were still watching
shows like "Bonanza,"

260
00:12:30.417 --> 00:12:33.086
"Beverly Hillbillies,"
"I Dream of Jeannie."

261
00:12:33.119 --> 00:12:35.355
Very, very white
television shows.

262
00:12:35.388 --> 00:12:38.358
We were really seeing these
pretty trivial depictions

263
00:12:38.391 --> 00:12:42.562
of the Old West, depictions
of suburban families.

264
00:12:42.595 --> 00:12:45.065
Television shows had
a always very difficult

265
00:12:45.098 --> 00:12:46.866
relationship with reality

266
00:12:46.900 --> 00:12:50.270
and there were a lot of,
we'll say fantasy sitcoms

267
00:12:50.303 --> 00:12:52.939
that really sort
of avoided race

268
00:12:52.972 --> 00:12:54.374
and what was going
on in the country.

269
00:12:54.407 --> 00:12:57.277
My personal experiences
have been that there is

270
00:12:57.310 --> 00:13:00.580
an enormous reluctance
on the part of the media

271
00:13:00.613 --> 00:13:03.283
to expose Black life
as it really is.

272
00:13:03.316 --> 00:13:05.285
Hollywood reflects
the mood of the nation.

273
00:13:05.318 --> 00:13:07.287
It reflects our politics.

274
00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:10.023
It reflects our culture.

275
00:13:10.056 --> 00:13:12.292
It reflects our hopes
and aspirations.

276
00:13:12.325 --> 00:13:15.995
And it lies a lot
about who we are.

277
00:13:16.029 --> 00:13:18.164
None of us thought we were
going to be in the future.

278
00:13:18.198 --> 00:13:20.367
If you were a sci-fi person,
which I am,

279
00:13:20.400 --> 00:13:22.202
You never saw us represented

280
00:13:22.235 --> 00:13:25.138
in the future times
of America.

281
00:13:25.171 --> 00:13:27.407
For what we are about to
receive, we give thanks.

282
00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:29.042
[Whoopi] We were never there.

283
00:13:29.075 --> 00:13:32.345
We were never at the
beach blanket bingo.

284
00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:33.413
Hello?

285
00:13:33.446 --> 00:13:35.115
We hear that the girls
are all over at your house.

286
00:13:35.148 --> 00:13:36.983
[Whoopi] We were never
where the boys were.

287
00:13:37.017 --> 00:13:40.053
We just weren't there,
we weren't represented.

288
00:13:40.086 --> 00:13:42.222
Television was a
medium that was still

289
00:13:42.255 --> 00:13:45.358
figuring out its relationship
to power in a lot of ways.

290
00:13:47.494 --> 00:13:48.595
TV wasn't crossover medium.

291
00:13:48.628 --> 00:13:49.562
There were a few Black stars
in television at the time

292
00:13:49.596 --> 00:13:52.365
who had been able to
kind of rise to the top.

293
00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.300
Harry Belafonte
was one of those.

294
00:13:54.334 --> 00:13:56.469
♪ Cannonball come
to the judgment ♪

295
00:13:56.503 --> 00:13:58.204
♪ Fare thee well
fare ye well ♪

296
00:13:58.238 --> 00:14:00.273
♪ Here's that great
gift of morning ♪

297
00:14:00.306 --> 00:14:02.242
♪ Fare thee well
fare ye well ♪

298
00:14:02.275 --> 00:14:04.477
♪ Here's that great
gift of morning ♪

299
00:14:04.511 --> 00:14:06.346
♪ Fare thee well
fare ye well ♪

300
00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:09.115
(Calypso music)

301
00:14:15.722 --> 00:14:19.225
♪ I say let us put man
and a woman together ♪

302
00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:21.995
♪ To find out which
one is smarter ♪

303
00:14:22.028 --> 00:14:25.699
Harry Belafonte was a
huge celebrity at the time,

304
00:14:25.732 --> 00:14:28.668
who produced record
setting album after album.

305
00:14:32.072 --> 00:14:34.140
First performer to sell
over a million copies

306
00:14:34.174 --> 00:14:35.342
of a single album.

307
00:14:35.375 --> 00:14:38.144
(Rhythmic music)

308
00:14:40.146 --> 00:14:42.949
♪ Woo hawk eyed woman
is going out ♪

309
00:14:42.982 --> 00:14:44.117
♪ Every day

310
00:14:44.150 --> 00:14:47.987
What Mr. Belafonte wound up
doing was taking the art form

311
00:14:48.021 --> 00:14:49.255
of calypso music.

312
00:14:49.289 --> 00:14:52.992
♪ Won't be back
for many a day ♪

313
00:14:53.026 --> 00:14:57.063
And making it mainstream
for America's taste.

314
00:14:57.097 --> 00:15:01.101
♪ Had to leave a little
girl in Kingston town ♪

315
00:15:01.134 --> 00:15:03.436
In the West Indies,
there are many languages

316
00:15:03.470 --> 00:15:04.437
that have invaded
those islands.

317
00:15:04.471 --> 00:15:07.273
I mean, the French,
the English, the Spanish.

318
00:15:07.307 --> 00:15:09.209
And when it's
all put together,

319
00:15:09.242 --> 00:15:12.012
it comes out in a strange
tongue we call Patois.

320
00:15:12.045 --> 00:15:17.083
Just say after me, "I wonder
why nobody don't like me."

321
00:15:17.117 --> 00:15:20.353
I wonder why nobody
don't like me.

322
00:15:20.387 --> 00:15:22.288
By George,
I think he's got it.

323
00:15:22.322 --> 00:15:23.723
Yes!

324
00:15:23.757 --> 00:15:25.125
Whoop!

325
00:15:25.158 --> 00:15:27.761
♪ I wonder why nobody
don't like me ♪

326
00:15:27.794 --> 00:15:30.530
♪ Or is it the fact
that I'm ugly ♪

327
00:15:30.563 --> 00:15:33.466
♪ I wonder why nobody
don't like me ♪

328
00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:36.336
♪ Or is it the fact
that I'm ugly ♪

329
00:15:36.369 --> 00:15:38.204
Harry was also a movie star.

330
00:15:38.238 --> 00:15:40.407
He was a household name.

331
00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:41.508
Black and white.

332
00:15:41.541 --> 00:15:44.377
In your heart,
deep down inside,

333
00:15:44.411 --> 00:15:46.513
don't you still think
of us as slaves?

334
00:15:46.546 --> 00:15:51.184
♪ At night I tell you people

335
00:15:51.217 --> 00:15:56.156
[Joan] We saw him in iconic
films like "Carmen Jones,"

336
00:15:56.189 --> 00:15:59.192
"Bright Road,"
"Odds Against Tomorrow,"

337
00:15:59.225 --> 00:16:00.593
"Island in the Sun."

338
00:16:00.627 --> 00:16:02.328
There are other countries.

339
00:16:02.362 --> 00:16:03.463
My skin is my country.

340
00:16:08.335 --> 00:16:09.269
Today we take it for granted,

341
00:16:09.302 --> 00:16:13.506
but in the 1950s,
that was a radical idea

342
00:16:13.540 --> 00:16:16.343
to have a Black artist
have a white fan base

343
00:16:16.376 --> 00:16:18.611
at a time in which there
was still legal segregation.

344
00:16:18.645 --> 00:16:20.814
(Audience cheering)

345
00:16:20.847 --> 00:16:23.350
♪ Everybody when the saints

346
00:16:23.383 --> 00:16:26.086
♪ Go marching in ♪
Oh when the saints go ♪

347
00:16:26.119 --> 00:16:28.088
If you look at some
of his early television

348
00:16:28.121 --> 00:16:31.091
musical sort of variety shows,

349
00:16:31.124 --> 00:16:34.461
I mean, there was just a
fascination and an appeal

350
00:16:34.494 --> 00:16:36.529
that you couldn't find it
anywhere else on television.

351
00:16:36.563 --> 00:16:39.833
♪ Not so beautiful

352
00:16:39.866 --> 00:16:44.137
♪ Not one so beautiful

353
00:16:44.170 --> 00:16:46.606
♪ Like my love is

354
00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:51.211
I know when those women,

355
00:16:51.244 --> 00:16:53.246
whatever nationality
they were,

356
00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.148
when they saw Harry,

357
00:16:56.182 --> 00:16:58.184
it was all about (Pants)

358
00:16:58.218 --> 00:17:01.154
'Cause sexy's sexy
no matter what.

359
00:17:01.187 --> 00:17:02.222
♪ When you see her

360
00:17:02.255 --> 00:17:04.624
He was one of the most
important and trailblazing

361
00:17:04.657 --> 00:17:07.594
cross-media superstars
of the 20th Century.

362
00:17:07.627 --> 00:17:11.297
There are many sides to the
legend of Harry Belafonte.

363
00:17:11.331 --> 00:17:14.367
Singer, actor, activist.

364
00:17:14.401 --> 00:17:17.437
As artists,
we rejoice in the knowledge

365
00:17:17.470 --> 00:17:19.839
that human experience
has no color

366
00:17:19.873 --> 00:17:23.143
and we believe that artists
have a valuable function

367
00:17:23.176 --> 00:17:26.246
in any society since
it is the artist

368
00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:29.449
who reveal the
society to itself.

369
00:17:29.482 --> 00:17:31.551
My father was
a political person

370
00:17:31.584 --> 00:17:33.687
before he became an artist.

371
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:36.423
His mother was
a political person.

372
00:17:36.456 --> 00:17:40.160
His environment that he grew
up in and was exposed to

373
00:17:40.193 --> 00:17:41.261
was political.

374
00:17:41.294 --> 00:17:44.864
He wanted to take every
opportunity that he could

375
00:17:44.898 --> 00:17:47.600
to bring forth the
civil rights movement.

376
00:17:47.634 --> 00:17:51.137
He always used
whatever platform he had

377
00:17:51.171 --> 00:17:53.540
as an opportunity
to educate and motivate

378
00:17:53.573 --> 00:17:56.343
and activate audiences.

379
00:17:56.376 --> 00:18:01.181
Our cause in America
is an honorable cause.

380
00:18:01.214 --> 00:18:05.285
And ofttimes, when we are
in the midst of the struggle

381
00:18:05.318 --> 00:18:08.455
for our liberation,
we sometimes feel that

382
00:18:08.488 --> 00:18:10.223
it is more than we can bear.

383
00:18:11.191 --> 00:18:12.492
Rosa Parks got me into this.

384
00:18:12.525 --> 00:18:15.261
Went down to meet
her and I came back

385
00:18:15.295 --> 00:18:17.197
and then one day
I got a phone call.

386
00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:18.198
"Mr. Belafonte?"

387
00:18:18.231 --> 00:18:19.599
I said, "Yes."

388
00:18:19.632 --> 00:18:22.402
They said,
"You may not know me,

389
00:18:22.435 --> 00:18:24.337
"there's no reason for you to,

390
00:18:24.371 --> 00:18:29.376
"except that I need
to talk to you."

391
00:18:29.409 --> 00:18:31.177
And I said, "Fine."

392
00:18:31.211 --> 00:18:33.613
"My name is
Martin Luther King Jr."

393
00:18:33.646 --> 00:18:35.482
He said, "The things
you have said and done,

394
00:18:35.515 --> 00:18:38.485
"I really believe you could
be an important component

395
00:18:38.518 --> 00:18:41.221
"to this adventure
that I'm embarking on."

396
00:18:41.254 --> 00:18:43.623
And listening to
what he had to say,

397
00:18:43.656 --> 00:18:46.493
I knew that forever
I'd be in his service.

398
00:18:46.526 --> 00:18:51.231
Ladies and gentlemen, the
Nobel Peace Prize winner,

399
00:18:51.264 --> 00:18:53.266
the Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King.

400
00:18:53.299 --> 00:18:56.369
(Audience applauding)

401
00:18:57.337 --> 00:18:59.606
Once I took up with him,

402
00:18:59.639 --> 00:19:02.642
my life never went
anywhere else but there.

403
00:19:02.676 --> 00:19:05.245
Not only is Harry
a great artist,

404
00:19:05.278 --> 00:19:08.648
he is a great humanitarian.

405
00:19:08.682 --> 00:19:14.387
No performing artists in the
United States or in the world

406
00:19:14.421 --> 00:19:18.525
has raised as much money for
the civil rights movement

407
00:19:18.558 --> 00:19:19.959
as Harry Belafonte.

408
00:19:19.993 --> 00:19:23.997
I respond as often
as possible to Dr. King

409
00:19:24.030 --> 00:19:27.000
because I believe the
salvation of America

410
00:19:27.033 --> 00:19:28.601
and our potential

411
00:19:28.635 --> 00:19:32.238
is in our capacity
to deal humanistically

412
00:19:32.272 --> 00:19:35.275
and non-violently
with our difficulties.

413
00:19:35.308 --> 00:19:38.478
People who worked with
Johnny at the time would say

414
00:19:38.511 --> 00:19:42.415
he was conversant with
the civil rights movement.

415
00:19:42.449 --> 00:19:45.552
I can't sit here and say I
understand, because we can't.

416
00:19:45.585 --> 00:19:47.721
He understood many
of the issues,

417
00:19:47.754 --> 00:19:51.024
but he was not
comfortable enough to say

418
00:19:51.057 --> 00:19:53.326
I'm going to do
a week of shows

419
00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:54.561
about what's going
on in the country.

420
00:19:54.594 --> 00:19:55.528
So when I was out
in Las Vegas,

421
00:19:55.562 --> 00:19:56.363
I did the thing with
the audience, you know,

422
00:19:56.396 --> 00:19:58.598
and the questions,
I get questions,

423
00:19:58.631 --> 00:20:00.400
you know, political, what
do you think of so and so.

424
00:20:00.433 --> 00:20:02.002
And I found out that no
matter which side you go,

425
00:20:02.035 --> 00:20:06.006
you got to end up, if you're
a straight entertainer,

426
00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:07.674
losing half your audience.

427
00:20:07.707 --> 00:20:10.577
He as an entertainer
did not feel like

428
00:20:10.610 --> 00:20:12.579
getting up on the soapbox.

429
00:20:12.612 --> 00:20:16.483
But he certainly supported
the other entertainers

430
00:20:16.516 --> 00:20:18.451
who were doing that.

431
00:20:18.485 --> 00:20:21.855
I also admire Marlon
Brando for his conscience

432
00:20:21.888 --> 00:20:23.723
as an American and
his moral commitment

433
00:20:23.757 --> 00:20:24.724
when he believes in something.

434
00:20:24.758 --> 00:20:27.527
Will you welcome, please,
Mr. Marlon Brando.

435
00:20:27.560 --> 00:20:28.762
So I think he thought,

436
00:20:28.795 --> 00:20:31.865
I'm going to have
a guest host come on

437
00:20:31.898 --> 00:20:33.767
and the guest host can address

438
00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:36.569
what I think are
serious issues.

439
00:20:36.603 --> 00:20:39.072
I do think Carson was
trying to make a statement.

440
00:20:39.105 --> 00:20:41.841
How can you not talk about all
the things that are going on

441
00:20:41.875 --> 00:20:45.311
in the craziest year
in American history?

442
00:20:45.345 --> 00:20:48.048
Even my Midwestern, middle
of the country audience,

443
00:20:48.081 --> 00:20:49.716
they need to see this.

444
00:20:49.749 --> 00:20:53.053
This is only six years into
Johnny Carson's tenure,

445
00:20:53.086 --> 00:20:53.787
that he did that.

446
00:20:53.820 --> 00:20:54.888
Goodnight.

