The Black and White Minstrel Show
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2021) |
The Black and White Minstrel Show | |
---|---|
Created by | George Mitchell |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Production locations | London, England |
Original release | |
Network | BBC |
Release | 14 June 1958 21 July 1978 | –
The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran for twenty years on BBC prime-time television. Running from 1958 to 1978, it was a weekly variety show that presented traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show tunes and music hall numbers, lavishly costumed. It was also a successful stage show that ran for ten years from 1962 to 1972 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London. This was followed by tours of UK seaside resorts, together with Australia and New Zealand.
History
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Minstrel shows had become a long-established feature of British music halls and seaside entertainment since the success of acts such as the Virginia Minstrels in Liverpool in the 1840s and Christy's Minstrels in London in the 1850s. These led directly to many British imitators, such as Hamilton's Black and White Minstrels in the 1880s and many others, with Uncle Mac's Minstrels becoming such a popular mainstay in Broadstairs, Kent, from the 1890s to the 1940s that a plaque was erected to honour their memory.[1] Though any development in the performance of such acts may have ended before the First World War, the "old-time" minstrel theme remained a consistently popular form of entertainment in the UK well into the 1950s.
The Black and White Minstrel Show was created by
Prior to the creation of the television show in 1957, the BBC Television Toppers had performed on air since February 1953. Originally, the Television Toppers were dancers who performed weekly on a television programme every Saturday night, alongside different celebrities, such as Judy Garland. They also performed at Royal Command Performances. They were newspaper entertainment mini celebrities, and headlined as earning £1,000 a year in 1953.[citation needed]
The BBC Television Toppers were loaned for one day by the BBC under contract and appear in the film The Dam Busters (1955) in the spotlight theatre dancing scene. The filming of this scene was at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. No credits are shown on this film as to who the dancers were, or the location of the theatre.[citation needed]
By 1964, The Black and White Minstrel Show was achieving audience figures of 21 million. The Minstrels also had a
In the spring of 1962, the BBC musical variety show The Black and White Minstrel Show was to open at the Victoria Palace Theatre. While the three lead singers, Tony Mercer, John Boulter and Dai Francis, would be in the theatrical version of the show and also in the BBC TV version, both the chorus singers and dancers would be different groups in the theatre and on BBC TV.
Opening in Melbourne in 1962, the show secured full houses for all evening and matinee performances, so they were held over.[citation needed] This happened in both countries, and every box-office record was broken.[vague] The show continued for three years,[citation needed] and the Australian and New Zealand box office records it set have never been broken.[dubious ]
While it started off being broadcast in black and white, the show was first shown in colour on BBC2 in 1967. Several personalities guested on the show, whilst others started their careers on it. Comedian Lenny Henry, then in his teens, became the first black performer to appear on it in 1975.[6] In July 2009, Henry explained that he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show,[7] telling The Times in 2015 that his appearance on the show led to a profound "wormhole of depression", and that he regretted his family not intervening to prevent him from continuing in the show.[8]
Controversy
Within five years of the show's premiere on UK television, its portrayal of
David Hendy, Professor of Media and Cultural History at the
In 1967, the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination presented a petition to the BBC calling for the show to be cancelled.[15] The following year, the BBC experimented with a version of the show called Masquerade, in which the main singers appeared without blackface, and the black singers wore whiteface.[16] In 1969, due to continuing accusations of racism, Music Music Music, a spin-off series in which the minstrels appeared without their blackface make-up, replaced The Black and White Minstrel Show. However, after one series, The Black and White Minstrel Show returned.