447
00:20:54.921 --> 00:20:55.955
See you tomorrow.

448
00:20:55.989 --> 00:20:57.824
So it wasn't doing it
from the safe harbor of

449
00:20:57.857 --> 00:20:59.759
I'm the King of Late Night.

450
00:20:59.793 --> 00:21:02.362
He was still fairly
new in the job.

451
00:21:02.395 --> 00:21:04.464
But it was in his head
that Harry Belafonte

452
00:21:04.497 --> 00:21:05.532
was the right guy.

453
00:21:05.565 --> 00:21:07.567
(audience applauding)

454
00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:09.402
I said no at first.

455
00:21:09.436 --> 00:21:10.704
Because I couldn't do
what Johnny did.

456
00:21:10.737 --> 00:21:13.306
I can't tell jokes
and whatnot.

457
00:21:14.507 --> 00:21:15.775
♪ I don't want nobody ♪

458
00:21:15.809 --> 00:21:17.777
We know Harry Belafonte
had been burned

459
00:21:17.811 --> 00:21:19.579
by television before.

460
00:21:19.612 --> 00:21:22.615
In 1959, he had
this special called

461
00:21:22.649 --> 00:21:24.384
"Tonight with Belafonte."

462
00:21:24.417 --> 00:21:26.820
It was fantastic,
it won an Emmy.

463
00:21:26.853 --> 00:21:29.422
And the sponsor,
which was Revlon,

464
00:21:29.456 --> 00:21:32.926
actually offered him an
ongoing series after that.

465
00:21:32.959 --> 00:21:35.395
He called it "New York, 19."

466
00:21:35.428 --> 00:21:38.431
♪ Well if it's so I don't
want to be a monkey ♪

467
00:21:38.465 --> 00:21:41.401
♪ I'll go to sleep
a mule or donkey ♪

468
00:21:41.434 --> 00:21:43.937
♪ My brother said that
he will come back a hog ♪

469
00:21:43.970 --> 00:21:47.540
♪ Not Harry I think
I'll be a bedbug ♪

470
00:21:47.574 --> 00:21:52.412
The first episode ran
in 1960 to rave reviews.

471
00:21:52.445 --> 00:21:55.482
But when he started to
plan the next episode,

472
00:21:55.515 --> 00:21:56.516
the sponsor called him in

473
00:21:56.549 --> 00:21:59.686
and had a problem with
the fact that Harry used

474
00:21:59.719 --> 00:22:00.920
multiracial casts.

475
00:22:00.954 --> 00:22:04.424
And the sponsor told
him pick a Black cast,

476
00:22:04.457 --> 00:22:06.493
but none of this mixing.

477
00:22:06.526 --> 00:22:07.927
And Harry walked away.

478
00:22:07.961 --> 00:22:10.397
Thank you for being with us.

479
00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:11.264
See you around.

480
00:22:11.297 --> 00:22:13.833
[Gina] My father
didn't always trust

481
00:22:13.867 --> 00:22:16.870
what the outcomes of a certain
opportunity might bring.

482
00:22:16.903 --> 00:22:18.905
And so he turned a
lot of things down.

483
00:22:18.938 --> 00:22:22.676
Tonight we take a look
at Negro humor in America.

484
00:22:22.709 --> 00:22:24.778
We call it "A Time
for Laughter."

485
00:22:24.811 --> 00:22:27.847
If it wasn't going to
be in an inclusive way

486
00:22:27.881 --> 00:22:29.749
that he envisioned,

487
00:22:29.783 --> 00:22:33.520
both racially, but I
think most importantly,

488
00:22:33.553 --> 00:22:35.855
artistically, let
alone politically,

489
00:22:35.889 --> 00:22:38.992
he didn't want that to
be part of his legacy.

490
00:22:39.025 --> 00:22:41.528
♪ I believe that's
a bird dog ♪

491
00:22:41.561 --> 00:22:44.497
(all laughing)

492
00:22:44.531 --> 00:22:49.569
♪ That sounds like
a rabbit dog ♪

493
00:22:49.602 --> 00:22:52.205
♪ Woof woof woof

494
00:22:52.238 --> 00:22:55.442
♪ Oh that's an old
Civil Rights chaser ♪

495
00:22:55.475 --> 00:22:58.545
Being on television,
reaching a lot of people,

496
00:22:58.578 --> 00:23:01.781
and having this
amazing opportunity

497
00:23:01.815 --> 00:23:04.484
that might only come once
in your entire lifetime.

498
00:23:04.517 --> 00:23:08.188
And Harry Belafonte
had to be convinced.

499
00:23:08.221 --> 00:23:10.657
It was Johnny who
put me at ease and said

500
00:23:10.690 --> 00:23:12.659
we just want you
to be who you are.

501
00:23:12.692 --> 00:23:14.761
I said in order
to be who I am,

502
00:23:14.794 --> 00:23:17.697
I'd have to have guests on

503
00:23:17.731 --> 00:23:19.766
that share some of my beliefs.

504
00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:21.668
He agreed to that condition,

505
00:23:21.701 --> 00:23:24.738
with the understanding that
the network had the right

506
00:23:24.771 --> 00:23:26.206
to say no to anybody.

507
00:23:26.239 --> 00:23:29.609
But they wanted me
to submit my list.

508
00:23:29.642 --> 00:23:30.777
After a little
bit of wrangling,

509
00:23:30.810 --> 00:23:32.545
they gave him control
of the guest list,

510
00:23:32.579 --> 00:23:33.580
which was a huge deal.

511
00:23:33.613 --> 00:23:34.814
(brassy music)

512
00:23:34.848 --> 00:23:36.049
So was there trepidation?

513
00:23:36.082 --> 00:23:37.851
I'm sure there
was trepidation.

514
00:23:37.884 --> 00:23:39.886
I'm sure there
was trepidation.

515
00:23:39.919 --> 00:23:41.621
[Whoopi] And who knows
what's gonna happen?

516
00:23:41.654 --> 00:23:43.957
Is he going to have, you
know, a mix of people on?

517
00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:45.558
Is it gonna be Black
people and White people?

518
00:23:45.592 --> 00:23:47.794
Does he have restrictions?

519
00:23:47.827 --> 00:23:49.562
When you see pictures
of the guests,

520
00:23:49.596 --> 00:23:51.264
they didn't just
pass each other.

521
00:23:51.297 --> 00:23:52.999
They knew each other.

522
00:23:53.033 --> 00:23:56.236
So I envisioned Mr. Belafonte

523
00:23:56.269 --> 00:23:58.505
making half those
calls himself,

524
00:23:58.538 --> 00:24:00.674
saying, "Hey, I need
you to come on by here

525
00:24:00.707 --> 00:24:01.841
"and do this show."

526
00:24:01.875 --> 00:24:06.546
So he was probably his booker
and the host of the show.

527
00:24:07.714 --> 00:24:08.715
[Interviewer] Do you
remember how it felt

528
00:24:08.748 --> 00:24:09.683
to be on the show?

529
00:24:09.716 --> 00:24:11.785
I hardly knew what I
was yesterday, (laughs)

530
00:24:11.818 --> 00:24:13.887
much less 1968.

531
00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.522
But, wow.

532
00:24:15.555 --> 00:24:16.990
That's like,
some nice company.

533
00:24:17.023 --> 00:24:17.791
Is he here?

534
00:24:17.824 --> 00:24:19.826
Floyd Bouncer
is here, friends.

535
00:24:19.859 --> 00:24:21.695
(audience cheering)

536
00:24:21.728 --> 00:24:24.064
When you were
in Selma, Alabama

537
00:24:24.097 --> 00:24:26.900
All of these people, not
only were great artists,

538
00:24:26.933 --> 00:24:28.868
but some of them were
also great thinkers.

539
00:24:28.902 --> 00:24:29.869
[Paul Newman] It's the
biggest feeling

540
00:24:29.903 --> 00:24:31.004
I ever had in my life

541
00:24:31.037 --> 00:24:35.575
to be actively involved in
being part of my own times.

542
00:24:35.608 --> 00:24:37.644
He had all types of
people on that week,

543
00:24:37.677 --> 00:24:42.549
but like the sheer volume
of activists that he had on

544
00:24:42.582 --> 00:24:43.583
is mind-blowing.

545
00:24:43.616 --> 00:24:46.619
Especially in such a
political hotbed at the time.

546
00:24:48.088 --> 00:24:50.557
Freedom!

547
00:24:50.590 --> 00:24:53.860
♪ He fights with missiles
and with spears ♪

548
00:24:53.893 --> 00:24:58.832
The fact that he was
able to fill in the space

549
00:24:58.865 --> 00:25:02.602
with people that had
substance was amazing to me.

550
00:25:02.635 --> 00:25:04.604
And to use that platform,

551
00:25:04.637 --> 00:25:06.873
that's unprecedented
for the times.

552
00:25:06.906 --> 00:25:10.744
I wanted to bring a political
dimension to the evening

553
00:25:10.777 --> 00:25:14.614
that was not quite "The
Tonight Show" thing.

554
00:25:14.647 --> 00:25:15.482
I want to make this
announcement.

555
00:25:15.515 --> 00:25:17.617
So I said, if anybody
wants to hear

556
00:25:17.650 --> 00:25:19.619
what Dr. King has to say

557
00:25:19.652 --> 00:25:21.821
and Bobby Kennedy has to say,

558
00:25:21.855 --> 00:25:23.757
it'll be good
for your ratings.

559
00:25:23.790 --> 00:25:25.892
They were considered
the spokespersons

560
00:25:25.925 --> 00:25:28.161
for the mood of the nation.

561
00:25:28.194 --> 00:25:30.697
There's a story of somebody
with the network asking,

562
00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:32.799
"Dr. King isn't going to talk
about that civil rights stuff,

563
00:25:32.832 --> 00:25:34.034
"is he?"

564
00:25:34.067 --> 00:25:35.935
It was a silly question.

565
00:25:35.969 --> 00:25:36.903
We've got him here.

566
00:25:36.936 --> 00:25:40.340
What would you like
him to do, sing a song?

567
00:25:40.373 --> 00:25:44.644
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King.

568
00:25:44.678 --> 00:25:47.747
(audience applauding)

569
00:25:50.083 --> 00:25:51.985
How old were you
when you started the

570
00:25:52.018 --> 00:25:53.753
Montgomery Alabama Montgomery,
Alabama bus strike?

571
00:25:53.787 --> 00:25:58.925
Well, I was 27 at that
time, that was back in 1956.

572
00:25:58.958 --> 00:26:00.126
Can I ask one other question?

573
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:01.961
(gentle music)

574
00:26:01.995 --> 00:26:05.165
After this uh, word
from your local station.

575
00:26:05.198 --> 00:26:08.902
(audience applauding)

576
00:26:08.935 --> 00:26:10.170
Harry had an agenda.

577
00:26:10.203 --> 00:26:12.672
And he had the people
to back it up.

578
00:26:12.706 --> 00:26:14.074
The winner is Sidney Poitier.

579
00:26:14.107 --> 00:26:15.408
(audience cheering)

580
00:26:15.442 --> 00:26:17.877
[Wesley] Harry had
Sidney Poitier,

581
00:26:17.911 --> 00:26:21.648
who by '68 was the biggest
movie star in Hollywood.

582
00:26:21.681 --> 00:26:24.718
There's a good angel
looking after me somewhere.

583
00:26:24.751 --> 00:26:28.021
Sidney was pushing back
against the type

584
00:26:28.054 --> 00:26:32.759
that the industry assumed
he was and needed him to be.

585
00:26:32.792 --> 00:26:36.162
I'm so pleased to meet you.

586
00:26:36.196 --> 00:26:38.732
I'm pleased to meet
you, Mrs. Drayton.

587
00:26:38.765 --> 00:26:39.766
I am artist,

588
00:26:41.267 --> 00:26:42.936
a man,

589
00:26:42.969 --> 00:26:44.004
American.

590
00:26:44.037 --> 00:26:45.839
[Wesley] When he makes
"In the Heat of the Night,"

591
00:26:45.872 --> 00:26:46.973
he's playing a cop.

592
00:26:47.007 --> 00:26:49.042
(slaps landing)

593
00:26:49.075 --> 00:26:50.710
And at some point
he winds up slapping

594
00:26:50.744 --> 00:26:52.712
this old white man
in the face.

595
00:26:52.746 --> 00:26:56.149
That was the year
of the smack!

596
00:26:56.182 --> 00:27:01.688
(laughs) Heard all
through the neighborhood.

597
00:27:01.721 --> 00:27:02.589
You saw it.

598
00:27:02.622 --> 00:27:03.990
[Whoopi] When that man
smacks Sidney...

599
00:27:04.024 --> 00:27:04.624
[Sheriff] Oh, I saw it.

600
00:27:04.657 --> 00:27:06.126
And Sidney smacked him back?

601
00:27:06.159 --> 00:27:07.961
Change! (laughs)

602
00:27:07.994 --> 00:27:11.131
Just the way Sidney
Poitier was changing movies

603
00:27:11.164 --> 00:27:13.133
at the time,

604
00:27:13.166 --> 00:27:15.935
another one of Harry's
guests that week, Bill Cosby,

605
00:27:15.969 --> 00:27:17.437
was also changing television.

606
00:27:18.505 --> 00:27:21.041
(brassy music)

607
00:27:22.208 --> 00:27:24.010
- He wasn't doing a thing

608
00:27:24.044 --> 00:27:26.112
that you had seen
Black men do before.

609
00:27:26.146 --> 00:27:28.081
He was on "I Spy"
with Robert Culp,

610
00:27:28.114 --> 00:27:29.416
they were both equals.

611
00:27:29.449 --> 00:27:34.054
He was playing an
undercover agent
alongside this white man.

612
00:27:34.087 --> 00:27:34.954
Hello, sir.

613
00:27:34.988 --> 00:27:35.855
Now!

614
00:27:35.889 --> 00:27:36.923
(gun fires)

615
00:27:36.956 --> 00:27:41.828
And he was a very
important emblem

616
00:27:41.861 --> 00:27:43.763
of integration
in this country.

617
00:27:43.797 --> 00:27:44.397
Yes, sir.

618
00:27:44.431 --> 00:27:46.166
Now, that's what I like!

619
00:27:46.199 --> 00:27:48.101
Let the women work, too.

620
00:27:48.134 --> 00:27:50.904
In the late sixties,
television was shifting

621
00:27:50.937 --> 00:27:52.872
in this powerful way.

622
00:27:52.906 --> 00:27:56.976
It was no longer
the terrain of
just white people.

623
00:27:57.010 --> 00:27:59.012
You can get rid
of the uniform.

624
00:27:59.045 --> 00:28:01.781
It makes me feel a
little self conscious.

625
00:28:01.815 --> 00:28:02.916
You should know how
it makes me feel.

626
00:28:02.949 --> 00:28:05.852
So now for the first time,

627
00:28:05.885 --> 00:28:08.822
white people who probably
never even came in contact

628
00:28:08.855 --> 00:28:12.926
with Black people were
now in contact with us

629
00:28:12.959 --> 00:28:14.227
in their homes.

630
00:28:14.260 --> 00:28:17.964
Tomorrow night, my
guests are Robert Goulet,

631
00:28:17.997 --> 00:28:21.334
George Kirby, Aretha
Franklin, Buffy Sainte-Marie.

632
00:28:21.368 --> 00:28:24.204
My job was to bring the
best that Black America

633
00:28:24.237 --> 00:28:25.205
had to offer.