Since its cancellation in 1978, The Black and White Minstrel Show has come to be regarded with disdain. BBC writer Kate Broome states, "That an innocently-intentioned show could, in just a generation, become such a screen pariah is one of the most extraordinary episodes in television history".[17]
Final years
The
) saw the last official Black and White Minstrel Show staged.Legacy
In a 1971 episode of The Two Ronnies, a musical sketch, "The Short and Fat Minstrel Show", was performed as a parody of The Black and White Minstrel Show, featuring spoofs of various songs.[19] An episode of the BBC comedy series The Goodies ("Alternative Roots"), spoofed the positive reception of The Black and White Minstrel Show, suggesting that any programme could double its viewing figures by being performed in blackface, and mentioning that a series of The Black and White Minstrel Show had been tried without makeup.[20] The Are You Being Served? episode "Roots" featured a storyline in which Mr. Grace's lineage was traced in order to perform an appropriate song and dance for his 90th birthday. The result was a number that parodied The Black and White Minstrel Show by having the male performers in blackface, while the females (excluding Mrs. Slocombe) were not.
In 2023 the BBC broadcast a documentary presented by the actor David Harewood and the historian David Olusoga about the pernicious influence of blackface minstrelsy in pervading racial stereotypes and anti-black racism in Great Britain. The documentary was largely centred on, and heavily critical of, the BBC’s own The Black and White Minstrel Show.[21]
Discography
The Black and White Minstrel Show
Chart | Year | Peak position |
---|---|---|
UK Albums Chart[22] | 1961 | 1 |
1962 | ||
1963 |
Another Black and White Minstrel Show
Chart | Year | Peak position |
---|---|---|
UK Albums Chart[23] | 1961 | 1 |
1962 |
On Stage with the George Mitchell Minstrels
Chart | Year | Peak position |
---|---|---|
UK Albums Chart[24] | 1962 | 1 |
Other albums
Title | Year | UK[25] |
---|---|---|
On Tour with the George Mitchell Minstrels | 1963 | 6 |
Spotlight on the George Mitchell Minstrels | 1964 | 6 |
Magic of the Minstrels | 1965 | 9 |
Here Come the Minstrels | 1966 | 11 |
Showtime Special | 1967 | 26 |
The Irving Berlin Songbook | 1968 | 33 |
The Magic of Christmas | 1970 | 32 |
The Black and White Minstrels With the Joe Loss Orchestra – 30 Golden Greats | 1977 | 10 |
References
- ^ Robinson, Andy (14 January 2018). "The story behind the controversy surrounding Broadstairs entertainment troupe Uncle Mack's Minstrels has been revealed in a local historian's new book". Kentlive.news. Kent. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "Black And White Minstrels creator dies". The Guardian. 29 August 2002.
- ^ Television Heaven Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Robert Luff – Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Lenny Henry profile BBC Comedy pages
- ^ Five Minutes With: Lenny Henry BBC News Website
- ^ Midgley, Carol (6 June 2015). "Lenny Henry on racism and regret". The Times. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ Thomas, David (7 December 2002). "These are the men who were". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-7535-5672-6.
- ISBN 978-1-134-92368-7.
- ^ a b Hendy, David. "The Black and White Minstrel Show". BBC 100. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ Ward, Victoria (3 January 2022). "'Offensive' Black and White Minstrel Show features in BBC commemoration". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ Kanter, Jake (4 January 2022). "BBC rancour over Black and White Minstrels". The Times. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ "Minstrels founder Mitchell dies". BBC. 29 August 2002. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- ^ "Colored Singers in Whiteface For Brit. TV Minstrels". Variety. 15 May 1968. p. 1.
- ^ "BBC – BBC Four Time Shift – Black and White Minstrel Show Revisited". 14 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010.
- ^ "Minstrels founder Mitchell dies". BBC News. 29 August 2002. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ TV.com (22 May 1971). "The Two Ronnies – Season 1, Episode 7: Series 1, Episode 7". TV.com. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ "Alternative Roots". The Goodies. Series 7. Episode 1. 1 November 2008.
- ^ "David Harewood on Blackface".
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – The Black and White Minstrel Show". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – Another Black and White Minstrel Show". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – George Mitchell Minstrels – On Stage with the George Mitchell Minstrels". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company – The Black and White Minstrel Show". The Official Charts Company. 5 May 2013.