634
00:28:25.238 --> 00:28:26.106
Nipsey?

635
00:28:26.139 --> 00:28:27.240
[Nipsey] Yes?

636
00:28:27.273 --> 00:28:29.042
I want to thank Mr. Harry
Singer for permitting you

637
00:28:29.075 --> 00:28:31.077
to come up tonight and
to be on this show.

638
00:28:31.111 --> 00:28:33.313
Never mind, Harry
Singer, thank me.

639
00:28:33.346 --> 00:28:36.950
[Harry] And to put us out
in one concentrated period,

640
00:28:36.983 --> 00:28:39.953
which all of this
magnificence burst out.

641
00:28:39.986 --> 00:28:43.056
(audience applauding)

642
00:28:44.090 --> 00:28:46.860
(static buzzing)

643
00:28:49.963 --> 00:28:54.234
The shocking thing
is that through 1971,

644
00:28:54.267 --> 00:28:59.205
NBC simply recorded over
and over, reused its tape.

645
00:29:00.273 --> 00:29:01.474
Night after night.

646
00:29:01.508 --> 00:29:06.246
Oh, this show's over, let's
just record on this same tape

647
00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:07.847
the next night.

648
00:29:07.881 --> 00:29:09.315
That's one thing I
could not believe.

649
00:29:09.349 --> 00:29:11.551
You know, whether it's
to save money or space.

650
00:29:11.584 --> 00:29:15.088
I mean, they were big
two inch tapes back then.

651
00:29:15.121 --> 00:29:17.390
It shocked Johnny Carson
when he found out about it

652
00:29:17.424 --> 00:29:20.927
and it shocked the staff
of the entire show.

653
00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:23.063
- My first month at
"The Tonight Show,"

654
00:29:23.096 --> 00:29:27.000
I kind of came in with
hopeful expectations

655
00:29:27.033 --> 00:29:30.570
of watching all the
old footage of anything

656
00:29:30.603 --> 00:29:33.239
that's ever been shot
in the 30 Rock building.

657
00:29:33.273 --> 00:29:35.909
(Questlove playing drums)

658
00:29:35.942 --> 00:29:39.112
However, when I looked
on the video database,

659
00:29:39.145 --> 00:29:44.150
there were only two episodes
hosted by Harry Belafonte.

660
00:29:44.184 --> 00:29:48.054
So I guess no one ever
thought of reruns.

661
00:29:48.088 --> 00:29:51.124
So all of this
is lost to history

662
00:29:51.157 --> 00:29:53.293
except these two half hours,

663
00:29:53.326 --> 00:29:55.895
one with Dr. King,
one with Bobby Kennedy.

664
00:29:55.929 --> 00:29:59.599
And five minutes with
folksinger Leon Bibb.

665
00:29:59.632 --> 00:30:02.602
There's a handful of shows
that I, as a curator,

666
00:30:02.635 --> 00:30:04.170
would love to find.

667
00:30:04.204 --> 00:30:06.406
The week that Harry Belafonte
hosted "Tonight Show"

668
00:30:06.439 --> 00:30:09.175
is one of the gems
that we're missing.

669
00:30:09.209 --> 00:30:12.612
- When I discovered this week,
I wrote an article about it

670
00:30:12.645 --> 00:30:15.348
and I became borderline
obsessed with it.

671
00:30:15.382 --> 00:30:18.418
I started searching
for what might exist.

672
00:30:18.451 --> 00:30:20.320
I started interviewing people

673
00:30:20.353 --> 00:30:23.390
and I got introduced to
this man named Phil Gries.

674
00:30:25.158 --> 00:30:27.093
(bright music)

675
00:30:27.127 --> 00:30:29.396
[Announcer] This is
News 12 Long Island.

676
00:30:29.429 --> 00:30:31.664
Now, the morning edition.

677
00:30:31.698 --> 00:30:33.299
The time right now is 6:18 and

678
00:30:33.333 --> 00:30:35.335
we're rewinding some
television history.

679
00:30:35.368 --> 00:30:39.639
There is a collection of
early TV audio in Old Westbury

680
00:30:39.673 --> 00:30:40.640
and Christina's there now.

681
00:30:40.674 --> 00:30:41.741
Christina.

682
00:30:41.775 --> 00:30:44.077
- Phil Gries has collected
thousands of audio tapes

683
00:30:44.110 --> 00:30:46.246
of old TV shows from the '60s.

684
00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:48.114
Phil, tell us, how
did you get started?

685
00:30:48.148 --> 00:30:50.417
How many tapes do you have?

686
00:30:50.450 --> 00:30:51.985
- Well, there are
about 2,000 programs

687
00:30:52.018 --> 00:30:54.254
that I collected
over the years.

688
00:30:54.287 --> 00:30:57.290
(gentle piano music)

689
00:31:09.703 --> 00:31:14.274
This is the Harry Belafonte
tape from February 5th and 6th

690
00:31:14.307 --> 00:31:16.042
at 25 minutes.

691
00:31:16.076 --> 00:31:18.144
This would be the
quarter inch tape.

692
00:31:19.379 --> 00:31:21.448
This was only audio.

693
00:31:21.481 --> 00:31:26.086
The first experience with
audio recording television

694
00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:28.988
was when I was 14 years old

695
00:31:29.022 --> 00:31:32.959
and I recorded things
that nobody else has.

696
00:31:32.992 --> 00:31:34.961
I taped a lot of
"Tonight Shows."

697
00:31:34.994 --> 00:31:39.232
I recorded the first two
nights with Harry Belafonte.

698
00:31:39.265 --> 00:31:43.136
(gentle music)

699
00:31:43.169 --> 00:31:46.439
[Announcer] Ladies and
gentlemen, Harry Belafonte.

700
00:31:46.473 --> 00:31:50.243
(audience applauding)

701
00:31:50.276 --> 00:31:52.145
So thanks to
these audio tapes,

702
00:31:52.178 --> 00:31:54.280
we have a real sense of
what the show was like.

703
00:31:54.314 --> 00:31:56.016
You get to hear
Harry sing a song.

704
00:31:56.049 --> 00:31:59.719
He apparently opened
every episode with a song

705
00:31:59.753 --> 00:32:02.355
and we hear him sing the
folk song "Rock Island Line."

706
00:32:02.389 --> 00:32:05.225
♪ The Rock Island line
is a mighty good road ♪

707
00:32:05.258 --> 00:32:08.194
♪ Oh, the Rock Island
line is the road to ride ♪

708
00:32:08.228 --> 00:32:11.131
I'm regretful that I didn't
record that whole week,

709
00:32:11.164 --> 00:32:15.168
because it was
the first time

710
00:32:15.201 --> 00:32:19.172
that an Afro American
was asked to host

711
00:32:19.205 --> 00:32:22.776
five consecutive days
of "The Tonight Show."

712
00:32:22.809 --> 00:32:25.412
[Harry] I am very, very
self conscious about the fact

713
00:32:25.445 --> 00:32:28.014
that I am in this
seat of power.

714
00:32:28.048 --> 00:32:29.549
It does give you a
feeling of power.

715
00:32:29.582 --> 00:32:32.352
But I tell you, my
greatest comfort

716
00:32:32.385 --> 00:32:34.387
is to get up and do the
thing that I love most.

717
00:32:34.421 --> 00:32:38.158
We have a film that I
would like to show you.

718
00:32:38.191 --> 00:32:40.460
One of the things
that stands out to me

719
00:32:40.493 --> 00:32:43.029
was that he showed home movies

720
00:32:43.063 --> 00:32:45.031
of him and his
family on vacation.

721
00:32:45.065 --> 00:32:47.367
(gentle music)

722
00:32:48.835 --> 00:32:50.437
[Harry] People have
asked me all the time,

723
00:32:50.470 --> 00:32:52.806
what do I do with
my spare time?

724
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:53.707
This is what I do.

725
00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:55.475
[Man] Watch the monitors
in the studio.

726
00:32:55.508 --> 00:32:58.178
(gentle music)

727
00:33:03.249 --> 00:33:04.484
(audience laughing)

728
00:33:04.517 --> 00:33:07.420
[Harry] That's my wife and
that's my 10 year old son.

729
00:33:09.155 --> 00:33:10.223
And that's my daughter.

730
00:33:11.257 --> 00:33:14.561
(gentle music)

731
00:33:14.594 --> 00:33:16.496
This is a young man by
the name of Ken White,

732
00:33:16.529 --> 00:33:20.567
who was the United States
water ski trick
skiing champion.

733
00:33:21.601 --> 00:33:23.403
Look at those muscles!

734
00:33:23.436 --> 00:33:25.605
He would perform for
about a month at a time

735
00:33:25.638 --> 00:33:29.509
in those days at Caesar's
Palace in Las Vegas.

736
00:33:29.542 --> 00:33:33.146
One of the perks of his
service to the hotel

737
00:33:33.179 --> 00:33:35.415
was that they gave us a
yacht every other day.

738
00:33:35.448 --> 00:33:38.518
And we would go out on
Lake Mead and water ski

739
00:33:38.551 --> 00:33:42.122
and he would also bring
a lot of folks.

740
00:33:42.155 --> 00:33:44.190
Celebrities, activists
on the boat.

741
00:33:44.224 --> 00:33:47.827
[Harry] It wasn't just
seeing us as Black people

742
00:33:47.861 --> 00:33:50.463
who were in show business,

743
00:33:50.497 --> 00:33:54.367
but seeing Black people
living their lives

744
00:33:54.401 --> 00:33:57.370
in ways that were more than
just being a performer.

745
00:33:59.139 --> 00:34:01.307
Ladies and gentlemen,
Miss Lena Horne.

746
00:34:01.341 --> 00:34:03.543
(audience applauding)

747
00:34:03.576 --> 00:34:05.545
Lena, I never ceased to
be amazed at the fact

748
00:34:05.578 --> 00:34:08.314
that you are a grandmother.

749
00:34:08.348 --> 00:34:09.349
[Lena] The thing that kept me

750
00:34:09.382 --> 00:34:11.317
from coming apart at the seams

751
00:34:11.351 --> 00:34:14.521
was the fact that I
wanted to stay married

752
00:34:14.554 --> 00:34:18.425
and I wanted to
raise my children.

753
00:34:18.458 --> 00:34:20.493
And in a very tough,
competitive business.

754
00:34:21.695 --> 00:34:26.599
♪ Ever since that day

755
00:34:26.633 --> 00:34:27.600
♪ When the world

756
00:34:27.634 --> 00:34:28.668
Well, I guess you've
gotten right to the top

757
00:34:28.702 --> 00:34:31.471
in every single phase of
show business there is,

758
00:34:31.504 --> 00:34:35.275
Movies and records, radio,
television, now the stage.

759
00:34:35.308 --> 00:34:38.445
Well, yes, and I'm very
happy now on the stage.

760
00:34:38.478 --> 00:34:42.182
♪ That I'm beholding ♪

761
00:34:42.215 --> 00:34:43.316
♪ A vision

762
00:34:43.350 --> 00:34:46.453
Lena Horne was a pioneering
African American superstar

763
00:34:46.486 --> 00:34:49.255
who had been very, very
outspoken politically.

764
00:34:49.289 --> 00:34:51.324
I don't feel like a
movie star particularly,

765
00:34:51.358 --> 00:34:54.260
but I'm a New Yorker and
what happens in the South

766
00:34:54.294 --> 00:34:56.896
happens to my state
and for my state, too.

767
00:34:56.930 --> 00:34:58.631
It's a communal
effort, I'm sure.

768
00:35:00.333 --> 00:35:03.236
Lena Horne became
very active in politics

769
00:35:03.269 --> 00:35:05.472
in the early civil
rights movement

770
00:35:05.505 --> 00:35:08.575
and she even found
herself blacklisted.

771
00:35:08.608 --> 00:35:12.712
In 1963, Lena was invited to
a secret civil rights meeting

772
00:35:12.746 --> 00:35:15.482
with then Attorney
General Bobby Kennedy.

773
00:35:15.515 --> 00:35:18.284
She was with Harry, the
author James Baldwin,

774
00:35:18.318 --> 00:35:19.919
playwright Lorraine Hansberry,

775
00:35:19.953 --> 00:35:23.323
and some younger Black
civil rights workers.

776
00:35:23.356 --> 00:35:25.325
It did not go well.

777
00:35:25.358 --> 00:35:29.229
Bobby Kennedy was appalled
by some of their suggestions

778
00:35:29.262 --> 00:35:32.232
about the measures that
the US should take

779
00:35:32.265 --> 00:35:34.434
around race, especially
in the South

780
00:35:34.467 --> 00:35:37.370
and the activists and
the artists were appalled

781
00:35:37.404 --> 00:35:39.639
at his lack of deep
understanding

782
00:35:39.673 --> 00:35:43.343
of the extent of the problem
of racism in the country

783
00:35:43.376 --> 00:35:45.645
where he was the chief
law enforcement officer.

784
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:48.415
Will you please welcome
Senator Robert Kennedy?

785
00:35:48.448 --> 00:35:51.451
(audience applauding)

786
00:35:55.655 --> 00:35:59.259
I ride up and down
in my building

787
00:35:59.292 --> 00:36:01.261
every day in the elevator
and I see a man

788
00:36:01.294 --> 00:36:03.530
that says he's Johnny Carson.

789
00:36:03.563 --> 00:36:05.598
So it's great
to see you finally.

790
00:36:05.632 --> 00:36:06.733
It's not, really?

791
00:36:06.766 --> 00:36:09.469
(audience laughing
and applauding)

792
00:36:09.502 --> 00:36:12.405
For the most part, my
father's relationship

793
00:36:12.439 --> 00:36:15.375
to Robert Kennedy
had been adversarial,

794
00:36:15.408 --> 00:36:17.577
given who Robert
Kennedy really was

795
00:36:17.610 --> 00:36:20.580
before he made the
choice to learn more

796
00:36:20.613 --> 00:36:22.649
about the plight
of poor people.

797
00:36:24.317 --> 00:36:27.387
(gentle music)

798
00:36:27.420 --> 00:36:29.389
[Harry] Well, when we first
got word that Bobby Kennedy

799
00:36:29.422 --> 00:36:31.024
had been appointed
as Attorney General

800
00:36:31.057 --> 00:36:32.692
for the United
States of America,

801
00:36:32.726 --> 00:36:36.563
many of us saw that as an
unfortunately dark choice.

802
00:36:36.596 --> 00:36:38.832
With his record of
anti-liberalism,

803
00:36:38.865 --> 00:36:41.368
with his class interests
and having had

804
00:36:41.401 --> 00:36:44.738
no real history or background
with peoples of color.

805
00:36:46.473 --> 00:36:48.041
Dr. King, upon listening
to all of us

806
00:36:48.074 --> 00:36:50.477
and how we criticized
Bobby said

807
00:36:50.510 --> 00:36:53.279
go out and find
his moral center.

808
00:36:53.313 --> 00:36:55.482
And we reached out to to him,

809
00:36:55.515 --> 00:36:57.584
gave him opportunity
to look at

810
00:36:57.617 --> 00:36:59.753
what was happening to
the poor white children

811
00:36:59.786 --> 00:37:01.654
and in the Black community.

812
00:37:01.688 --> 00:37:04.591
And wed him to our cause.

813
00:37:04.624 --> 00:37:08.762
My father's advice was to
actually go to the South.

814
00:37:10.764 --> 00:37:13.366
You see him coming
upon a young boy

815
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:16.770
leaning against a building
and asks had he had breakfast.

816
00:37:16.803 --> 00:37:18.738
The boy very warmly
told him he didn't.

817
00:37:18.772 --> 00:37:22.409
And I remember Bobby
Kennedy going to him

818
00:37:22.442 --> 00:37:25.078
and putting his hand
against the boy's cheek.

819
00:37:25.111 --> 00:37:28.314
I saw in that moment
that Bobby Kennedy

820
00:37:28.348 --> 00:37:31.317
was now deeply
touched and moved.

821
00:37:31.351 --> 00:37:36.523
He showed a deeper sense
of his own humanity.

822
00:37:36.556 --> 00:37:41.795
He came back with new
eyes and a new perspective.

823
00:37:41.828 --> 00:37:43.797
I think my father
felt an opportunity

824
00:37:43.830 --> 00:37:46.099
to create intimacy there,
in conversation

825
00:37:46.132 --> 00:37:47.634
and to get his feedback.

826
00:37:48.935 --> 00:37:50.637
I think that there
are many areas

827
00:37:50.670 --> 00:37:53.473
in which we have problems
in the United States.

828
00:37:53.506 --> 00:37:55.508
There is this great
wealth that I talked about

829
00:37:55.542 --> 00:37:57.677
and yet there's great poverty.

830
00:37:57.711 --> 00:37:59.546
There are speeches
made about the fact

831
00:37:59.579 --> 00:38:01.081
that we're going to
treat everybody equally,

832
00:38:01.114 --> 00:38:03.650
and yet we don't treat
everybody equally.

833
00:38:03.683 --> 00:38:07.821
He came on and spoke
to issues of race

834
00:38:07.854 --> 00:38:11.791
through the eyes
of Black children.

835
00:38:11.825 --> 00:38:12.892
Well, then I was out in Watts

836
00:38:12.926 --> 00:38:15.662
and I went by to
see some young men

837
00:38:15.695 --> 00:38:17.664
and one of them was
talking about the fact

838
00:38:17.697 --> 00:38:18.598
that he lived at
home with his mother

839
00:38:18.631 --> 00:38:20.400
and nobody ever
cleaned the garbage out.

840
00:38:20.433 --> 00:38:24.137
He said, "They can
draft me and send me off

841
00:38:24.170 --> 00:38:26.573
"to fight for this
country at the age of 18,

842
00:38:26.606 --> 00:38:28.141
"but they won't
let me complain about

843
00:38:28.174 --> 00:38:30.810
"the garbage out front beside
my mother's house at 19."

844
00:38:30.844 --> 00:38:34.147
He spent a good number
of minutes talking about

845
00:38:34.180 --> 00:38:37.384
what he saw America's
future to be.

846
00:38:37.417 --> 00:38:40.687
If we didn't, perhaps, tell
untruths about ourselves,

847
00:38:40.720 --> 00:38:41.755
then I think that er,

848
00:38:41.788 --> 00:38:43.723
and faced up to reality,

849
00:38:43.757 --> 00:38:46.393
then I think our country
would be much better off

850
00:38:46.426 --> 00:38:47.927
and our people would
have much more confidence

851
00:38:47.961 --> 00:38:49.896
in those of us who
are public officials

852
00:38:49.929 --> 00:38:51.831
and in our government
as a whole.

853
00:38:51.865 --> 00:38:53.433
(audience applauding)

854
00:38:53.466 --> 00:38:55.769
Bobby Kennedy became
sort of this spokesman

855
00:38:55.802 --> 00:38:59.172
for civil rights and the
whole progressive movement

856
00:38:59.205 --> 00:39:01.441
and the antiwar movement.

857
00:39:01.474 --> 00:39:03.677
This war has been handed
down and has been

858
00:39:03.710 --> 00:39:06.179
the delinquent child of a
number of presidents.

859
00:39:06.212 --> 00:39:08.515
Absolutely, including
the administration in which

860
00:39:08.548 --> 00:39:10.583
I was a member and served.

861
00:39:10.617 --> 00:39:12.886
You had the Tet Offensive
in January of 1968,

862
00:39:12.919 --> 00:39:16.523
where people finally see
this is going terribly

863
00:39:16.556 --> 00:39:17.424
for Americans.

864
00:39:17.457 --> 00:39:18.525
It's war is a disaster.

865
00:39:18.558 --> 00:39:20.493
The fact that there are
those who've been killed

866
00:39:20.527 --> 00:39:23.830
who are innocently involved
in this great struggle.

867
00:39:29.469 --> 00:39:31.538
Senator, there are increasing
reports out of Washington

868
00:39:31.571 --> 00:39:33.006
that your advisors
are now telling you

869
00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:36.543
that you should run against
President Johnson this year.

870
00:39:36.576 --> 00:39:40.613
Johnson had become extremely
unpopular with young people.

871
00:39:40.647 --> 00:39:43.883
The war is going so badly
that he's vulnerable.

872
00:39:43.917 --> 00:39:44.751
I have no plans.

873
00:39:44.784 --> 00:39:47.854
I have no plans to
change the statement

874
00:39:47.887 --> 00:39:48.755
that I've already made.

875
00:39:48.788 --> 00:39:49.756
Will you endorse--

876
00:39:49.789 --> 00:39:51.524
[Bill] There was all
kinds of speculation about

877
00:39:51.558 --> 00:39:53.827
would he move on to
challenge Lyndon Johnson

878
00:39:53.860 --> 00:39:55.528
for the presidency?

879
00:39:55.562 --> 00:39:58.198
It was a massive story.

880
00:39:58.231 --> 00:39:59.833
(dramatic music)

881
00:39:59.866 --> 00:40:02.969
I had tried to get Bobby
to use "The Tonight Show"

882
00:40:03.003 --> 00:40:05.772
to say that he was
running for the presidency

883
00:40:05.805 --> 00:40:09.509
and that I would have had,
like you journalists say,

884
00:40:09.542 --> 00:40:10.477
I'd had a scoop!

885
00:40:10.510 --> 00:40:12.846
You said only those who
dare to fail greatly

886
00:40:12.879 --> 00:40:14.981
can ever achieve greatly.

887
00:40:15.015 --> 00:40:19.986
Do you believe that in 1968,
in the coming elections,

888
00:40:20.020 --> 00:40:22.822
that we will have a
choice to back a candidate

889
00:40:22.856 --> 00:40:24.591
who will dare greatly?

890
00:40:24.624 --> 00:40:27.494
(audience applauding)

891
00:40:27.527 --> 00:40:29.763
I think you were nice
to do that, weren't you?

892
00:40:29.796 --> 00:40:32.766
(audience laughing)

893
00:40:32.799 --> 00:40:35.502
[Man] In this campaign
year, political figures are

894
00:40:35.535 --> 00:40:37.771
throwing their hats
into the ring.

895
00:40:37.804 --> 00:40:39.673
Bobby Kennedy
definitely will...

896
00:40:39.706 --> 00:40:41.241
Come on, Bobby,
make up your mind.

897
00:40:41.274 --> 00:40:43.943
(audience laughing)

898
00:40:43.977 --> 00:40:47.814
[Announcer] It's
"The Smothers Brothers
Comedy Hour."

899
00:40:47.847 --> 00:40:50.016
Our government is
asking us as citizens

900
00:40:50.050 --> 00:40:52.819
to refrain from traveling
to foreign lands.

901
00:40:55.588 --> 00:40:57.924
- Okay, all you guys in
Vietnam, come on home.

902
00:40:57.957 --> 00:41:00.527
(audience applauding)

903
00:41:00.560 --> 00:41:02.762
[Harry] Over the last couple
of years I've come to know

904
00:41:02.796 --> 00:41:04.564
and come to respect
two young men

905
00:41:04.597 --> 00:41:07.067
who have honored me by being
my guests this evening.

906
00:41:07.100 --> 00:41:09.836
They're quite popular
and quite controversial.

907
00:41:09.869 --> 00:41:12.105
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Smothers Brothers.

908
00:41:12.138 --> 00:41:13.039
(audience applauding)

909
00:41:13.073 --> 00:41:15.709
♪ Now Ho Chi Minh
sure aint no friend ♪

910
00:41:15.742 --> 00:41:17.777
♪ That's plain
for all to see ♪

911
00:41:17.811 --> 00:41:19.779
♪ And I know someone's
gotta fight over there ♪

912
00:41:19.813 --> 00:41:21.548
♪ But why does it
have to be me ♪

913
00:41:21.581 --> 00:41:22.916
The Smothers Brothers
became very political

914
00:41:22.949 --> 00:41:24.651
and they wanted
to deal with issues

915
00:41:24.684 --> 00:41:26.720
that were happening
in society.

916
00:41:26.753 --> 00:41:28.021
Look, what can
the president do

917
00:41:28.054 --> 00:41:30.123
to make people want to
stay in this country?

918
00:41:30.156 --> 00:41:31.591
Well, he could quit.

919
00:41:31.624 --> 00:41:33.026
(audience laughing)

920
00:41:33.059 --> 00:41:34.861
[Bill] The Smothers
Brothers were in the middle

921
00:41:34.894 --> 00:41:37.597
of this massive
controversy with CBS

922
00:41:37.630 --> 00:41:39.599
because of their
opposition to the war.

923
00:41:39.632 --> 00:41:42.736
They would be doing jokes
and mocking the president

924
00:41:42.769 --> 00:41:44.137
that you didn't
see anywhere else.

925
00:41:44.170 --> 00:41:46.806
My fellow citizens.

926
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:50.310
Because they were directly
criticizing Lyndon Johnson,

927
00:41:50.343 --> 00:41:53.813
he wound up calling the
head of CBS, William Paley,

928
00:41:53.847 --> 00:41:57.017
at three o'clock in
the morning and saying,

929
00:41:57.050 --> 00:41:58.685
"You gotta stop this."

930
00:41:58.718 --> 00:42:00.620
Paley did tell those
guys to knock it off.

931
00:42:00.653 --> 00:42:01.554
The Smothers Brothers said,

932
00:42:01.588 --> 00:42:02.655
"This is the show
we're going to do.

933
00:42:02.689 --> 00:42:04.090
"We're not gonna back off."

934
00:42:04.124 --> 00:42:06.126
Harry Belafonte had them on.

935
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:07.193
[Harry] What are
some of the jokes

936
00:42:07.227 --> 00:42:10.630
that CBS will not permit
you to tell on the air?

937
00:42:10.663 --> 00:42:11.264
[Smothers] They've
been kind enough

938
00:42:11.297 --> 00:42:12.198
to let us come on this show

939
00:42:12.232 --> 00:42:14.668
and do some of our
distasteful material.

940
00:42:14.701 --> 00:42:15.969
(audience laughing)

941
00:42:16.002 --> 00:42:22.042
♪ Make love not war

942
00:42:22.075 --> 00:42:24.611
I think what was
interesting about the week

943
00:42:24.644 --> 00:42:26.880
and something that
appealed to me personally,

944
00:42:26.913 --> 00:42:30.750
even at that age, was this
mix of art and politics.

945
00:42:30.784 --> 00:42:33.753
(crowd cheering)

946
00:42:37.090 --> 00:42:40.160
♪ Chain chain chain

947
00:42:40.193 --> 00:42:42.062
Throughout her career
in the 1960s,

948
00:42:42.095 --> 00:42:46.066
Aretha Franklin was not afraid
to make both entertainment

949
00:42:46.099 --> 00:42:48.968
and political music and to
tie those things together

950
00:42:49.002 --> 00:42:51.905
in a way that would be
forever transformative

951
00:42:51.938 --> 00:42:53.907
to popular music.

952
00:42:53.940 --> 00:42:58.378
♪ Oh you're treating
me cruel ♪

953
00:42:58.411 --> 00:42:59.746
♪ Chain chain chain

954
00:42:59.779 --> 00:43:01.815
Just one month before
"The Tonight Show"

955
00:43:01.848 --> 00:43:05.085
with Harry Belafonte, Aretha
Franklin released her album,

956
00:43:05.118 --> 00:43:06.252
"Lady Soul."

957
00:43:06.286 --> 00:43:07.287
"Chain of Fools," "You Make
Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,"

958
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:10.724
"Since You've Been Gone,"
"Ain't No Way."

959
00:43:10.757 --> 00:43:12.959
This is just one month
before "The Tonight Show,"

960
00:43:12.992 --> 00:43:14.928
so Aretha Franklin was
at the height of her

961
00:43:14.961 --> 00:43:16.830
creative and commercial
success.

962
00:43:16.863 --> 00:43:20.767
She is selling more
records than any woman

963
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:23.069
in music at that
time and still,

964
00:43:23.103 --> 00:43:26.773
and she's using that money
to fund the movement,

965
00:43:26.806 --> 00:43:27.974
to fund the activism.

966
00:43:28.008 --> 00:43:30.977
♪ I believe

967
00:43:31.011 --> 00:43:35.949
♪ I do believe

968
00:43:35.982 --> 00:43:40.086
♪ People get ready
♪ There's a train coming ♪

969
00:43:40.120 --> 00:43:42.455
You're so seduced by her voice

970
00:43:42.489 --> 00:43:47.727
that sometimes her activism
is seen as a second tier.

971
00:43:47.761 --> 00:43:51.664
("Respect" by Aretha Franklin)

972
00:43:54.968 --> 00:43:55.869
♪ What you want

973
00:43:55.902 --> 00:43:57.137
A song like "Respect,"
which we all know

974
00:43:57.170 --> 00:43:58.271
and associate with
Aretha Franklin,

975
00:43:58.304 --> 00:44:02.075
that became a huge political
anthem for so many things,

976
00:44:02.108 --> 00:44:03.209
including the
feminist movement,

977
00:44:03.243 --> 00:44:04.277
but also civil
rights movement.

978
00:44:04.310 --> 00:44:07.781
[Dr King] Tonight we are
gonna have a great night

979
00:44:07.814 --> 00:44:09.716
in the city of Philadelphia

980
00:44:09.749 --> 00:44:12.152
and I know you've heard
of Harry Belafonte

981
00:44:12.185 --> 00:44:15.755
and Aretha Franklin and
all of these other

982
00:44:15.789 --> 00:44:17.891
great and outstanding artists.

983
00:44:17.924 --> 00:44:20.026
She was very close to
Dr. Martin Luther King.

984
00:44:20.060 --> 00:44:23.063
Detroit is proud of
its native daughter.

985
00:44:23.096 --> 00:44:25.131
[Jason] He was willing
to work with her a lot

986
00:44:25.165 --> 00:44:29.135
to try to get his message
to a wider group of people.

987
00:44:29.169 --> 00:44:33.106
[Presenter] Do hereby proclaim
Friday, February the 16th

988
00:44:33.139 --> 00:44:35.742
as Aretha Franklin Day.

989
00:44:35.775 --> 00:44:37.110
Martin Luther King understood,

990
00:44:37.143 --> 00:44:38.778
coming from the Black church,

991
00:44:38.812 --> 00:44:42.248
how important music was
to conveying messages.

992
00:44:42.282 --> 00:44:45.151
And so Martin
Luther King cultivated

993
00:44:45.185 --> 00:44:47.120
these deep relationships
with artists

994
00:44:47.153 --> 00:44:49.756
who he saw as being
key and vital

995
00:44:49.789 --> 00:44:52.325
to the spreading
of his message.

996
00:44:52.359 --> 00:44:55.295
So many artists are
willing to stand up

997
00:44:55.328 --> 00:44:58.064
on these particular issues

998
00:44:58.098 --> 00:45:01.301
and it represents a real
and genuine courage.

999
00:45:01.334 --> 00:45:06.306
And not only does he have
the right to take a stand,

1000
00:45:06.339 --> 00:45:09.909
but a moral responsibility
to do it.

1001
00:45:09.943 --> 00:45:13.546
(guitar strumming)

1002
00:45:13.580 --> 00:45:16.816
I was a college
girl writing songs

1003
00:45:16.850 --> 00:45:19.152
that I thought audiences
really deserved to hear

1004
00:45:19.185 --> 00:45:21.221
because who, how are
they going to find out

1005
00:45:21.254 --> 00:45:23.356
about the things that
politicians and businessmen

1006
00:45:23.390 --> 00:45:24.858
are trying to cover up?

1007
00:45:24.891 --> 00:45:27.027
This is called
"Welcome Emigrante,"

1008
00:45:27.060 --> 00:45:29.095
which means
welcome immigrants.

1009
00:45:29.129 --> 00:45:32.098
And it's pretty silly for...

1010
00:45:32.132 --> 00:45:35.568
maybe a first or second or
third generation American

1011
00:45:35.602 --> 00:45:40.306
to be making fun of and
refusing help to

1012
00:45:40.340 --> 00:45:43.209
newly arrived immigrants
when the fact is

1013
00:45:43.243 --> 00:45:45.245
they haven't been here
that long themselves.

1014
00:45:45.278 --> 00:45:48.014
♪ And they came
from far away ♪

1015
00:45:48.048 --> 00:45:50.383
♪ To a land they didn't know ♪

1016
00:45:50.417 --> 00:45:52.819
♪ The same way you
do my friends ♪

1017
00:45:52.852 --> 00:45:55.388
When Harry invited me to
come on "The Tonight Show,"

1018
00:45:55.422 --> 00:45:57.390
of course I was thrilled.

1019
00:45:57.424 --> 00:46:01.594
Harry was like the heart and
brains of a lot of things.

1020
00:46:01.628 --> 00:46:05.265
He always brought people
from indigenous communities

1021
00:46:05.298 --> 00:46:07.100
all over the world onto stage.

1022
00:46:07.133 --> 00:46:10.970
And he brought those cultures
to audiences in cities,

1023
00:46:11.004 --> 00:46:14.374
in big fancy halls, who
otherwise would never have

1024
00:46:14.407 --> 00:46:18.078
been able to
hear those groups.

1025
00:46:18.111 --> 00:46:19.579
♪ Now the girls up at Cripple
Creek about half-grown ♪

1026
00:46:19.612 --> 00:46:20.513
♪ Jump on a boy

1027
00:46:20.547 --> 00:46:23.850
Harry gave me the idea
that you could be

1028
00:46:23.883 --> 00:46:26.152
an entertaining entertainer,

1029
00:46:26.186 --> 00:46:28.355
even if I'm doing
hard-hitting material.

1030
00:46:28.388 --> 00:46:30.223
You're not trying to
scold or hurt people,

1031
00:46:30.256 --> 00:46:31.858
you're trying to
give them something

1032
00:46:31.891 --> 00:46:33.426
that otherwise they
wouldn't have known.

1033
00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:37.030
When it came to discuss what
I was going to play and sing,

1034
00:46:37.063 --> 00:46:39.099
I suggested "Now That
the Buffalo's Gone"

1035
00:46:39.132 --> 00:46:44.237
♪ Remember the times

1036
00:46:44.270 --> 00:46:46.139
♪ That you have held
your head high ♪

1037
00:46:46.172 --> 00:46:49.075
"Now That the Buffalo's
Gone," which is a song about

1038
00:46:49.109 --> 00:46:51.077
the building of
the Kinzua Dam,

1039
00:46:51.111 --> 00:46:53.179
which is a government
project that's taken the land

1040
00:46:53.213 --> 00:46:54.614
away from the Seneca Indians.

1041
00:46:55.682 --> 00:46:57.417
America needed to see

1042
00:46:57.450 --> 00:47:01.254
what we were struggling
about as people of color.

1043
00:47:01.287 --> 00:47:06.893
♪ It's here and it's now
you must help us dear man ♪

1044
00:47:06.926 --> 00:47:11.131
♪ Now that the
buffalo's gone ♪

1045
00:47:13.400 --> 00:47:15.969
Art without content
is not art.

1046
00:47:18.004 --> 00:47:22.008
The truth of the matter is
that I quit being a pop star.

1047
00:47:22.042 --> 00:47:23.643
You can't go there and
sing protest songs

1048
00:47:23.677 --> 00:47:26.112
and sell a million, it
ain't going to happen.

1049
00:47:26.146 --> 00:47:29.416
I knew that I had
to go find an art

1050
00:47:29.449 --> 00:47:32.919
that would tell what
life should be.

1051
00:47:32.952 --> 00:47:38.458
And nothing did that better
than to be in the folk world.

1052
00:47:38.491 --> 00:47:42.062
♪ Gotta pull this timber
before the sun go down ♪

1053
00:47:42.095 --> 00:47:44.931
♪ Get it cross the river
before the boss come round ♪

1054
00:47:44.964 --> 00:47:48.034
♪ Drag it on down
that dusty road ♪

1055
00:47:48.068 --> 00:47:50.337
♪ Come on Jerry let's
tote that load ♪

1056
00:47:50.370 --> 00:47:53.239
In the history of folk music,
it's often seen as a kind of

1057
00:47:53.273 --> 00:47:56.109
white music, but that's
not actually true at all.

1058
00:47:56.142 --> 00:47:57.243
You have to remember,

1059
00:47:57.277 --> 00:48:01.047
folk music represented a
kind of political engagement,

1060
00:48:01.081 --> 00:48:02.949
especially for
African Americans,

1061
00:48:02.982 --> 00:48:05.318
that a lot of R&B music
didn't at the time.

1062
00:48:05.352 --> 00:48:08.188
R&B music, while it was
incredible music

1063
00:48:08.221 --> 00:48:10.256
and it's fun and exciting
and danceable,

1064
00:48:10.290 --> 00:48:13.026
was not necessarily
explicitly political.

1065
00:48:13.059 --> 00:48:16.129
The folk singers had
much more latitude.

1066
00:48:16.162 --> 00:48:19.199
♪ When we got there the
hills were steep ♪

1067
00:48:19.232 --> 00:48:22.268
♪ It would make a
tender person weep ♪

1068
00:48:22.302 --> 00:48:25.138
Leon Bibb was a
southern folksinger.

1069
00:48:25.171 --> 00:48:27.540
He was not a household name,

1070
00:48:27.574 --> 00:48:30.243
but he was somebody that
Harry Belafonte felt

1071
00:48:30.276 --> 00:48:33.013
could make an impact if he was
in front of a wide audience.

1072
00:48:33.046 --> 00:48:34.414
Ha! Ha! Ha!

1073
00:48:34.447 --> 00:48:38.184
America was awakened
to a whole new group

1074
00:48:38.218 --> 00:48:41.187
of Black artists they
never heard before.

1075
00:48:41.221 --> 00:48:43.156
And Leon was one of them.

1076
00:48:43.189 --> 00:48:46.126
Ladies and gentlemen, my
dear friend, Mr. Leon Bibb.

1077
00:48:46.159 --> 00:48:49.262
There was a song
called "Suzanne."

1078
00:48:49.295 --> 00:48:52.165
And I just adored that song.

1079
00:48:52.198 --> 00:48:54.501
♪ Suzanne takes you down

1080
00:48:54.534 --> 00:48:57.270
♪ To a place by the river

1081
00:48:57.303 --> 00:49:00.040
♪ You could hear
the boats go by ♪

1082
00:49:00.073 --> 00:49:02.475
♪ You can spend the
night forever ♪

1083
00:49:02.509 --> 00:49:04.544
When Leon Bibb came on,
I suggested to him

1084
00:49:04.577 --> 00:49:06.379
that he sing that song

1085
00:49:06.413 --> 00:49:08.248
and it blew everybody away.

1086
00:49:10.417 --> 00:49:14.754
♪ Suzanne takes you down

1087
00:49:14.788 --> 00:49:19.192
♪ To a place by the river

1088
00:49:19.225 --> 00:49:24.097
♪ You can hear
the boats go by ♪

1089
00:49:24.130 --> 00:49:25.065
♪ You can spend
the night forever ♪

1090
00:49:25.098 --> 00:49:27.334
I remember getting that call.

1091
00:49:27.367 --> 00:49:29.502
God, it was a thrill.

1092
00:49:29.536 --> 00:49:31.338
♪ And night grows sweeter

1093
00:49:31.371 --> 00:49:34.574
The guests that night
were Leon Bibb,

1094
00:49:34.607 --> 00:49:36.776
me, Freda Payne,

1095
00:49:38.445 --> 00:49:43.216
Paul Newman, Nipsey
Russell, Aaron and Freddie

1096
00:49:43.249 --> 00:49:46.786
and Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King.

1097
00:49:46.820 --> 00:49:49.089
Dr. King, how old are you?

1098
00:49:49.122 --> 00:49:51.124
- I'm 39 years old.

1099
00:49:51.157 --> 00:49:55.061
In fact, I was 39 just
three weeks ago.

1100
00:49:55.095 --> 00:49:56.162
[Man] What's the date?

1101
00:49:56.196 --> 00:49:58.198
Do you know that everybody
sitting on this panel--

1102
00:49:58.231 --> 00:50:00.367
The 15th of January.

1103
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:02.068
[Harry] Do you believe--

1104
00:50:02.102 --> 00:50:03.203
You're a young fellow,
what are you talking about?

1105
00:50:03.236 --> 00:50:06.373
[Harry] Everybody on this
panel is older than you are.

1106
00:50:06.406 --> 00:50:07.507
Wait a minute!

1107
00:50:07.540 --> 00:50:10.143
(all laughing)

1108
00:50:10.176 --> 00:50:12.145
There's no room here
for black protest.

1109
00:50:12.178 --> 00:50:15.115
(all laughing)

1110
00:50:15.148 --> 00:50:18.084
The idea that you'd
have Harry Belafonte...

1111
00:50:18.118 --> 00:50:20.520
talking to Nipsey Russell.

1112
00:50:20.553 --> 00:50:21.521
Here's a little news.

1113
00:50:21.554 --> 00:50:24.591
If you think that
medicine has to taste bad

1114
00:50:24.624 --> 00:50:27.394
in order to be good,
just watch.

1115
00:50:27.427 --> 00:50:30.530
To have Martin Luther
King talking to Paul Newman

1116
00:50:30.563 --> 00:50:34.367
where a white person is
a minority on the stage.

1117
00:50:34.401 --> 00:50:36.336
Come on, that's crazy!

1118
00:50:36.369 --> 00:50:39.873
Paul Newman, one of the
great actors of the time,

1119
00:50:39.906 --> 00:50:42.308
very celebrated
internationally,

1120
00:50:42.342 --> 00:50:44.377
had never done a
talk show before.

1121
00:50:44.411 --> 00:50:46.413
I know that all of the artists

1122
00:50:46.446 --> 00:50:49.282
who sit on this panel
tonight feel very strongly

1123
00:50:49.315 --> 00:50:52.619
about the war in Vietnam
and we oppose it.

1124
00:50:52.652 --> 00:50:54.621
We also have been
through the years

1125
00:50:54.654 --> 00:50:58.191
as committed to civil rights
as you could possibly be.

1126
00:50:58.224 --> 00:51:00.126
I know I've put this
question to Paul before,

1127
00:51:00.160 --> 00:51:02.462
but Paul, how do you handle
some people who say to you

1128
00:51:02.495 --> 00:51:06.466
that as a top star, living
the luxury of American life,

1129
00:51:06.499 --> 00:51:10.136
that you could turn your
back against the nation?

1130
00:51:10.170 --> 00:51:11.471
What do you do?

1131
00:51:11.504 --> 00:51:13.707
You give up your
citizenship because
you've become an actor?

1132
00:51:13.740 --> 00:51:17.243
I remember the night
with Dr. King.

1133
00:51:17.277 --> 00:51:19.913
Unlike the coverage
that was in the papers

1134
00:51:19.946 --> 00:51:21.247
and on TV, too,

1135
00:51:21.281 --> 00:51:23.883
this was a different
side of Dr. King.

1136
00:51:23.917 --> 00:51:26.319
He was relaxed,
he was smiling.

1137
00:51:26.353 --> 00:51:28.688
Well, I'm delighted
to be here, Harry

1138
00:51:28.722 --> 00:51:29.689
and I'll tell you,

1139
00:51:29.723 --> 00:51:32.592
one of the reasons I'm
so happy to be here.

1140
00:51:32.625 --> 00:51:35.195
I flew out of Washington
this afternoon

1141
00:51:35.228 --> 00:51:38.932
and as soon as we started
out, they notified us

1142
00:51:38.965 --> 00:51:42.635
that the plane had
mechanical difficulties

1143
00:51:42.669 --> 00:51:44.604
and I don't want to
give you an impression

1144
00:51:44.637 --> 00:51:46.706
that as a Baptist preacher

1145
00:51:46.740 --> 00:51:49.409
I don't have faith
in God in the air,

1146
00:51:49.442 --> 00:51:51.611
it's simply that
I've had more experience

1147
00:51:51.644 --> 00:51:52.679
with Him on the ground.

1148
00:51:52.712 --> 00:51:55.181
(audience laughing)

1149
00:51:55.215 --> 00:51:58.284
I was kind of amused that
he knew how to get laughter.

1150
00:51:58.318 --> 00:52:01.187
Which is something that you
don't see in his speeches

1151
00:52:01.221 --> 00:52:02.655
because he's so serious.

1152
00:52:02.689 --> 00:52:07.227
My thing was like, "Oh,
he can tell a good joke."

1153
00:52:07.260 --> 00:52:09.696
What do you have in
store for us this summer?

1154
00:52:09.729 --> 00:52:13.433
I feel that we
are in the midst

1155
00:52:13.466 --> 00:52:16.569
of the most critical
period in our nation

1156
00:52:16.603 --> 00:52:19.639
and the economic problem

1157
00:52:19.673 --> 00:52:23.510
is probably the most
serious problem confronting

1158
00:52:23.543 --> 00:52:27.213
the Negro community and
poor people, generally.

1159
00:52:27.247 --> 00:52:29.382
His new project that very week

1160
00:52:29.416 --> 00:52:32.352
was the Poor People's
Campaign.

1161
00:52:32.385 --> 00:52:35.221
He knew that the civil
rights movement itself

1162
00:52:35.255 --> 00:52:37.657
would have to give way to
something much more profound,

1163
00:52:37.691 --> 00:52:39.259
economic rights.

1164
00:52:39.292 --> 00:52:40.427
But bringing the
people together

1165
00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:42.429
in a much more fundamental way

1166
00:52:42.462 --> 00:52:44.264
around issues that
affected everybody,

1167
00:52:44.297 --> 00:52:46.733
regardless of race,
class, or color.

1168
00:52:46.766 --> 00:52:49.502
The week that Dr. King
was on "The Tonight Show,"

1169
00:52:49.536 --> 00:52:52.238
he was traveling all
over the country

1170
00:52:52.272 --> 00:52:54.341
to support the
Poor People's Campaign.

1171
00:52:54.374 --> 00:52:58.511
It is my hope that
we will really stand up

1172
00:52:58.545 --> 00:53:01.514
to gain power for poor people.

1173
00:53:01.548 --> 00:53:05.652
Black people, Mexican
Americans, American Indians,

1174
00:53:05.685 --> 00:53:10.557
Puerto Ricans, Appalachian
whites, all working together

1175
00:53:10.590 --> 00:53:14.027
to solve the
problem of poverty.

1176
00:53:14.060 --> 00:53:15.695
He got it from all sides.

1177
00:53:15.729 --> 00:53:17.697
His own staff said
we haven't finished

1178
00:53:17.731 --> 00:53:19.699
a Black lib movement
in the South.

1179
00:53:19.733 --> 00:53:22.435
Now you're saying this
campaign is going to have

1180
00:53:22.469 --> 00:53:24.637
white coal miners
and Mexicans?

1181
00:53:24.671 --> 00:53:27.407
You're taking my budget and
giving it to white folks?

1182
00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:30.677
I think the time has
come to bring to bear

1183
00:53:30.710 --> 00:53:33.480
the nonviolent direct
action movement

1184
00:53:33.513 --> 00:53:37.517
on the economic conditions
that we face

1185
00:53:37.550 --> 00:53:38.852
all over the country.

1186
00:53:38.885 --> 00:53:40.754
[Taylor] He finally
got his staff preparing

1187
00:53:40.787 --> 00:53:44.324
to go up to Washington
to start the campaign.

1188
00:53:44.357 --> 00:53:47.527
And then the garbage
strike in Memphis happened.

1189
00:53:47.560 --> 00:53:50.764
A public official orders
men to get back to work

1190
00:53:50.797 --> 00:53:53.366
and treats them as
though they are not men.

1191
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:55.735
That's a racist point of view.

1192
00:53:55.769 --> 00:53:57.671
They said we are
treated like garbage.

1193
00:53:57.704 --> 00:53:59.873
That's where the slogan
"I am a man" comes from.

1194
00:53:59.906 --> 00:54:02.475
I'm a man, not garbage.

1195
00:54:02.509 --> 00:54:04.744
And Dr. King said if
this is not what the

1196
00:54:04.778 --> 00:54:07.747
Poor People's Campaign
is about, nothing is.

1197
00:54:07.781 --> 00:54:09.582
We have to go to Memphis.

1198
00:54:09.616 --> 00:54:14.387
You are demanding that
this city will respect

1199
00:54:14.421 --> 00:54:16.589
the dignity of labor.

1200
00:54:16.623 --> 00:54:18.692
[Joan] There was a rising
Black Power movement.

1201
00:54:18.725 --> 00:54:21.594
There was a perception
that Dr. King

1202
00:54:21.628 --> 00:54:25.532
was not moving fast enough
for the younger Black folks

1203
00:54:25.565 --> 00:54:27.500
and the Black nationalists.

1204
00:54:27.534 --> 00:54:28.902
Certainly Black people
in this country

1205
00:54:28.935 --> 00:54:32.439
were deeply frustrated by
existing Black leadership.

1206
00:54:32.472 --> 00:54:36.576
There was really no aggressive
voice doing for us

1207
00:54:36.609 --> 00:54:39.512
what youth felt
should be done.

1208
00:54:39.546 --> 00:54:41.114
They were going to
become the provocateurs,

1209
00:54:41.147 --> 00:54:43.650
they were going to
become the radical voice.

1210
00:54:43.683 --> 00:54:44.684
Do you think you'll
be able to keep it

1211
00:54:44.718 --> 00:54:46.119
nonviolent, Dr. King?

1212
00:54:46.152 --> 00:54:47.153
Yes, I think so.

1213
00:54:47.187 --> 00:54:50.523
I don't have any doubt
in my mind about that.

1214
00:54:50.557 --> 00:54:51.891
Mr. Carmichael,
are you as committed

1215
00:54:51.925 --> 00:54:54.094
to the nonviolent
approach as Dr. King is?

1216
00:54:54.127 --> 00:54:55.395
No, I'm not.

1217
00:54:55.428 --> 00:54:56.496
No one in this
country is asking

1218
00:54:56.529 --> 00:54:59.599
the white community in the
South to be nonviolent.

1219
00:54:59.632 --> 00:55:01.868
And that, in a sense, is
giving them a free license

1220
00:55:01.901 --> 00:55:03.670
to go ahead and
shoot us at will.

1221
00:55:03.703 --> 00:55:06.473
(dramatic music)

1222
00:55:08.441 --> 00:55:10.610
Harry would host
meetings in his apartment

1223
00:55:10.643 --> 00:55:13.747
in which Dr. King would
have truce talks.

1224
00:55:13.780 --> 00:55:15.682
Harry was somebody
who was trusted

1225
00:55:15.715 --> 00:55:18.752
by the radical young
kids and by Dr. King.

1226
00:55:18.785 --> 00:55:21.955
He had this ambassador role.

1227
00:55:21.988 --> 00:55:24.524
The week that Dr. King
was on "The Tonight Show,"

1228
00:55:24.557 --> 00:55:27.527
I don't think anybody in
America knew all the strains

1229
00:55:27.560 --> 00:55:28.762
that were colliding.

1230
00:55:28.795 --> 00:55:32.699
He extended all of
the movements that
he was involved with

1231
00:55:32.732 --> 00:55:34.668
beyond the capacity
of any man.

1232
00:55:34.701 --> 00:55:37.170
He had denounced
the Vietnam War.

1233
00:55:37.203 --> 00:55:43.410
The fact is we spend
approximately $500,000

1234
00:55:43.443 --> 00:55:46.680
to kill each
Viet Cong soldier.

1235
00:55:46.713 --> 00:55:51.584
While we spend only
about $53 a year

1236
00:55:51.618 --> 00:55:56.623
for every person categorized
as poverty stricken.

1237
00:55:56.656 --> 00:55:59.726
The cruel truth is
that Dr. King had been

1238
00:55:59.759 --> 00:56:01.661
denounced in the media.

1239
00:56:01.695 --> 00:56:03.563
New York Times and the
Washington Post said

1240
00:56:03.596 --> 00:56:04.764
he's trying to be
a peace leader,

1241
00:56:04.798 --> 00:56:05.999
he should stick
to civil rights.

1242
00:56:06.032 --> 00:56:07.667
We'll never respect him again.

1243
00:56:08.902 --> 00:56:10.670
He was a very
beleaguered person

1244
00:56:10.704 --> 00:56:12.539
when he came on
"The Tonight Show"

1245
00:56:12.572 --> 00:56:15.608
because he was having trouble
getting people to understand

1246
00:56:15.642 --> 00:56:17.911
how all of his messages
fit together.

1247
00:56:17.944 --> 00:56:21.881
And there was a sense that the
zeitgeist had moved past him.

1248
00:56:22.982 --> 00:56:24.751
Do you fear for your life?

1249
00:56:26.653 --> 00:56:29.489
It was well known that Dr.
King was getting death threats

1250
00:56:29.522 --> 00:56:32.759
and Dr. King went through a
period of being very fearful,

1251
00:56:32.792 --> 00:56:34.594
actually, he was only human.

1252
00:56:34.627 --> 00:56:37.831
We have lived with this
a number of years now,

1253
00:56:37.864 --> 00:56:43.236
since we started out in
Montgomery, Alabama in 1956.

1254
00:56:43.269 --> 00:56:44.704
I had to deal
with this problem

1255
00:56:44.738 --> 00:56:48.008
because if I moved
around, worrying about it,

1256
00:56:48.041 --> 00:56:50.677
it would completely
immobilize me.

1257
00:56:50.710 --> 00:56:53.947
And so I've come to the point
that I take this whole matter

1258
00:56:53.980 --> 00:56:55.882
very philosophically.

1259
00:56:55.915 --> 00:56:59.886
I'm more concerned about
doing something for humanity

1260
00:56:59.919 --> 00:57:04.924
and what I consider the will
of God than about longevity.

1261
00:57:04.958 --> 00:57:08.728
Ultimately, it isn't so
important how long you live,

1262
00:57:08.762 --> 00:57:12.032
the important thing
is how well you live.

1263
00:57:12.065 --> 00:57:14.601
"The Tonight Show"
was definitely his last

1264
00:57:14.634 --> 00:57:17.737
major national
television appearance.

1265
00:57:17.771 --> 00:57:21.274
He didn't have that many
national television
appearances.

1266
00:57:21.307 --> 00:57:22.942
I mean, it's easy to forget

1267
00:57:22.976 --> 00:57:26.713
how segregated American
media still was in that era.

1268
00:57:26.746 --> 00:57:30.250
Dr. King, thank you so
much for being here tonight.

1269
00:57:30.283 --> 00:57:32.652
(audience applauding)

1270
00:57:32.686 --> 00:57:33.787
Goodnight.

1271
00:57:33.820 --> 00:57:34.954
Thank you for being here.

1272
00:57:34.988 --> 00:57:38.792
(audience applauding)

1273
00:57:46.099 --> 00:57:48.702
(brassy music)

1274
00:57:53.073 --> 00:57:54.641
What can I say about
Harry Belafonte?

1275
00:57:54.674 --> 00:57:55.475
He's one of a kind.

1276
00:57:55.508 --> 00:57:56.910
Would you welcome
Harry Belafonte?

1277
00:57:56.943 --> 00:57:57.944
(audience applauding)

1278
00:57:57.977 --> 00:58:01.014
Just about a month
after Harry's hosting gig,

1279
00:58:01.047 --> 00:58:02.949
Johnny Carson had him
back on "The Tonight Show"

1280
00:58:02.982 --> 00:58:03.850
to talk about it.

1281
00:58:03.883 --> 00:58:05.051
Did you have a ball with it?

1282
00:58:05.085 --> 00:58:05.919
I caught you a
couple of nights,

1283
00:58:05.952 --> 00:58:07.087
looked like you were
having a great time.

1284
00:58:07.120 --> 00:58:08.621
I had a marvelous time.

1285
00:58:08.655 --> 00:58:09.889
The grooviest time
in the world here

1286
00:58:09.923 --> 00:58:11.891
the week that I spent here.

1287
00:58:11.925 --> 00:58:13.927
We ended with ratings
that were larger than

1288
00:58:13.960 --> 00:58:15.128
the ones we opened with

1289
00:58:15.161 --> 00:58:17.063
and we opened with
the largest numbers

1290
00:58:17.097 --> 00:58:18.832
in the history of the show.

1291
00:58:18.865 --> 00:58:20.734
I must honestly say that

1292
00:58:20.767 --> 00:58:22.936
each and every member
of your staff

1293
00:58:22.969 --> 00:58:25.572
did everything in the world
to make me comfortable.

1294
00:58:25.605 --> 00:58:28.008
He took out a full
page in Variety,

1295
00:58:28.041 --> 00:58:30.010
thanking the entire staff

1296
00:58:30.043 --> 00:58:31.845
and all the guests
that were on the show

1297
00:58:31.878 --> 00:58:36.916
and it did say I enjoyed
my "sit-in" on
"The Tonight Show."

1298
00:58:36.950 --> 00:58:38.585
You had a great week.

1299
00:58:38.618 --> 00:58:40.920
Once you lay back
and have fun with it,

1300
00:58:40.954 --> 00:58:41.855
you can't go too far wrong.

1301
00:58:41.888 --> 00:58:43.323
But you never know
that in the beginning.

1302
00:58:43.356 --> 00:58:44.057
No.

1303
00:58:45.859 --> 00:58:49.662
I also got a number
of letters protesting

1304
00:58:49.696 --> 00:58:51.598
they didn't want
to be preached to.

1305
00:58:51.631 --> 00:58:53.900
People came there
to be entertained.

1306
00:58:53.933 --> 00:58:58.738
We consciously put
before the public

1307
00:58:58.772 --> 00:59:04.344
all of the issues that they
saw during the past week...

1308
00:59:04.377 --> 00:59:06.613
with the knowledge that
they were hearing

1309
00:59:06.646 --> 00:59:08.682
things that they would
never have heard before.

1310
00:59:09.816 --> 00:59:11.117
There were mixed reactions.

1311
00:59:11.151 --> 00:59:14.688
There were those people
that they've watched
the Vietnam War

1312
00:59:14.721 --> 00:59:16.923
during dinnertime and you
know, by the time it came to

1313
00:59:16.956 --> 00:59:21.061
11:30 at night they
just wanted to relax.

1314
00:59:21.094 --> 00:59:24.764
He willed a world
into being for one week.

1315
00:59:24.798 --> 00:59:28.935
He really wanted to create
this integrated world

1316
00:59:28.968 --> 00:59:31.638
and show us how good
it could be.

1317
00:59:31.671 --> 00:59:33.006
Some people walked
in and loved it

1318
00:59:33.039 --> 00:59:35.675
and some people
slammed the door shut.

1319
00:59:35.709 --> 00:59:36.743
For those of you who
might not be aware,

1320
00:59:36.776 --> 00:59:39.012
there was a, I guess we
can term it an incident

1321
00:59:39.045 --> 00:59:41.681
that happened during
the taping with

1322
00:59:41.715 --> 00:59:42.882
Harry and Petula Clark on it.

1323
00:59:42.916 --> 00:59:43.817
That was in California,
wasn't it?

1324
00:59:43.850 --> 00:59:45.652
Yes, out of the NBC studios.

1325
00:59:45.685 --> 00:59:49.122
♪ Blessed are the
meek they say ♪

1326
00:59:49.155 --> 00:59:52.192
♪ They shall win
where others lose ♪

1327
00:59:52.225 --> 00:59:55.095
Just about a month after
Petula Clark appeared

1328
00:59:55.128 --> 00:59:57.063
with Harry on
"The Tonight Show,"

1329
00:59:57.097 --> 01:00:00.800
she invited Harry
onto her own special.

1330
01:00:00.834 --> 01:00:04.104
♪ Evil will be
brought to justice ♪

1331
01:00:04.137 --> 01:00:08.041
♪ On the path of glory

1332
01:00:08.074 --> 01:00:09.976
"Path of Glory"
is a protest song.

1333
01:00:10.010 --> 01:00:12.912
It's about these young
men going off to war

1334
01:00:12.946 --> 01:00:16.816
and in rehearsal,
we were both
very moved by it.

1335
01:00:16.850 --> 01:00:20.120
So when we came to tape
it, that emotion showed

1336
01:00:20.153 --> 01:00:22.989
and I put my hand
on Harry's arm.

1337
01:00:24.190 --> 01:00:28.161
♪ Why should man
be forced to kill ♪

1338
01:00:28.194 --> 01:00:31.431
♪ Why should they
be made to die ♪

1339
01:00:31.464 --> 01:00:34.968
And that's when all
the problems started

1340
01:00:35.001 --> 01:00:36.102
with with the sponsor.

1341
01:00:36.136 --> 01:00:39.739
Miss Clark reached up and
put her right hand on my arm

1342
01:00:39.773 --> 01:00:40.874
like this and it...

1343
01:00:42.208 --> 01:00:43.943
(audience laughing)

1344
01:00:43.977 --> 01:00:45.011
I like that.

1345
01:00:45.045 --> 01:00:45.979
(audience laughs)

1346
01:00:46.012 --> 01:00:47.681
Not half bad at all, really.

1347
01:00:48.915 --> 01:00:49.916
Anyway, uh...

1348
01:00:49.949 --> 01:00:51.117
(audience laughs)

1349
01:00:51.151 --> 01:00:53.086
Now wait till you see what
we're accused of tomorrow.

1350
01:00:53.119 --> 01:00:56.189
(audience applauding)

1351
01:00:57.924 --> 01:00:59.759
He's touching
the white lady.

1352
01:00:59.793 --> 01:01:02.495
He's touching, oh,
did he just kiss, oh!

1353
01:01:02.529 --> 01:01:03.797
You know, it's Petula Clark.

1354
01:01:03.830 --> 01:01:04.764
He touched a white lady.

1355
01:01:04.798 --> 01:01:05.932
Not supposed to do that.

1356
01:01:05.965 --> 01:01:10.003
♪ The car called Plymouth's
really made it clear ♪

1357
01:01:10.036 --> 01:01:12.172
She was called
the Plymouth girl.

1358
01:01:12.205 --> 01:01:14.274
The Plymouth representative
on the set,

1359
01:01:14.307 --> 01:01:16.476
he said "No, no, no,
you're not through.

1360
01:01:16.509 --> 01:01:18.812
"We have to take
the touch out."

1361
01:01:18.845 --> 01:01:22.015
They wanted to sell
cars in the South, so.

1362
01:01:23.817 --> 01:01:24.784
That was a no-no.

1363
01:01:24.818 --> 01:01:26.886
My star, that is to say, me,

1364
01:01:26.920 --> 01:01:29.756
can't be touching a
Black man's arm.

1365
01:01:29.789 --> 01:01:32.258
At that point, I turned
to Pet Clark and said,

1366
01:01:32.292 --> 01:01:35.261
"Look, this is your show,
what do you want to do?"

1367
01:01:35.295 --> 01:01:37.497
She said, "The touch stays."

1368
01:01:37.530 --> 01:01:38.765
I said, "Well, that's it."

1369
01:01:38.798 --> 01:01:43.770
In a time when a nation
is really struggling
for its soul,

1370
01:01:43.803 --> 01:01:45.805
you know, on the heels
of the president's report

1371
01:01:45.839 --> 01:01:48.141
on the riots that took
place in the summer,

1372
01:01:48.174 --> 01:01:50.143
I believe that all of
us have a responsibility

1373
01:01:50.176 --> 01:01:52.212
to do everything
we can to salvage

1374
01:01:52.245 --> 01:01:53.380
the best that's in America,

1375
01:01:53.413 --> 01:01:55.081
because there's a great
deal that's good about it.

1376
01:01:55.115 --> 01:01:57.951
(crowd applauding)

1377
01:01:57.984 --> 01:02:01.521
Like anybody, I would
like to live a long life.

1378
01:02:01.554 --> 01:02:05.959
Longevity has its place.

1379
01:02:05.992 --> 01:02:08.361
But I'm not concerned
about that now.

1380
01:02:08.395 --> 01:02:12.165
Dr. King had developed
severe hiccups

1381
01:02:12.198 --> 01:02:14.868
and he would kind
of sort of...

1382
01:02:17.003 --> 01:02:22.008
In the middle of a moment
have a hiccuping fit.

1383
01:02:22.042 --> 01:02:23.977
And then somewhere
down the line,

1384
01:02:24.010 --> 01:02:27.380
I discovered that that tick
was no longer as evident.

1385
01:02:27.414 --> 01:02:31.251
And I asked him, "You seem to
have gotten over the hiccup.

1386
01:02:31.284 --> 01:02:33.319
"What happened?"

1387
01:02:33.353 --> 01:02:36.289
And he looked and said,
"It's very simple, Harry."

1388
01:02:36.322 --> 01:02:39.159
He said, "I made my
peace with death."

1389
01:02:40.226 --> 01:02:41.828
Yeah.

1390
01:02:41.861 --> 01:02:43.396
Huh.

1391
01:02:43.430 --> 01:02:45.832
(dramatic music)

1392
01:02:45.865 --> 01:02:48.868
Martin had been in my home

1393
01:02:48.902 --> 01:02:51.004
a few days before
he was murdered.

1394
01:02:52.339 --> 01:02:53.940
[Newsreader] At 7:10
this evening,

1395
01:02:53.973 --> 01:02:56.176
Martin Luther King
was shot in Tennessee.

1396
01:02:57.444 --> 01:03:00.113
Martin Luther King,
20 minutes ago died.

1397
01:03:00.146 --> 01:03:04.851
(crowd gasping and exclaiming)

1398
01:03:04.884 --> 01:03:06.219
(crowd chattering)

1399
01:03:06.252 --> 01:03:09.322
I heard that he'd been shot

1400
01:03:09.356 --> 01:03:14.894
when a member of my staff
came into the living room

1401
01:03:14.928 --> 01:03:18.365
at my home to tell me to
turn on the television

1402
01:03:18.398 --> 01:03:20.166
and to take a look.

1403
01:03:20.200 --> 01:03:22.302
And I could not believe.

1404
01:03:22.335 --> 01:03:25.405
(dramatic music)

1405
01:03:27.340 --> 01:03:30.944
I cannot talk a lot about
that period, I get upset.

1406
01:03:30.977 --> 01:03:32.078
The emotion of the time.

1407
01:03:33.146 --> 01:03:35.949
(dramatic music)

1408
01:03:40.420 --> 01:03:42.322
The first time I ever
saw my father cry

1409
01:03:42.355 --> 01:03:46.226
was at the announcement of
the assassination of Dr. King.

1410
01:03:48.361 --> 01:03:51.364
He sort of, I think he kind
of went numb a little bit.

1411
01:03:51.398 --> 01:03:53.933
(dramatic music)

1412
01:03:53.967 --> 01:03:57.170
[Harry] Assassinations
seemed to be a big part

1413
01:03:57.203 --> 01:03:59.406
of the American horror story.

1414
01:03:59.439 --> 01:04:02.275
[Interviewer] What's the
worst experience you had

1415
01:04:02.308 --> 01:04:06.112
in terms of being on the
receiving end of prejudice?

1416
01:04:06.146 --> 01:04:07.881
I think the death of Dr. King.

1417
01:04:11.051 --> 01:04:14.220
Very personally, it was
a prejudiced act,

1418
01:04:14.254 --> 01:04:17.190
a sick act that
snuffed out his life

1419
01:04:17.223 --> 01:04:19.926
in a time when a nation
needed him desperately.

1420
01:04:19.959 --> 01:04:21.227
♪ And I believe
there's a prophet ♪

1421
01:04:21.261 --> 01:04:22.395
We were very, very close.

1422
01:04:24.030 --> 01:04:31.905
♪ In heaven

1423
01:04:32.706 --> 01:04:35.075
♪ Yes there is

1424
01:04:37.410 --> 01:04:42.349
♪ Whatever's been done to
you God is gonna... ♪

1425
01:04:42.382 --> 01:04:43.416
♪ Oh yes He will

1426
01:04:43.450 --> 01:04:47.287
He dove into the work to
defend against, I think,

1427
01:04:47.320 --> 01:04:50.223
feeling that deeper
pain and shock

1428
01:04:50.256 --> 01:04:54.060
because how does one
really recover from that?

1429
01:04:54.094 --> 01:04:56.029
That's something that
you carry forever.

1430
01:04:57.731 --> 01:04:58.832
In the work that we were doing

1431
01:04:58.865 --> 01:05:02.035
in the civil rights movement,
with not only Dr. King,

1432
01:05:02.068 --> 01:05:04.471
but all of the other
leaders of that period,

1433
01:05:04.504 --> 01:05:09.009
we were aware that we were
stirring up a hornet's nest

1434
01:05:09.042 --> 01:05:13.146
and that there was going
to be a price to be paid.

1435
01:05:13.179 --> 01:05:17.183
Martin Luther King
dedicated his life

1436
01:05:19.319 --> 01:05:24.157
to love and to justice
between fellow human beings.

1437
01:05:25.358 --> 01:05:29.362
He died in the cause
of that effort.

1438
01:05:29.396 --> 01:05:31.564
About a month after he
was on "The Tonight Show"

1439
01:05:31.598 --> 01:05:35.035
with Harry, Bobby
Kennedy actually declared

1440
01:05:35.068 --> 01:05:38.738
that he was indeed going
to run for president.

1441
01:05:38.772 --> 01:05:42.509
For a lot of us young Black
and Mexican American men,

1442
01:05:42.542 --> 01:05:45.478
Bobby Kennedy gave
us hope again.

1443
01:05:45.512 --> 01:05:46.446
(crowd cheering)

1444
01:05:46.479 --> 01:05:50.316
He spoke about an
America that was really

1445
01:05:50.350 --> 01:05:53.319
the dream and the wish
that everybody possessed.

1446
01:05:53.353 --> 01:05:56.322
Every American, no matter
what his background,

1447
01:05:56.356 --> 01:05:58.591
what his creed, what
color of his skin

1448
01:05:58.625 --> 01:06:02.028
or where he lives shall
walk with dignity and honor

1449
01:06:02.062 --> 01:06:03.063
in the United States.

1450
01:06:03.096 --> 01:06:06.366
(crowd cheering)

1451
01:06:06.399 --> 01:06:09.436
I had been campaigning
with him quite intensely.

1452
01:06:09.469 --> 01:06:13.039
So I had been very much
involved with Bobby,

1453
01:06:13.073 --> 01:06:18.311
talking about all of the
issues of a campaign.

1454
01:06:18.345 --> 01:06:21.348
And going to California,
none of us were concerned

1455
01:06:21.381 --> 01:06:25.118
about his welfare
in that community.

1456
01:06:25.151 --> 01:06:28.488
Because of all the places,
California was certainly

1457
01:06:28.521 --> 01:06:31.091
one of the most
liberal environments.

1458
01:06:31.124 --> 01:06:33.093
[Newsreader] Robert Kennedy
is dead.

1459
01:06:33.126 --> 01:06:35.829
He's gone the same way
his brother did.

1460
01:06:35.862 --> 01:06:39.366
When he was taken away
from us, there was a void

1461
01:06:39.399 --> 01:06:42.402
that he just left that
has yet to be filled.

1462
01:06:44.371 --> 01:06:46.840
The loss of Dr. King
coupled with what happened

1463
01:06:46.873 --> 01:06:50.276
with Bobby Kennedy,
set us up as a nation

1464
01:06:50.310 --> 01:06:54.547
to become as mismanaged as
we are presenting ourselves

1465
01:06:54.581 --> 01:06:56.216
to be at this moment.

1466
01:06:56.249 --> 01:06:58.251
The death of those
two men changed

1467
01:06:58.284 --> 01:07:00.220
the American climate severely.

1468
01:07:02.288 --> 01:07:03.823
Good evening and thank
you for joining us tonight

1469
01:07:03.857 --> 01:07:07.427
as we don't plan to do the
usual "Tonight Show" format

1470
01:07:07.460 --> 01:07:08.294
this evening.

1471
01:07:08.328 --> 01:07:09.429
Within a few months
of their appearance

1472
01:07:09.462 --> 01:07:12.532
on "The Tonight Show," both
Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy

1473
01:07:12.565 --> 01:07:13.633
had been assassinated.

1474
01:07:13.667 --> 01:07:16.269
Johnny Carson held
a round table.

1475
01:07:16.302 --> 01:07:19.139
He knew Bobby Kennedy,
but it wasn't just that.

1476
01:07:19.172 --> 01:07:21.274
He knew what was happening
to the country.

1477
01:07:21.307 --> 01:07:23.476
And he thought it was
important enough

1478
01:07:23.510 --> 01:07:26.680
to turn his whole show
over to that topic.

1479
01:07:26.713 --> 01:07:29.482
All of the words and
phrases you've heard

1480
01:07:29.516 --> 01:07:32.552
the past four days, I think
the immediate thing was

1481
01:07:32.585 --> 01:07:35.155
we're a violent nation,
we're a sick society.

1482
01:07:35.188 --> 01:07:36.423
What's wrong with us?

1483
01:07:36.456 --> 01:07:37.524
We're living like animals.

1484
01:07:37.557 --> 01:07:38.892
What is wrong
with this country?

1485
01:07:38.925 --> 01:07:40.593
What the Harry Belafonte
week did

1486
01:07:40.627 --> 01:07:44.497
was open the door
to serious conversation

1487
01:07:44.531 --> 01:07:45.565
on these late night shows

1488
01:07:45.598 --> 01:07:47.634
about serious things.

1489
01:07:47.667 --> 01:07:49.602
But I say that this country
has been going through

1490
01:07:49.636 --> 01:07:51.638
a revolution in
the last few years,

1491
01:07:51.671 --> 01:07:53.406
just this country's
in turmoil.

1492
01:07:53.440 --> 01:07:56.509
And I know that there
is a seed of revolution

1493
01:07:56.543 --> 01:07:58.144
that's going through, the seed
of change is going through.

1494
01:07:58.178 --> 01:08:00.447
(tense music)

1495
01:08:13.693 --> 01:08:16.463
The idea that people, just
before they would go to bed,

1496
01:08:16.496 --> 01:08:19.199
would be interested, not
only in entertainment,

1497
01:08:19.232 --> 01:08:20.200
but politics.

1498
01:08:20.233 --> 01:08:22.268
This is something that
Harry Belafonte proved

1499
01:08:22.302 --> 01:08:24.237
in February of 1968.

1500
01:08:24.270 --> 01:08:26.473
And I, for one,
welcome the fact

1501
01:08:26.506 --> 01:08:30.543
that artists have taken
a stand for peace

1502
01:08:30.577 --> 01:08:32.645
and have taken a
stand for justice.

1503
01:08:32.679 --> 01:08:36.483
I think since 1968 it's
been very hard for folks.

1504
01:08:36.516 --> 01:08:40.353
And the country's
never been the same.

1505
01:08:40.387 --> 01:08:41.621
And it's been terrific,

1506
01:08:41.654 --> 01:08:45.358
but I think it may
have angered folks,

1507
01:08:45.392 --> 01:08:48.328
which led us to
where we are today.

1508
01:08:48.361 --> 01:08:50.397
(protesters chattering)

1509
01:08:50.430 --> 01:08:53.366
The violence and hostility
is still in America.

1510
01:08:53.400 --> 01:08:56.670
What have we missed in
trying to reach those people

1511
01:08:56.703 --> 01:08:57.704
with our message?

1512
01:08:59.673 --> 01:09:01.207
(protestors shouting)

1513
01:09:01.241 --> 01:09:03.243
I'm now 90 years old

1514
01:09:03.276 --> 01:09:06.680
and I've been at this game
since I was a teenager.

1515
01:09:06.713 --> 01:09:10.650
The backlash has continued
ever since the 1960s.

1516
01:09:10.684 --> 01:09:13.520
Dr. King said there's going
to be a tremendous resentment

1517
01:09:13.553 --> 01:09:16.523
against the government for
sponsoring civil rights.

1518
01:09:16.556 --> 01:09:19.526
You've had a cynicism and
an antigovernment movement

1519
01:09:19.559 --> 01:09:21.728
as a way of dealing with race

1520
01:09:21.761 --> 01:09:24.497
without actually
mentioning race.

1521
01:09:24.531 --> 01:09:26.766
Television and politics,
late night,

1522
01:09:26.800 --> 01:09:28.668
would come to fruition
in the '90s

1523
01:09:28.702 --> 01:09:33.273
with Jon Stewart and others
making us more uncomfortable

1524
01:09:33.306 --> 01:09:34.441
as we approach sleep,

1525
01:09:34.474 --> 01:09:38.278
worrying about the country
and all the issues facing us.

1526
01:09:38.311 --> 01:09:41.414
Nine people were shot
in a Black church

1527
01:09:41.448 --> 01:09:44.417
by a white guy who hated
them, who wanted to start

1528
01:09:44.451 --> 01:09:46.353
some kind of civil war.

1529
01:09:46.386 --> 01:09:48.455
If you're with a
group of people that are

1530
01:09:48.488 --> 01:09:50.690
chanting things like
"Jews will not replace us"

1531
01:09:50.724 --> 01:09:53.426
and you don't immediately
leave that group,

1532
01:09:53.460 --> 01:09:55.628
you are not a
very fine person.

1533
01:09:55.662 --> 01:09:57.831
Isn't it interesting
how every time

1534
01:09:57.864 --> 01:09:59.632
Republicans create a
voting restriction,

1535
01:09:59.666 --> 01:10:02.736
it just so happens to
disproportionately affect

1536
01:10:02.769 --> 01:10:04.304
people of the brown-brown?

1537
01:10:04.337 --> 01:10:05.338
Hmm?

1538
01:10:05.372 --> 01:10:07.507
Trump isn't the only
one John Bolton implicates

1539
01:10:07.540 --> 01:10:08.608
in his book.

1540
01:10:08.641 --> 01:10:13.313
He also names angry baby
bird, Mike Pompeo. (laughs)

1541
01:10:13.346 --> 01:10:15.348
♪ Pompeo

1542
01:10:15.382 --> 01:10:17.650
♪ Pompeo

1543
01:10:17.684 --> 01:10:19.819
♪ Pompeo

1544
01:10:19.853 --> 01:10:22.722
♪ Pompeo

1545
01:10:22.756 --> 01:10:24.724
Pompeo.

1546
01:10:24.758 --> 01:10:27.427
Even if Trump is re-elected,
this Ukraine story

1547
01:10:27.460 --> 01:10:29.529
will haunt him until
the blessed day

1548
01:10:29.562 --> 01:10:31.798
when he's forcibly plunged
out of the White House

1549
01:10:31.831 --> 01:10:33.566
like a toilet clog.

1550
01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:34.567
(audience applauding)

1551
01:10:34.601 --> 01:10:37.804
Late night has become
increasingly political

1552
01:10:37.837 --> 01:10:41.307
in the Trump years,
which is good.

1553
01:10:41.341 --> 01:10:43.810
But remains very, very white.

1554
01:10:43.843 --> 01:10:47.747
Stephen's the first
late night host
from South Carolina.

1555
01:10:47.781 --> 01:10:48.415
[Stephen] Right.

1556
01:10:48.448 --> 01:10:50.784
And the bajillionth white guy.

1557
01:10:50.817 --> 01:10:51.785
(audience laughs)

1558
01:10:51.818 --> 01:10:52.452
Exactly.

1559
01:10:52.485 --> 01:10:54.521
This chewing gum tastes funny.

1560
01:10:56.623 --> 01:11:00.460
It's a thousand dollars for
the 10th anniversary iPhone.

1561
01:11:00.493 --> 01:11:01.695
I didn't spend a
thousand dollars

1562
01:11:01.728 --> 01:11:04.330
on my 10th wedding
anniversary, okay?

1563
01:11:04.364 --> 01:11:05.632
I think it's been tough
for Black people

1564
01:11:05.665 --> 01:11:08.368
to have long running
shows in late night

1565
01:11:08.401 --> 01:11:11.338
because of the lack
of investment.

1566
01:11:11.371 --> 01:11:12.639
Kamala Harris is
being criticized

1567
01:11:12.672 --> 01:11:15.375
for not being Black enough.

1568
01:11:15.408 --> 01:11:16.209
Yes.

1569
01:11:16.242 --> 01:11:18.378
Which frankly is
the same criticism

1570
01:11:18.411 --> 01:11:20.647
I've had to endure
my entire career.

1571
01:11:20.680 --> 01:11:22.849
White male late night
hosts are given

1572
01:11:22.882 --> 01:11:25.618
a lot more room to grow.

1573
01:11:25.652 --> 01:11:27.787
Believe me, however
shocked you are

1574
01:11:27.821 --> 01:11:29.456
that I am doing this job,

1575
01:11:29.489 --> 01:11:31.624
you will never be
as shocked as I am.

1576
01:11:31.658 --> 01:11:34.794
We've had some late night
hosts, as Arsenio Hall.

1577
01:11:34.828 --> 01:11:35.929
I feel great.

1578
01:11:35.962 --> 01:11:38.565
There are probably people
in Utah saying, "Who is he?"

1579
01:11:38.598 --> 01:11:41.801
From 1968 until Arsenio Hall.

1580
01:11:41.835 --> 01:11:44.671
To have that long
without another Black
face in late night

1581
01:11:44.704 --> 01:11:46.373
is wild to me.

1582
01:11:46.406 --> 01:11:48.641
It took a long
time in between.

1583
01:11:48.675 --> 01:11:50.844
'Cause I think he did too
good a job, scared everybody.

1584
01:11:50.877 --> 01:11:52.012
(Harry laughing)

1585
01:11:52.045 --> 01:11:53.947
They said, oh no, we're not
gonna do this for a while.

1586
01:11:53.980 --> 01:11:56.383
We're not giving you
the late night

1587
01:11:56.416 --> 01:11:59.552
and you know, to this day,

1588
01:11:59.586 --> 01:12:02.822
not much dark meat
in late night.

1589
01:12:02.856 --> 01:12:05.825
Now, this week marks one
year since Trump's election.

1590
01:12:05.859 --> 01:12:08.661
Now, the traditional first
anniversary gift is paper,

1591
01:12:08.695 --> 01:12:11.531
so we got him this.

1592
01:12:11.564 --> 01:12:14.134
There's been a rotating
door of women in late night.

1593
01:12:14.167 --> 01:12:15.969
Most never went
beyond one season.

1594
01:12:16.002 --> 01:12:17.837
[Announcer] It's "The Late
Show" starring Joan Rivers.

1595
01:12:17.871 --> 01:12:19.873
(funky music)

1596
01:12:19.906 --> 01:12:21.708
[Announcer] Whoopi!

1597
01:12:23.476 --> 01:12:24.577
Welcome back.

1598
01:12:24.611 --> 01:12:26.846
I need to hear Black women
and I need to hear Black men

1599
01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:29.983
and I need to hear Latinas and
I need to hear Asian people.

1600
01:12:30.016 --> 01:12:32.652
Like, I need to hear
everyone's opinions.

1601
01:12:32.686 --> 01:12:34.487
Otherwise you're
just getting one.

1602
01:12:34.521 --> 01:12:35.989
And that is never the truth.

1603
01:12:36.022 --> 01:12:37.724
That's what was so
important about

1604
01:12:37.757 --> 01:12:40.593
what Harry Belafonte
did back then in 1968.

1605
01:12:40.627 --> 01:12:42.962
And it's why it's so important
that Black representation

1606
01:12:42.996 --> 01:12:44.731
in late night is
important now.

1607
01:12:44.764 --> 01:12:46.066
Black people in
America are like,

1608
01:12:46.099 --> 01:12:48.568
oh, we've been saying
this justice system
is crazy as shit.

1609
01:12:48.601 --> 01:12:50.470
And now Trump is like,
"So crazy!

1610
01:12:51.771 --> 01:12:53.840
"So wild, who
would have thought?"

1611
01:12:55.742 --> 01:12:58.478
See, if he had Black friends
they would have told him.

1612
01:12:58.511 --> 01:13:00.180
I think we've just
got to keep working

1613
01:13:00.213 --> 01:13:01.981
to make that week reality

1614
01:13:02.015 --> 01:13:03.817
and to create a space
in entertainment

1615
01:13:03.850 --> 01:13:05.752
where Black people will
always have a stake

1616
01:13:05.785 --> 01:13:07.454
and will always have a say,

1617
01:13:07.487 --> 01:13:08.822
and will always be
able to talk about

1618
01:13:08.855 --> 01:13:10.490
the issues that matter.

1619
01:13:10.523 --> 01:13:11.725
Whoa, Black identity...

1620
01:13:11.758 --> 01:13:14.894
To us and matter to
the world at large.

1621
01:13:15.829 --> 01:13:18.631
(brassy music)

1622
01:13:18.665 --> 01:13:20.767
I think the legacy
of that week

1623
01:13:20.800 --> 01:13:25.805
was speaking to issues that
had serious content and intent

1624
01:13:25.839 --> 01:13:29.843
and how easily we
did it as a people.

1625
01:13:29.876 --> 01:13:32.512
I thought that we were
talking about was

1626
01:13:32.545 --> 01:13:34.214
engrossing, entertaining.

1627
01:13:34.247 --> 01:13:35.982
I thought that
all the subtext,

1628
01:13:36.016 --> 01:13:37.851
the social issues of the day,

1629
01:13:37.884 --> 01:13:39.886
to hear people talk
about the craft

1630
01:13:39.919 --> 01:13:42.522
that brought them
to public limelight.

1631
01:13:42.555 --> 01:13:45.859
The American public was
not only entertained,

1632
01:13:45.892 --> 01:13:50.263
but were glued to what
this was all about.

1633
01:13:50.296 --> 01:13:52.565
(brassy music)

1634
01:13:52.599 --> 01:13:56.002
(audience applauding)

1635
01:14:01.808 --> 01:14:04.577
♪ He pursued justice
and marched with kings ♪

1636
01:14:04.611 --> 01:14:07.947
♪ And hosted shows and
broke boundaries and ♪

1637
01:14:07.981 --> 01:14:10.850
♪ He believed in
humanity and ♪

1638
01:14:10.884 --> 01:14:14.821
♪ Shined the light on
adversity and ♪

1639
01:14:14.854 --> 01:14:17.624
♪ Like the souls
of the rivers ♪

1640
01:14:17.657 --> 01:14:20.593
♪ Like the faith
wouldn't quiver ♪

1641
01:14:20.627 --> 01:14:23.630
♪ Like blessings we needed

1642
01:14:23.663 --> 01:14:26.933
♪ He sang songs of freedom

1643
01:14:26.966 --> 01:14:29.803
♪ I wish you
could meet Harry ♪

1644
01:14:29.836 --> 01:14:32.906
♪ He carried the
light into freedom ♪

1645
01:14:32.939 --> 01:14:37.911
♪ Every time he
sang day-o day-o ♪

1646
01:14:37.944 --> 01:14:41.681
♪ One day you
should meet Harry ♪

1647
01:14:41.715 --> 01:14:44.718
♪ He spoke of the
wisdom to lead us ♪

1648
01:14:44.751 --> 01:14:49.122
♪ Through all the
joys and pain ♪

1649
01:14:49.155 --> 01:14:52.092
♪ I said Harry Harry
hosting The Tonight Show ♪

1650
01:14:52.125 --> 01:14:54.894
♪ Was very very big
for the culture ♪

1651
01:14:54.928 --> 01:14:57.964
♪ Necessary necessary
black man on the telly ♪

1652
01:14:57.997 --> 01:14:59.332
♪ In Johnny's seat ♪

1653
01:14:59.366 --> 01:15:01.301
♪ Johnny's seat
five days one week ♪

1654
01:15:01.334 --> 01:15:02.836
♪ That's a feat
that's a feat ♪

1655
01:15:02.869 --> 01:15:03.937
♪ It can't be beat
can't be beat ♪

1656
01:15:03.970 --> 01:15:06.940
♪ Make us proud when we
out there in the street ♪

1657
01:15:06.973 --> 01:15:07.574
♪ In the street

1658
01:15:07.607 --> 01:15:08.742
♪ Marching with Martin

1659
01:15:08.775 --> 01:15:09.909
♪ Movements we starting

1660
01:15:09.943 --> 01:15:11.611
♪ Sacrifice to know
what's right ♪

1661
01:15:11.644 --> 01:15:14.714
♪ It's civil rights
spark it let's go ♪

1662
01:15:14.748 --> 01:15:17.650
♪ I wish you
could meet Harry ♪

1663
01:15:17.684 --> 01:15:20.653
♪ He carried the
light of freedom ♪

1664
01:15:20.687 --> 01:15:26.626
♪ Every time he sang
day-o day-o ♪

1665
01:15:26.659 --> 01:15:29.629
♪ Some day you should
meet Harry ♪

1666
01:15:29.662 --> 01:15:32.165
♪ He spoke with the
wisdom to lead us ♪

1667
01:15:32.198 --> 01:15:34.801
♪ Through all the
joys and pain ♪

1668
01:15:34.834 --> 01:15:38.672
♪ Wish you could
meet Harry Belafonte ♪

1669
01:15:38.705 --> 01:15:41.107
♪ I wish you could
meet Harry ♪

1670
01:15:41.141 --> 01:15:44.144
♪ He carried the
light into freedom ♪

1671
01:15:44.177 --> 01:15:49.115
♪ Every time he sang
day-o day-o ♪

1672
01:15:50.917 --> 01:15:53.186
♪ One day you
should meet Harry ♪

1673
01:15:53.219 --> 01:15:56.122
♪ He spoke with the
wisdom to lead us ♪

1674
01:15:56.156 --> 01:15:58.391
♪ Through all the
joys and pain ♪

1675
01:15:58.425 --> 01:16:01.628
♪ I wish you could
meet Harry Belafonte ♪

1676
01:16:01.661 --> 01:16:03.797
♪ See Johnny Carson called
on the Calypso King ♪

1677
01:16:03.830 --> 01:16:05.899
♪ To sing songs and host
his show for a week long ♪

1678
01:16:05.932 --> 01:16:07.367
♪ Belafonte's talking
about right and wrong ♪

1679
01:16:07.400 --> 01:16:08.902
♪ Through TV sets
in living rooms ♪

1680
01:16:08.935 --> 01:16:10.637
♪ He showed them
how to get along ♪

1681
01:16:10.670 --> 01:16:11.871
♪ Jump in line and carry on

1682
01:16:11.905 --> 01:16:12.872
♪ He showed that

1683
01:16:12.906 --> 01:16:14.641
♪ He started speaking
out and speaking up ♪

1684
01:16:14.674 --> 01:16:15.942
♪ Sitting back
just ain't enough ♪

1685
01:16:15.975 --> 01:16:17.377
♪ Sitting and struggling

1686
01:16:17.410 --> 01:16:18.578
♪ Save some time
but get it done ♪

1687
01:16:18.611 --> 01:16:21.381
♪ Turn on the TV you'll
see it's Harry and Bobby ♪

1688
01:16:21.414 --> 01:16:22.949
♪ You'll see it's
Harry and Martin ♪

1689
01:16:22.982 --> 01:16:26.086
♪ The reasons we're
sparking yeah ♪

1690
01:16:26.119 --> 01:16:28.988
♪ I wish you could
meet Harry ♪

1691
01:16:29.022 --> 01:16:32.092
♪ He carried the
light into freedom ♪

1692
01:16:32.125 --> 01:16:33.993
♪ Every time he sang

1693
01:16:34.027 --> 01:16:38.131
♪ Wish you could
meet Harry Belafonte ♪

1694
01:16:38.164 --> 01:16:41.134
♪ One day you
should meet Harry ♪

1695
01:16:41.167 --> 01:16:43.903
♪ He spoke of the
wisdom to lead us ♪

1696
01:16:43.937 --> 01:16:45.972
♪ Through all the
joys and pain ♪

1697
01:16:46.006 --> 01:16:49.175
♪ I wish you could
meet Harry Belafonte ♪

1698
01:16:49.209 --> 01:16:57.684
♪ ♪

1699
01:16:57.717 --> 01:17:05.692
♪ ♪

1700
01:17:05.725 --> 01:17:12.065
♪ ♪

1701
01:17:12.098 --> 01:17:20.073
♪ ♪

1702
01:17:20.106 --> 01:17:28.081
♪ ♪

1703
01:17:28.114 --> 01:17:36.089
♪ ♪

1704
01:17:36.122 --> 01:17:45.031
♪ ♪